Heyla all! I've been thinking of doing write-ups on my second campaign for a while now but kept on being lazy so... it's been half a year or so.
Hell's Rebels is an AP I've been wanting to run for quite some time. Unfortunately, my initial choice for the campaign backed out because "it's too political" - as if fighting evil overlords is political or that there is no politics in FRPGs in general. Whatevs. My second choice was my remote access group, but at the time they were two thirds of their way through Rise of the Runelords. Knowing how they work, I decided to... speed things up. I cut the unnecessary encounters and managed to cut probably a year off of the adventure (seeing we were meeting probably 18 times a year).
That's when the 2nd edition playtest came along. I actually held off on starting the remote HR game because I was truly interested in it. And I must say there are some aspects of 2nd edition I truly like... but the execution of the playtest was problematic (jumping from character to character without doing gradual leveling up was not a good idea, at least in my eyes). So that ended up delaying the game by close to a year. Still, we had crafted characters (and had a couple evolve from their initial creation).
Our group consists of the following:
Nox Rosalia - a pale-skinned masked lady who wields a whip and a rapier but who has remained closed-mouthed about her past, family, abilities, where she lives... you know, the perfect revolutionary.
Jimmy, aka King Under the Mountain - a rather bombastic halfling who has a sock puppet dressed up as a queen who he calls "Queen Mum" and lives in the Devil's Nursery, and a talented warrior with his longsword.
Kyofu Aulamaxa - a bored noble and great granddaughter of the head of the household, her dad had a hard night on the town one night and a year later had an unexpected bundle delivered. She's musically apt and good in a fight.
Vogal Shemat - Kyofu's best friend, appeared at the same time as Kyofu to said noble's best friend who was a rich merchant, and is a bit of a magically-inclined rabble-rouser who enjoys mint tremendously. Seriously.
Ironwood Jack - a latecomer to these parts, claims to be from Absalom and carries around a pistol (and seems to know how to use it) but also knows a bit about how to do a good rebellion and has joined this crew due to his friendship with Laria.
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What came before: During the Aria Park Incident, the King Under the Mountain tried to increase the number of people willing to serve him and helped chase off a pickpocket and overheard some interesting rumors before the fight with Thrune's lackeys broke out. The protest also lured in Kyofu and her best bud Vogal who were looking for a good fight, which they got. Also, a young firebrand named Nox Rosalia hid in the crowd and then when things went south she arrived on scene to help our heroes overcome their foes and then flee.
They came across a young man being accosted by over a dozen thugs dressed up as the Spanish Inquisition - er, I mean the Cheliax Citizen's Group and saved the young nobleman - Rexus Victocora, the lone surviving member of House Victocora who was quite sure Barzillai Thrune, new Lord-Mayor of Kintargo, had been responsible for the fire that destroyed his family estate and apparently killed everyone else in the Victocora family. In fact, three odd fires had cropped up the same night, also burning down the Siver Star music shop belonging to opera singer Shensen (an outspoken critic of the Thrune noble family), and the Thrashing Badger bar which was a known hangout of rabblerousers and people associated with the rebellious cult of Milani.
After following up on some clues Rexus had, the group found a stash of coded documents from an old rebel group called the Silver Ravens. After an impassioned plea by Rexus the group decided to become the new Silver Ravens and went to the Longroad Coffee Shop to talk to Rexus's mother's friend, Laria, and helped her deal with a problem under her coffee shop, and in doing so found a home for their new rebellion. They also recruited a group of four tengu to work for them and in turn allowed them to continue to live under the coffee shop.
After a week of lying low, the group recruited a group of six entertainers that Nox Rosalia was keeping an eye on, the Bright Falcons, and started to figure out just what they should do to help out around Kintargo. Even as Rexus started to decode the notes, the new Silver Ravens started doing good deeds by freeing folk who had been forced to work at the Salt Works (and did so without killing a single guard!), and also learned that someone had it out for Laria as three guards arrived on scene... fortunately, Vogal spilled her drink on one of the guards and they got so flustered (even as Vogal kept trying to clean things up) that they left in disgust.
Soon after they met with Laria's friend Jack, who had helped her with her Bellflower Network (smuggling halfling slaves out of Kintargo) even as others in the group learned about the killing of Tieflings at the Devil's Nursery. (Seeing that one of the PCs lived there, it made sense for them to learn about it early on.) and Jack helped them lure out the culprits, a group of 10 tooth faeries that tried to take one of Jimmy's teeth. Fortunately for the group, Vogal suffered a... mishap when trying to use a simple cantrip and what SHOULD have targeted just one fae ended up hitting everyone in the area with frost, killing several of the fae and wounding the rest (and her fellow party members). Jimmy's tooth recovered and put back in place, the fae were wiped out and evidence of dark dealings were found.
It was soon after then that Jimmy heard rumors of a dragon seen flying way in the sky outside of Crackjaw's, a local dive that had started getting more rowdy following the destruction of the Thrashing Badger. It was at that time that Vogal decided to stop risking her identity getting her dad into trouble, and using a magical toy of hers (Sleeves of Many Garments - an item that Nox Rosalia also possesses and uses as part of her disguise-crafting kit) to create her new rebellion persona, Menthe - a mint-themed heroine. And yes, F##k U is embroidered into the hem of her outfit.
Menthe was so amusing to the culprit behind the bar fights that the faerie dragon Vendalfek failed to properly hide, and Menthe succeeded in spying the wee dragon. They tried to ply him with drinks but he had mischief in mind at first and tried to start a bar brawl... at which point Ironwood Jack (in one of his several disguises) walked into the bar, saw the fight, drew his gun, fired a round into the ceiling, and demanded to know what was going on.
An embarrassed Jimmy got off the back of one patron, the patrons apologized to each other, Clenchjaw thanked Jack for stopping the fight, and the group proceeded to try and get a faerie dragon drunk and in doing so convinced him to go back with them and join the Silver Ravens. And while there they also met several people that they recruited to be the second team for the Ravens, a peddler band they're calling Rag and Bone.
As of the previous game (where this summary will end) this is the state of the Silver Ravens:
Ending the fourth week since the Aria Park Protests
Rank 4, 39 Supporters, Notoriety: 2
Allies: Laria Longroad, Rexus Victocora, Vendalfek
Teams: Bright Falcons (Rumormongers), Rag and Bone (Peddlers), Fushi Sisters (Bonus Team)
One of the things I'll be doing with my Hell's Rebels game is looking at the concept of consequences. One such consequence came up because when the group saved Forvian Crow and his cohorts, they never came across Kossrani, who was running the Salt Works. They took the money he'd been storing there but while Nox Rosalia snagged a bag of salt (and really wanted to loot the whole thing), they basically went in, grabbed the guys there, and walked out. Kossrani was livid.
He also didn't want to spend his money. Now, he still had salt which he could deliver and get some money together... but was loathed to talk to his boss and admit that some bored citizens had broken in and freed the prisoners working for him. And then as he saw a citizen of Kintargo press-ganged into service in one of the local ships, he had a brilliant idea. He should "recruit" people to work for him. But who?
He actually did a little homework and found out that the "Silver Ravens" who had stolen his workers had also recently helped out the tieflings in the Devil's Nursery by reopening the Cloven Hoof Society's building as a soup kitchen and also dealing with whoever was killing them. He wanted revenge against these Silver Ravens. This could give him both.
So he recruited four more men to help him out, promised them any of the women they wanted and all the money they looted when the Silver Ravens returned, and set up a press gang in the Devil's Nursery. They took 16 tieflings and poor humans prisoner by spilling money on the ground and snagging anyone who grabbed a coin, and headed back to the Salt Works to put them to work:
Several days into working with the Bright Falcons in helping them become better rumormongers while in the Devil's Nursery, you hear hammering. It attracts your attention and as you approach you see a man hammering a flier. Other people are gathering, both humans and tieflings, and the man tosses some coins on the ground. As the tieflings gather the coins eagerly the man grins and says "You have taken the coin! Thank you for volunteering to work for the Salt Works! Boys, grab them!" The tieflings are grabbed by the humans and a cart appears with a cage in the back where the tieflings are manhandled into.
Nox Rosalia was too far away to do anything (and was outnumbered) but did see what happened. While she was too late to stop the other press gangs, she did leave warning as to what was happening and promised the Silver Ravens would help. She then returned and recruited her friends who decided they should ask Vendalfek to help.
Joy.
Worse, they used outright flattery to talk Vendalfek into helping out. And it was quite effective. He knew they were flattering him to get him to help but he likes the Ravens and was a little bit bored so why not? Fortunately... Faerie Dragons are not quite as much of a threat as you'd think, especially if you play them as the whimsical and easily-distracted dragons they are. ;)
The group (mostly) went in disguise, with Vogal as Menthe, Kyofu as the Bloody Terror (wearing a half mask over the upper part of her face), and Nox Rosalia as herself (Nox Rosalia being the disguise). Jack went as himself to be the "face" of the Silver Ravens, while Jimmy doesn't quite understand why he should be disguised. Oh, and Vendalfek went as himself because whee! shiny distractions!
Heading there to attack right around curfew, the group found a pair of guards were posted at the main door going in. Rather than attack and cause a scene, they circled around to the back gate. While there was nothing in the write-up to say there were locks on the bars, it honestly doesn't make sense to me that there wouldn't be another way in there. This was a legitimate business until recently, and I don't see Thrune as being someone who'd pay extra money to make this a prison (not when people are just locked in a back room), so the bars were likely more to keep thieves out. Thus a padlock and chains on the main gate, and a second smaller gate by the barracks.
After a bit of a... discussion on why the Acid Splash cantrip cannot melt its way through locks (it can't beat the hardness of the metal) Nox Rosalia was able to pick the lock easily and in far less time than the 10+ minute argument with one of my players. She also was able to unlock the main gate itself for when they freed the prisoners.
The barracks had a group of guards settling down to sleep (amusingly enough these were the guards from the first fight and honestly would have just surrendered outright upon seeing the Ravens again). After Vendalfek had fun trying to prank them with his breath weapon while invisible, Vendalfek left, the guards closed the door without realizing there was anyone outside, and the group jammed the lock shut on the door. That was four guards that were dealt with, non-lethally.
The previous game ended with the group just about ready to go through the back door to find the prisons.
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Last night's game started up a little late (as per usual) as I had players double-check their sheets, refresh themselves as to what they can do, and also pick a free Feat due to the Silver Ravens being at rank 4. Alertness was a fan favorite with three players choosing it for boosts to Perception and Sense Motive, while Deceitful and Stealthy were also chosen.
Jack listened and realized the guards were on the other side and waiting for them. Then the group discussed trapping the door. They considered setting up a trip line and then going through another door (until I pointed out the only other door had guards in front of it and they had gone through it the first time) and causing a commotion to draw the guards out into the loading dock and a "kill zone" until Nox Rosalia pointed out that they'd be bringing the prisoners out that way.
(As an aside? The guards were waiting for the PCs to go through the front door. The initial guards were to warn if they saw anyone coming and then two guards inside would delay the Silver Ravens until the main crew could arrive and take out the Ravens. Kossrani was actually hoping to get as many of them alive as possible to use as slave labor but any deaths among the Ravens would not be a bad thing. So it was a trap, but the group were at the wrong end of it and at a prime opportunity to surprise them.)
So finally it was decided to go through the door. Jack knocked on the door and having no reason to expect this to NOT be one of the guards in the barracks, a guard opened the door to be met by Jack and a gun pressed up against his head as he said "You seem to have some of our friends. We want them freed, now."
Nox Rosalia and Jimmy tumbled past Jack and the guard into the room while Menthe and a Rage-song-singing Bloody Terror were still outside. Two of the guards held their actions until they knew what Kossrani wanted them to do, but one guard went running off to grab the other guards. And then Kossrani spoke, demanded the others kill the Ravens, threw a Tanglefoot bag at Jack (and missed horribly, throwing into combat you know, though he DID thoroughly entangle Jack's prisoner), and things went plum-shaped... well, for the baddies.
Mind you, Menthe basically did nothing for much of the fight. Initially she held her action for if Jack's prisoner did anything. He didn't. Then her player went off to get some food and missed the next turn while I reset her initiative to lower and lower until finally half an hour later she returned. Seriously, if you're playing remotely and you are stepping away from your computer, UNPLUG THE HEADSET SO WHEN YOU'RE CALLED FOR, YOU HEAR IT! (The kicker is that two players were at that house and BOTH stepped away from their computers. *sigh*)
Still, the fight was initially four enemies - a 2nd level Stalker, two level 1 fighters, and Kossrani. They were soon joined by a level 1 warrior and a 2nd level Ranger. The warrior who had fled to get reinforcements was getting the two remaining level 1 warriors who were outside. They... didn't arrive in time.
For all my concerns about Vendalfek, he proved less-than-useful. His breath weapon was shrugged off by Kossrani and while he used Grease to great effect on Kossrani's mace (I figure he was going for funny rather than tactically sound) his illusionary demon he "summoned" was at the tail end of the fight and ended up just being used to amuse himself.
The Bloody Terror on the other hand proved quite effective, as she used Ear-Piercing Scream against Kossrani twice. Each time he failed his save and was Dazed. And outside of a couple of hits against Jack, no one else among the PCs got hit.
It was Nox Rosalia who struck the final blow, rolling a natural 20 after spending a temporary Hero Point to buff her to-hit bonus to use her rapier for non-lethal damage. Kossrani was at 6 hit points at that point and went to -10 non-lethal. Jack ordered the others to flee and they would be allowed to live, and the guards decided they would gladly keep their wages and equipment (especially as last time the Silver Ravens had taken their gold and weapons).
While a couple guards were hurt in the fight (one brought to 0 hit points), none had died. In fact, not even Kossrani died, though that was primarily due to the actions of Nox Rosalia seeing the others were quite willing to kill him to stop him from doing this in the future. And let's be honest... the masked swordswoman stepping in close and slamming the pommel of her rapier into the dwarven slaver's head to knock him out was quite the dramatic scene.
Seeing it was the evening of when the Tieflings were taken prisoner, no one had been raped. They had been threatened with it, but while there were scared people there, no one had been mistreated worse than just being forced to work as a slave for an afternoon. The Silver Ravens stripped Kossrani stark naked, pinned a note on his beard stating "Don't ever do this again. Sincerely, the Silver Ravens"
They then escorted the Tieflings back to the Devil's Nursery. Any guards were busy with the Salt Works guards or staying away from the Devil's Nursery. (I rolled a 91 for an encounter chance, even with 16 tieflings in tow. Though it was soon after curfew had started so the guards were probably all around other taverns and snagging late-leaving people.)
That night, Jimmy, King Under the Mountain, knighted the faerie dragon Vendalfek before the other Silver Ravens. While the King does not have much land outside of his cellar kingdom (which has quite the bountiful harvest of mushrooms!) who knows what the future could bring... and in time, Sir Vendalfek could even become perhaps a Count! Vendalfek was quite flattered by the gesture... if slightly nervous at a sword wielded close to his head while he was knighted.
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The next day the group went back home to make excuses to parents or went in disguise to see what happened to the dwarf, and Kyofu and Jimmy went back to the Longroad Coffee Shop to find three more guards accosting Laria and demanding to search the facility. Kyofu bribed them to leave as it was about to get busy, the guards agreed it was probably a student prank, and it was a very healthy bribe (2 gold each). Seeing it was a noblewoman from House Aulamaxa, the guards just shrugged off the bribe as a noblewoman wanting coffee and not wanting to be pestered by them tearing up the place. And it was the second warning with nothing being found previously so.....
While at the coffee shop, they chatted with Rexus who has been... feeling quite depressed of late. It has been a month since he's been out in the sun and wind. He's been busy with those notes on the Ravens and while he learned a bit (including how they were mostly worshipers of Milani, goddess of rabblerousers and righteous rebellions) he was feeling a bit useless. The group then got interested in Milani and Nox Rosalia proved herself to be a scholar on Milani and explained a little bit about the faith, even as Jack also seemed to have some scholarly knowledge about it (ah, Knowledge Religion!) but suggested that if there were any Milanites in Kintargo, they were probably keeping their heads low at the moment.
That's where we ended it for the night.
The group is now at level 3.
Known aspects about the group:
Kyofu: singer and guitar-player whose songs get people angrier and stronger
Vogal/Menthe: spellcaster who wears armor
Jimmy: sneaky warrior who can detect evil?
Nox Rosalia: sneaky warrior who can parry and riposte!
Ironwood Jack: sneaky sort with a pistol!
Next game will be in two weeks.
Edit: As a quick aside, I more than welcome comments from any readers! But please do not post spoilers, not even with the Spoiler tag, seeing one of my players regularly reads spoilers despite my not liking that practice. So things like whoever is responsible for sending anonymous notes to the Dottari or the like? Don't mention who is behind it, and when the PCs finally figure things out? I'll write it up here. ^^ Thank you!
In continuing with my previous updates, I thought I'd include a write-up of one of the Teams... in this case the Rag and Bones Peddler team. Also I'm going to comment a little more on one of the players as I kind of gave Jack short shrift and he really has done a bit to liven things up.
Peddler team
Name: Rag and Bone
1. Old Varisian Female Human Expert (Herbalist) Adria Cinczllescu
Adria is a recent resident of Kintargo, having fled Korsova during the Blood Veil plague that killed many seven years earlier. Having lost her husband to the Blood Veil, she studied herbal medicines for years under the guidance of a traveling alchemist, but when he was murdered she was stuck in Kintargo with nowhere to go. She's since started her own small business selling herbal remedies to the poor and needy, collecting herbs herself and then later with the help of Civian, a young teen she found alone on the streets.
2. Catfolk Expert (Merchant) Hobbs
Hobbs has wares and goods for sale. Hobbs is actually quite intelligent and cunning in business but likes to fake being a simpler person both to catch off-guard gullible specieists and because his ragular patrons like his "simple merchant" act and play along. Hobbs has lived in Kintargo for much of his life, his parents having been merchants as well but settling down when Hobbs started to get old enough to be a handful. When Hobbs was old enough to travel and settled enough not to cause fights they started traveling again, but he missed "home" and his friends, and chose to return to Kintargo.
3. Teenage Chelaxian male Human Expert (Artist) Civian Laeva
Civian was found on the streets by Adria, bruised and bloodied after a fight with local robbers which left him without any money, clothes, or memory of who he is. After Adria nursed him back to health she started to raise him as her own child and he showed considerable skill with a sketchpad. This talent proved helpful when he sketched a man who had robbed Hobbs and he provided proof of the richer merchant which resulted in the man's imprisonment. Since then he's taken to sketching all of the patrons so to make collecting debts easier and identifying people who aren't allowed to buy from Adria or Hobbs again lest they try to rob them.
4. Female Goblin Rogue (keeps an eye on stuff) Calvin
Calvin was one of three survivors of a goblin tribe that was wiped out by adventurers. The youngest of the three goblins, she didn't flee when the adventurers removed her from the cage where she was being kept and gave her good food to eat and taught her words and letters. Unfortunately, two years ago her adoptive parents died while adventuring and Calvin barely escaped with her life by using the lessons her oldest adoptive mother taught her. Several days later a starving Calvin came across a pair of traveling Catfolk merchants who brought her back to their son Hobbs back at Kintargo, and she's "kept an eye" on Hobbs and his friends ever since to make sure they aren't taken advantage of.
5. Female Chelaxian Human Fighter Cleo Sisennus
Cleo has considerable experience as a guard, having worked both for Chuko at the War Cage and more lately as a bouncer at the bar the Thrashing Badger. Fortunately for Cleo, she was back home tending to her ill daughter, when the bar mysteriously caught fire with everyone inside dying. She was considering returning to her old job of sparring with customers at the War Cage when she happened across the Silver Ravens and was offered a chance to fight back against Thrune and his associates by helping watch folk in the Rag and Bones. It helps that her young daughter has taken a liking to the goblin Calvin and she's starting to consider this crew to be a new family even as she struggles to make ends meet.
6. Male Tiefling Expert Craftsman Civilious Vestalis
Civilious is the bastard son of a Sarini nobleman who had a dalliance with a serving maid. When she ended up pregnant, her job was terminated, but she was paid off if she promised to keep quiet about who she had slept with. All she would admit was that it was a gentleman of the Sarini noble house. She used the money to apprentice her son with a local craftsman but partway through his apprenticeship she died under mysterious circumstances. Fortunately, the craftsman was impressed with Civilious's hard work and kept him on as an apprentice until his education was complete and he could make a living for himself.
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As an aside, I probably should mention a bit more about Ironwood Jack. I have been somewhat quiet about his deeds as I don't want to mention his background and spoiler things, but he's got quite the fun background and between he and Nox Rosalia, they've basically been doing the lion's share of running the Silver Ravens (with Jimmy also starting to help out more).
Jack may not be a master of disguise, but he is at the very least a journeyman of disguises and has created several persona that he travels around Kintargo as. Most amusing is Danae, a tiefling begger who... is memorable. It was most amusing in fact with the tooth faeries because as his player continued hamming up Danae, he had Danae comment about having lost her golden tooth. This was before they knew there were tooth faeries involved... and before they found the lair of the tooth faeries (which included a golden tooth, a prize that puzzles me because if anyone rich enough to have a golden tooth was accosted by tooth faeries, I'd be surprised that it didn't become news.
Another disguise of his was the dockworker Big Owen who came in to Clenchjaw's to disrupt the bar brawl (which was in fact the reveal that Jack had a pistol - outside of the silver morningstar which he claimed among the Silver Ravens' loot (which had not been divvied up or even sold off after the group found it) all of his weapons are fairly easily concealable (including a cane sword). Big Owen's the face he uses when going to the rougher taverns in Kintargo.
A third persona, though one that is currently unnamed, is... well, I won't go into details here as it would spoiler certain events that are coming up.
Ironwood Jack himself is not his proper name (think of it as akin to "Indiana Jones" with Indiana being the dog's name) but it is the name he's used in opening up a bank account at the Church of Abadar and when he went to ensure he could acquire rights to use the old Cloven Hoof Society building for use in opening up the new soup kitchen - partly as a method of getting tieflings off the streets and try and ensure whoever was targeting the tieflings would instead go after old Danae... a plot that ultimately worked.
Anyone want lobster claws for dinner?
Tonight was the first night we ran the game with fully-functional character sheets on Roll20. While I'd been slowly building character sheets in the system, it had bare-bones content as I'd not wanted to bother with things like equipment or the like. But when I found you could pull equipment over to the equipment list, and spells and weapons as well, I spent time, rebuilt all of the character sheets, and had everything prepared - including using the in-system Initiative Tracker.
I also instituted a new rule, though it wasn't needed this time around, that if a player didn't answer to their turn within one minute, their character would take the Total Defense Action and do nothing else (basically adding +4 to their AC). This way I don't have to worry about trying to contact the other players and seeing they can see when their initiative is, can hold off on doing stuff like getting food until their initiative has gone by. It worked quite well.
We continued from our previous session with the discussion with Rexus being interrupted by Korvus Fushi coming upstairs from the Wasp's Nest to warn that she and her sister had seen something in the water by the docks, and something had gone after them.
Earlier, I had rolled for an Event for the Silver Ravens. The Result? Invasion. I rolled to see what would invade, and came up with Reefclaws - nasty little low-level lobster-eels that are more of a threat to unarmored people... unless they get some lucky die rolls. And my dice were rolling hot for a bit there.
The group went to investigate and thanks to Jimmy's bullseye lantern, both Jack and Nox were able to see the Reefclaws. Jack identified them with a Knowledge: Dungeoneering roll, but not enough to know more than the basics - they're good eating (or at least their claws are) and can chop off the arms of fishermen going after them. Thus he didn't realize they were venomous or their tendency to grapple. Or their... extreme toughness and adverse reaction to death.
Kyofu started things off with a Rage Song. Seeing she's now 3rd level, this included a Rage Power, and she went with the Lesser Spirit Totem - and thus got to indulge in what I call Rage Sprites. (It's kind of amusing actually as the Barbarian in my Reign of Winter campaign also took Lesser Elemental Totem, but for a Skald it's a bit more effective as Skalds have the Charisma to make their damage nasty.) And everyone but Menthe chose to accept her Rage Song... meaning there were four Rage Sprites helping out with the fight.
Let me tell you. Four Rage Sprites adds up to a lot of extra damage, especially when they keep hitting. The combat ended probably a round or two earlier than it otherwise should have thanks to those Sprites doing a total of 31 hit points of damage. (Given it takes 27 damage to put down a Reefclaw... on a couple of occasions it was the actual Rage Sprite that dealt the finishing blow.)
Nox joined Kyofu but Readied an Action to attack when a Reefclaw came into range. She struck with enough damage between her strike and the Rage Sprite to bring it to negative hit points, at which point Ferocious kicked in and it attacked. It was staggered perhaps, but seeing it had already moved before that point I allowed it its attack. It hit, and went through the temporary hit points from the Rage Song and promptly attempted to poison Nox... only for her to use Charmed Life to boost her saving throw. That said, it still grappled her.
Unfortunately (for me) I screwed up and for some reason assumed Kyofu had done the same in Readying an Action (I really should have used an icon for the Ready Action ability, something to remember for next time) so when a Reefclaw went after Kyofu, she struck first and between she and her Rage Sprite, brought it into negative hit points... and it struck her back and she made HER Fortitude save in turn. It did too little damage to actually penetrate the temporary hit points, but it did grapple her, meaning two PCs were now grappled.
Jack went next and ran into the water with his morningstar to strike the beast attacking Kyofu. Between his attack and his Rage Sprite, he did just enough to bring it to negative hit points at which point it went into a Death Spasm... and failed to hit anything. That said, Jack was in the water and thus a prime target for another of the Reefclaws.
Menthe went next and used Ray of Frost, only to learn Reefclaws are resistant to cold. Alas! After that was Jimmy's turn. Seeing he couldn't reach the fight, he moved up to Nox and then Tumbled past her to avoid a Reefclaw Attack of Opportunity.
And the last two Reefclaws went after Jimmy (hitting) and Jack (missing). The Reefclaw on Jimmy poisoned him except the Gods chose to rewind that and allow him to barely resist the venom (Temporary Hero Point used to add 4 to the Saving Throw). He was still grappled.
The next turn saw Nox escape the grapple she was in with a natural 20 for Escape Artist, while Kyofu got into the water to smash the Reefclaw going after Jack.
The end of the combat saw Shocking Grasp and Ear-Piercing Scream used to put down the last Reefclaw, and Jack decided to see where they had come from, finding the entrance to the sewers. He also took a closer look at the Statue of Callistra and unlike the others actually found the items within. The group chose to put the golden holy symbol back into the statue while Nox took the whip.
All in all, it was a successful trial of the Roll20 character sheets and combat system and everyone enjoyed the fight tremendously.
(Small note - I'm using the Automatic Bonus Progression rules. Still, I decided that it made sense for the whip to be magical in order to remain intact after decades in the water, so I found a +1 ability (Deadly) and put that on the whip, which has been named Naughty and Nice (Naughty causing lethal damage and Nice non-lethal). Given Nox already goes around with a Scorpion Whip and a normal whip, it's not going to give her an unfair advantage or the like. And hey, it's kind of fun having the first legitimate magic weapon in the game being a whip.)
After letting Laria know of the Reefclaws (and new dinner plans), the group returned to talk to Rexus. An idea was hatched to help Rexus get out of the coffee shop by making a disguise for him, and Nox commented that it would be a good idea if everyone had disguises. Jimmy disagreed... only to learn that Queen Mum isn't the ONLY sock puppet he has, as his LEFT hand came out with the Seneschal, who urged Jimmy to start wearing disguises. (Many thanks to Ironwood Jack's player (who is my one local player for this group) for doing the Voice Work for the Seneschal and doing him justice. We're going to have fun with this... heh heh heh.)
After everyone got into new disguises (with Nox dressed up as Morrigan Branwen and Jack as some minor nobleman initially and Jimmy as a mushroom farmer), the group went with Rexus (dressed as a servant) to sneak into his old estate. Nothing was found, especially given it was over a month since the fire. Similarly, nothing was found at the Thrashing Badger, but in the first hour of searching through the Silver Star's rubble (with Rexus standing watch), the group came across a coffer. While trying to free it, Kyofu was nearly buried by debris but at the very last second managed to escape falling bricks without suffering harm (thanks to the use of a temporary hero point).
Inside the coffer were seven potions (lesser restoration and cure light wounds), and four scrolls. And their adventures at an end, the group headed back to Laria's and the game session wrapped up.
Temporary Hero Points were spent by Jimmy and Kyofu.
The next game will be in four weeks.
On a Wing and a Prayer
GM Note: As the fine gentlefolk at Paizo have admitted, the map for the Humbert House is wretched. When you read the description of the location, it's clear the players were intended to go into the buildings, find the ladder, ascend, and then get attacked from an ambush above. Instead, the obvious route is going through the rogues' sleeping quarters. Given this is a semi-secret hideout, there should not have been any obvious way in - the Red Jills could have tossed down a rope or even just used the rough building as a ladder instead.
I did have the ladder be more akin to a fire ladder, not going all the way down to the ground. That way people could get down easily enough, but would have to jump at the ladder or scale the side of the building to get in. But I probably should have created a new map with multiple stories, which probably would mean investing in another Roll20 map tool pack for building interiors. It's something to consider for the future and would benefit both of my games.
The game started out with some work on the various Silver Raven teams and planned actions before I went and asked what the group planned on doing for Week 6. The end result was recruiting two new teams (Sneaks and Freedom Fighters) to the Ravens, though the teams remain unnamed for the time being. Amusingly enough, despite Ironwood Jack (the group's Sentinel) tossing in his ability to modify an Action, efforts to recruit a group of Sneaks fell three short... at which point Kyofu burned her Temporary Hero Point to ensure the roll was successful.
The third Action chosen was having the Rag and Bone Merchant Team earn some money... but unfortunately a poor roll ended up with the group earning a mere 22 gold. I chose to use that as the catalyst for the next encounter... the Red Jills. And I have to say, the group is very lucky they gained their third level early because Scarplume is decidedly deadly. And to be honest? Either she should have been given a less effective spell for her 2nd level slot, or been crafted as a Wizard instead of a Sorcerer so she'd have fewer uses of the spell.
But that's getting ahead of myself. First, I baited the hook. Adria, the herbalist merchant who is the head of the Rag and Bone, was a victim of a mugging by the Red Jills. Civian (a street artist who is also part of the Rag and Bone, drawing various people like guards and the like as part of the group's intelligence-gathering efforts) went to Vogal and let her know what happened... and she alerted Kyofu who got the group itself involved. But the only thing they knew was that a group of tiefling thieves calling themselves the Red Jills were responsible. They considered trying to recruit the Red Jills to work for them, though Laria was doubtful they could be reasoned with due to their tendency to only go after humans... but primarily humans who didn't show any association with House Thrune or the Church of Asmodeus.
The group visited Adria and learned details of the attack, with Kyofu casting Cure Light Wounds to help Adria get back on her feet quicker (as the Ravens care for their own). There was a bit of roleplay here and Adria was told to make sure she brought a guard with her next time she went to the Temple Hill area. While Adria didn't want to bother anyone, she did agree to consider the group's request. You know old ladies. ;) "Oh dearie, I don't want to be a bother and I'll be just fine... but sure, I'll do as you ask. Don't worry yourself about me."
Several Knowledge: Local checks later and the Red Jills were clued into the fact someone was asking about them, while Kyofu herself rolled quite well and knew they were located somewhere in the Temple Hill area though she didn't know where. But rather than just send the group off, I decided to add some more roleplaying aspects into the game to see how the group reacted to a Tiefling fence, Moira, and an arrogant openly racist Chelaxian Citizen's Militia member giving differing options as to where the Red Jills could be found.
So the group headed off. Amusingly enough, while I'd not given a specific location for the fence, Kyofu's player said Moira was found outside the city walls. It makes sense so that's where they found her... with only Nox Rosalia going in disguise in her Morrigan guise. Jack was busy elsewhere (his player was running late) so they decided to send him a message via their Silver Raven figurine once they learned where the Jills were, and headed off to outside of town and to talk to Moira.
It took a little bit. Kyofu tried being subtle. I really should have rewarded her for those efforts as I like it when my players pull off subtle... but asking about a "red cloak" for her assemble even though the opera was now closed... well, there's subtle and there's deceptively subtle. I felt Moira wouldn't grasp a half-orc noblewoman asking about a "red cloak" would realize she's asking about a local thief. Finally, Kyofu went and intimidated Moira and a sullen Moira sent them to the Temple Hell - er, Hill Gardens.
As they were leaving they came across the militia member who was quite... arrogant. He called Kyofu "greenie" and was quite... derogatory of the tiefling community as a whole. But he also told them that Moira was sending them to the wrong place and that the Red Jills were located at the Humbert House, a former shrine to a dead god and an orphanage that had gone belly-up. He also told them not to bother because the Militia would clean it up themselves.
And thus the stage was set. Do they listen to the Tiefling Fence (who under the threat of Intimidation gave them a locale), or do they listen to the racist member of the Brown Jackets (as that is essentially what the Militia is) and follow his lead?
Naturally, Moira's suggestion would have sent them to an ambush. The group was still deliberating which one to go to (or rather in which order to visit both) when Kyofu's player decided to joke about the group being the Scooby Gang... and on a whim I had Jimmy see a large brown dog that then ran off in the direction of the Humbert House. Jimmy's player went full hilt and had fun directing the group that way. The message with the figurine of power was sent (and the group commented on wanting to find more of these Silver Ravens as just having one was at times problematic - I do have plans for them to find more over time at a more natural pace), Nox Rosalia appeared while Morrigan vanished, and the group headed to the Humbert House.
Small note: It's a good idea when using maps to know in which direction the group is approaching. I realized soon after the game had started that the group was approaching from the opposite side when Jack's player finally joined them. It was a minor hiccup fortunately but again, something for me to keep track of in the future.
As an aside, Nox's note to Jack read "Red Jills gang attacked Adria. Looking for hideout. Going first Humbert House, then Temple Hill Gardens. Meet up if able, ready to fight." After Jack's player muttered "Please don't have a note asking for a release from jail..." Nox added P.S.: No, Kyofu isn't in jail. Yet. (And then P.P.S.: Yes, we're all very surprised.)
Both Jack and Jimmy rolled high enough on Perception to overhear the Red Jills in their hideout. Unfortunately, Jimmy doesn't quite comprehend the point of Stealth (amusing seeing he has a really good Stealth skill ranking) and as he started talking to Ironwood Jack, quite loudly, from the balcony, the Red Jills sent a runner to alert Scarplume, then returned, and everyone took 20 to hide in the sleeping quarters. And Scarplume pondered just how idiotic this group of humans and demi-humans were.
Oh, and as the group talked loudly by a group of thieves, Nox snuck around the building to scope things out. She noticed the rope bridge going from a window to the shrine's roof, but because the map was poorly designed, didn't note another way in. Again, that's on me. I should have redone the entire map. But even so... ah well. Also, one of Jimmy's voices, the Seneshal, dropped a hint that Jimmy could possibly become religious... though that was in an indoor voice (Jimmy's reaction wasn't) and thus not heard by the rest of the group.
One thing Jack (and Jack's player) found quite puzzling was the lack of a proper Thieves Guild for decades. He did learn that there was another group that ran the city for a bit until the Hellknight Order of the Torrent wiped them out, but it was still puzzling that no one had taken their place. That said, I did let Kyofu know that when a band of thieves starts getting large enough to become a new Guild, they end up getting hit by hard by the Dottari who oddly know everything about those thieves, as if someone was ratting them out.
Finally everyone got up and Nox snuck in. I actually allowed her to be effectively stealthed as she DOES have Dark Vision, but unfortunately for her one of the Red Jills was quite perceptive. The second? She walked into him when she tried to hide behind the same pillar he was lurking behind. Ambush away!
Nox was an early victim, taking a sneak attack hit doing 10 damage, while a second rogue managed to hit Menthe (Vogal) for another 10 damage. Finally, Scarplume struck with a Scorching Ray that inflicted 13 damage to Kyofu. (I probably screwed that up as Scarplume flew up to them and then attacked... something to recall for next time is you can't move and then cast spells.) The next round, Jack contemplated going Total Defense while trying to talk the Red Jills down... but then decided at the last moment he'd rather prepare an action to shoot anyone casting a hostile spell.
Naturally, that meant Scarplume would be that target as next round she went and cast Scorching Ray once more... and he promptly shot her for five damage. Despite taking damage, her Concentration Check was easily sufficient to continue casting and she did another 12 damage to Kyofu, who then started a Rage Song (with Skald's Vigor kicking in for two rounds after that to help her heal up).
Another Red Jill hit Nox for five more damage and she promptly used Acrobatics to escape combat, planning on going onto the bridge... only to run into the GM who said she could only reach the window and not burst through dramatically. Fortunately for Jimmy, despite being flanked by two rogues both rolled miserably and missed him, allowing him to taunt them with "expecting someone taller, were you?"
Seeing that over half of the group were now injured... Jack laid down his cards, invoked Milani, and Channeled Positive Energy to heal up everyone who was hurt for six hit points healing. (Scarplume was out of range, as was Nox Rosalia. None of the rogues had taken damage at that point.)
Yes, it seems Jack is multiclassed with Cleric and another class involved.
With the holy light of Milani, the fight started turning around. Jimmy started to hit hard, Nox got chased down by a rogue and then knocked him unconscious (critting but not confirming the critical), Scarplume being used for skeet even as she used her last Scorching Ray on Jack, and the rogues fell one by one with the last one disarmed while Scarplume hid around the corner to drink a healing potion. The game paused as it was getting rather late though to be honest one more round should finish things off.
Once more I overestimated how much we'd get done, but we also had a bit of roleplaying going on that the group quite enjoyed, so all in all it was a successful night. At this rate I suspect the next game will wrap up the seven weeks of events... and will also allow me to start up my alternative end-game for Book 1 as it seems a bit silly for Rexus to wait seven weeks before asking the group to look for his parents at the secret hideout he knew about all along - thus obviously he didn't know and there has to be another way for him to learn about it.
But I'll get into that in the next game journal so that certain players don't spoiler themselves by reading this early. (Not that it really matters... it won't affect the game and is basically just the flavor text to describe how events come about.
Hero Point Use: Temporary Hero Points were used by Menthe to hit a rogue, Jimmy to hit another rogue, and Kyofu to help recruit a team of Sneaks.
The next game will be in two weeks.
So. It's been a while since I last updated this. I must admit it was a combination of laziness, RL, and the fact I kind of suspect no one is reading these outside of my own group, but I probably should start working on these once more, especially as the insights and such could help inspire other people running Hell's Rebels campaigns in the future.
So. We last had Scarplume having escaped and planning one last attack, and to be honest I didn't remember how it ended until I went into the Chat history for Roll20... but amusingly enough my group took Scarplume alive. They offered to let her target Thrune's followers but she refused, fearing what Thrune would do against the Strix should she be discovered. So they gave her some supplies, healed some of her wounds, and exiled her from Kintargo.
Of the Red Jills (none of whom died), three were recruited into a new team of Sneaks, one of whom was a halfling Investigator (Sleuth) who acted as a lookout in the past, but was not present at the time of the attack against Scarplume.
Next, through the Entertainer group Bright Falcons the Ravens learned of some poor dwarf who was the victim of an unsanctioned Doghousing by some of the Cheliax Citizen's Group militia members, and chose to intervene. Rexus actually joined in, seeing he was bored stiff with just deciphering old documents and to help remind the group that he exists. I did have an ulterior motive for including Rexus which was my modification of several elements in the game, thanks to suggestions found in the Hell's Rebels forums.
Sadly diplomacy failed when the militia members chose to pick a fight... against five trained adventurers. Even though I increased the number of Militia members to six and added a third dog... the militia didn't stand much of a chance. Not only did several militia members succumb to Reduce Person spells, but Rexus ended up using his Glitterdust scroll and the craft herpes proceeded to blind several militia members and most of the dogs. The dogs wisely fled at that point, while the militia blundered on and finally were all knocked out or otherwise captured.
As an aside, the entire venue for the doghousing was ill-designed. There was no doghouse located on the map, and the setup honestly didn't make much sense. Much like the map for the Red Jills, design and execution was not coordinated and fell short. For that matter, other maps in further parts of Hell's Rebels also fail to account for the fact this is a city. Buildings don't exist in a void. There shouldn't be a 15-foot gap between buildings space is at a premium in cities, especially walled cities where buildings will be nestled right next to each other. This discrepancy was found with most of the building maps in the game. Either the maps should have only a five-foot walk-around the other building, or other building walls should be included to let players know these areas don't exist in a void.
Following the capture of the Militia members, Rexus recognized the dwarf who'd been taken captive as a family friend and the owner of Hocum's Fantasmagorium. He explained that the Fantasmagorium had been the location for a secret order of archivists, of which Rexus's parents was head of. (Rexus knew about the Order, but not of the base's location, as it doesn't otherwise make sense for Rexus not to urge the players far earlier on to investigate.)
Investigating the Fantasmagorium was... well, quite amusing. The group studied the locale (but lacking any Spies or Saboteurs didn't know anything about who was inside), at which point Jimmy's sock puppet advisers started arguing with one another (thanks to your truly) and sucked away probably half an hour of game time but was still quite amusing. Well, to me at least, though I think the others had fun or at the very least got to be snarky about it. But eventually Nox Rosalia snuck around, peeked in some windows, came back to the group, and they entered the main complex and encountered the skeletal apes... and the jig was up. Enough noise was made that the group knew anyone inside knew of their presence.
So the group tried hiding and waiting... and as it makes sense for the Redactors to investigate, they sent in the zombies first. Nox was able to see Azvernathi (who I'd rewritten to be a War Priest so he'd be a tad more effective) and charged out there... not realizing there was something like a half dozen Redactors in the next room as well. And thus a long battle started up with Nox Rosalia parrying attacks from Redactors, being missed far more often than should have happened (the dice didn't like the bad guys), and chasing down Azvernathi and keeping him from being effective with his spells, while the group dealt with the extra zombies I'd tossed in and a few Redactors (seeing only three Redactors could effectively reach the swashbuckler).
It was during this time that Kyofu came to a dreadful realization... that she knew these zombies. Or rather, who they used to be. Specifically, the player (without any die rolls) PMed me about her suspicions, especially as the zombies wore burnt noble attire. And it was at this point that Kyofu was truly tempted to just start killing folk.
Surprisingly enough, no one died (on either side) and after the Redactors and Azvernathi was tied up and healed, a "discussion" ensued where the group learned no one present had desecrated the corpses of Rexus's parents or other relations. A deal was made where the Redactors swore they would leave Kintargo and thus would be allowed to live. (There may have also been additional shenanigans with hand puppets, including the realization that the puppets were speaking even when Jimmy himself was talking. Something odd is going on there....) The Redactors were then left tied up while the group studied how to travel to the region below.
Taking another suggestion from the forums, I switched the means of travel from a stairwell to a teleportation sigil. Given that Kintargo was once a region that suffered frequent flooding... well, it didn't make sense that worshipers of Irori would build in an area that could suffer flooding. So the Fantasmagorium was just an entry point to the Archives of the Sacred Order of Archivists. The group had no idea where they teleported to (and to be honest it makes no difference where it ultimately was located).
(continued next post)