Not one to force a confrontation, Karn instead says, "Dran, if you don't want to, I'll take the letter to the Lord, no problem." With that, Karn will take the letter from Dran and head off to find the Lord.
TO DM
As you approach Bairwins shop, a figure exits and heads down the road away from your current location. Inside you can still see movement and Bairwin looks out the window before you see his shadow on the wall inside move around. Suddenly the candle goes out. When you get a closer look at the inside you don't notice any signs of Bairwin or anyone for that matter being around.
Once inside the shop you can see what Thair was talking about, Bairwin has quite the business with plenty of Items from all over in glass cases and on finely crafted shelves. It's not the kind of store or supplies you would expect to see in a lowly town such as Winterhaven especially with the diminishing trade route.
Hoping that SOMEONE has the cajones to follow mysterious fleeing the scene man, Aglaeca Continues his search of the store.
Like I said, Quitely making it look like a robbery, looking for paperwork or clues that will tell where Bairwin is getting all this stuff.
if you need more rolls, fell free or ask.
I'll follow the mysterious figure fleeing the scene, using what he knows of the layout of Winterhaven to aid in his following.
Streetwise Check, 1d20+1=8
Heading through what is normally a busy marketplace Sturdy keeps close to the figure, once beyond that there is a small section of homes near the guard barracks and Sturdy is unable to see where the person went to.
Back at the shop:
As you look through paperwork and such you come across information of items being brought from "Grimmerzhul Trading Post". There isn't much of fowl play in this room. Suddenly as you stand there a voice calls out to you.
"I thought you would come here, Tieflings often have a hard time adjusting to a life of good deeds." Bairwin says as he comes from out of a backroom. "A friend of mine told me that you might be someone who could help me. As you can see I've built a fine life for myself here and an even better one awaits. I can offer you wealth and power, is that something you would be interested in? If not, there are plenty of other things I can help you accomplish or acquire. I've seen the way your party looks at you, I know they don't appreciate your work properly."
Aglaeca attempts to palm the manifest and turns to face the shop owner with a big smile, Thievery 24 to palm the manifest
"Money, Powah, Whats not to like , You have my attention, lets get something to drink and talk"
The old dwarf chuckles, it is apparent that he is well versed with the world. As he looks at you, you can see that he is doing his best to figure out your skills and abilities. He chuckles,
"My boy, this is not a conversation for the ears of those ... people." The pause in his sentence is uneasy at best.
"Come on back here, I have some drinks and cups in the back room"
Bairwin leads you into a stock room behind the main store room. You notice wooden crates with grimmerzhul stamped on the outside. He rustles through shelves of bottles before coming across his choice beverage and begins to pour two cups. "Please have a seat" he gestures to a small table with a few wooden chairs around it.
Aglaeca, with as much grace as he can manage, walks into the back room with Bairwin.
Scaning with his eyes and magic, He sits down nonchalantly.
Arcana 15 to detect magic items, like say if the chair is enchanted etc,etc (this is a big fat failure, I generally need 20+1/2 magic item level)
Perception 18 to look for hidding assailents
Sitting and looking back expentantly at Bairwin, the Tiefling Smiles and Waits.
You don't notice any odd magic. heck even when you sit yourself down you don't feel the slightest tingle. The room itself is just a dusty stock room with not much of anywhere to hide.
However,
underneath another crate you notice the corner of what might be a hatch. it seems like it was covered in a hurry.
"So Aglaeca, what is it you're doing here in winterhaven? nothing that's against my interests I hope."
I got dragged here on a fool's errand, and now I'm doing a bit of work for the lord, trying to deal with these kobolds, not too successfully I might add.
And yourself?, You seem to be doing a brisk trade here. Old Thair is more than a little jealous of you , you realise, and the Lord doesn't seem to favourable to you? How do you do it? Where is this money and power your so promising with
I got dragged here on a fool's errand, and now I'm doing a bit of work for the lord, trying to deal with these kobolds, not too successfully I might add.
And yourself?, You seem to be doing a brisk trade here. Old Thair is more than a little jealous of you , you realise, and the Lord doesn't seem to favourable to you? How do you do it? Where is this money and power your so promising with
"I have my sponsorships so to speak. Kobolds eh? Dangerous lot. Nasty little creatures. Even the smallest of beings can have their own purpose in the grand scheme of things. What is this fools errand? The money and the power comes from a place that I can show you. If. you can help me get rid of a few pests of my own."
These Pests, Tell me more about them. I'm sure we can come to an arrangement of some kind
"I know about the Purple Dragon Knight who came very close to uncovering my work. There is one person in particular in this town who information that can help people like them and your friends to stall my work here. Valthrun. If you can get rid of him and bring me proof of his death than I will handsomely reward you. Perhaps get your friends involved even, make everyone think that Valthrun is the one responsible for the dark feeling everyone is having. Yes! It's brilliant"The Dwarf chuckles"It makes perfect sense, what is he doing in that tower all day? studying his legions of books no doubt, but what books? You can still be the hero of Winterhaven and let me have my work undisturbed. I assure you my rewards will be much greater than whatever Padraig promised you."
A sage of some kind then, that can be arranged but tell me , how shall we arrange payment, and ...shall we say ...a token of your good faith in me would be appreciated
Aglaeca stands saying You know what, scratch that, Why don't I do this for you , to prove myself, before we start getting into money reaching across the table to clasp Bairwins arm in a jovial fashion the Teifling Smiles as sincerely as he can manage.
I hope shaking the dwarfs hand counts as a grab (the description just says seize a creature bodily and I dont plan on releasing the clasp.
but either way here is my surprise and first round of actions.
Surprise Round:
Armour of Agathys (Gain 13 Temp Hps and bairwin takes 1d6+3 cold damage when they begin adjacent )
Initiative 11
First Round of Combat
Minor:Warlock Curse (Bairwin Takes an Extra D6 Damage from my powers)
Move->Minor: Infernal Wrath (+1 to hit, +3 Damage on my next power)
Standard: Hellish Rebuke ( 15 vs Ref to hit, for 10 Fire and 6 curse damage if it hits and an extra 1d6+8 if I am damaged before next turn (not sure if infernal wrath applies to hellish repeat damage but otherwise 1d6+5)
Action Point: Hellish Rebuke ( 8 to hit, natural 1 )
here's a couple Armour of Agathys Damage if you need them (which you probably will) 5,6 and 8 in order
"You're going to challenge me alone? Surprising to the last."
The Dwarf doubles over in pain suddenly but quickly focuses his fury on you emitting a darkness from his other hand while it opens up.
Encounter Power: Darkness Unleashed (1d20+7=20)
Suddenly blackness fills the room and you feel as though you were thrown back and cannot see anything.
Init Order
Agaleca (Blinded)
Bairwin
As Karn makes his way towards the Lord's estate, he sticks to the shadows, as he is accustomed to doing. Not fully understanding why the Tiefling wanted so much secrecy involved with this letter, Karn nonetheless did his best to keep his movements through the streets and into the Lord's Estate unknown to any who might be around.
As you move towards Lord Padraig's Estate you are unseen to anyone. However, you do see Sturdy moving through the streets himself and eventually coming to a stop where he seems quite lost.
Sitting at Wrafton's Inn, you realize your entire party is no longer in the tavern and you sit along with your drinks.
You have lost all sign of the figure and have left Aglaeca behind to vandalize on his own.
Aglaeca smiles, blind and blood dripping down his face, "it was good for me how about you"
(Hai Guys I found a Darkness Cultist... , I wasn't expecting *blind*)
Minor Action/move action: Stand if necessary, Mock Opponent
BWAHAHAHAHAHA You're covers blown bairwin, You know what happens to cultist who are exposed Bairwin, You know what happens to their souls Bairwin, They burn in a special place of torment Bairwin, I know, I've been there Bairwin, and you know what the only thing worst than devils are bairwin for how they treat their cultists?
That would be gods bairwin, Your going to burn in the light forever bairwin BWAHAHAHAHAhah so why dont you show me what you got before I end your miserible life.
When I get hit, and I hope I do
That Hurt Bairwin, Was it good for you? you degenerate, Ass sniffing, kobold
Standard Action: Shooting Blindly with Hellish Rebuke, Attempting to set things on Fire if I may (towards the drink if I may to get things to burn faster)
(gm should i just abandon my planned turn rolls or should i attempt to reuse them somehow.(probably easiest and fairest to just start from scratch)
"With what I have to gain, soon I'll have nothing to worry about. You could have been a part of it. Owning endless expanses of this world, but now I'm afraid I'll have to kill you. I'll let my beasts torment you.
You can hear Bairwin struggling with something as he speaks, suddenly the sound of a barrel crashes down to your left.
Moments later your sight begins to return and you can see that Bairwin is rustling with moving barrels off of the trap door you noticed earlier.
Minor Action: Curse Bairwin (+1 Ac until the begining of my next turn)
Minor Action: Infernal Wrath
standard action: Diabolic Grasp ( 14 vs Fort, for 20( 2d8+ 4 con mod and +3 from the wrath) damage and slide 4 if it hits (e15 plz)
Action Point: Eldritch Blast 14 vs Ref, for 6 damage
if either of them hit, the first one gets an additional 2 Damage from my curse.
Blah Blah Blah, great risk, great reward, don't you get it you gnat, you've been duped by the promises of something far greater than what you deserve, you've been conned my friend, I'm just going to do you a favour and put you out of your misery before whatever piddly spirit that fooled you gets arround to it
At this point it is obvious that Bairwin is not the leader of this operation, nor is he the muscle as he begins to look weak. From his weakness however a further attack comes from the quarterstaff he is holding.
Necrotic Damage and you are blind. (Save Ends) (1d8+3=6)
"I recommend that before you follow me, you bring your friends so they can die alongside your foolishness."
"Keep Talking Maggot"
Perception Check to pinpoint where the voice is coming from
Minor, Perception while blinded, 5, Passive 10 not sure what I need to target someone who is quite audible and i'm not sure if I need to put the negative 10 perception for being blinded (that would be -5 and 0 passive respectively then.)
If I can tell where Bairwin is I target that square, otherwise I target B10
21 vs Ref to hit (with the -5 for being blindand all) 12 Fire Damage if it hits (including warlock curse)
Just moments after you hear the crashing of a few barrels and crates your vision begins to clear up and you hope that once you have sight again you will see the body of Bairwin. Unfortunately you do not see anything besides plenty of bits of broken wood and a now open hatch in the floor.
Cursing, Aglaeca goes to stomp out any bits of fire that may have been, inadvertantly or not, caused.
Then going to just outside the store, Aglaeca will wait a few minutes to see if he can catch sight of any of the other members of his party. If he can he will get them to go rouse the others in preparation for pursuing Bairwin.
If he can't he will quickly move to the Inn, Wake all he can find and start getting them ready before returning.
At Bairwin's , Aglaeca will start preparing for the fight and such below. He Will Sack, Bairwin's Place, already considering them forfeit and using whatever knowledge he can gleam from the manifests and such to find any and all useful objects.
I'd like to prepare a half dozen lanterns and extra Rope Kits.
Arcana Check to find Magic Items (focused once at the store front and once in the back room again) Front Room 19 Failure, Backroom 10 Failure
Search Check to find Magic Items/Useful Items. 8
Giving up on being able to find anything useful, Aglaeca thoughtfully presmashes/opens what display cases/boxes he can randomly before everyone shows up.
Sturdy returns to the shop encountering Aglaeca just outside and tells him of the figure that escaped Sturdy's pursuit. Sturdy will assist in waking other party members and preparing to chase Barwain.
Sturdy returns to the inn and knocks on the doors of his comrades, trying to rouse them from their sleep without drawing too much attention from other patrons.
With a search of the Inn you notice that your companions are missing, and there are notes left on each door sealed with a "K" symbol. You and Aglaeca find yourselves alone in the Inn. The normally busy tavern is completely quiet and Salvana has already retired to bed due to this.
It just seems like a seal, possibly someone's name or company. Nothing that you can put your finger on.
Deciding to stick with Sturdy instead of continuing to the Lord's Estate, Karn shadows Sturdy back to the Inn and finds the tiefling waiting for the others. "So how did your 'investigation' go? Find anything of use?"
Deciding to stick with Sturdy instead of continuing to the Lord's Estate, Karn shadows Sturdy back to the Inn and finds the tiefling waiting for the others. "So how did your 'investigation' go? Find anything of use?"
"Aglaeca, what happened inside Bairwin's shop?"
Aldric, Quinn, Varjack
Each of you arrive at Winterhaven within an hour of each other, it is night-time and the gate is locked down. As you all sit outside of it one of you has managed to flag the attention of a guard inside and he pokes his head through a peep hole in a small door and grunts
"Gate's closed for the night, find some place else to sleep."
Aglaeca, Karn, Sturdy
You stand before Bairwin's shop trying to plan a course of action, Aglaeca looks like he has been in quite a fight and you know there is trouble inside that shop.
Aldric responds to the guard with a warm smile. "Sun shine upon you, good sir. Surely we can't be expected to sit by the road for the night. Perhaps some exception could be made for some weary travelers of good repute?"
Aldric responds to the guard with a warm smile. "Sun shine upon you, good sir. Surely we can't be expected to sit by the road for the night. Perhaps some exception could be made for some weary travelers of good repute?"
"Sun shine? it's dark as drow out here. You don't seem like brigands or trouble makers. I suppose I can let you in. It's just the three of you right?"
He seems to trust that you have a reputation and lets the three of you in a small wooden door before closing and barring it behind you.
"Down the way is Wrafton's Inn, you'll be lucky if you can get rooms. A group of adventurer's is already occupying some of them I know."
The Tiefling Sucked his Teeth before begining. He hated admitting Failure.
The Miasma of his last spell broke as his other party members came into range. Patting himself down for wounds, Aglaeca was pleased to find none, any damage being taken, haven been healed by his dark masters.
I broke into Bairwin's Shop, hoping to find some incriminating evidence. Instead me and him had a conversation. He tried to recruit me into the cult and I told him about the virtues of cult free living. I thought I could take him and I tried, but the Kobold managed to get away. He fled into a secret level below the shop. I think we should go and end his life
DM, Aldric, Quinn
Grinding his hands against his staff, Verjack finally speaks after passing by the guard, "Why must we be interrogated by every peasent sentry that we come across. Aldric, where was it that we were suppose to meet these people?"
Just up the street as you Winterhaven you can see a giant Inn sign, you can only imagine that it's the very place that the guard was speaking of. Further down the road you can see some commotion in front of what looks to be a closed shop with its front door wide open.
In the street a Tiefling, Goliath and Human stand together exchanging glances back and forth at the shop itself and each other.
Karn, not really much caring whether this Bawain was part of a cult or not, still had a job to do. So he draws his recently acquired shortsword and says, "Yes, lets go show this Bawain what it means to be messin' with one of us, eh?"
"Gentlemen!" calls out a human man in his mid twenties carrying a staff. Verjeck states in stern tone, "I believe that entering the place of another during the night is a crime in this kingdom. Perhaps you should cease your activity and retire for the night."
Aglaeca smiles, pleased to find a willing target for his vitrol, and calmly flips them the bird (or gives them the V or whatever the appropiate rude teifling hand and/or tail gesture may be ) and yells back "Sod Off"
Speaks lowly to Verjack.
Speaks lowly to Verjack.
** spoiler omitted **
Quinn, after remaining silent for most of the journey, leans over and quietly responds to Aldric.
Looking to Quinn and Aldric, Verjack hesitates. "By the light of Amaunator, this is going to be interesting."
You mean that pretty little purple dragon knight we spent the night with?