Our little band of miscreants (Tiefling Rogue, Half-Elf Fighter/Sorcerer, Halfling Witch, Halfling Ranger, Human Cleric and Human Conjurist) have managed to win our way past the Emperor of Old Kovosa, Pilts Swastel, after a rather epic little scene in which we managed to make him surrender ... then Jabbyr, his little Gnome Executioner, went berserk and Bull-Rushed him into one of the Wolverine pits (C4f, I believe, according to the map!) where the starving Dire Wolverine tore them to shreds after we managed to defeat the Emperor and our Conjurist and Fighter/Sorcerer managed to Charm four of the Captains thanks to them sharing a very battered Wand of Charm and then turned them to fight for us by shouting "How much gold do you think the Emperor has been hoarding from you with all these exections! Side with us and claim an equal share!" at which point a few rounds later some more of the Captains switched sides when our Conjurist (Typical Chelaxian) summoned a small pack of Fiendish Riding Dogs to buy the party some time to pound on the Emperor while our Charmed Guard Captains rallied their troops to our defence and the whole thing descended into a bloody scrum. Our Witch proved he was no lightweight by dropping a Swarm of Spiders at the far end of the scrum and letting the little monsters just chew the hell out of the melee, and our Ranger got a boost up from my Rogue to high ground and just started pelting the absolute crap out everyone and everything with her Throwing Axes.
Jabbyr's suicidal last act stopped the fighting and the party managed to stay alive, which surprised us all (Half-Elf decided to be a smarmy bastard again and nearly wiped us all out, but more on that later) and we've successfully cowed the mob into doing what we tell them to. People are starting to stop rioting and we've been told by Salvator Scream we need to head to the palace of the Arkonus Family. We've rested, got some supplies (we've now all got magical weaponry, decent armor and assorted potions and minor wondrous items so we're not one-trick ponies in or out of combat anymore, huzzah!) and kept an eye on our allies, especially Trinia who manged to escape the city thanks to my Teifling and our Conjurist escorting her out of town by the simple act of 'turning' her into a man (again, more on this later, it was quite funny!) and walking her out through the front gate.
Thing is, at this stage the Party has started to get a little twitchy about the whole affair. Our Half-Elf Fighter/Sorcerer is "whatever, get me in there, get me the gold and the loot and the prestige.", or Conjurist made some rather high Knowledge checks on the way in and has thus noticed the God of Beasts designs in the Mansion, and our Cleric and Witch have both recieved ominous dreams over the past two days about the Arkonas Family. My own Rogue knows damn well that this 'Family' is dangerous as a cut snake and would rather stay as far away from them as possible. We're walking into the lair of a beast here, and the whole party is on edge.
We've met with Bahor, he told us that unless the Emperor died, we'd never achieve real peace in Old Korvosa and lent us the Wand of Charm Person, we went back in, did the whole shenanigans and came back with his wand down to 2 charges out of 8 (ouch) and his favourite Artist freed. We're going back, but the party is starting to get twitchy and we're aware that these people are not to be trusted.
Now, I know these people are Rakshasas, but I'm trying not to meta-game this. I know Bahor is a suave, sweet-talking master-criminal, that he's had his fingers in just about every single criminal organisation and would-be thief in Korvosa, and he's probably got my number as a Tiefling, which makes me rather rare in town. How can the party get through this second meeting without revealing our doubts when our levels are around the 7-9 mark and no doubt the Rakshasas have all been bumped a bit to compensate for the 6-man party? Any help in this matter would be gratefully accepted.
It was brilliant because we got the rest of the party to play along and pretend to have both the Conjurist and myself in the room, arguing as we seem to be doing constantly now, and the Guards that were keeping an eye on us (having the Witch, Cleric, Ranger and my Rogue all throw daggers and stones at the Executioner might not have been the smartest career move we've made >_> ) fell for it completely. Trinia got away, not before giving the Tiefling a hestitant peck on the cheek before riding off. I got grilled mercilessly by the Conjurist on our way back to the inn where we're renting rooms about the whole thing. Bah.
|
Without giving to much away (though you seem to know a bit more than my players did at this point) Why are you going to the Arkona Palace? What are you hoping to accomplish there? As in almost every RP situation you have several options; from kick the door in and kill everything that moves all the way to meekly approach with your throats exposed. Everything you need to know has probably been presented to you (and it sounds like you may have found a bit more than you even need to know). I am sure with a little confidence, some nice social skills and perhaps a back up plan or 12 you guys are more than up to the task before you.
First, I'd like to apologise for the delay in getting back to you people.
Second .... we managed to secure an audience with Salvator Scream via bribes, and he told us he wasn't leaving until 'that maniac is dead' and suggested we go to the Arkonas family for assistance if the local constabulary were defunct.
It took about 1/2 a day of wrangling, but we (the Party) finally agreed that stacking the deck in our favor was worth more than being allied for a short while with one of the biggest, if not the biggest, Crime Families in Korvosa.
After getting the guided tour by the guards (Where the religious symbols were noted by the Conjurist) we met Bahor and were pleasantly surprised to find him a sophisticated man equally opposed to the Queen as ourselves, and best of all was willing to pay us to kill off the Emperor of Old Korvosa and return his favourite painter to him. Along the way he also mentioned he knew the locations of Neolandus Kalepopolis, the Seneschal of Korvosa and apparently our old friend Vencarlo Orisini, whom we had no idea was missing in the first place since he'd gone to ground after helping us organise Trinia Sabor's escape and sending his remaining students home to protect their families.
So, we returned to Old Korvosa, time passed, we took a nap and the Witch and Cleric got their 'Warning' Dreams, which set them on edge. My Rogue, personally, is walking on egg-shells because he knows first-hand the Arkonas are dirty as all hell and make people 'disappear' for things as simple as not turning up on time. Our would-be Eldritch Knight doesn't give a hoot, all she wants is Gold and Glory, and our Ranger likewise just wants to clear out the crazy old bastard and his creepy little Gnome hench-thing.
Cue aforementioned scrum, see first post, blah blah blah, we get Salvator Scream, we basically use our rank and our display of skill and might to make it known that the rioting, thieving and assorted lawlessness in Old Korvosa will stop, and we're currently en-route to the Arkonas Palace with Salvator Scream in tow. That's where the game stopped for that sessions, but thing is, I have the Game Modules with me, I loved reading them cover-to-cover and visualizing just how my Tiefling would be an organic component within this world.
Thing is, I also know the main villains in this encounter are Rakasha, and are thus going to be decidedly lethal against our little group. Furthermore, I'm the only trap-springer in the group, and I also know that we're going to have a bit of a pickle when Bathor gets us involved in his spat with his sister. With the exception of the Fighter/Sorcerer Half-Elf, the group is to a great extent a collection of vigilantes happily working for the few non-corrupt officials in the City Guard, and as such we're a moral sort of band. I guess I'm worried about how we're going to deal with the revelation that immortal cannibalistic Fiends have been running the crime scene for hundreds of years, and that we're the pawns in their latest struggle for dominance.
How would you handle this situation?
|
|
Well, you are in a bit of a pickle. You know that force of arms is probably not going to go well. But they have the people for whom you seek. You are going to have to deal with them. Really there is no other way. Either you go ahead and just drop the gauntlets (sounds like you are dubious of the out come here and I can not blame you) or you can try to Talk your way into possession of those you need. My advice is to try the later first. Worst case scenario you can always drop the gauntlets if you don't like his terms.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out...unless of course you have to make a new party ;)
Heh, a good question. As for the moment, your group doesn't know that the guys above are Rakshasas, so I fear you cannot specifically prepare for that. Also, your spellcasters will do nothing but try to dispel some buffs during the fights... my own group has a Wizard and a Sorcerer and both were a bit miffed that basically every encounter had a SR 22+ monster running around. Only exception was the Beatific One and she was brought down by the Paladin alone, without assistance of the casters.
I fear it's difficult to give good advice on the RP aspect of it... it depends too much on how the other players will react and you are handicapped already by knowing the adventure and not wanting to metagame. My only advice is to proceed as naturally as possible. If everyone already is paranoid, then my guess is that facestabbing will happen rather sooner than later. Just hope that it doesn't happen with Bahor, the guy is rather unpleasant at his CR 15.
My own group is just in the middle of this, having cleared the whole Vivified Labyrinth this Tuesday. I sped up things after all enemies were dead, doing a "these were the things that happened" impression and telling them to mark off a Wand of Cure Light Wounds for all the traps they would have blundered into. Vimanda is dead and the group now knows that the guys above are also Rakshasas, including Glorio. I think they will want to kick the tuchas of Glorio and friends, but I have a difficult time wrapping my head around how the Rakshasas will not gang up on the party after seeing what they did in the labyrinth. And Bahor + 4 Rakshasas at once aren't exactly balanced for a level nine party of five PC's. Especially when two of the characters don't have many tools to do something about them. Well, they just made a level, so maybe they'll pick some non-SR spells, that could do the trick. Quite honestly, I am thinking about Bahor calling in his subordinates from the Cerulean Society and having the manor obviously be crawling with thugs, so that the group puts off the destruction of the Arkonas *after* they return from the Cinderlands. That should work well together with the idea ( shamelessly stolen from someone else here ^^ ) to replace Scarwall with Citadel Vraid, as to not move the campaign away from Korvosa for too long.
That's where the game stopped for that sessions, but thing is, I have the Game Modules with me, I loved reading them cover-to-cover and visualizing just how my Tiefling would be an organic component within this world.
Have you told your DM that you read the modules? If you haven't, I suggest you do so that he can change bits and pieces to make it impossible for you to metagame them (even if you try not to; "anti-metagaming" can easily be taken overboard). If you have, and he hasn't changed anything, you can suggest that he does.
There is also the matter of ... you should not find out what's going on re: the Arkonas clan until it is (effectively) too late to do very much of anything about it.
Just don't be stupid enough to slap Glorio with a gauntlet ...
That's where the game stopped for that sessions, but thing is, I have the Game Modules with me, I loved reading them cover-to-cover and visualizing just how my Tiefling would be an organic component within this world.Have you told your DM that you read the modules? If you haven't, I suggest you do so that he can change bits and pieces to make it impossible for you to metagame them (even if you try not to; "anti-metagaming" can easily be taken overboard). If you have, and he hasn't changed anything, you can suggest that he does.
He knows, I lent him the modules. >_>
Okay, thank you to everyone! Managed to get through it by the skin of our teeth, but the Fighter/Sorcerer left the party to sign on with the Arkonas (We were all going O.O "BUT THEY'RE CANNIBALISTIC FIENDS!") and that person will be rolling up a new character, which nobody knows what sort it will be, hopefully another full BAB class, we're praying for a Paladin or Martial Cleric but that said nobody knows.
Damn, but that dungeon was a pain in the tail, and the in-fighting between the Rakasha was the only reason we didn't suffer a TPK after the Fighter/Sorcerer decided she would 'lead the way' and pulled the lever, cutting the party in half (almost litterally!) and then that damn Dark Sphinx nearly ate us alive. Managed to kill the Fox-Headed Rakasha by the skin of our teeth (Our Cleric, who steadfastly refuses to don armor, saved the day by blessing her Silvered Dagger, tossed it to my Rogue and then grappled the Rakasha monk. She nearly died, but the Monk went down fast while pinned and my Rogue and the Ranger were taking turns digging craters in her back, me with the blessed silver dagger and my 'backup' weapon, a Masterwork Shortsword, and the Ranger had a pair of Starknives for just such an occasion (We run by the 'using holy water blesses weapons for 10 rounds' homerule)
Many thanks for all your help, people, I can't wait to see what happens to us next!
Very nice. :)
Heh, my group moved on to the Cinderlands after clearing the labyrinth. They did mention plans to teleport-assault the Arkona mansion later on, though, so I statted up some appropiate threats from the Cerulean Society which Glorio has gotten to secure his mansion. Thankfully the Dungeonmastery Guide helps with that immensely. :p