Today, Angvar's demeanour is different. Less subservient for one thing. He looks carefully at each of the group as they enter and eat breakfast, sizing them up quite blatantly.
"Excellent. A band of brothers. United in the cause of raising the Gold Goblin from the muck. How worthwhile." His tone is quite bland.
Mel doesn't rise to Mordecai's bait merely biting hard into the fruit in his hand.
"When do we expect the Boss to make an appearance?"
As you are all chatting and grabbing some breakfast, the sound of movement above you becomes more evident. The rest of the crew must be awake now. Soon enough, a rowdy looking bunch of men (obviously some of the new guards) come down the stairs, followed by the slightly waif-like Marzielle. They introduce themselves, and get to work on breakfast.
Even more prominently are the sounds of smashing glass above. Heavy thudding footsteps shortly add to the sound, and a jovial looking Saul steps into the kitchen. His hair is dishevelled, and he’s wearing an old stained robe, it’s reddish hue long faded. A series of dirty grease stains on the side of his good hand betray access to a handkerchief. He smiles when he sees all of you, and lets out a hearty “Good Morning”, half in alarm, almost as if he didn’t expect to see any of you. The stink of alcohol is prevalent; his dirty red nose and swagger reveal Saul’s breakfast plan.
He approaches you, and pats each one on the back. “I’m glad you’re all here, actually. I just remembered that I forgot to show you everything yesterday.”, he says with a sly wink.
“Hey Larur, can you take care of things up here for a little while? Get some breakfast into that rabble. And don’t let them break anything.”
Saul walks over to the eastern part of the kitchen wall, and moves aside a dirty tabard hanging there. A door is revealed! Cradling his cane in his arm, Saul fishes a key from his pocket, and unlocks the door. “Beyond here, is the basement. A number of things happen down here, and I wanted to explain what we do here, fully. You too, kid.”, he says, directed at Mel. “Follow me.”
“This room is the wine cellar . Only Larur and I have keys to it.”, he says, unlocking the door for you all to see. Rows of bottles, mostly port and other alcohols. A few bottles lay smashed on the ground, and a sickly sweet smell fills the room. “Ugh, what a stench. I’ve gotta clean that out one of these days. Let’s close it up for now. I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”
Saul moves to the next room in the passageway; a portcullis bars a further door. Whatever’s in here, it obviously doesn’t want to be disturbed. Saul bangs repeatedly on the door beyond, with his cane. “Bojask, open up! It’s Saul. I’ve got the new junior partners with me, and we’re lookin’ for a tour!”
A gruff looking man opens the door, and begins raising the portcullis. He’s quite groggy and shirtless. He’s powerfully built, and multiple scars cover the lengths of his arms, chest, and face. They mostly appear to be claw and bite scars.
“Keep your pants on Saul. It’s still early.” He takes a moment to a study each of you, but doesn’t bother to introduce himself. “Right then. Let’s meet the beasts.”
You make a left, and continue down a corridor. There’s a bit of an incline, and you can tell that you are headed deeper below the basement level. Bojask throws open a door at the end of a passageway. As soon as the door is opened, a riot erupts in the room beyond. A number of animals can be heard wailing and screaming. Five mangy dogs, two angry monkeys, and a fat broken-tusked boar are cramped into filthy cages. Old straw litters the floor in here.
“You see, Zincher’s not the only man in town to run a little arena gig. We’ve got one ourselves, right under the Goblin. These are some of our current combatants, but things change all the time. We’ve let goblins and even zombies into the mix. Gambling by-laws being what they are in this town, we have to keep this all on the hush-hush. While I don’t doubt that Zincher knows about it, as long as we don’t make a big deal out of it, the Gendarmes won’t act. There’s enough people who know about the fights to keep it worthwhile without having to advertise. We charge a cover fee to watch, and there’s another bar down here. I’ll show you that in a minute. Let’s take a look at the fighting pit itself: The Octahedron.”
On the way to the pit, you notice that the hall is lined with numerous weapons and implements for Octahedron combatants intelligent enough to make use of them, as well as a variety of chains, harnesses, spiked collars, leashes, and other animal training equipment.
The Octahedron itself , is a sand-floored fighting pit with eight pillars supporting a standing area above . The arena above has a see-through glass floor, allowing attendees to watch the goings-on safely, but intimately.
“We generally have events twice a week. We’ve got one planned for tomorrow night, actually. I’ve just got to sort someone out to work the bar. Let me show you that now.”
You head back to the first level of the basement, and Saul pushes on what looks like a normal section of the wall, revealing a passageway beyond. “This corridor lends access to the standing area of the arena, and The Red Room. We charge double for drinks down here, but people don’t usually mind. It’s an underground bar in every sense of the word.”
This rough chamber has a short bar and a number of battered tables and chairs squeezed into it. The walls and floors are crudely painted a rusty red.
“And that’s basically it. The grand tour. Everything the double-G has to offer, above and below. I had a pretty good number of people show up yesterday, and some of them mentioned you. You’re doing a good job of rustling up some workers. If that keeps up today, we should be able to open tomorrow night. The fight’s gonna go on either way, but it would be nice to start making money again. Don’t you agree?”
As soon as Saul appears, Angvar lowers his head again.
As 'the crew' arrives, Mordecai sets down the skillet he's been idly picking food off of and prepares a plate from what remains, leaving it wordlessly next to Marzielle and giving a stern look to anyone else who reaches for it.
He follows Saul through the rest of the tour without comment, but is visibly intrigued by the fighting arena.
Mel wrinkles his nose in distaste at the revelations...he doesnt like the arena and this is a smaller nastier version of that..
"Looks like I'm working door tonight then.."
Barring any further business, Mordecai excuses himself and heads to the Burying Ground to plant any newcomers that have been left for planting.
On the way back, he looks for a merchant who might sell slightly used daggers of dubious provenance, as he has no need for fine work, and would be just as comfortable buying a pigsticker found in some poor fools back.
Angvar may or may not accompany him, he doesn't give any indication either way, leaving the choice up to him.
Barring a very busy morning at the Burying Grounds, or some sort of unpleasantness in his morning errands, he'll return in time for lunch.
Angvar accompanies Mordecai and uses his excellent local knowledge to help find a suitably cheap weapon's merchant.
Once Angvar and Mordecai are out and away from the others,
"I'm not seeing any way to get your familiar out of the place it's being held. Is there some way you can replace it, take that bargaining chip out of the hands of whomever is holding it?"
"If the bond were not deeper than anything you could understand, then yes, I might replace Iskish." Angvar is at his coldest and most patrician.
Suddenly he smiles icily and looks carefully at Mordecai. "As it happens, a possibility does occur to me. Iskish must be found and freed first however and the pit at Zincher's must be investigated."
Mordecai
Saul references some business he has to take care of today, and so leaves you to your own (de)vices, hoping you'll generate some more workers to staff the Goblin.
Mordecai/Angvar;
Your errands are completed rather quickly, on account of there being no bodies to take care of. You find it rather strange, especially considering Mel mentioned sending a particular cretin to his grave the day before.
In a town like Riddleport everyone carries a dagger, or at least, they should. It's not difficult to find a place that will sell a decent and easily concealable blade. Any mention toward the shopkeepers method of acquiring the merchandise in the first place is met with a 'Nothing like that here, Sir' response.
Everyone else;
What are your plans for the day? How will you keep busy until the evening? Everyone but Gierixa has a reason to go to Zincher's tonight, but she could easily follow up with Mordecai and Angvar's plan to find Iskish in there.
Mordecai purchases a pair of daggers, and then returns to the Goblin, lacking any other specific agenda for the day.
Bexilarius tries to track down Sam, to see if she knows any more out of work wannabe cyphermages. Then he'll do another circuit of the bars and brothels, looking for people to recruit.
Mel appropriates 100 silver teeth and goes out on a promotional spree...
"Here we are ladies and gents...the Golden Goblin..sonn to be reopening under almost entirely new Management offers you a free.. yes Missus I did say free.. bet at it's tables ..all you have to do is turn up and play..that's right no tricks no lies here is the stake for a single bet at the tables on the grand reopening night...who's going to turn this down ladies and gent's ...the chance to make money for nothing"
Bluff 1d20+7=17, Diplomacy 1d20+6=12,Performance (oratory) 1d20+6=25
Ozbadin is bored with recruiting so he will get back to his normal routine of scouring the city for new victims...I mean clients for the family business. If he runs across anyone he thinks might be a good GG employ he might approach them, but is more interested in the family trade. He will also keep his ear to the ground for rumors about tonight's contest in case he needs to make a wager.
Diplomacy (Gather Information) (1d20+6=7, 1d20+6=13, 1d20+6=25, 1d20+6=18)
Mordecai; Back at the Gold Goblin, most of the new recruits are hard at work fixing things up, taking down the last of the decorations from the previous event, and just generally slacking off. Though you haven't been formally introduced to the masses, it doesn't appear to be necessary. They still straighten up, get back to work, and nod respectfully when you return.
Larur is there as well, and approaches you when Angvar is out of sight. "Boy, you've really done a number on that one. Look how he walks behind you, so careful not to make a sound. You've obviously got a way with people. Aren't you worried that he'll try and strike you down if he ever gets the chance? You got some magic in ya, right? Is that what you're using to keep him loyal? I could certainly use a trick or two like that, given my position. Any chance you could teach me?" Larur's tone is playful, but ignorantly sincere.
Angvar; Though you can't seem to recall anything about Marzielle off the top of your head, the best source of information is standing in front of you. Saul has put the woman to work at scrubbing the blood stains out of the carpet. On her hands and knees, the scrubbing is actually making more work for her. The blood stained sections of carpet stand out even more, now that they are clean. "Would ya look at this? I'll have to clean the whole damn thing now.", she says, seeing you approach. "But don't think I ain't grateful, sir. Any work is good for me. I'm a good worker. I'll show you. I'll not make you regret sendin' me here. And soon enough, I'll give that other guy his blade back. I be needin' a bigger one anyway."
Bexilarius; It's easy enough to track Sam down. She's in her small apartment. When she answers the door, she's wearing clothes this time. She's wearing thing reading glasses as well, and has a thick book tucked neatly under her arm.
"Bex! Good to see you. I wanted to thank you again for your help in getting me a job at the Goblin; I'm sure you put in a good word for me, but I hope I made it clear enough that the job is temporary. In proper bureaucratic style, I'm waiting desperately to hear from those stuck up mages."
She invites you in to her place and clears off her little table of writing supplies, putting out some fruit and a half-finished bottle of wine to share. When you ask her about any other leads she has, she simply shakes her head. "I don't really know any other mages in town. They're so tight-lipped and insular at the guild. Anyone who's not in the guild has a hard time breaking the ice with those crew. And the town itself is not exactly brimming with non-associated wizards. If you're not part of the Guild of Cyphers, why in the hells would you be in this dump of a town otherwise?"
Mel; Your tactic works well, and a crowd is soon drawn. A few passers-by are wary of the offer, as very little comes for free in this hard luck town. Even more, however, clamber over each other for the opportunity to get a silver tooth. Soon a large group of people form around Mel; like the swarms of fish the town depends on, a frenzy of activity builds up around her. Greedy hands grab at her, and each other, for a chance at more than their share of teeth. Mel manages to spot a particularly vicious man elbow an old woman out of the way to get a tooth. She falls to the ground and is soon trampled by other desperate people.
The frenzy dies down a little when a man draws a hand-crossbow from his cloak and aims it at Mel. "Backup, everyone. We're taking the rest of these chips, so don't even bother. Get outta here. Scram."
Mordecai nods politely to Larur. "What magics I possess come from service to a higher power, and would only be available to you if you were willing to join the clergy. Such devotion has it's rewards, but they do not come swiftly, or at all, to those whose faith is weak."
Looking at Angvar, who is standing near Marzielle, he adds, "As for the secret of controlling someone, there are many routes to that goal, and not all of them require magic. Fear, intimidation, appeals to greed, all work, as well as cultivating a deep understanding of the nature of evil, allowing one to bind someone in chains of their own making."
"Or, as any wife could tell you, there's always sex." he adds with a smile.
Bex waves away Sam's thanks and explanation. "Work there however long you want. Hells, I'm just there to make some cash. You'd be surprised at the calming, meditative qualities of gold," he says with a smile.
He pours himself a glass of wine. "What is it with those Cyphermages anyway? You're right, you don't see a lot of other wizards around, Mordecai's 'pet' a notable exception. Okay, so they're studying the Cyphergate. Sure it's old, but it's just an arch. Made out of stone. What do they hope to find? What's the appeal? Isn't the ability to fry a man from a hundred paces enough for you people?"
Contemplating Marzielle, Angvar is silent for a moment. "No doubt my master will be grateful for the return of his dagger. Tell me, to what purpose would you put a better weapon?"
Unable to resist the chance to show off a bit, Angvar points a long finger at a particularly stubborn bloodstain and utters a few arcane syllables.
"You have no idea how useful that is," he remarks. "Or perhaps you do. Show me the worst of these stains and in return, tell me who else you know in need of employment in this sluice pit. My master has a great deal of influence over the owner. It is by helping others we help ourselves, or so he tells me."
Mell looks at the crossbow pointing at her...this idea had seemed so simple when she thought of it..but like most things in her life it was quickly becoming overly complicated
She runs a hand through her short mop of blonde hair scratching the back of her head
"Taking it all...and how do you think your going to cash it?. My boss knows how many chips have gone out and how they are getting handed out..you can't cash 'em anywhere but the goblin and..."
Her hand flies forward and a throwing knife speeds for the thug
initiative 1d20+3=16, attack 1d20+3=16, damage 1d4=1
As the knife leaves her hand she throws herself off the barrel on which she is standing tumbling towards the Goblins door.(I never said she was going far from the place)
tumble 1d20+7=27...pity theres no critical success on a skill roll
Ozbadin after spending the morning checking things out, decides that not only is he bored, he's in a bad mood. He will spend the afternoon hours attempting to purchase some poor children from desperate parents, or kidnapping any who seem to be homeless to sell for profit.
Cursed..I'm cursed..thats the second game for each of my characters Dahn was GMing for that has collapsed...on the other hand it does take some of the pressure off me as I was getting a bit over stretched here.
I feel all my work has been wasted though
Much as I love danger-prone Angvar and his creepy relationship with Mordecai, I'm going to have to pass. I took on a lot more games when these went on hiatus and I'm running three, so there have to be some limits.
Ozbadin is ready to resume his questionable ways as always.
Sorry on this one Dahn..I committed to another Second Darkness game for Mel last week having thought we had waited long enough and we just got started..I'm still up for Last Baron with Andrea though
Bex is more than willing to continue. He's been bored with nothing to beat but himself. ;)
Bex is more than willing to continue. He's been bored with nothing to beat but himself. ;)
That's so wrong.
I love this party. :)
Mordecai is eager to find new and exciting things to kill, eat and or get into creepy sadomasochistic relationships with in this shanty-town.
Looks like we have a Cleric, Monk, whatever the heck Ozbadin is (Factotum?) and possibly an NPC arcanist (if he hasn't died of a lingering infection after getting a splinter or something...).
I haven't seen any posts from Jal Dorak (Gierixa the 'Druid') for about a month, so he might not be around any longer.
Bex is more than willing to continue. He's been bored with nothing to beat but himself. ;)That's so wrong.
I love this party. :)
Mordecai is eager to find new and exciting things to kill, eat and or get into creepy sadomasochistic relationships with in this shanty-town.
Looks like we have a Cleric, Monk, whatever the heck Ozbadin is (Factotum?) and possibly an NPC arcanist (if he hasn't died of a lingering infection after getting a splinter or something...).
I haven't seen any posts from Jal Dorak (Gierixa the 'Druid') for about a month, so he might not be around any longer.
You know Angvar just gets hurt so he can sleep in the bed, don't you?
Bex is more than willing to continue. He's been bored with nothing to beat but himself. ;)That's so wrong.
I should have known you would go there. :)
I figured a few people would drop out, but I'm glad there's still some enthusiasm for this game! I appreciate you sticking with me, for sure.
Let's do a little roll-call;
Bexilarius, tiefling monk, played by Rob
Mordecai, human cleric of Urgathoa, played by Set
Ozbadin, human factotum, played by Scranford/Steve
Gierixa, half-orc druid, up for grabs
Angvar, human wizard, up for grabs
Mel, human rogue, up for grabs
For those of you interested in joining into the game, feel free to make your own character, but recognize that there is a certain cohesiveness to this Adventure. If you'd like to take and/or modify any of the above 'abandoned' characters, feel free. If not, I'll NPC them for a time. I'll make it work, either way, especially if you give me something to work with in your character backgrounds.
I'm going to post a little more in the discussion thread, let's continue it there.
DM Dahn
If Loops goes west, I'll pick up the Angvar reins just to see if I get him through 24 hours without dying. He's become a challenge.
Mordecai
"Haw haw haw", Larur laughs, patting you solidly on the back. "Well I'll thank ya for your time and instruction, but I'm not so sure I got what it takes for that sorta thing. Listen, I got a bunch of things to sort out before we open up, the least of which is re-stocking the Red Room bar. Do ya think you could help me move a few things around? Maybe a little clumsily? Would be a shame for a bottle or two o' wine to break and spill on the way down, wouldn't it?" Larur playfully winks and points first to his, and then your stomach, but stops suddenly;
"Didja hear that? Sounds like a commotion outside. What in the hells?" Larur heads off toward the window to take a look. "Looks like some fight is clearing up. S'hard to tell from here who's winning, but there is one mean-looking son of a b*tch with an axe out there. This could get messy."
Angvar
"Not a better weapon," she corrects, "a bigger one. It's for my father. I'm going to run him through with it." She continues furiously scrubbing the floor. "Soon...as...I...save...enough...coin!"
Mel/Dank
The would-be thief is surprised by Mel's quick and accurate throw, the knife catching him on the arm as it sails past. He grits his teeth, barely flinching as he begins to bleed. The crowd begins to thin out as people try to steer clear of the combatants.
"Whadda we do now?" asks one of his accompanying thugs looking around nervously, but he is answered only by the leveled raising and aiming of the crossbow. It was not just for show, apparently, as a deadly accurate bolt flies toward the tumbling Mel, striking Mel in the leg in return. If she wasn't tumbling, the bolt easily could have ended her life.
"Knock him out, boys" he says cooly, as reloads his crossbow.
Obediently, they move in and strike with solid fists, [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2159150] cracking them soundly against the young rogue's face.
A third supporting thug moves about the crowd, bullying onlookers and collecting the silver tokens in a small sack. He stops short in front of a large fur-covered brute.
"Hey...you...gimme your token too!" he mutters. He brandishes a shortsword with confidence, and seems bolstered by the success of his friends.
Bexilarius
"A hundred paces, sure. A thousand paces, great. Another part of the world? God-like." Sam shakes her head, as if leaving a thought behind. "It's not even about blasting or frying at all! Who knows what the thing was for? I'd love the chance to find out, though. And there's only one way to get close to the thing and the years of research already done on it. I hate those mages, but I have to get in there."
"Still, money is money, and I'd like to be making some sooner rather than later. Any word from Saul on when the Goblin is gonna open again?"