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If anyone happens to feel like posting comments then cool, I'd really appreciate them, but please put plot related stuff behind spoiler tags. I'm going to send links to my players so I'd like it if they didn't get horribly spoilered, thanks :).
I finally ran my first session of Crimson Throne this afternoon, characters are fully detailed in the CotCT groups thread, but in brief:
Cyrus, Human Male NG Conjuror 1
Kendra, Human Female CG Urban Ranger 1
Mara, Varisian Female LG Fighter 1
Sunstep, Gnome Male NG Favoured Soul 1
GM Note: This is a sexy party! All Charisma 14 bar Sunstep who has a 16, though saying that, Mara is the only conventionally attractive one, Cyrus is rather more "intense" than attractive having the whole emaciated look of someone who has just come out of cold turkey, Kendra is kind of scrawny, but comes across as smart, well-spoken and scrubs up nicely when she's playing the noble. Sunstep is more the irrepressible kind of charismatic. Their combat capability is... interesting, Mara is the only one really capable of going toe to toe with anyone as she's built as a Falchion specialist Power Attack monkey, Kendra is an archer and will be taking Scout levels, Sunstep is built as a caster rather than a buff-and-tank so has a Str of 10 and Con of 12, and Cyrus is a Conjuror locked out of Enchantment and Necromancy with a Str and Con of 10 (eep) intending to do the whole chess master thing of summons, benign/baleful transpositions etc.
I was going to write up some quick descriptions here week by week, but Cyrus' player has written an in-character diary, so I figured posting those up with GM comments (some behind spoiler tags if it's long-term plot musings or something the players don't know for sure in character yet) would be far cooler. He makes no promises that he'll keep it up, and I'll probably take over for combat heavy sessions, we'll see.
So Cyrus' background (partly because it's cool, mostly so the first entry makes sense, I'm paraphrasing since I don't have a written copy, but I'll have him look it over to make sure it's all correct). Cyrus was born to Daniven and Loranna Zol, members of wealthy merchant families in an arranged marriage. He knows little about his mother, but his father was a very unpleasant man (some might say insufferable) who constantly belittled everyone around him. When disaster struck his father's shipping company, his father turned to drinking his fortune away. His mother left not long after, and Cyrus hasn't seen her since.
In an attempt to prove his worth, Cyrus stole a large quantity of his father's drinking fund to pay tuition fees for entering the Acadamae. Ten years later, he sneaked out of the Acadamae to show his father what he is capable of, only to find he had died in a fire four months earlier. This sent Cyrus into a depression (more from a lack of purpose than sorrow for the old man), he never returned to the Acadamae and eventually entered a spiral of drug abuse, fully seven months of constant Shiver use.
This changed when Cyrus met Vencarlo Orisini, when begging on the streets of Old Korvosa. On seeing Vencarlo walk past, muttering darkly about the latest political atrocity in the city, Cyrus engaged him in political debate in an attempt to coax some gold out of him. Vencarlo instead took him in and after extensive berating about wasting such a talented mind, put him through a harsh routine of drilling in an attempt to force him through cold turkey. Now, five months later, Cyrus is clean, and filled with a fervour to clean up the streets of Korvosa, he has been working with Cressida Kroft to this end (mostly via Vencarlo).
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 4th of Sarenith, AR 4707
Well, it’s finally my birthday, and I’ve come to a decision. I know that it’s possible to leave the Acadamae, and Drakus says he knows a way to do it and slip back in with no-one the wiser. I think it’s time I show the old bastard who fathered me what use I’ve been putting his money to. I admit, that theft’s never sat right with me. Perhaps after seeing what I can do now, he’ll finally understand. Though I’m not counting on it.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 1st of Sarenith, AR 4708
I’d almost forgotten this little book. It’s been so long since I’ve had ink to write with, let alone inclination to document anything. Still, maybe it’s some kind of sign that I should put the last year behind me, and return to a more normal life.
I just received a very strange note. I reproduce it below, for it was inscribed on the back of a playing card, and the whole thing was an illusion! Not a simple one, to my eye. I suppose it could be some form of trickery, but who would go to such lengths to entrap me? Anyone with the power to use major image for a simple message would have no need of my meagre possessions. Still, I think I’ll leave a note telling Vencarlo where I’m off to, just in case. And why The Wanderer, I wonder? I know little enough of Harrow decks. Perhaps I should investigate the significance of such a card.
“I know what Gaedren has done to you. He has wronged me as well. I know where he dwells, yet cannot strike at him. Come to my house at 3 Lancet Street at sunset. Others like you will be there. Gaedren must face his fate, and justice must be done.”
GM Note: It's a hot Oathday, Kendra was mapping out the current political scene with the man currently living in her basement (whose name I don't actually know embarrassingly, I really need to get everyone to give me written backstories) and found The Juggler in a sheaf of notes (she made a save to disbelieve, damn natural 20s, Cyrus also managed a nat 20 save, cast Detect Magic and got a lucky Spellcraft roll to identify the spell), Mara was waiting for her next Harrow client and The Paladin dropped out of her deck, Sunstep was working in Basha's bookshop and found The Theatre in a volume on the worship of Saranrae.
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Fate has finally delivered Gaedren Lamm into my hands! The note was an honest one, sent by a Varisian woman by the name of Zellara. It seems Lamm has robbed her of a son, another murder on his blackened conscience. The Watch have no interest in dealing with such a petty criminal; the fate of orphan children matters little to the law of this city. But I and the others Zellara has gathered will bring him to them, and justice will be done. My new companions are…a varied lot. A gnome, Sunstep by name, who worships Sarenrae; a Varisian woman called Mara who wields a sword almost as tall as I am; and a human girl who seems quite cultured, but declined to give us a name for herself. I suppose that caution is a natural reaction when thrown into a situation such as this. I am sure she will grow more trusting when she sees we are of one purpose. And speaking of caution, I must remember to leave another note for Vencarlo should Gaedren somehow overcome us.
GM Note: Kendra was hiding to watch people go in, but Mara spotted her and dragged her inside.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 2nd of Sarenith, AR 4708
I write this in haste, for we do not wish Lamm to escape us. We struck at his base in the Old Fishery at dawn, discarding the idea of a night attack as being more beneficial to the half-orc in his employ that to our interests. We had hoped to catch his lackeys off-guard, but in retrospect I should have remembered that fishermen keep early hours. Picking the lock on the side door, Kendra – the human girl, finally introducing herself – stepped aside to allow Mara entry. Within we found some of Lamm’s orphans, thin and hungry, being overseen by the half-orc we had heard of, a great brute with a flail and a sadistic titter. Even as battle was joined, he summoned reinforcements from elsewhere in the building and then engaged us, dealing Mara punishing blows. With them fighting so close to the door, it was difficult to enter the building, but Vencarlo’s lessons allowed me to dodge past the half-orc to a better vantage point. I must remember to thank him for them the next time I see him, for from the strength of the brute, they may have saved my life. I impeded some of the reinforcements – a vicious-looking gnome and a large dog – with a simple conjuration, while Sunstep kept Mara battling and Kendra fired into the melee. Kendra has quite a silver tongue, as it turns out and managed to convince the orphans to turn on their hated masters, a turn of events that I viewed with no small amount of glee. In the end, the dog fled, and we took the other villains prisoner. Death is too quick a punishment for those who would harm and exploit children. They will rot in the jails of Korvosa for a long time, and every day will be justified. Note to self: I must investigate the powders I procured for use in my color spray spell. Its total lack of effect in the battle might indicate that they have lost their efficacy. At any rate, we now stand ready to descend beneath the Fishery and beard Lamm in his lair. His punishment has been a long time in coming, but with our help, justice will catch up with him before time does.
GM Note: This happened on the Fishery Floor, and yep, Cyrus' cross-class tumble from his training with Vencarlo undoubtedly saved him from a flail to the face that even if I'd rolled minimum damage would have dropped him to 0 (yay for 4hp). The battle between Mara and Giggles was extended and unpleasant, Mara took 15 points of damage over the course of the fight, with Sunstep's casting of Lesser Vigor on her in the first round constantly keeping her just above dropping. Cyrus occupied Hookshanks and Bloo with a Grease for a round, which kind of prevented them from getting too involved as they got in each others way on the walkway. Yargin got one shot off with his wand, which missed Mara due to Prot Evil, then got surrounded by orphans who jabbed at him until Giggles was out of the doorway and they could safely flee. The party took Yargin's wand, alchemical items and amulet, Giggles' light shield for Mara to use with her new sap she'd bought for the mission, the keys, and Hookshanks' disguise kit for Kendra. They left them their armour, and dumped all their weapons in the water. They stabilised the dying Hookshanks and Giggles, grilled the surrendered Yargin for info on where Gaedren was, then coshed him and tied him up ready to be carted off to the guard. It's quite refreshing to see a practical. but genuinely quite good party, going out of their way to avoid killing people and not being mercenary to the point of ridiculousness.
Note to self: There were many Watch, Hellknights, and Sable Company Marines about Korvosa this morning. Strange enough at any time, but stranger still at barely dawn. Perhaps the King has finally lost his battle with illness and passed on? One would hope not, for the Queen is an arrogant and self-obsessed creature, but why should we expect any better from royalty?
Spoilery GM Note:
Very very nice writeup. Entertaining to read and informative regarding play. I'd like to read more!
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Thank you! :D This is my first experience of GMing a full campaign, so I'm really glad the first session went well. I love Cyrus as a character and I'm a sucker for Pete's writing (though admittedly I may be a little biased, he's my OH), so I was really pleased when he started writing up the diary. Wasn't sure how much my little musings would break the flow, but I figured since there doesn't seem to be a long-term CotCT diary from a GM perspective yet, and I'm running it pretty much as written, just adding in the odd none-SRD feat or item and adding some personal touches to the fluff here and there, people might find them useful when I start reaching the inevitable pitfalls and players going left when I want them to go right :).
We should be playing early Sunday afternoon every week, so hopefully I'll have time to throw up a post every Sunday evening whilst it's still fresh in my mind, at the very least some play notes, and hopefully Cyrus will get a few minutes away from the action to write some more entries pretty frequently :).
Sounds awesome. [Checks calendar-starts ticking off days till Sunday] Can't wait to read more!
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This weeks diary is fairly lengthy, as lots of none-combat stuff happened (which is mostly what Cyrus is interested in). On the other hand that means my interludes should be shorter...
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 2nd of Sarenith, AR 4708
Gadren Lamm is fouler than I had guessed. When we entered his chambers, he was lowering a child into the water as sport for his pet alligator! Fortunately, we intervened before any harm could come to the boy. In a poetic twist, Mara threw Lamm into the pool himself, and he was savaged to within an inch of his life by the very creature he had used to torment so many others. We bound Lamm, but released the alligator. It had done no wrong, save having a cruel master. Yet our victory over Lamm was tinged with shock, for we found in his den the severed head of Zellara! Furthermore, she had been dead for days! I have heard tales of shades remaining after their death, doomed to remain trapped due to unfinished business in life, but I never expected to meet one. She informed us that she was somehow bound to her Harrow deck, and even the death of Gadren had not released her. The aid she can grant us is powerful indeed, but I wish there was some way to release her. Certainly something to investigate, though the secrets of the dead have always been a closed book to me.
GM Note: The spider and shark encounters happened, there were fights, the party killed stuff, Sunstep gained another name ("Sharkbait"). Lamm shot Gobbleguts, who then took a fair chunk out of Sunstep's HP, but Mara quickly cornered Lamm then bull-rushed him into the pool where the alligator dropped him from full hitpoints to -1 in one bite, at which point they all did enough damage to Gobbleguts to scare him into cowering at the bottom of the pool so they could pull Gaedren out and stabilize him. And yeah, the shocked reactions from finding Zellara's head were very pleasing; Mara has the Harrow deck now, she's kind of Zellara's heir in some ways due to her backstory, and she's taken to wearing the card she drew from her harrowed feat sticking out of her pocket every day. I've also given the deck unlimited uses of Identify rather than 3/day, it doesn't technically work in the intelligent item rules, but I hate tracking auras and stuff so it makes my life easier.
Alas, Zellara’s revelation was not the only shock of the day. Even as we left Lamm’s lair, we saw smoke rising above the city! My suspicions were apparently correct; the King is dead. I did not, however, foresee the chaos which has gripped Korvosa with his passing. I knew the Queen was disliked, but not to the point of rioting in the streets! We happened upon a man that I recognised as we made our way through the city, one of Vencarlo’s students. I sometimes wonder why these nobles bother to learn the sword, if their best response to an angry mob is to draw steel and then cower in a corner. I did my best to try and scare them off, and it succeeded – I suspect more due to the four-foot blade Mara carries than my efforts. Mara seemed to know the man from somewhere, but I did not pry too closely.
GM Note:
On the 3rd of Sarenith:
The party dumped Gaedren et al at Citadel Volshyenek (I could have skipped straight to them being hired here rather than waiting till they returned the brooch, but figured the things were too chaotic for them to say much right now other than "Uhh, if you can disperse any mobs do so, but be careful and try not to kill anyone"), they also sent the kid who was shackled in Gaedren's den off to find the others with the promise of food, shelter and a little cash, to make sure they got by and in the hope they could persuade some of them to testify against Lamm. Kendra rolled a ridiculous Gather Info to find the owners of the objects in Gaedren's stash so I gave them a little extra cash as rewards for returning them.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 4th of Sarenith, AR 4708
Kendra’s efforts hunting down the owners of the treasures we found in Gaedren’s den have borne fruit. Among the objet d’art we liberated from Lamm’s lair, there was a distinctive broach, which apparently belongs to Queen Illeosa! I was amused to imagine her pick pocketed on the streets like any common Korvosan, though of course for that to happen she’d actually have to leave the palace. So off we went to deliver the broach to its rightful owner. En route we were assaulted by a group of imps, no doubt taking advantage of the chaos to spread their brand of mischief. One of the blasted things managed to sting me, and my arm still feels stiff. However, a flight of pseudodragons came to our rescue! I am glad to see that the tiny dragons are keeping the Infernal pests under control, though I wish they wouldn’t project tunes into the heads of bystanders as they attack. I’m catching myself humming it on occasion even as I write this. Still, they’re good-hearted creatures, and no real harm.
GM Note: The Impslayer feat from the blog works pretty well! The pseudodragons were hitting pretty frequently due to all the flanking and whilst d3+2 damage isn't huge, it's enough to kill one imp and scare off the rest when there's 6 of them, plus a silver-sheened falchion and a wand of magic missile. And yeah, they were singing Ride of the Valkyries really badly into everyone's heads as they swooped in.
With that little distraction dealt with, we finally arrived at the palace. It took a little convincing for the guards to let us in – as I somewhat expected, ‘we’re returning a broach’ wasn’t a very helpful thing to say. Still, they let in us eventually. I had expected to be sent to a minor functionary, given a reward and a handshake, and swiftly sent on our way, but this was not the case. To my surprise, we were taken to meet someone who turned out to be the Queen’s bodyguard! Vencarlo never mentioned that Sabina had ended up working for the Queen after all the unpleasantness, but I suppose I wouldn’t have expected him to. I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to feel about her; on the one hand, Vencarlo could certainly use those fingers, but on the other, they were both manipulated into the duel. Ah well, such digressions serve no purpose.
To return to the events, Sabina ushered us in to see the Queen herself! Kendra pointed out a moment before we entered the audience that Mara was wearing The Tyrant in full view, tucked into the top of her armour, and the Queen might react badly to such an act, but by then it was rather too late to do anything about it. Luckily, Queen Illeosa didn’t appear to think that the act was directed at her, which is fortunate for all of us. I would hope she has better things to do than worry what a group of random adventurers think about her, at any rate. The Queen behaved much as I expected of royalty; ascribing some vast importance to a trivial act of honesty coupled with a faint hope of reward, as if the return of a bauble had any meaning in the grand scheme of things! Still, hope should be seized where it can be found, and if such an unimportant thing makes her happy, who am I to argue? To her credit, the Queen did not seek to deny the chaos outside the palace walls, and asked us if we would assist the Watch in helping to quell it. As with any question put by someone with the ability to execute you if you displease them, the answer was a foregone conclusion. Indeed, I would have sought to aid the Watch regardless, and the Queen’s sanction at least ensured we would not be dismissed out of hand.
GM Note:
In a day full of unexpected meetings, I suppose I should not have been surprised to find myself being hailed by Grau Soldado a mere few streets from the Citadel, but surprise me it did. The drunken fool had mistaken me for some old friend of his, a notion I swiftly disabused him of. It was pathetic to see what he had become. To hear Vencarlo talk, he had been second only to Sabina in skill, and now he was a maudlin sot, wallowing in memories and cheap ale. I suspect I could have defeated him in combat, if he even remembered which way round to hold his sword! How could anyone, having lived on the streets once, start down a path that would inevitably end with them penniless and homeless a second time?! Such an act is a slap in the face to the charity that saw him rescued the first time, but I suppose he could hardly care how much more pain he could bring Vencarlo. Fortunately, it seems we may have managed to get through to him. We at least convinced him to return to the Citadel with us. I hope that he will be able to swear off the drink and put his life back together, because he’s running out of chances. I think I may have to make sure that he sobers up, because I’m damned if I’m going to stand by and watch him drink himself to death.
GM Note: I thought everyone roleplayed this really well, hell I felt bad the way Cyrus and Kendra ripped into him.
Anyway. I should probably wrap this up. We saw Fiend Marshall Croft, and she told us that some of her men had deserted, and were holed up in an old butcher’s shop called All The World’s Meat. Kendra had a look around to see what she could glean, and learned that they were apparently giving meat away free to the people. She also discovered that they were willing to hire themselves out as mercenaries if given the correct code phrase – asking if you ‘could see the night’s special cuts’. I suspect this is how they fund their philanthropic endeavours. I certainly hope it is. With any luck, we won’t have to hurt them too badly in bringing them to justice. I can’t really object to what they’re doing, but to desert their duty at a time like this for any reason cannot be ignored. I think I shall go and lie down for a while now. I’m very tired for some reason.
GM Note: Kendra's becoming a real asset to the party with her ludicrous Gather Info. They've all taken up Cressida's offer of accommodation in the Three Rings despite already living in the city, as it's free and a handy base of operations. Mara has moved into the inn with her son (Korvan Vaira-Jalento) and her sister (Marina Soto-Vaira).
Levels at end of session:
Cyrus, Conjuror 2
Kendra, Urban Ranger 1/Scout 1
Mara, Fighter 2
Sunstep, Favoured Soul 2
Enjoyed the continued story. Sounds like fun. I noticed that you went with brevity in this post. Go ahead and take you time. I love reading any details you care to share - especially your DM's notes! All good DMs read other DMs' stuff to mine for ideas.
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Idea mining is what I'm hoping for in this :). I mostly couldn't think of much to say about this session and I'm trying to find the right balance between giving handy details and degenerating into blow by blow accounts of bog-standard combat that just gets dull. The diary covered a lot of it, and a lot of things that it didn't weren't that interesting. I tend to play relatively loose and rules-light in none-combat which a lot of this session was (especially social encounters, the roleplay is far more important than the rolls, they also don't tend to translate well in out of character accounts). Hmm, lets think what I missed though...
Everyone squished the spiders easily (though Sunstep mostly cowered in the corner, he sees his scimitar as more a badge of office than a weapon, so he didn't bring it with him, though he did bring it when they went to meet the queen! The rest of the party are working on making him get this the right way round). There were a few bites, but everyone made their saves.
I thought the shark fight would be more interesting, I ran it as they were on the underpier rather than the side alley, as they dealt with the SA very slowly and carefully, going across individually (there was talk of using a scroll of benign transposition to get Mara across as she is in medium armour, but they decided against it which is just as well, would have been a waste). The plan was to have the shark bull rush the floating walkway, forcing balance checks to stay on, but they all succeeded and then it made the mistake of staying too close to Mara, who critted with her falchion and cut it in half.
The fight with Gaedren was over pretty quickly, the kid shackled by his ankles over the pool gave them hefty incentive to get the situation under control fast. The first round Gaedren taunted everyone and shot Gobbleguts, Mara got Gaedren stuck against the corner of his den, so he couldn't five foot step away from her and had to use his dagger with its mighty 1d4-3 damage, Gobbleguts got up on the walkway to take a chunk out of Sunstep and Kendra shot Gobbleguts. Second round Mara bullrushed Gaedren into the pool and Gobblguts took him out, Kendra shot Gobbleguts again (got him to low enough HP that he retreated to the bottom next round) and Cyrus started working out how to get the boy down safely.
Oh, I didn't mention Cyrus had a +2 for the Gaedren fight, as it didn't make much difference.
Sunstep wanted to go to Gaedren's cell and read the scriptures of Saranrae to him after they turned him in, but I decided it was too chaotic and the guard would see that as a weird request anyway. Once the party have done a couple of missions so Cressida trusts him and knows she won't need to waste valuable manpower babysitting him to make sure he doesn't get shivved whilst in the dungeons, he'll probably allowed. He may end up providing a kind of chaplaincy service to the prisoners in the citadel dungeons so long as he isn't too pushy about it.
When I ran the Mad Prophet encounter, I threw in some plot allusions "The Tyrant holds the city in it's fangs and will soon consume us all" or something along those lines, and combined them with a lot of nonsense; Mara ended up making the disease Fort save as she forced her way in front of the prophet before he could grab anyone, grabbed his hand, and gave him a couple of gold.
I could have gone into a little more detail on the Meet the Mob, and Cyrus intimidation check, DCs and so on; but frankly the idea of a man who is blatantly a wizard brandishing a pen with the nib in his had as if it were a wand (despite having two actual wands in his bag) going "Tick tock" as the mob look on in confusion and fear and the girl next to him makes vague allusions to his magical prowess was fine by me. I was giving them fairly hefty bonuses :).
Mostly the outcome of the imp fight is that Cyrus is down 3 dex and Sunstep is down 2. Once the pseudodragons and Cyrus brought down one and it was obvious that after a few rounds, everyone was still relatively healthy, the other three imps fled.
Again in the encounter with Grau it was pretty much a foregone conclusion; between Cyrus and Kendra's berating and Mara's peace offering, they gave the guy a hell of a lot to think about, all they needed in their rolls was not to fail spectacularly. Though even if they had failed, Cyrus and Kendra would probably have literally dragged him to the citadel anyway.
I'm very interested to see how they tackle All the World's Meat :).
I really like the combo of player dialogue and DM analysis. Haven't gotten to run this one yet so I'm paying very close attention to everything you've got to tell us.
Kudos! ;)
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We're probably going to be a bit light on the GM's notes again, this diary is even more comprehensive than the last and there was only one fight, so I really didn't have much to add.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 5th of Sarenith, AR 4708
Kendra was out observing All The World's Meat again today, saying that she wanted to watch them for a full day in case they had any surprises in store, so I decided to take Mara and Sunstep to meet Vencarlo. He was pleased to meet them, and Mara asked if he give her some lessons at some point, so my plans are coming along nicely! In retrospect, it was pleasant to have a day to refocus and take stock of recent events. These last few days have been a whirlwind of activity, and it shows no sign of slowing down. I only hope we will be able to ride it out.
GM's Note:
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 6th of Sarenith, AR 4708
It’s been a very, very long day. A harrowing one, too. My hands are still trembling slightly as I write this, full of adrenaline and relief. The pseudodragon on my shoulder isn't helping my penmanship either, but he’s dozing and I don’t really want to move him. Oh, where to begin? Certainly this morning I had no idea what an ordeal we were in for. The day started slowly for our little band. Kendra had determined that the butchers ran out of meat by midday, and thus we would be best served to approach after that time, minimising the risk that any civilians would be caught in the middle should things turn ugly. As it turned out, this was a very sensible precaution.
The four of us filed in a little after noon, no doubt looking more than a little menacing with our arms and armour. Kendra gave the password, and the deserters responded, but gave no indication that they were willing to move the discussion somewhere more private than the front room of the shop. In trying to help, I fear I overplayed our hand, drawing down their suspicions and causing events to take an ugly turn. The fight was swift and surprisingly one-sided, Mara once again holding her own against all comers as the other three of us provided ranged support. The close confines of the butcher's shop worked to our advantage, with the deserters forced to battle their way past Mara's falchion to engage with any of the rest of us. Once we had felled half of them, the remaining two wisely put up their weapons and surrendered. Fortunately, we were able to safeguard the lives of their fallen friends; more killing on the streets of Korvosa will help nobody.
GM's note: It happened pretty much as described, they weren't doing badly talking to the men, but their insistence that they go to the back room and/or speak to Verik didn't work so well, the implication that either they or their target were from house Arkona also *really* didn't help. The fight was pretty quick, Baldrago got dropped to 3 and withdrew out to the killing floor but got magic missiled before he could go further, Karralo and Parns entered and got shots off before they both spectacularly failed their reflex saves on grease, Mara took down Malder, then Mara and Kendra did enough damage to Karralo and Parns before they got back up that they figured continuing to fight wouldn't be good for their health.
Upon questioning them, we discovered that their leader, Verik Vancaskerkin, had no idea that they were using the cover of his kindness to run a mercenary business, and worse yet, using the butchers to dispose of their victims! Confronted with this, Vancaskerkin was understandably unwilling to believe us, but once his fellows confirmed it, the fight went out of him. We returned them and their blood money to the Guard, but made it known that Verik was innocent of any charges beyond poor judgement and poor timing in his attempts at philanthropy. There was more to the affair, however. In Verik's office, we found an ornate dagger, made of pure silver, and radiating a powerful magical aura. Questioned about it, he told us that he had been given it by one Vimanda Arkona! What is more, Verik seemed very eager that we take the dagger rather than leave it with him. Finally, and most mystifyingly, Zellara could discern absolutely nothing about the weapon! Her powers far outstrip my own when it comes to identifying the properties of items, and I wonder what could remain concealed from her abilities. Highly suspicious of the weapon, we determined to hide it in a safe place as soon as we had finished speaking with Cressida. As it turned out, things did not go entirely to plan in that respect.
GM's Note: Damn but these guys manage consistently high social rolls when they have everyone else aiding Kendra, got confessions out of Karralo and Parns and managed to get the bonus Vimanda info from Verik
Upon entering Cressida's office, we found Vencarlo waiting with her. She had an urgent task that she hoped we could handle, given we had demonstrated an ability to solve problems with a minimum of violence and a willingness to seek diplomatic solutions where possible. Apparently, a Chelaxian ambassador by the name of Darvayne Gios Amprei had begun seeking to use the unrest following the death of King Eodred as an excuse to introduce trade sanctions against Korvosa, further worsening the situation in our unstable city. Cressida wanted us to go to the den of vice known as Eel's End, where hopefully Devargo Barvasi, the so-called 'King of Spiders,' would be able to provide us information damaging to Darvayne's interests and credibility. Mara balked somewhat at the use of blackmail, but really, how bad can blackmailing an ambassador of a country of backstabbing devil-worshippers be? Their most influential noble family takes the title 'Thrice-Damned,' for Nethys sake!
GM's Note: Kendra and Cyrus both rolled decent knowledge(local)s, so I gave them some general info on Devargo's background and demeanour, that he's vicious, greedy, sadistic, likes people sucking up to him, that kind of thing, so they could better plan their social tactics.
At any rate, Cressida wanted us to set off immediately, and provided us funds to tempt Barvasi with. I confess I am glad I remember little of my previous visits to Eel's End; the place made my skin crawl. We had once again decided to allow Kendra to spearhead our negotiations, for none of the rest of us can approach her adaptability and poise, and she found it child’s play to secure us all an audience with the crime lord. Devargo lounged upon a throne of sorts, a gutter lord surrounded by human refuse. In a cage nearby sat a bedraggled-looking pseudodragon, and as soon as I set eyes upon it, I resolved that I would rescue it from the attentions of its sadistic captor. Kendra approached the situation with admirable professionalism, her imitation of a sadistic, cruel and privileged woman a work of true artistry. Playing the loyal sycophant, I managed to catch the dragon’s attention, and convince it that we were here to help. While I racked my brains for a means by which we could save the creature, Kendra was presenting our case. Barvasi seemed amenable to the five hundred gold that we offered, but also sought entertainment in a game of 'Knivesies', a sport where two people are bound together with a strip of leather and seek to gather coins, with the person holding the most coins at the end the victor. The games name presumably comes from the fact that a dagger is also provided, and should one contestant fall unconscious or die, the other wins by default. Mara took up the challenges, and demonstrated that her considerable skill with her sword extended to unarmed combat as well. Kicking the dagger off the top of the table they were standing on, Mara proceeded to wrestle her opponent into submission, take his coin pouch, and then pitch him off the table to emerge victorious! With his sadism satisfied, Barvasi consented to give us a pair of letters – love letters, in point of fact – between the Chelaxian ambassador and the wife of a Chelaxian noble. I confess, there is little more satisfying than seeing an evil man brought low by his vices.
GM's Note: Yep, Mara kicked the dagger off the table, punched the guy in the face as he grabbed for coins, grappled him, spent several rounds with grapple checks going back and forth, but eventually successfully pinned him without him breaking the pin on his next turn and succeeded in a check to throw him off the table, that on top of a 500gp bribe and their usual awesome Diplomancing won the day with ease.
Having appraised Kendra of the pseudodragon situation while Barvasi was intend on the game of 'Knivesies,' she then broached the subject with the crime lord. He admitted that he would be willing to part with Majenko, as the dragon is named, for the sum of five thousand gold, a number far beyond our means. I realised then that if I had appraised it properly, we did possess an item of such worth; the ornate dagger that Verik had given us. The magic upon it would meet and possibly exceed that price, and I hoped Kendra would be able to convince Barvasi to make the trade. Sceptical, Barvasi brought in a drunken hedge wizard to assess the object, and I was astounded when he declared it to be utterly non-magical! Without Kendra’s training, my shock was evident, and so I made a last-ditch attempt to salvage the situation.
In my sycophantic role, I whispered to Kendra that the item must be even more valuable than we had dreamed, for it could conceal its magical aura. Such an item would be worth far more than the 'pathetic' dragon, and we should not trade it away under any circumstances. I admit, it was foolish to expect a powerful crime lord to fall for such a simple trick, but Kendra once again outdid herself. Her reactions were absolutely perfect, and even I could not tell where truth ended and the lie began. And so we left Eel’s End with the information that we had come for and Majenko in tow, yet five hundred gold and one very strange dagger poorer.
The rest of the day is of little interest, but I do not know that anything could have had a greater impression on me than that nervewracking half-hour in Barvasi's den. We reported back to Cressida, and then returned to the Three Rings for some much-needed rest. I have been passing the time feeding Majenko apples. He apparently believes that the only way he can repay us for his freedom is to serve us for one year. I do not wish to remove him from one dangerous situation only to place him in to another, but he appears quite adamant, and I have no wish to turn away a new friend.
This. Was. Awesome. The module doesn't really cover this, I probably shouldn't have let it work
I can’t help but wonder about that dagger, though. Vencarlo identified it as being of Vudrani make, and the magics of that distant land are a mystery to me. Have we traded a worthless trinket to Barvasi? Or have we inadvertently gifted him with an item of greater power than I knew? Any error is mine, for I am the one who suggested such a transaction. Perhaps I should have known better than to trade an object of unknown potential away to somebody I neither liked nor trusted, but knowing that we liberated a creature that was caged and tormented for Barvasi's amusement softens the blow. I suspect whatever we may discover about the dagger in the future, it will not alter my belief that we did the right thing. I can only hope and pray that the correct path will always be so obvious.
GM's Note: I've given them 2-3 weeks before the next major plot happenings, I'll pin down the exact number next week when we sort out exactly what they do in their down-time. Current plans are that Sunstep is researching Vudran daggers, any mystical uses etc. and is going to start his prison chaplaincy, Kendra will be catching up on the current political scene and reintegrating herself into polite society after her brief absence, Mara will be spending time with her son and training with Vencarlo, and Cyrus will probably go hunt down some kind of sidequest after the first few days, so he can right some more wrongs in Korvosa and force me to do extra prep work :P.
Levels at end of session:
Cyrus, Conjuror 3
Kendra, Urban Ranger 1/Scout 2
Mara, Fighter 3
Sunstep, Favoured Soul 3
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Apologies if there are any giant holes or anything in this diary, we're both kind of tired, so feel free to ask if anything is unclear/poorly written/missing.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 9th of Sarenith, AR 4708
I spoke with Grau and Verik today. Grau seems much improved, with no sign of any slipping back into old habits. Better still, I think he’s gradually warming to the idea of burying the hatchet with Vencarlo.
As for Verik, he is quite dispirited, but seemed pleased that we were seeking to keep All The World’s Meat in business. He fears for Vimanda, but I suspect House Arkona can take care of themselves.
GM Note: They had three weeks down-time, Kendra integrated herself back into polite society, Mara spent some time with her family and Sunstep started his prison chaplaincy job and started running a Sunday School at the temple of Sarenrae with Majenko as his assistant. All of them spent a bit of time checking in on the orphans (Sunstep persuaded a few of them to come to sunday school, but mostly they're leaving the kids to go to orphanages or go elsewhere as they want) and trying to make arrangements for All The World's Meat.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 11th of Sarenith, AR 4708
Today has been troubling. Kendra came to me a little before noon, holding an item I never thought to see again. Devargo has sent us back the dagger; that is to say, sent it to the inn where Kendra told him to leave messages for her. Well, her false self. All this subterfuge is very confusing! At any rate, he sent it back with ‘his compliments’. On examining the weapon, it radiated the same aura that I saw the first time that I examined it, plain as day, yet Zellara still cannot tell us anything of its powers! What kind of game is Devargo playing? Why would he send us this item? And what secrets does this strange blade hide? Since the weapon seems bent on travelling with us, Mara carries it for the moment, though I have told her to inform me the moment the weapon does anything strange. I think, under the circumstances, keeping it close is wisest.
GM Note:
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 17th Sarenith, AR 4708
A good day! All The World’s Meat is open again, offering free food to any who wish it. The four of us have spent long hours racking our brains as to where we would find the ‘muscle’ that we would need to protect the philanthropic endeavour, until we realised that it had been right under our noses. It was simple to convince Vencarlo to set some of his students to watch over the butchers, both as a good deed and in order to give them some experience of handling threats without resorting to violence. Verik seemed very pleased when I told him. He should be a free man again soon, albeit a mere Private after his indiscretions. Still, it is good to see that justice in Korvosa is not always cruel.
GM Note: Verik and his men all confessed in public to their crimes, his men have been kicked out and are currently in prison awaiting Korvosan justice, but due to the party's backing up his story Verik has been imprisoned for a while as punishment, but will be released and will re-enter the guard as a private, because he's a good soldier and he's more useful there than in prison.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 25th of Sarenith, AR 4708
There are ill tidings sweeping the city. That the King was murdered is a rumour that has been about since his death, but in the last week, it has been growing in detail. Today, the ‘murderer’ was named; Trinia Sabor, an artist who painted the King’s portrait shortly before his death. The idea is patently ludicrous, but I fear that Korvosa is anxious to seize on someone to blame. I only hope it does not grow any worse.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 26th of Sarenith, AR 4708
The plot thickens. Today, a palace guard hurled himself from one of the towers of Castle Korvosa. He left a confession accusing Trinia of having plotted to poison and murder the King, and he confessed to having been involved in the conspiracy. This affair has graduated from fear-mongering into something far more sinister. Someone seeks the death of this artist, and they wish it to be ugly. An objective look at the accusations shows them to be pathetic; an artist, an outsider, was somehow able to murder the King by subverting palace guards to her aid? Furthermore, she used some poison that could not be countered by the best medical care and divine magic that money could buy? Where would a simple artist find such a miracle tool? Mordenkainen’s Razor states that when you have two explanations for one event, the simplest is probably the correct one, and I find old age a more plausible cause of death than a mystery poison of impossible virulence. No, I am certain that Trinia Sabor is innocent. Unfortunately, I fear the citizenry of Korvosa may not share my views. Kendra is looking for Trinia even as I write this. With luck, we will be able to help her before it is too late.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 27th of Sarenith, AR 4708
It never rains, but it pours. And the storm clouds have not cleared yet. The day started as it meant to go on, as we received an urgent message informing us that Cressida Croft would be meeting us in the Three Rings in a matter of minutes. The Field Marshal informed us that Trinia Sabor’s time had run out, and mobs roamed the streets, baying for her blood. Fortunately, Cressida knew where the artist lived, and she wanted us to travel there, safeguard her, and return her to Cressida for questioning. I knew that while I trusted Cressida, I would under no circumstances leave an innocent woman at the mercy of the Korvosan justice system, and as we travelled to The Shingles, it became clear that the others shared my views. Swiftly, we sent Majenko ahead of us to make contact with Trinia, and to reassure her that while we would soon be at her door, we meant her no harm. Kendra, disguised as a Varisian, entered Trinia’s flat while the rest of us kept watch for any signs of the mob. She went to work on Trinia, disguising her as a Varisian as well, and then the six of us slipped away. As we headed out of the city to the Varisian encampment, I was surprised that we attracted as little notice as we did, with myself and Sunstep apparently escorting three beautiful Varisian women home!
GM Note: Yeah, they circumvented the chase scene, but I couldn't see this plan not working, I mean, who wouldn't trust a pseudodragon? :D
I considered doing some kind of chase out with the mob spotting them but a) Kendra's disguise checks were decent and b) with the party so ill-suited for that kind of thing, it probably wouldn't have been much fun for anyone.
I thought it an ironic boon that with the Watch so stretched containing the chaos, the gates we needed to leave by were all but unmanned, and no impediment to our progress. As we travelled, I found my suspicions about Trinia condensing into certainties. Majenko told me that the pseudodragons of the Shingles thought very highly of Trinia, who often left food out for them; her neighbours had for several days made a concerted effort to protect her from the mobs, all convinced she was utterly innocent; and I myself found her a most pleasant and sincere woman, utterly bewildered as to why such dreadful lies were being told about her, and with an enviable ability to maintain good humour despite her unfortunate situation. Mara was a little harder to convince, but I eventually managed to get her to stop interrogating Trinia as if she were some dangerous criminal. Fortunately, Mara did eventually come to accept that Trinia had been framed, and we hid her with Mara’s brother. The Varisian community is close-knit, and I do not believe that the mob will be able to find her there. It may only be a temporary solution, but it is a longer-term one than handing her over to the courts.
GM Note: Majenko is going to act as an envoy between Trinia and the party, Cyrus is going to keep sending him off with notes.
Cressida was understandably torn when we reported back to her. She was pleased to receive a signed affidavit from Trinia laying out her side of the story, such as it was, and was able to see why we had chosen the course of action that we did. She seemed amenable to spreading the rumour that Trinia has escaped in the direction of Magnimar, and we let the matter rest. However, that was not to be the end of our labours this day. It seemed that under cover of the unrest over the alleged assassination of the King, a group of Korvosans had taken the opportunity to beat a young man to death for the capital offence of being Shoanti. What was worse, his corpse had then been taken for use in vile necromantic experiments! If the corpse could not be returned, it might mean war between several of the Shoanti tribes and Korvosa. Understandably, we set off at once. The corpse had apparently been taken to a particular mausoleum, and Kendra swiftly found a hidden trapdoor within that forbidding building leading into a set of warrens.
GM Note: Cyrus didn't get most of Cressida's extra details on the mission due to storming out after an off-hand comment from Kendra about using drugs to calm his nerves after his-near collapsing from the stress after they got Trinia out.
The time we spent below is something of a blur to me. We found the undead that we had half-expected, but also a corridor of skulls with strange ophidian guardians and several rooms cluttered with foul necromantic paraphernalia and staffed by strange blue-skinned creatures. I must note here that I was inexpressibly pleased with the potential that was realised by my recently-acquired glitterdust spell. On more than one occasion, our enemies stumbled, utterly bereft of their senses thanks to the shimmering particles. Despite our early successes, the foes within the warrens were extremely dangerous, and upon seizing a prisoner, we elected to retreat for the day and return the next to continue our search. Kendra looked quite pale in the afternoon light, no doubt thanks to the blood-sucking stirges we encountered. A pox on such vermin! At any rate, we returned to Cressida, offered a progress report, and divested ourselves of our strange captive. We are informed that he is a ‘derro’ - some sort of subterranean dwarf – and the poor creature seems quite insane. He babbles about ‘lesser races’ who will apparently be ‘crushed beneath the iron-booted feet’ of the ‘intransistable* derro overlords’. Perhaps a night in the cells will shake his spirit. For now, I crave rest. I wonder how Trinia is settling in at the encampment?
* Not a spelling error, alas.
GM Note: So the Dead Warrens, my dice weren't liking me. The skeleton's were hit with the first of Cyrus' spectacular uses of Glitterdust (all failed their saves bar one of the human skeletons, and every attack from the next three rounds failed due to miss-chance or their dropped to hit) and Mara cleaved through them with wild abandon. Kendra spotted the Derro's secret door from the Ossuary so they've been wandering the secret passages mostly.
The Exsanguination Chamber fight was a bit nasty, Kendra took some Con damage before they killed off the Stirges, the Derro didn't do much (the bastards were in front of the secret door it was hoping to flee through), Mara cut him down as he fled through the non-secret exit.
They fail to spot the Acid Spraying Skulls trap in the Skull Corridor, so took a bit of damage from that, then had some unpleasantness with the Lesser Necrophidius. The Dance of Death did squat, but Mara rolled an unlucky one on her paralysis save on being bitten, so the first couple of rounds the things basically got to attack freely. Cue Cyrus' second ludicrously effective Glitterdust, they all fail the save and again I constantly roll badly on the miss chance (though with the -2 to hit they had sod all chance of hitting Mara anyway, what with her Medium Armour and OK Dex. They finally got taken out with Majenko flanking to offset Mara power-attacking for max to do around 10 damage a turn after DR. Still a bloody slow fight though, with their 5/bludgeoning DR and 25 HP rendering everyone else a bit useless (bar Cyrus and Sunstep pinging them with Wand of Magic Missile and a sling respectively).
They've just finished up the fight with the Derro in the Alchemy Lab. He was taken out by Majenko's Sleep Poison, so they've dragged him out to interrogate him before they rest and return.
Levels at end of session: Same as last session! Would people be care to see the party's full stats (behind a spoiler cut obviously)? Don't know if it's worth it, but if anyone is interested I'll throw them up.
I would love to see those stats! Your party is obviously quite effective and I'd like to see what your dealing with.
Great read as always!
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Right, sorry there hasn't been an update in a while, Mara's player was moving house last week so we didn't play, and yesterday's game was in the evening rather than the afternoon so we're still in the process of writing the diary in between our house-moving exploits, so should be up later today. We're going to be missing the next two weeks as well sadly, as Kendra's player is getting married so she'll be on honeymoon :)
For now, here are the characters at the end of last session (they've reached level four). I'll put everything behind spoiler tags so it's less huge:
Relevant House Rules:
2) All players act as if they had the Able Learner feat, halving the cost of cross-class skills.
3) Hit points are full at 1st level, and 3/4 (rounding up) at subsequent levels.
4) Favoured Souls cast purely using Charisma.
5) Dodge applies to all enemies, and is lost when flat-footed.
6) Urban Rangers get Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate and Open Lock as class skills
Yeah, I'm probably overly generous :). I like to have lots of inter-party roleplay, with characters growing and developing over time, so having characters die really easily sucks, but I also don't like fudging rolls to keep them alive. Thus being generous now hopefully means there's less death later but there's still an air of danger to fights. I do nerf some things (like dwarves), but nothing that's relevant for these characters. I also hate book keeping and faff :P.
Cyrus Zol:
NG Medium humanoid
Init +2; Senses Listen +2, Spot +2
Defense
AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10
(+2 Dexterity)
hp 13 (4d4)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +8
Offense
Spd 30 ft.
Melee dagger +1 (1d4/19-20)
Ranged light crossbow +3 (1d8/19-20)
Spells Known (CL 4th)
2nd – baleful transposition (DC 16), blur, glitterdust (2; DC 16)
1st – benign transposition (2), magic missile, grease (2; DC 15)
0th – amanuensis, detect magic (2), light
Prohibited Schools enchantment, necromancy
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 17, Wis 14, Cha 14
Base Atk +1; Grp +1
Feats Augment Summoning, Imbued Summoning, Skill Focus (Spellcraft), Spell Focus (conjuration), Spell Focus (evocation)
Skills Concentration +7, Intimidate +3, Knowledge (arcana) +10, Knowledge (local) +10,
Knowledge (the planes) +10, Speak Language (Aquan, Ignan, Terran), Spellcraft +15, Tumble +5
Languages Abyssal, Aquan, Celestial, Common, Ignan, Infernal, Terran
SQ rapid summoning
Combat Gear scroll of benign transposition, wand of magic missile (5 charges)
Other Gear dagger, light crossbow with 20 bolts, shiver (1 dose), sunrod, vest of resistance +1, Vreeg’s spellbook, 965 gp
Hook Drug Addict (+1 Fort saves)
Spell Book – All memorised plus: 0th – all cantrips barring enchantment and necromancy,
1st – color spray, mage armour, protection from evil, shield, summon monster I, 2nd – summon monster II
Kendra Knotwright:
CG Medium humanoid
Init +4; Senses Listen +7, Spot +6
Defense
AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 17
(+4 armour, +3 Dex)
hp 30 (4d8+4)
Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +2
Offense
Spd 40 ft.
Melee masterwork dagger +4 (1d4/19-20)
Ranged masterwork longbow +7 (1d8/x3)
Special Attacks favoured enemy (human +2), skirmish +1d6/+1AC
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; Grp +3
Feats Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw
Skills Bluff +9, Climb +2, Diplomacy +9, Disable Device +8, Disguise +6, Gather Information +13, Hide +5, Knowledge (local) +8, Listen +7, Move Silently +5, Open Lock +8, Search +7, Sense Motive +8, Spot +6, Tumble +9
SQ battle fortitude +1, fast movement +10ft., trackless step, trapfinding, uncanny dodge, urban tracking, wild empathy
Languages Common, Infernal, Varisian
Combat Gear acid flask (2), tanglefoot bag, thunderstone
Other Gear compact (filled with pepper), disguise kit, masterwork dagger (disguised as mirror), masterwork folding longbow with 20 arrows, mithral chain shirt, silver dagger, 466 gp
Hook Framed (Custom Version; +2 to Gather Information)
Marcelina Soto-Vaira:
LG Medium humanoid
Init +2; Senses Listen +3, Spot +3
Defense
AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 16
(+5 armour, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 protection)
hp 42 (4d10+8)
Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +1; +2 vs charm and compulsion
Offense
Spd 20 ft.
Melee masterwork falchion +9 (2d4+6/18-20) or sap +7 (1d6+3)
Ranged longbow +6 (1d8/x3)
Statistics
Str 17, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +4; Grp +7
Feats Cleave, Dodge, Harrowed, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (falchion), Weapon Specialisation (falchion)
Skills Diplomacy +5, Intimidate +9, Listen +3, Profession (harrow reader) +4, Sense Motive +3, Spot +3
Languages Common, Varisian
Combat Gear oil of keen edge
Other Gear chainmail, masterwork falchion, longbow with 20 arrows, ring of protection +1, sap, Vudran dagger, Zellara’s Harrow Deck, 1,633 gp
Hook Lost Love (+2 to Profession checks)
Limpnottin Teamonkey Copperlatch Orebrick Seastoke Clockhand Chainchoker Leaffold Lancet Sunstep Peacock Sharkbait Hiltknot Deathlifter Thrashhand
NG Small humanoid
Init +1; Senses low-light vision; Listen +3, Spot +1
Defense
AC 18, touch 12, flat-footed 16
(+4 armour, +1 Dexterity, +2 shield, +1 size)
hp 34 (4d8+8)
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +7; +2 vs illusions
Offense
Spd 20 ft.
Melee scimitar +4 (1d4/18-20)
Ranged sling +5 (1d3)
Spells Known (CL 4th)
2nd (4/day) – bull’s strength, cure moderate wounds, lesser restoration
1st (5/day) – cure light wounds, lesser vigor, magic stone, protection from evil
0th (6/day) – create water, cure minor wounds, detect magic, detect poison, light, mending
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 4th)
1/day – dancing lights, ghost sounds, prestidigitation, speak with animals (burrowing only)
Statistics
Str 10, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 17
Base Atk +3; Grp -1
Feats Extend Spell, Force of Personality
Skills Concentration +11, Heal +8, Knowledge (religion) +9, Spellcraft +9
Languages Celestial, Common, Gnome, Sylvan
Other Gear chain shirt, dagger, healers kit, heavy wooden shield, rod of lesser extend spell, scimitar, sling, wand of cure moderate wounds (34 charges), 2,064 gp
Hook Unhappy Childhood (+2 to Concentration checks)
And since we put him on the elite array, and altered some weird things with standard Pseudodragons:
Majenko:
Init +4; Senses blindsense 60 ft., darkvision 60ft., low-light vision; Listen +7, Spot +7
Defense
AC 20, touch 16, flat-footed 16
(+4 Dex, +4 natural, +2 size)
hp 15 (2d12+2)
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +3
Immune sleep, paralysis; SR 19
Offense
Spd 15 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee sting +6 (1d3-1 plus poison) and bite +1 (1)
Statistics
Str 8, Dex 19, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +2; Grp -7
Feats Alertness, Impslayer, Weapon Finesse
Skills Diplomacy +9, Hide +21, Listen +7, Perform (sing) +7, Search +6, Sense Motive +5, Spot +7
SQ telepathy 60 ft.
Gear several apples (carried by other party members), big hat with trailing ribbons
Special Abilities
Poison (Ex) Injury, Fortitude DC 14, initial damage sleep for 1 minute, secondary damage sleep for 1d3 hours. The save DC is Constitution-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus.
Skills Pseudodragons have a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks. In forests or overgrown areas, this bonus improves to +8.
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Diary of Cyrus Zol, 28th of Sarenith, AR 4708
Rising bright and early, we returned to the complex of caves that stretched away beneath the mausoleum. This time our attack was swift and sure, and none of the creatures that remained below could long stand against us. There were more derro, but also new surprises. Firstly, it transpired that the Shoanti corpse we were seeking had been cannibalized for parts, and our task was now a freakish scavenger hunt! Secondly, creatures more twisted than the derro roamed the catacombs. First among these was a carrion golem, a foul construct formed from the rotting dead. I recalled from my studies that the creature inevitably carried foul diseases, but Mara and Kendra knew better than to let it strike them. The second creature we found guarded several prisoners, and once their gaoler had been subdued, we swiftly released the poor souls. We were informed afterwards that the creature was an ‘ogrekin’, some half-breed cousin of the true ogres that walk our lands. Yet our hunt was not yet done.
We pressed onwards. All throughout the complex we found the failures and cast-offs of some crazed necromancer; the habitual madness of the derro permeated these failures, and I knew that we were hot on the trail of Vreeg, the apprentice of Rolth that our captive told of us amidst his ranting. And, indeed, we discovered Vreeg in his bolthole, guarded by a pair of shambling corpses. He hovered in the air, cackling madly, and I knew then that his mastery of magic outstripped my own. He struck Mara with some bolt of dark energy which sapped her endurance, and shrugged off my faithful glitterdust. We braced ourselves for a long, grim battle, when salvation came from the unlikeliest of corners. Our brave Majenko flung himself at Vreeg, and buried his sting in the derro’s neck. And to our amazement, the venom took effect! Vreeg slumped, snoring slightly as he twisted gently in midair. With the necromancer neutralised, his undead minions were child’s play for Mara’s ready blade, even weakened as she was. Being a wizard myself, I knew the way to handle Vreeg. We stripped the derro nearly naked, bound him, gagged him, blindfolded him, and then beat him unconscious. Harsh measures, perhaps, but I know better than to underestimate a practitioner of the arcane. In his lair we found the final piece of our gruesome puzzle, twitching as if alive! Carefully studying it from a safe distance, we determined that Vreeg had somehow imbued it with some semblance of undeath, but that the merest spark of positive energy would undo his work. And so it was.
GM Notes: Wow, I was having a whole world of bad dice luck (and the party's dice luck was excellent). The two Derro in the Derro Cave were dealt with pretty quickly as one got critted spectacularly by Mara and fled (to be taken down by a Magic Missile), and the other was just cleanup. Another lucky crit took out the Otyugh with minimal trouble, fotunately for them. The Otyugh encounter levelled the party. The Carrion Golem held out a long time and they were really scared of it, as Cyrus made his Knowledge Arcana roll so knew about the crazy disease causing. But every single attack roll I made was single figures, so much for it doing anything. Cabbagehead swung and missed Mara once, then was hit by Majenko and was the first one to roll spectacularly poorly on the poison save so fell over snoring :P.
Vreeg had time to cast Extended Shield and Extended Fly (I gave him a Lesser Rod of Extend, as the party were about 3k behind cash-wise, due to their crazy altruism), and to throw down the Human Skeleton and Zombie from his Robe of Bones, whilst the party were faffing in Rolth's Room. Again, sadly he had time to get off one Ray of Exhaustion, before Majenko hit him with a sting, I rolled a 2 on his Fort save and he went unconcious. I had tweaked his spell list quite a bit, giving him some Spell Compendium spells and switching his focus to ranged touch rather than melee touch. It's cheesy, but he still didn't have that much damage output and the old melee touch/Spectral Hand tactic is just kind of poor, especially given the low damage on Vampiric Touch at low levels. anyway, in the end it didn't really matter; all that hard work for nothing :P.
Our task complete, we returned to Cressida. Alas, I should have known better than to think our work done. The Field Marshal informed us that Trinia Sabor had been captured, and was to be publicly executed at sunset! Needless to say, we were stunned at this news. How had they found her? Then the thought occurred to us – had they found her? We swiftly sped to the Varisian encampment and found Trinia there, utterly unaware that she was supposed to be languishing in the palace dungeons. My worst suspicions were confirmed. Korvosan justice had decided that Trinia Sabor would not escape, that she would be punished for her alleged crime. They would not let the fact they did not have Trinia Sabor to punish interfere with their plans. A dozen wild plans spun through my head at that moment, ways that I could rescue this doppelganger from her undeserved fate, but a moment’s reflection showed me the futility of my thoughts. I could not hope that my meagre magics would overmaster the combined forces of the palace guard, the Watch, the Hellknights and the Sable Company, to say nothing of any individuals that might take my rescue attempt ill. All I would accomplish would be the execution of two people rather than one. The wait for sunset was a grim one, even the music and laughter of the Varisian encampment unable to lift my spirits. I sent a message to Vencarlo informing him of the execution, hoping that he would be there, but his reply was uncharacteristic. He was not coming. However, Majenko, my messenger, informed me that neither was he bitterly drinking, the course I expected him to take. Rather, he did not wish me to do worry. I admit my suspicions were aroused. I knew Vencarlo had been reckless in his youth. Some might say he had not shaken this habit in his middle age. What might my mentor be scheming? Obviously, the only way I could find that out would be to go to the execution.
GM Notes: We've had some nice roleplay in all the scenes at Trail's End, lots of hanging out with Trinia, and fun with Majenko, his message from Vencarlo was a little fuzzy, due to all the cider people had been feeding him. Also some very nice party debate about what the hell they could do to help the poor girl, eventually deciding that they can't really do anything except bear witness. *Phew* looks like they've all got sensible heads on their shoulders, else there's no way that could have ended well.
And so the five of us went to witness a public murder in the name of justice. What happened next was incredible. ‘Trinia’ was brought out, obviously under some enchantment. The disguise was excellent – I only saw through it because I knew it to be false. The Queen stepped forward and spoke, and my mind began whirling as she spat her venom. The longer this affair dragged on, the more I became convinced that the King had, in fact, been murdered. Here was someone accused of murder, and being killed for it. It is more common for someone to be framed for an actual crime than an imaginary one; what would be the point of inventing both a crime and a scapegoat? Such a deception would be doubly likely to be discovered. In short, I concluded, someone in the palace with easy access to the King was guilty of murder. But was the Queen the culprit, or just desperate to divert unwarranted suspicion from herself? My musings were interrupted by the headsman raising his axe. Here it was, then. Murder, dressed up in pomp and ceremony, being enjoyed as if it were the serving of some fabulous centrepiece at a masquerade ball. And then, something amazing happened.
The executioner groaned and fell to his knees as a dagger sprouted from his back. With that, a masked figure, clad all in black, swooped onto the stage. Blackjack! I had half considered him an urban myth, a folk tale to make life a little more bearable for the downtrodden of Korvosa. Yet here he was, as large as life, rescuing ‘Trinia’ from her unjust death. His words were as powerful as the Queen’s earlier performance as he denounced her and her unjust actions. The crowd was confused, tripping over one another, uncertain whether they wanted to go towards the stage or flee from it. I admit that I may have assisted the confusion a little, several of the more belligerent-looking onlookers finding the floor beneath them a little more slippery than the remembered. Blackjack fled across the rooftops, ‘Trinia’ slung across his shoulders, and I began to forge my way through the crowd, only one thing on my mind. Vencarlo had known this was going to happen! And I was going to find out how!
GM Notes: Cinematic Scenes seem to work well for us! Despite me flubbing the description a fair bit through nervousness, this was fantastic fun. Everyone seemed to get into it and really enjoy the Zorro-esque nature of it all and being able to step back from the limelight briefly.
Arriving at Vencarlo’s house, I found him flustered and somewhat out of sorts. In low tones he informed me that the man in black had visited him a short time before, and had left him with a rather unexpected houseguest! He swiftly ushered me out, saying that he would contact us tomorrow. I returned to the Varisian encampment, my spirits considerably higher than when I left, and informed Trinia what had occurred at the execution. She was as delighted as I that an innocent life had not been lost in place of hers and I fell asleep beside one of the fires as the music carried me off to sleep.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 29th of Sarenith, AR 4708
We spent the morning divesting ourselves of the treasures we had plundered from the derro, and then travelled to Vencarlo’s house, when he informed us of the plan. We would escort the woman - now with flaming red hair and looking nothing like Trinia – out of the city and conceal her there, until some friends of Vencarlo could arrive and spirit her off to a safe location. Our journey was child’s play compared to our similar excursions on behalf of the real Trinia Sabor. Nobody was looking for a red-haired woman in Varisian dress, and we swiftly passed beyond the city walls. Trinia is herself considering travelling to the same place in a few more days – a ranch, somewhere to the north of the city. I admit I will be sorry to see her go, but since ‘she’ has now added escaping the headsman’s axe to her list of crimes, it is now even more dangerous to have her hiding so close to Korvosa. Hopefully with her fled and Blackjack’s actions causing the citizens to doubt her guilt, the city will settle down into some semblance of order.
Then again, I am an incurable optimist.
GM Notes: With Cyrus going straight to Vencarlo I shifted this scene forwards a couple of weeks, as I couldn't see Vencarlo hiding the girl's presence from trusted friends, and with Kendra helping out on the disguise, there wouldn't be that much need for the trail to cool. So they smuggled her out to Trail's End the next day, to be met by Jasan in a couple of days, then Trinia will head out to Blackbird Ranch via a Varisian Caravan a couple of days after that (assuming nothing happens to prevent that next session).
Levels at end of session:
Cyrus, Conjuror 3/Master Specialist 1
Kendra, Urban Ranger 1/Scout 3
Mara, Fighter 4
Sunstep, Favoured Soul 4
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Diary of Cyrus Zol, 2nd of Erastus, AR 4708
The last days have been pleasant, as I split my time between visiting Trinia and deciphering the derro necromancer’s spellbook. His style of notation makes my head ache, but I would expect nothing less from a race famed for their insanity. Last night, however, my routine was disrupted by a strange noise. The others were awoken by it too, and Mara identified it as the sound of a trebuchet firing. Full of curiosity, we tracked down the source, to find that one of the trebuchets lining the river had apparently destroyed a boat of some sort. Somewhat bemused, we returned to bed. Today Kendra has uncovered additional information, of a worrisome sort. The boat, it seems, was some sort of plague ship, and was fired upon when it did not respond to being hailed. The best thing for it, I suppose, but I am mildly concerned that it sank not far from the Varisian encampment. To be safe, we’ve warned the inhabitants of Trail’s End to only use the river upstream of the wreckage for their needs.
GM Note: The party were still staying in Five Rings at this point so were within North Point to hear the trebuchet, I made them all make Int checks to remember that there are trebuchets on the river and guess that they were the most likely cause of the noise. These guys take the initiative so much, it’s tricky keeping up with them!
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 6th of Erastus, AR 4708
The news today is dire. This morning, Grau came seeking Sunstep, and bore our gnome away, stating that his niece was sick. That his niece lived in Trail’s End was not lost on any of us. On investigating, Sunstep found the girl to be extremely sick, and with an illness that he had never heard of before. He was able to ease her pain, and we were able to pay the cleric of Abadar that was present to heal her disease. Kendra gently coaxed the girl’s recent movements out of her, and suddenly all our joy over her recovery evaporated. It seems that the girl, Brienna, found a box by the water yesterday; a metal coffer, filled with silver coins. That the coffer sported a fetching skull motif was doubtless of no importance. And so, as the young are wont to do when they possess money, she spent it. All of it. Sunstep discerned that several members of her family were infected also, as was Sunstep himself, indicating that the disease was spread by contact with the infected. I prayed that my suspicions were groundless, and that the coins were not the disease-carriers that I feared them to be, but I went to speak with Field-Marshal Cressida anyway. On informing her of the symptoms and our fear of plague, she told us that she would instruct her men to be on the lookout for such signs. And with that, our work was done.
GM Note: Sunstep gave Brienna some Lesser Restorations, but doesn’t have 3rd level spells yet. The book says Ishani used up all his spells before coming to the Soldado household, but I scratched that since it made no sense (he leaves the church early enough not to know about the Clerics who woke up sick, so I’m not sure what he could really do with all his spells in that time), plus it just introduces an unnecessary and relatively trivial task of tracking down another 5+ level Cleric
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 7th of Erastus, AR 4708
Our worst fears are confirmed. The Watch have seen several people with the symptoms we described, and almost all of them are merchants. This disease is spreading. Myself and the others have begun taking precautions to try and safeguard ourselves; we have all purchased gloves, and since that transaction I have not handled money, using my account at the Bank of Abadar to back purchases without a coin passing through my hands. There is one positive thing to report; we found only six cases of the sickness within the Varisian encampment, and I was able to fund magical cures for all of them. We have warned the Varisians that the disease is spread by coinage, and they have agreed to isolate themselves from Korvosa until the plague passes. Hopefully, they will be able to avoid any further outbreaks. It’s not much. But it’s something.
GM Note:
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 8th of Erastus, AR 4708
We received a message early this morning from the Temple of Abadar, asking us to come and see one Vaultkeeper Ishani Dhatri. Hoping that he might have some insight in how to battle this spreading sickness, we travelled to the temple. The sight I saw there was one I was utterly unprepared for. The wide steps of the Temple of Abadar were teaming with people, all of them sick, all of them desperate. Attempting to bull through that crowd would have been a risky business, but fortunately we had options other than brute force. At my instructions, Majenko overflew the crowd and landed atop the steps. Then, with a word, a minor conjuration transposed Kendra and our pseudodragon companion. Kendra slipped inside the temple to the rendezvous, while we awaited developments. As it turned out, the Vaultkeeper wanted us to escort him to Citadel Volshyenek, so that he could confer with Field Marshal Croft on the issue of the outbreak. With one of Kendra’s disguises and another transposition, Ishani successfully navigated the mob, and to the Citadel we sped.
GM Note: Majenko saves the day again!
On arriving there, we came upon an interesting sight. Within the large courtyard of the Citadel stood what appeared to be the full strength of the City Watch. Atop a stage before them stood the Field Marshal and eight other figures. Six of them were clad in heavy leather, with strange, beak-like masks. Another was a worried looking man clutching a satchel. The last was the most striking; a woman in plate armour, her features obscured by a featureless helm. Cressida began speaking to her men, and with every word the gnawing feeling in my stomach grew stronger. It seemed the masked men were the Queen’s physicians, who were to go about the city doing all they could to battle the plague, with an armed escort provided by the Watch. The unmasked man was another doctor, and would be leading such efforts. And finally, the armoured woman. She was a member of a group called the Grey Maidens, a military force answered to the Queen herself, and with authority over as much of the Watch as they wished in pursuit of their duties. This group would be coordinating the efforts, in the name of the Radiant etcetera, etcetera. So that was that. But the best was yet to come.
GM Note:
On meeting with Cressida and the unmasked man – a Doctor Davaulus- we learnt two things of note. Firstly, the disease had been spreading furiously. The ugly suspicion burst upon me that perhaps the silver coins Brienna introduced into Korvosa were just the catalyst. What if this plague could infect other coinage? Gold, silver, copper; there would be no safety, no matter your level of wealth. It was a terrifying prospect. Secondly…secondly, our glorious, foresighted, brilliant Queen had sent for Doctor Davaulus on the same day as the first outbreaks of this disease, this ‘Blood Veil,’ had become evident. Nethys’ mismatched teeth! Such an act opened up two possibilities, neither of them pleasant. The first, and more unlikely, is that the Queen is in some way behind the plague outbreak. I consider this far-fetched primarily because after marrying – and perhaps, murdering? – King Eodred, I cannot see Ileosa wishing to rule over a city of the dead. Why claw your way to the top just to annihilate the whole hill? Yet the second possibility is that the Queen saw the opportunity this outbreak represented, an opportunity to take Korvosa by the throat and bend it to her rule. That she saw this opportunity mere hours after being informed of it, and pounced upon it with a speed and ferocity I have never dreamed that she possessed. It sits ill with me that I could have underestimated our Queen, that I could have been blinded by her position and classified her as just another noble. I fear that even if we can overcome this plague, the power that the Queen has seized because of it will not be lightly relinquished.
GM Note:
Levels at end of session: Same as last.
There may be another couple of weeks hiatus due to camping trips and birthdays and other such commitments.
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Diary of Cyrus Zol, 11th of Erastus, AR 4708
This damned plague grows worse daily, the death toll rising steadily. This morning, a new wrinkle presented itself; Vaultkeeper Ishani sent us a message, informing us that a certain perfumery, called ‘Lavender’, was claiming to possess a cure for the Blood Veil plague! Highly dubious about this prospect, we set off to investigate. Kendra’s skills were barely required; even I remembered the disastrous ‘Imp with every purchase’ promotion that the shop had attempted a few short months ago. When we arrived, we found the queue to enter the shop stretched some four city blocks. Kendra settled in to wait, so as to get inside the shop and examine it from a better position, while the rest of us applied ourselves to acquiring a sample of this miraculous perfume as swiftly as possible. Sure enough, one of the customers was more than willing to part with his jar of perfume in exchange for a cure disease from the Temple of Abadar the next morning.
While the others continues their vigil, I sped to the shop of an alchemist I had dealt with once or twice during my time at the Acadamae, and offered him five times his usual rate for an immediate and thorough analysis of the perfume in question. His conclusions were depressing, but hardly unexpected. Nothing but river water, sugar, and cheap perfume. I confess, upon hearing the news I vowed I would see Lavender’s proprietor pay for her cynical misdeed. Pausing only to acquire an affidavit from the alchemist, I sped back to the shop in time to convene with the others. Kendra had seen little of interest inside the building, but had located an unlocked and unguarded side entrance. At once, our plan crystallised. Majenko snuck into the shop, his small size and great agility easily enabling him to conceal himself among the rafters. Then we waited for closing time. As we waited, the anger grew inside me. By the time it came to enact our plan, I was only holding my composure by an effort of will. As the shops hired thugs began closing the doors on the crowds, Majenko glided down into a corner of the shop, and I utilised my transposition magics to replace him. Striding out of the corner with nothing but contempt for the people before me, I began telling Vendra Loaggri, the honourable proprietor, exactly what I thought of her. Korvosa may be a city with problems, but to profit from the misery of others so openly, without a scrap of remorse, is deserving of terrible retribution. Loaggri attempted to sway me with the testimony of a man obviously in her pay, but I knew the truth. Confronted by an individual of unknown power and threatened with imprisonment at best, Loaggri did exactly as we expected, and darted for the door. Kendra’s nocked arrow waiting beyond said exit curtailed her flight, and we escorted her, her hired hands, and her ‘satisfied customer’ to Citadel Volshyenek, to face well-deserved justice. I only hope this will send a clear message to others who would seek to traffic in false hope; it will not be allowed.
GM Notes: Vendra’s tactics/description does say that she fights if she can’t talk people around, but they pulled this off so slickly, and with lots of subtle implications of their ability to take her out, that it just felt right for her to give in and hope she can sneak off later. Especially as word of the party is starting to spread from the guard, the Bank of Abadar etc. due to their contributions to containing the plague already being pretty major (Cyrus has made the suggestion that the Bank of Abadar start creating a stock of standard promissory notes to use in lieu of coins, due to the possibility of coinage being infected, so he may have begun the introduction of bank notes into Korvosa!)
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 12th of Erastus, AR 4708
Alas, our work is never done. With the guard stretched to capacity aiding the physicians and keeping order, Cressida once again has had to request our aid. It had come to her attention that some of the people paid by the City to cart away the plague corpses may have been sloppy in their duties, and instead dumping the corpses in a certain alley in Old Korvosa. It was our job to investigate these rumours, ascertain their veracity, and if possible, deal with those people responsible for it. As it turned out, this simple-seeming task led us into our most dangerous confrontation yet, one which I am amazed that we survived. We travelled to the alley in question, and did indeed discover a mound of corpses, many of them victims of the Blood Veil.
However, Kendra’s keen eye noted that some of the bodies were not plague victims; and, worse of all, some of the bodies sported twin puncture marks on the throat and wrists. Sunstep, well versed in the lore of the undead, easily recognised the tell-tale signs of vampires. One of the buildings near to the pile of bodies had a hole in its wall, and it was here that we began our search for the vampire nest. I had not expected to discover it so soon, but in a small room beneath the building, we discovered four coffins, all occupied by the undead. We made full use of the only advantage we had; the element of surprise. Before the vampires could react, Mara had cut one of them entirely in half, leaving only a misty form behind. At this, the other three sprang at us, and it was only Mara’s powerful strikes and Sunstep’s healing touch that kept us from being their next meal. The battle was brief, but infinitely more terrifying to me than any of the conflicts to date. The close quarters, their fetid breath and the dark hunger in their eyes still chill me to the bone. What is worse, afterwards Sunstep identified them as lesser vampires, thralls in the service of a far more powerful master! I dread to think of such a being loose in Korvosa. However, within their nest we discovered a large number of coins stamped with the seal of Ustalav. It is possible that their master lurks within that darkened land, and is not within the city. I pray that it is so.
GM Notes: I’ve made the negative level from Vampire Spawn slam attacks temporary, as frankly it’s an incredibly harsh encounter for a fourth level party, and different levels across the party just make my life more difficult with regards to XP and encounter balancing. Mara and Sunstep both got negative levels, but they vanished after 24 hours. The party were (justifiably) terrified of this fight, but dealt with it pretty well. They completely missed the extra loot in the toyshop, but hey, it’s possible they wouldn’t have taken it anyway (raiding the cash box and safety deposit box of a dead man isn’t really this party’s style, I imagine they’d have tried to track down next of kin and failing that donated it to the city)
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 13th of Erastus, AR 4708
More of the undead! We were at Citadel Volsheyenek today, talking to Cressida about the vampire nest that we discovered the day before and its possible implications, when a young man burst into the courtyard, yelling about hideous creatures rising from their graves and attacking people. Leaping us, we made haste to the graveyard that the man had fled, and discovered within it five emaciated figures, with sharp claws and needle-like teeth. The ghouls, as Sunstep named them, had apparently sprung from a mass grave of plague victims, and were now hunting for human flesh. Their wasted frames could not withstand Mara’s blade, and we swiftly returned them to their rest. However, the strange occurrences of the day had not yet finished. As we left the graveyard, we were approached by a worried looking woman. Introducing herself as Eries, she informed us that she was a wererat! Though all that I have read suggests that wererats are a vicious and evil race, that the lycanthropic curse twists them into evil and unpleasant souls, Eries seemed to be simply terrified. Apparently, there have been wererat warrens under Korvosa for some considerable time, the wererats trying not to draw attention to themselves for fear of what the people of Korvosa might do. However, in recent months, there has been something of a power shift in the warrens, with an ambitious and warlike wererat, Girrigz by name, claiming leadership. Eries told us that Girrigz sought a war with the people of Korvosa, and was trying to rally the wererats to such an end. Such a thing could not be allowed! With the troubles Korvosa is already facing, a wererat uprising might be the last straw! Eries wished us to deal with Girrigz, and to allow a less warlike leader to come to the fore. It was obvious that we had little choice. Eries told us how to get to the warrens, and informed us that she would try to have as many of the wererats as possible absent when we arrived, leaving only Girrigz’s inner circle. We settled on the next morning as the time for our visit, and then went shopping in order to find some silver weapons.
GM Notes: This was from the optional encounter sidebar, mostly thrown in because Racker’s Alley left them *painfully* close to levelling. It wasn’t particularly interesting, though their standard tactic of toploading Mara with buffs and bulling through things was starting to become very obvious! I changed Eries story slightly to include that she wanted them to approach Girrigz tomorrow after she’d cleared most of the wererat population out of the area with fake jobs and so forth, as the relatively small number of them in the encounter makes no sense given Girrigz wants a war.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 14th of Erastus, AR 4708
It’s all so simple! I’m not sure what it is about the life we lead, but it seems that my grasp of magic thrives under pressure! The more of these problems we confront, the more we risk life and limb, the more I understand of the fundamental principles that underlay my studies. I have progressed in leaps and bounds since beginning these adventures. It is evident that power exists to be used, not hoarded away against catastrophe. Furthermore, the reward for power used wisely is more power. When I awoke this morning, I had at my fingertips greater magics than I have ever commanded before. With my new-found spells, out assault on Girrigz was a whirlwind of steel and blood. From our entry into the warrens to the death of Girrigz on Mara’s newly purchased silver blade, I do not believe that two minutes passed. The spell of haste was especially efficacious. It was an awe-inspiring sight to see Mara’s blade blurring through the air, moving almost too fast to be seen. With the spells of strength and protection that Sunstep and myself layered about her, none within the warrens were her match. With the problem dealt with, Eries had something for us. Apparently, the Direption, the plague ship which brought us our current woes, carried more than one of the mysterious wooden coffers engraved with skulls. One washed up in the wererat warrens, and they found within the coffer a pouch of silver coins and a dead rat. I bless the paranoia of the wererat population; they cast the coffer back into the river, closed and untouched. Eries also informed us that they knew where the ship sank, and that she could give us some potions of water breathing so that we could investigate the wreck! At last, we may be able to shed some light on the source of this insidious disease, and perhaps make some progress towards finding a cure! I only hope that we do it soon. The death toll rises by the hour.
GM Notes: Yeah, this was scary, as soon as it was clear that the wererats sympathetic to Girrigz were unwilling to talk at all, Mara was buffed to the nines and waded through the lot of them before the 5-round haste wore off. They were still stabalising the unconscious, but they really went all out on taking these guys down. I rewrote Girrigz on the elite array with a few slightly different feat choices, as he appeared to be the wererat in the MM with fighter levels rather than a properly templated character. This upped his to-hit and AC even more which I thought could make him rather challenging, especially as I’d given him Spring Attack, and against the odds he saved against all the spells Cyrus threw at him. But with the confined space, the buffs still on Mara, plus some clever use of Benign Transposition and Rod of Viscid Globs the party wore him down eventually. It was a much more enjoyable fight than I was expecting, I usually find fights against ludicrous dex monkeys incredibly dull and irritating, so it was a pleasant surprise.
Through use of Detect Object on the box they got from Brienna Soldado, the party have confirmed that there are more of them on the ship and found it’s exact location, so they’ll be heading there next week.
Levels at end of session:
Cyrus, Conjuror 3/Master Specialist 2
Kendra, Urban Ranger 1/Scout 4
Mara, Fighter 5
Sunstep, Favoured Soul 5
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Diary of Cyrus Zol, 17th of Erastus, AR 4708
Knowing that more of the skull-adorned coffers existed, I spent the last two days scouring the city for them with the help of divinations. A few more were recovered, but all were long empty. Today, we descended into the river to investigate the wreck that began this mess – the Direption. We had to fight off a number of poisonous eels and combat a sea hag and her pet shark, but the rewards were worth it. We managed to recover an intact coffer, and an airtight case. Most curiously, we discovered only a single crewman aboard the ship. There were no provisions aboard, implying that there was never more than this solitary crewman. Furthermore, this crewman wore a holy symbol of Urgathoa, and sported a plaguebringer’s mask identical to that worn by the Queen’s physicians! Upon exiting the river, we sped to Citadel Volshyenek to inform Cressida what we had learned. En route, however, we were accosted by a Varisian woman who seemed to know Mara. She told us that her brother Ruan, a musician, had been engaged the night before to play at a party at the house of Lord and Lady Carowyn but never returned. Upon passing by the house, she saw it to be seemingly deserted. We promised that we would investigate as soon as we could, and then continued on to the Field Marshal. Once we were within Cressida’s office, we opened the sealed case. It contained documentation pertaining to the ship, but one of the documents was of particular interest; a deed to the ship and its contents, in the name of one Reiner Davaulus. What madness was this? Had the Queen, in fact, conspired with the Doctor to infect her own city with the Blood Veil plague? Or is his presence here merely an attempt to make restitution for the hideous disease he has unleashed into our streets? We need to know more, but that is work for another day.
GM Notes: The eels weren’t really a threat due to their pitiful damage, though the large number meant they did do a reasonable amount of dex damage from unlucky fort save rolls. Yvicca seemed like she should be a challenge, but with everyone who cares about strength making their Horrific Appearance save, Mara making her Evil Eye save, her animal companion failing his save against Glitterdust and Cyrus' use of Dimension Step to sneak Mara past the two sharks straight to Yvicca, she managed to completely miss with one full attack, get hideously mauled by Mara, then surrender. They let her go since they had no reason to believe she was doing anything wrong
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 18th of Erastus, AR 4708
Early in the morning, we went seeking Ruan. The house showed no signs of life, but we managed to slip in by the servants entrance. Within was a scene of horror. Corpses littered the floor, strewn every which way like gruesome petals. Some of the corpses had risen again, and now acted out all the motions of a masquerade ball as the flesh slowly rotted from their bones. We swept through the house, returning the undead to their endless sleep. We had not gone far when a female voice demanded to know why we were ‘spoiling her party’. When we sought to question the woman, who named herself Jolistina, she fled. We found her again on the upper floor, whereupon we discovered that she was an associate of the necromancer, Rolth! That was, I admit, enough for me. Sickened by her childish glee in the macabre pageant around us, I struck first, closely followed by my compatriots. Blind and reeling, Jolistina was little match for us, and we swiftly had her at our mercy. We discovered that she was an elf, no doubt one of the ‘Forlorn’ that I have heard about. In her case, I can see why the elven lands had no place for her; she is a twisted individual, lacking any regard for human life, and obviously quite insane. Swiftly discerning that the thing she feared most was boredom, we managed to convince her to talk to us with some well-placed threats.
Apparently, Rolth had given her some smoke bombs, and told her to use them on the people at the party. These bombs seem to have contained some improved version of Blood Veil, which killed its victims within minutes. Fortunately or unfortunately, Ruan was not among the victims. Apparently Rolth had given specific instructions that any healthy Varisians present were to be handed over to him, and so Ruan had been when Rolth arrived - flanked by two women in steel-grey plate, and blank plumed helms! Not just Davaulus was guilty, then! The Grey Maidens were aiding and abetting murder and kidnapping! We finished our search of the house, discovering Lord Carowyn cowering in his basement. He could tell us no more than Jolistina. While I have nothing more than contempt for those who would throw a masquerade ball rather than using that money to help the sufferers of the Blood Veil, the nobles present did not deserve the fate that found them. I suppose the survival of Lord Carowyn is a positive event, if only barely. With disquieting evidence mounting up, we once again returned to Cressida to inform her of the latest developments. She agreed that it was worrying, and that our next step needed to be talking to Doctor Davaulus.
GM Notes: The scenario actually says that she uses tainted crossbow bolts to infect everyone; it was originally smokebombs but it was changed due to mechanics issues. I changed it back to smokebombs because Jolistina managing to take out a whole manor full of people with only one person escaping using just a crossbow seems ludicrous, plus the smokebombs are cooler and play into the whole Harley Quinn vibe she's got going. I ran the first room that they went into (the dining room), then just went with description, rather than making them actually roll every hit against 21 zombies. Jolistina went down pretty fast due to an area Dispel from Sunstep followed by a Glitterdust from Cyrus making her a pretty easy target for Mara and Kendra. I can’t remember why Jolistina mentioned Rolth before they even captured her, I’m sure I had a good reason…
I let them get information from someone for a lower roll than the scenario demands due to an excellent grasp of exactly what they needed to threaten her with to make her talk (we’re going to put you in a grey box and leave you there, no people, no items, not even guards you can encourage to beat you up) and excellent roleplaying.
I prefer to end with the last diary entry because I think it’s really strong so… the Grey Maiden’s high AC was annoying for the party, but they rarely got hit. The Queen’s Physicians’ sneak attack scared them but their lack of hitpoints and abysmal AC meant Mara took them down fast. Again the party were stabilising enemies throughout, but they’re trying to blitz the place in case reinforcements arrive so they haven’t done anything about the patients yet bar making sure they aren’t in danger of dying and moving the Varisians out of the lab.
Davaulus is a terrible build! For a CR 9 he just isn’t a threat as the saves on his spells are really low, he has mediocre AC and low hitpoints. If he’d managed to hit with the human bane rapier he could have messed someone up pretty nicely, but he didn’t get the chance due to missing Mara before the centipede (I think I’m going to come to hate that centipede) grappling and pinning him.
Levels at end of session:
Cyrus, Conjuror 3/Master Specialist 3
Kendra, Urban Ranger 2/Scout 4
Mara, Fighter 6
Sunstep, Favoured Soul 6
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 19th of Erastus, AR 4708
It was time to seek an audience with Davaulus, and see just how far this conspiracy went. We duly set out for the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden, where he had his headquarters. Within, physicians tended to rows upon rows of dying patients. In a not unexpected turn of events, our attempts to gain an audience with Davaulus were rebuffed, and when we showed no sign of backing down, answered with cold steel. Deciding that if we were to commit treason we might as well commit it as strongly as we could, we carved a path through the hospice, physicians and Grey Maidens alike falling before us. My companions looked askance at me as I called a fiendish insect from the lower planes to aid us, but such a summoning calls but a shadow of a true being, with no life of its own. My soul is safe, I feel. Furthermore, I find a pleasing symmetry in battling Chelaxians with creatures tainted by the Lower Planes. At any rate, the beast did exemplary work, battling through a considerable number of opponents without sustaining so much as a scratch. Eventually, on the upper floors, we came into a scene of such unspeakable evil that even now I almost retch upon remembering it.
Away from the hospice façade, hidden in a back room, there was another ward of patients. These patients had several things in common; Firstly, they were all restrained. Secondly, they were all Varisian. And thirdly, none of them evinced any symptoms of Blood Veil, nor any disease or illness of any kind. These so-called physicians, this diabolical Doctor, have been experimenting on innocent Varisians as if they were just so much meat! Treating them as lab specimens, and affording them no more rights or dignity than a stray dog! Yet beyond this ward of horror, one room remained. It was obviously a workroom of some kind; the place where Davaulus concocted his gruesome experiments. Attempting to flee under a veil of invisibility, Davaulus was swiftly halted by another summoning of the fiendish centipede which had so impressed me earlier in the Hospice, and before long was pinned to the floor by it’s mandibles while Mara and Kendra beat him unconscious. I confess, more than once as I watched him wriggle in its clutches, I was tempted to tell it to squeeze, to squeeze hard, and not to stop until it held nothing but a leaking mass of flesh. I knew that this city was poisoned, was sick with corruption, with decadence, with selfishness, but never in my wildest nightmares did I imagine such evil going on beneath the façade of normality. The Grey Maidens were formed by the Queen, and report to the Queen. Whatever they know, she knows. The Queen is complicit in this. She is complicit in the kidnapping of Varisians, so that they can be experimented on like animals. She is complicit in whatever horrors Rolth concocts beneath this Hospice. Whether or not she engineered this plague to begin with, she is aiding and abetting measures that show an utter disregard for human life. The more I learn, the more I fear that Ileosa hides a terrible darkness behind her mourning veil. She is evil. She must be stopped.
And here, we will begin to do so. Our actions are going to utterly enrage her. I believe that when we let the people know what was happening here, what Davaulus has been doing, they will turn on him and the physicians like rabid wolves. The Queen will be forced to disown the Doctor, claim ignorance of his hideous experiments, and suffer the ignominy of having invited a sadistic butcher to the city to deal with a problem that he himself created. With the Doctor’s experiments in the public eye, we will be feted for our part in stopping him, thus rendering the Queen unable to move against us publicly. She will have to seethe behind her smile, knowing what we have done, but unable to punish us for it. And then she will begin plotting our painful deaths. Already, there is no turning back. All that remains for us to do here is travel beneath the Hospice, where Rolth’s secret laboratory is presumably housed. I shudder to think what horrors may await us down there. Whatever we find, it will not be enough to stop us. It is time for these animals to pay for their crimes.
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GM Notes: Couple of things I’ve been reminded to mention, one is that Mara is getting one extra Harrow point over everyone else; I’ve included +1 point to the Harrowed feat as it’s somewhat sub-par and she mostly took it for flavour. Secondly just as they were headed to Carowyn manor, Cyrus mentioned “A story written by a little-known Ustalavian author called The Masque of the Whispering Death”. It’s always nice when players spot the reference (especially before they even get there), even if you didn’t write the scenario yourself :), I’m assuming it’s a deliberate reference anyway.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 19th of Erastus, AR 4708 (cont.)
Beneath the Hospice, we found more than a mere lab. I was prepared for clinical halls full of restrained patients, whimpering in agony as foul diseases ravaged their flesh, but what we found below was almost worse. A temple to Urgathoa, Goddess of Undeath, unfolded before our horrified eyes. My magics already depleted by our battles above, I husbanded my dwindling resources carefully as Mara cleaved her way through rank upon rank of shrieking cultists and their undead followers. Rolth himself came to investigate the commotion, but foolishly underestimated the true danger our Varisian warrior posed. It proved to be the last mistake he would ever make – Mara’s falchion struck the fugitive necromancer so powerfully that it sheared entirely through his body and scarred the stone wall beyond. Still we pressed on, through a room containing churning vats of disease, and then into a chamber that proved a true test of our abilities. The cultists within had apparently been experimenting upon leukodaemons, most likely distilling disease from their corrupted flesh in some arcane fashion that I do not care to examine too closely. One daemon yet lived, and its wrath was furious. Knowing full-well the hideous danger that such a beast posed, I threw caution to the winds and spat forth what magics I had left. With no way to penetrate its evil-hardened hide, Mara’s normally powerful blows were reduced to mere scratches, and had a lucky application of a grease spell not caused the monstrosity to fumble its bow, I have no doubt that its disease-laden arrows would have ended us all. Against all the odds, we threw the monster down, and pressed on swiftly into what could be nothing other than the innermost sanctum of the temple.
GM Notes: The party triggered the Death’s Breath Doors trap on the entrance, so ended up fighting the enemies from the guard room, barracks and Rolth’s lab in one big fight, the mooks were little more than a distraction, Rolth threw a lightning bolt and attempted an enervation on Mara, but she had a readied action to hit him if he cast a spell and critted him, then finished him off before he had the chance to dim door out (dead rather than dying too, I think he was the first named human they actually killed). This encounter levelled the party to 7.
The Leukodaemon… that thing is *nasty*, seriously handle with care. High AC and hitpoints, DR that a party likely can’t break at this point and really unpleasant abilities (the DC 20 stinking cloud effect on the breath weapon and DC 19 contagion when everything in it’s aura is taking a -5 to fort save vs disease particularly stood out for me). I ruled that the ceiling was too low for him to fly, and I ignored the stinking cloud effect on his breath of flies ability. That combined with an unlucky nat 1 reflex save to keep hold of his bow after it got greased was all that kept the party alive. I’m pretty sure I could have had a TPK with that thing if I’d really pulled out all the stops.
Within, we found but one opponent; the High Priest, ready and waiting for battle. She claimed responsibility for the disease ravaging our city, laughing gleefully at the fact that it was the Queen, our ostensible ruler, who had caused – no, worse still, requested – the plague that even now claimed lives in the streets above. In her infinite generosity, the lapdog of Urgathoa offered us a chance to abase ourselves before us, to offer ourselves to her pale goddess, and to escape with a majority of our limbs intact. Our answer was swift, predictable, and brutal. Sunstep stripped her protective magics from her easily, Sarenrae obviously empowering him as the sun always empowers those who would cast out shadow. Mara’s first blow removed her foe’s arm at the elbow, and by the sound of it shattered several ribs into the bargain. Blood coating her robes, the priestess then reached out, seized Mara’s arm, and called on the power of Urgathoa to slay her on the spot. It was to no avail. Urgathoa’s curse was no match for Varisian fortitude, and Mara’s next blow almost severed the cultist’s head. Yet we had not long to rejoice. Almost immediately, the priestess rose again, the bone of her severed arm elongating into a wicked scythe. Sunstep recognised what had happened; she had become a Daughter of Urgathoa, an undead monster spawned from the corpse of one of Urgathoa’s chosen, with the Pallid Goddess’s blessing. Yet once again, the power of the Goddess of Undeath proved no match for sharp steel and stout hearts. Within moments, Urgathoa’s favoured was nothing more than shattered bones, and our victory was complete. Battered, exhausted, in some cases barely standing, we limped away from the temple to recoup our strength.
GM Notes: Andaisin could have been a real threat if Sunstep’s dispel hadn’t dropped all but two of her nine buffs (he didn’t even leave her with good ones, just greater magic vestment and aid, that was some really lucky rolling). With that with only Mara failing the save on her greater command and then passing the save on slay living, plus a falchion crit, she went down pretty fast.
The Daughter of Urgathoa also dropped fairly quickly, as it has no real defenses bar a reasonable AC and HP that just hit triple figures, and Kendra has picked up favoured enemy undead and the lovely Swift Hunter feat that gives skirmish damage on favoured enemies that can’t be critted. On the other hand by the time she went down the party were completely out of resources and Mara was barely standing and had con damage from Slimy Doom (Slimy Dooooooooom), so it was a pretty tense fight.
Our second and final trip into the catacombs was almost an anticlimax; we found no opposition remaining save a strange variety of vampire from distant Ustalav, who took amiss to our insistence on labelling him an undead abomination and sentencing him to death. He was a wizard of not inconsiderable skill, but, fully recovered from our recent endeavours as we were, he proved no match. In his laboratory we discovered the missing Ruan, bringing our strange hunt to a close. Having satisfied ourselves that no threats remained beneath the Hospice, we painstakingly combed the rooms for whatever we could find. Among a large quantity of magical items, we discovered a number of sets of notes on the Blood Veil plague; a sufficient quantity that the possibility of a cure, once so tantalisingly out of reach, was finally present.
GM Notes: Arkminos really wasn’t too bad for a CR10, Sunstep dropped his Stoneskin with another lucky dispel magic, Arkminos utterly failed to do anything massively useful with *his* area dispel magic (he was really hoping to get rid of the annoying Howler that Cyrus summoned, but all he did was drop cat’s grace/bull’s strength off various people), and after a few rounds he went down to a readied magic missile from Cyrus as he attempted to dim door out. Due to them getting every single piece of optional XP available (they saved everyone in the hospice/temple too, obviously), this actually levelled them to level 8!
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 20th of Erastus, AR 4708
Cressida was shocked by news of the Queen’s treachery, the Field Marshal horrified by our monarch’s utter betrayal of the city she claims to rule. But it was obvious that nothing could be done to unseat her; the Castle Seneschal, the only person with the power to unseat the Queen, has been missing since Eodred’s death – a piece of information I wish I had possessed earlier. The timing is obviously highly suspect, and I doubt that we shall see the Seneschal again in this life. With our efforts on that score thwarted, we turned to an arena where we might have an effect, and began our search for a cure for Blood Veil. Offering ten times the normal daily wage, we swiftly assembled a team of alchemists and healers to study the papers we had found.
GM Notes: Gotta love how much these guys go above and beyond! I ruled that heal checks could aid with finding a cure (though not the synthesis of the final product) so that Sunstep and all the hired healers could help out, and that with so many people to divide all the cross-referencing, developing and testing between, they could develop the cure in one day guaranteed, rather than having to roll the number of days necessary. Between all the extra people they saved (through all the people they saved in the hospice plus all the extra work they’ve been doing, financing remove disease, spreading the word about how the disease is spread and measures to avoid it and so forth), they more than fulfilled the requirements to become Saviours of the City and get the maximum monetary reward. Cyrus spent his 1000gp service on awesome travelling clothes and sent them off to Trinia, which was *very* sweet of him :D.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 21st of Erastus, AR 4708
I can hardly believe that I am writing these words, but we have succeeded. We have discovered a cure for Blood Veil. It seems that with the notes we had, and the number of people we had working on the cure, success came swiftly. I can only hope that the Queen does not have a gambit of even greater viciousness waiting in the wings. For now, we must spread word of the cure, and begin synthesising it in the largest quantities that we can. No more will die because of this twisted disease.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 26th of Erastus, AR 4708
I have much to write, and barely know where to begin. It is fitting that I should begin by mourning the passing of a noble soul, of a man who wanted nothing more than to protect and serve the people of Korvosa, and whose inability to stand by and impotently witness the ascension of a tyrant cost him his life. Marcus Thalassinus Endrin is dead, and the Sable Company dies with him. It seems that while the plague kept us occupied, the Queen has not been idle. She now wears an artifact upon her brow, a mysterious crown set with sharpened teeth. Alas, Commandant Endrin did not know how powerful Ileosa’s defences truly were. Powerful enough, it seems, to shrug off an arrow of slaying as if it were nothing but a pinprick, and then turn the bloodied bolt upon its erstwhile owner. She has found a new ally, too; the corpulent Togomor, a master of evocation who once taught at the Acadamae, but now, it seems, has forsaken his academic post for the loftier position of Seneshal. The cruelty of her rule grows more obvious; she has disbanded the Sable Company, and placed the Grey Maidens in the position the City Guard once occupied, stating that the Guard’s terrible losses during the Blood Veil plague makes them unable to continue performing their duties.
GM Notes: I let the party be present for the ‘cut scene’ botched assassination attempt, as I figured they wouldn’t do anything stupid, using the greater arrow of slaying explanation for the aspects that make no mechanical sense. It still doesn’t entirely make sense (since the arrow should be destroyed on hitting Ileosa), but meh, close enough. I also never considered how well allowing a party caster to get close enough to cast detect magic and sneak a look at Ileosa, Sabina and Togomor works as a deterrent. That’s some high-level equipment right there (I’m just glad I had Crown of Fangs so I actually had any clue what to tell him).
Cressida agrees that our time grows short. Soon, the public acclaim that we possess will not be enough to prevent the Queen moving against us, and thus crushing one of the few groups with knowledge of her evil. Worse still, Old Korvosa rots beyond the barricades, the Grey Maidens making no move to begin distributing the cure to those poor souls trapped within. We must act while we still can, and Cressida has given us some idea of how to do so. Apparently the last communiqué she had with Vencarlo, who is still investigating within Old Korvosa, contained some references to ‘dark magic’ and ‘a pact with a devil.’ It would be one explanation for the disturbing new abilities that the Queen evinces, and her confidence in so openly showing her hand. It is obvious that the goodwill of the people no longer matters to her, and perhaps that is because she has some greater goodwill. We shall have to penetrate Old Korvosa, find Vencarlo, and discover what he knows. Then, I suspect, we shall have to flee Korvosa, until such a time that we can return and challenge the Queen. It is a hard thing to flee, but the only sensible choice, and I swear that we shall return. The Queen has not escaped justice by her actions, merely postponed it, and it will catch up with her in the end. Sic semper tyrannis!
GM Notes:
No game next week, as we’ll be at Gen Con UK!
Levels at end of session:
Cyrus, Conjuror 3/Master Specialist 5
Kendra, Urban Ranger 4/Scout 4
Mara, Fighter 8
Sunstep Favoured Soul 8
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Diary of Cyrus Zol, 27th of Erastus, AR 4708
Acknowledging that events in the city were coming to a head, Cressida gave us a cache of equipment that she had been keeping back against emergency. Furthermore, we gained a surprise addition to our team; Grau, now much improved from his state of a few months ago, and wishing to come with us. Seeing no reason to refuse him, we acquiesced, and turned our thoughts to how best to approach the quarantined zone of Old Korvosa. Sunstep called upon Sarenrae to carry a message to Vencarlo, asking for a précis of his situation, but worryingly, received no response. I know of no spell able to inhibit such communication, and that leaves the possibility that Vencarlo is unconscious or worse. With these facts in hand, we decided on a swift, albeit expensive, means of avoiding the quarantine. I purchased a scroll allowing me to share the gift of flight with a number of others, and we swept across one of the destroyed bridges with ease. The sight before us was not a pleasant one. A handful of people darted through Old Korvosa’s narrow streets, with frightened eyes and quick movements. Elsewhere, groups of thugs roamed, finding bravado in their numbers. Still, Kendra’s incredible skills were able to convince some of the frightened citizens to talk to us.
GM Notes: Grau is with the party because Mara has taken him on as a cohort (we were talking about using Majenko, but Grau seems more appropriate and useful, though Majenko continues to hang around with the party he doesn’t get involved as much as he used to, though he continues to be awesome for communications, intel and transpositions). Scroll of mass fly was perhaps an unnecessarily pricey method of getting across, but hey, it got the job done!
The subject on everybody’s lips seemed to be ‘The Emperor of Old Korvosa’. Setting up his ‘court’ by the docks, this individual had apparently appeared shortly after the quarantine and begun issuing edicts. Many of the local gangs fell in with him, and began ‘policing’ the area. As far as I can tell, this mostly entailed dragging people before him to be executed on a huge number of asinine charges, and laying claim to their property. Furthermore, this Emperor possesses an authentic guillotine, imported from Galt! We heard a particularly sorry tale from one man who had lost his entire family to the Emperor’s mad whims, and was headed to the docks to put an end to the monster. Clad in shabby leather armour and awkwardly hefting the axe he held, it was obvious that the man’s need for vengeance exceeded his abilities. We promised him that we would see justice done, and that he should concentrate on staying alive to see the downfall of the Emperor. First, however, we had to try and find Vencarlo. We first headed to the Orisini Academy, but found a shock awaiting us. The Academy was nothing but rubble and ashes! Quickly moving onto Vencarlo’s house, we were relieved to find that it still stood. The door, however, was unlocked, and closer investigation revealed that it had been picked. Cautiously, we entered, but found no signs of life within. The only unusual discovery was a hidden panel in the wardrobe. Pushing the panel revealed a secret storage area, containing an iron lockbox. Before we could investigate further, however, we discovered that we were not alone after all!
Two men, clad in red leather garb, attacked us from their hiding places. One of them somehow managed to set the upper room on fire, but Sunstep’s magic swiftly doused the flames. Though their serrated blades were vicious, they quickly fell before us. Their clothing, and especially their distinctive helms, marked them as Red Mantis assassins, members of a fanatical religious cult! What were they doing in Old Korvosa?! Closer examination of the house now revealed a strange substance coating much of the furnishings; some kind of dried alchemists fire. We dealt with it as best we could, and then turned our attention to the lockbox. Within we found a bag of holding. Its contents were illuminating; the distinctive garb of Blackjack! I do not know whether to be furious or faintly despairing at this point. To say that I had not suspected it would be stretching the truth, but I am hurt that Vencarlo could not confide in me. Grau also seemed shocked, musing aloud about what Vencarlo’s search for a successor may truly have been referring to...
GM Notes: I added the picked lock detail then noticed that neither of the assassins *had* Open Lock, ho-hum. The whole fire tactic doesn’t work so well when a Favoured Soul dumps up to 16 gallons of water on it before it has a chance to get beyond the first three squares! They did manage to flank and full-attack Mara for nearly 60 points in one round before they dropped, which I think could have taken down anyone *other* than her… small point (I should put this on the errata thread actually), the Red Mantis stat-block lists two off-hand attacks in their full attack routine, when they don’t have the Improved Two Weapon Fighting and once you drop the Cat’s Grace off don’t have the dex to qualify for it anyway, so that second attack should be dropped.
Kendra’s currently carrying around Blackjack’s stuff (and wearing his gloves). She seems quite taken with the idea of being Blackjack and I imagine she’d be *very* disappointed if Vencarlo were to ask for his kit back ;).
Regardless, we were at an impasse. Vencarlo was missing, and we knew not where he had gone. We resolved to return to the Academy and sift through the rubble, hoping to find some clue as to his whereabouts. We had not been there long when we were interrupted by a most unexpected individual; Amin Jalento, the student of Vencarlo’s that we rescued from an angry mob a few months ago! Jalento had apparently been caught in the quarantine, and had been staying with Vencarlo until it was lifted. He told us that four days ago, a group of men in red leather came to the Academy, and tried to kill Vencarlo. Vencarlo fought them off and fled, but they burnt down the Academy. Amin had no more idea than us of Vencarlo’s whereabouts, but was able to tell us that while he was Vencarlo’s houseguest, he had thrice witnessed Vencarlo meeting with a very unexpected individual; Salvatore Scream, morbid artist, and current darling of the city’s elite. With no other leads, we went to Scream’s house, pausing only briefly to aid Amin in escaping Old Korvosa.
Scream’s den was a ramshackle place, and the door was answered by a very unusual person; an elf, wearing strange suit of chain mail, and prominently displaying the symbol of Zon-Kuthon! Laori, as she named herself, was apparently a devotee of Scream’s work, and had come to Old Korvosa seeking the artist, in order to discover where his inspiration came from. Alas, she found that Scream had been taken by some of the Emperor’s bully-boys before she arrived. We searched the house, to see if we could discover more. Behind the bed, we found a bloodstained scrap of cloth bearing a noble sigil that we identified as that of the Seneschal! The plot was definitely thickening. What in the world has the Seneschal, or at least his clothes – bloodstained, also – been doing in Scream’s shack? With more and more questions arising, we concentrated on what we did know; that it was time to pay the Emperor of Old Korvosa a visit. Laori happily tagged along; a little too happily, truth be told. These forlorn elves all seem to be extremely strange. Our plan for gaining an audience with the Emperor was simple; we boldly strode forward, and whenever we were challenged, we put the leader of our opponents face-down in the mud. After three or so such encounters, the fourth group of toughs that approached us proffered an invitation to an audience with the Emperor. We found the Emperor lounging on a crude copy of the Crimson Throne, next to a disturbing-looking guillotine manned by a dangerous-looking gnome. I recognised the man from tales I had heard; Pilts Swastel, owner and director of Exemplary Execrables, a playhouse famed for its shocking and brutal subject matter. It seemed that with the quarantine, Pilts had seen the opportunity to bring his taste for the macabre to a wider audience, and jumped at the chance. Our conversation was swift and to the point. Pilts had Salvatore, he would not give him to us, and he wanted us to play some kind of foolish, no doubt unpleasant game called ‘Blood Pig’. Our response was to spring to the attack.
GM Notes: I like Laori! Even if both her pictures are lame… she has a surprisingly party-friendly spell loadout for a worshiper of Zon-Kuthon, she’s competent with that spiked chain and she’s just good fun. They took Pilts’ Palace on full-frontal, I stopped bothering with the mook groups after a while as they were just taking out the commanders with ridiculous efficiency which caused all the other thugs to run away. I was sad I didn’t get to run Blood Pig though :(.
While Pilts’ guards were being dealt with by the others, I utilised a new spell, courtesy of the mad mage Evard, to entangle Pilts and his psychotic gnome helper in a field of tentacles that swiftly began choking them to death. After a few seconds of being throttled and seeing his men be cut down like stalks of wheat, Pilts begged for his life. For a moment I contemplated refusing, leaving him to be strangled, his face purpling, his vision dimming as he realised that his death was upon him. But only for a moment. Upon dismissing the spell, the gnome went berserk, trying to get to Pilts and kill him! Mara quickly put paid to that plan, however, and a broken Pilts remained alive to lead us to our missing artist. Salvatore was very glad to be released, and the tale he had to tell us was strange indeed. Apparently, just after the King died, Neolandus, the Seneschal, who had been a friend to Scream in happier times, appeared on Scream’s doorstep, bloodied and poisoned! He claimed that the Queen had murdered the King, and tried to kill him, and he had fled. He remained in Salvatore’s care for some time as he recovered his strength, but was finally convinced by Salvatore to seek refuge with House Arkona! Vencarlo had apparently been trying to arrange a meeting with Neolandus, and was furious to learn that Salvatore had sent him to House Arkona. Presumably, then, that is where we will find our missing friend. But first, we had one bit of business to attend to. We dragged Pilts and his guillotine out into the square, and began destroying the unpleasant device. We sent word out that the Emperor had been deposed, and that any who wanted to should come to his ‘court’ to witness his fate. Then, after a crowd had gathered, we asked them to proclaim the Emperor’s crimes. The list was long, and their verdict was unanimous; guilty of all charges. Mara did the deed swiftly and cleanly, without undue fanfare. Executions are for the sake of justice, and not to be glorified. Justice having been done, we set our sights on Arkona Palace.
The fight was over pretty quickly due to those damn tentacles, as Jabbyr and Pilts were the only real threats and they just couldn’t make the grapple checks to escape. Pilts tried to dim door out after being dropped to single digits, but I rolled a three on his concentration so he lost the spell and surrendered. Jabbyr then died very messily due to attacks of opportunity from four different directions as he attempted to charge Pilts
With the direct approach having worked well so far, we attempted the same again with House Arkona. We informed the patrol that stopped us that we were seeking Neolandus Kalepopolis, that we believed him to be within Arkona Palace, and that we wished to speak with someone in authority. Once more, our bluntness paid off, as after a short wait, we were joined by Glorio Arkona himself! Suspecting that Glorio would no doubt use us to his own advantage and had to skills to manipulate with ease, we wasted no time in lies or evasion, but simply laid out the situation. Glorio seemed amused by our candor, no doubt a refreshing change from his usual encounters. Neolandus and Vencarlo were both guests of House Arkona, he revealed. Unfortunately, they were both imprisoned – for want of a better word – within the Vivified Labyrinth. I had thought the Labyrinth a myth, perpetrated by the Arkonas to add to their mystique, but such is not the case. The Labyrinth exists, the Labyrinth lives, and we have both a friend and a potential ally trapped within in. Having discovered this, we turned to another topic; Vimanda Arkona, and the mysterious silver dagger that we have carried for nearly two months. Glorio exposed the dagger as being a Raktavana! It is obvious in hindsight, but I defend myself by stating that Raktavana are extremely rare in this part of the world. I had no reason to suspect that we carried one with us! Mara swiftly destroyed the creature, and I mused aloud at the fact that we had possessed a rakshasa spy for some time. At this, Glorio seemed most intrigued. He had, he stated, suspected that the dagger was more than it seemed due to its association with Vimanda, who never gave any kind of gift unless it would benefit her, but he had not known what it was precisely, nor that this form of spy was the near-exclusive province of the evil rakshasas. He told us, somewhat hesitantly, that Vimanda was also within the Labyrinth. It seems there is no end to the evil forces that move within Korvosa! If it is not devils, or priests of the goddess of disease, it is shape-shifting monsters from far-off Vudra! Still, the rakshasas’ greatest weapon is anonymity, and knowledge of their presence is half the battle. My spells will be worthless against such beings, for the innate resistance to magic is tremendous, but fortunately the exquisite rapier Vencarlo kept with his ‘evening clothes’, aided by the blessings of Sarenrae, should be more than sufficient to pierce their flesh. I write this as we make final preparations to enter the Labyrinth and end another canker within the heart of Korvosa. Gods be with us.
GM Notes: The whole “Glorio communicating vast amounts of information through innuendo thing… well I didn’t do it, the party basically came in and said “We want Neolandus and Vencarlo, we think the queen is evil and we’ve killed the Emperor” so being circumspect would be kind of pointless, which is fine by me, I was a little worried about that bit as well-done innuendo is kind of difficult to roleplay effectively. It should be noted that Glorio didn’t identify the dagger to the party, he just suggested they sunder it, then later told them that he told them to do that because gifts from Vimanda are baaaaaaaaad, he was kind of surprised when Cyrus started muttering about rakshasa.
[The following is written jerkily and haphazardly, with the pen pressing very hard on the paper. It is obvious that the nib splits at least once.]
I am so tired of this city. So tired of villains hiding behind smiles. So tired of people exploiting the innocent for money, or for services, or worse of all, for their own twisted pleasure. There are devils, and demons, and worse, but most of what we face are nothing but selfish, arrogant, evil people! Everywhere I turn, I see the evil and corruption that lurks beneath the surface of this place, and I want nothing more than to burn it out with all the power at my disposal. Enough captives. Enough trials, enough prison terms. With the Queen’s actions now, those we imprison are more likely to be pardoned and offered a commission than they are to face justice. The only thing that they deserve is death. And that is what I shall give them. I shall let them feel the powerlessness they engender in others. I shall let them feel the terror of knowing that they are not masters of their fates. And then I shall let them die, and go on to whatever hell awaits them. This I swear.
This is quite fantastic! I'm going to be starting up a CotCT campaign with Beta rules this weekend and your journal entries have given me a multitude of ideas. Please continue!
[PS: I'm thinking about making Majenko a cohort too. How would I go about giving him class levels?]
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This is quite fantastic! I'm going to be starting up a CotCT campaign with Beta rules this weekend and your journal entries have given me a multitude of ideas. Please continue!
[PS: I'm thinking about making Majenko a cohort too. How would I go about giving him class levels?]
Yay! Glad you're enjoying it :D. We've been wondering if anyone was reading at the moment, especially as the entries are getting longer and updates more erratic (not that it would make a difference if we were the only ones here, we'd happily keep posting anyway, it's really good fun). We haven't written the diary from last Sunday yet, and we're both busy today, but we should get it up tomorrow or the day after.
Pseudodragon is 2 HD + 3 ECL so Majenko is effectively level 5 base. I was going to drop his ECL by 1 to make life easier as I don't think it's unbalancing (especially as he's fairly squishy). That way someone with Leadership at level 6 (assuming they had a good enough leadership score to get a level 4 cohort) could get base Majenko as a cohort and then when he gets to level 5 he can become a level 1 class of your choice and proceed from there. If you didn't want to adjust his ECL then the character could still take him as a level 4 cohort (technically this wouldn't be allowed, but he'll be hanging around with the party anyway, so it won't make a blind bit of difference), but he wouldn't start gaining character levels till he hit 6. Hope that makes sense, I'm terrible at explaining this stuff.
If you hadn't noticed I've posted a custom version of Majenko using the elite array, correcting a couple of weird things with base Pseudodragon skillpoints and with custom feat/skill choices which you could use if you like; it gives him a bit of a boost and makes him feel a bit more unique rather than just being "Random Pseudodragon A" (he also has his own character sheet and place at the table, complete with dragon plushy :). He should fit PFRPG rules fine if you just fold hide/move silently & listen/spot together and spend the five skillpoints freed up from spot/listen on something else (and possibly adjust his hitpoints, I haven't looked at the beta properly yet, so I don't know what you do with racial HD, if anything).
One of my favorite things to do in an adventure path is to customize it and make it mine. That's why I require my players to submit their backgrounds and character concepts early so I can incorporate them into the story.
As it is now, one of my players is the forgotten twin of Ileosa, another is a Vudran monk who masquerades as a man in order to avoid bethrothal to an Arkona scion, and two others who will be coming up with their backgrounds soon.
Anyways, I love how you are foreshadowing things early on and I have already stolen some things to use when I run Edge of Anarchy. With that said, I wanna' know what happens next! :)
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Diary of Cyrus Zol, 27th of Erastus, AR 4708 (cont.)
Again and again, I find my worst fears to be insufficient to the magnitude of the horrors that we discover within this blighted city. Glorio Arkona, as I shall name him for now, escorted us to the entrance of the Vivified Labyrinth, within which Neolandus and Vencarlo were being held. After he departed, and we began inspecting the great bronze doors, Kendra noticed that one of the walls was in fact a cunningly crafted illusion. Leaving the doors for later, we travelled beyond the false wall, up a row of stairs, and thence into a torture chamber. Inside, we discovered Neolandus, about to begin a session on the rack at the hands of an asura, a form of Vudran devil somewhat analogous to the baatezu with which I am more familiar. The creature, known as a beatific one, was swiftly dispatched by Mara’s blade, amply aided by Sunstep’s prayers over her weapon to allow it to properly wound the monster. I at first feared some sort of illusion or trap, but was happy to discover that it was in truth Neolandus, and that our mission in the Labyrinth was already half-finished! The Seneshal had some worrying news for us, however; during his imprisonment, he had seen as many as seven rakshasa visiting the Labyrinth! Clearly, their taint spread further than we knew! Resolving to exterminate every last one of the shapeshifting fiends, we continued our explorations. Proceeding on beyond the chamber, we found the means by which the Vivified Labyrinth performed the mysterious shifting which we had been warned of; four great turntables, manned by desiccated elephants! Pausing only long enough to try and glean as much information about the mechanism as possible, we returned to the original doors that heralded the entrance to the Labyrinth proper.
The proceeding hour or so was not a pleasant one. Each new room we discovered brought new danger, the Labyrinth seeming to have been created by some demented sadist who delighted in laying lethal traps according to his every whim. Despite the many snares, we battled forward, until who should stumble out of a door ahead but Vencarlo! Even if we had not been forewarned - and thus expecting the shapeshifting tricks of the rakshasa - the auras of magic surrounding my one-time mentor, who has never shown any aptitude for the arcane arts, would have aroused my suspicions. Sure enough, we had stumbled across Vimanda! The foul creature swiftly realised that her ruse had been to no avail, and a ferocious battle was joined. Knowing full well that my spells had almost no chance of affecting her magically-resistant form, I restricted myself to maneuvering my companions into better positions to assault our foe. Though Grau almost fell before her vicious strikes, Mara’s consummate skill was enough to overcome our enemy, her natural ability compensating for her need to use a weapon she was unfamiliar with to harm the beast. With one rakshasa fallen, we travelled on, though Vimanda’s words were beginning to spark dark connections in my mind. Even disguised as Vencarlo, she had urged us to kill Glorio, and as she fell, spat that her only desire had been that we ‘slay Bahor’. Neolandus had told us that one of the rakshasa he had seen, a tiger-headed man, had been addressed as Bahor, and everywhere we travelled in the labyrinth, narcissistic statues of a tiger-headed humanoid confronted us. It was beginning to appear that the rakshasa taint in House Arkona travelled higher than we had guessed. We next fell afoul of the Labyrinth’s guardian, an especially rare beast known as a Dark Sphinx. Despite her power, she too fell before us. Beyond her, we finally located our missing friend, beaten and unconscious, but alive. Vencarlo was pleased to see us, but more pleased to see the contents of the strong-box we had liberated from his house. And so, as we retraced our steps, Blackjack walked beside us, Vencarlo donning the costume one final time. As we exited the labyrinth, we found our path blocked by two monstrous snakes, their fangs dripping with potent venom, and supported by another rakshasa, this one with the head of a tiger. It was not Bahor, however; I suppose it is an ironic twist that Bahor’s narcissism in putting up so many statues to himself made it easy to identify him, and ensured we would not be fooled by a similar-looking being. Though the poison nearly felled Mara, we slew all three, and continued striking back up towards Arkona Palace.
We exited the tunnels into the last glimmerings of dusk, the gardens of Arkona Palace taking on a menacing air in the twilight. Indeed, it seemed even more surreal when an elephant charged out of the gloom, bearing two more rakshasa upon its back! Simultaneously, the water fountain spat forth an elemental that closed to do battle. With a little assistance from my magic, Vencarlo and Mara swiftly dispatched the rakshasa and their allies. I admit, I have never seen Vencarlo in a true battle, and it was an impressive sight. His increased age was obviously off-set by his increased experience, and he and Mara made a fearsome pair as they rampaged across the battlefield. We found little resistance as we pushed into the house, smashed through sitting rooms and charging along corridors. Another couple of rakshasa tried to stop us, but they we no more skilled than those we had battled outside, and were summarily dispatched. Eventually, then, we burst into an opulent bedroom on the first floor and found ourselves confronted by the spitting image of the statues we had so often seen in the Labyrinth below. Bahor made no attempt at banter, for which I for one was grateful, and battle was swiftly joined. The rakshasa was a particularly powerful and wily member of his kind, and the battle was arduous, but in the end he was one against six, and could not withstand our furious assault. I felt a great lightness of heart as the monster fell before us. While we cannot yet oppose the Queen, cannot yet save Korvosa from the evil which has claimed it, we have put an end to a conspiracy of monsters here, and made Old Korvosa at least a better place by our efforts. Indeed, now, I suspect that leaving the quarantine in place might be the best thing for this part of the city, provided that sufficient amounts of the Blood Veil cure could be smuggled in. It would prevent the Queen from exerting her influence here, and leave at least a part of Korvosa free from her tyranny.
With Bahor fallen, and the rakshasa masters of House Arkona all slain, we investigated the only room in the Palace we had been unable to open. Now armed with Bahor’s ring of keys, the door yielded to us, to reveal an incredibly secure room beyond. The walls were permanent planes of force, crafted by magic, and I suspect that I would have found teleportation prohibited within the vault. Within stood what appeared to be a great tree of gold, with green and gold leaves adorning its shimmering branches. In addition to its majesty, it was also, as I discovered when I investigated it, naught but an illusion concealing a great iron chest. Within the chest, we found the true spoils of our victory; papers detailing the entirety of the operations of the Cerulean Society, with absolute proof that the Society answered to House Arkona! With these documents, we could shatter the Guild like a thunderbolt, and crush these despicable pawns of evil once and for all! We swiftly made copies, and resolved to hide the papers within Korvosa before we fled, informing Cressida of their whereabouts by magic after we had departed the city. And so it was.
Diary of Cyrus Zol, 30th of Erastus, AR 4708
Looking back over the events of the recent past seems almost like a terrible nightmare to me. I read my more recent diary entries, and find such a terrible rage within them that I can barely believe them mine. But I can still remember that consuming rage, so deep and strong that it almost made me sick with it. I am very glad that we managed to leave Korvosa when we did. I think that had I stayed, the injustices in the city would have killed me, or made me kill. The belief that I live by states that power is to be used, but power should be governed responsibly by its possessor. I came dangerously close to allowing my anger and helplessness to push me into actions that I would regret. I am glad that I have friends to speak to of this. Vencarlo, above all, understands the anger that the evils of Korvosa can spark in a person, and counsels me not to allow such anger to override my judgement. I am told that I take the failings of people too personally, and that I need some way to vent my rage before it overcomes me, and I can do nothing but agree. But magic has always been my entire life, and the only escape I ever found from my problems led me to months of addiction and squalor. I have always been afraid to partake of alcohol, of other vices, for fear that they would overcome me, and my past would seem to show that my caution is wise. But perhaps…if…
Perhaps I am not my father.