A City in Pieces: Inner Region [IC]

The magnificent city of Perios, also known as The Shining City, is often called the Gem of the West. You all call this glorious city your home. It is a metropolis, a magnificent shining city of white marble, surrounded by a seedy underbelly, a suburban community of scoundrels in buildings of pig iron, stone, and any cheap materials available.

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The city itself is split into three regions by the common folk, and five districts by the more learned people nearer the center of the city. The three regions are the Inner Region, the Outer Region, and the Upper Region, whereas the five districts are the Temple District, the Central District, the Castle District, the Guard District, and the Suburban District. They are also commonly numbered; Castle District is also First District, the Guard District is also Second District, the Temple District is also Third District, the Central District is also Fourth District, and the Suburban District is also called Fifth District. It's sometimes held by the members of the suburbs that there is an undercity, which they call Sixth District, but that is all heresay and myth.

In the very heart of the city lies the Temple District. Here, the paladins and clerics of Heironeous and other goodly gods live and spend most of their days, excepting when on call to various parts of the city, or on patrol in the Central District. The largest temple is, by far, the Temple of Heironeous. This structure dominates the entire city, and can be seen from any point in the city. It is often used as a locator, to identify how far from the center you are. The Temple of Heironeous in Perios is also the home of the more militant wing of the Priesthood of Heironeous, known as the "Order of the Shining Sword". There are not a large amount of members of this Order, but the numbers are rising slowly.

The Central District is home to both the well-off noblemen of the city as well as a myriad of stores, owned by the rich and operated by the middle class. This is the most prosperous region of the city, and everything is orderly and good along its streets. The guardsmen of the city patrol the streets to ensure that all remains orderly.

Up above the city, cradled atop a waterfall, lies Castle Perios. The royal family Perios lives within the castle, sheltered atop their waterfall, and protected on either side by the barracks of the town guard. These barracks comprise the Guard District, while the castle itself comprises the Castle District.

The Suburban District is one not walked by the guard any longer, excepting the three main roads in the region, nor by any who can help it. This is left to the seedier aspects of society, and they run it as they will. They tend not to be too violent or chaotic, but they don't shy away from leaving a corpse in the sewers, or just lying in a ditch.

A group had been formed, partially out of choice, partially out of necessity, and partially because of orders. Six members were put together, through a myriad of circumstances, and these six--a paladin, a crusader, a monk, a barbarian, a telepath, and a wizard--were adventuring into unknown territory; the slums, the Suburban District. They were in search of the cause of reports of demons and devils and eldritch abominations on the loose. The town guard was incapable of answering the cry, so the Temple of Heironeous volunteered.

The group had reached the final barrier; they were at the gate leading into the Fifth District. Guards opened the gate; all that remained was for them to step through, and begin on the path to their destiny.

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Apologies for the time it took me.

Most of you get to decide how you all met up previously; I'm assuming it was orders for most of those actually of the Temple of Heironeous. The rest of you can come up with your own reasons for joining the group.

Zsiss

The hulking form of the Lizardmen strode alone side his new companions, the bright sun showing flecks of gold in his deep slate grey scales. Turning to his new companions, "Zsiss thank generous soft skins for Zsiss' opportunity to repay Zsiss' punishments and teach Zsiss your laws. Zsiss will be well behaved and will do right and follow rules.". Zsiss' inexperience with humans is quite clear, and it was that inexperience that landed him in trouble. He may have done the right thing, but had little understanding of human laws.

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Purposefully left open ended for someone else to fill in the blank.

Aelitae doesn't look at the lizardman, but tries to sound encouraging.

"See that you do Zsizz. I pray we won't have need of your strength."

His natural instincts took over. He keep his eyes and ears open, calmly surveying the surroundings as he stepped through the gate. He took point, trying to stay ahead of the group a little and remain unassuming. He knew his cover, he was a warrior looking for work, a firm and powerful hand with a love of drink and women. Easy to manipulate, easy to trust. The Archpaladin's lot were good when the fighting started, but these were his people, the common folk, the lambs of the Cudgel. With a sigh, Aelitae scratched at the place on his neck where his holy symbol would have been, knowing that even if his work was needed among the flock, St. Cuthbert's Star would betray him to the enemy. He kept his lucerne hammer in one hand, using it to balance like a walking stick, and his other hand near his heavy mace at his belt.

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Taking 10 on Spot and Listen, results 16 each. Hide check to blend in with crowds [roll0]. Took 20 this morning to hide a knife on his person, DC 26 to find. Unless I'd be allowed for him to invest in a disguised dagger instead?

Ghost waved good bye to his young friend as she turned to walk back into her mother's flat, struggling to carry all the loaves and apples he had brought her. He smiled as he turned away, pulling up his hood. Time to go to work, he thought as he focused to change his form. His skin and hair turned white and his eyes quickly filled with tears. Focalor, friend, take heart. We're going to do good today.

He moved into an alley and quickly changed into a tattered gray tunic with a voluminous hood that matched the drab colors of the buildings of the slums. He started making his way through the alleys of the Fifth District, letting his feet take him where they would. Ghost didn't have any thugs to terrorize, no thieves to punish today, but he had a feeling in his gut. And his friends. Each day when he called upon them, they all seemed more and more agitated, well, even more agitated.

He looked up from his thoughts, noticing he had made his way to the gate leading to the Inner Region of Perios without meaning to. He quickly spotted the quite out of place group of people heading into his part of town. He watched them as they came in, wondering what they were doing here. His eyes widened when he saw Zsiss. He had never seen such a creature before. He wondered what a group of cloaked people with a lizard man were doing walking into the slums. He moved a little closer to try and get a better look.

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Note: Ghost has the vestige Focalor bound to him today. And I need to roll to see if the morning the game starts, I made a good pact. If a bad pact, I can't suppress the sign of the vestige and I'm influenced by it (to be sad in this case:( and some other stuff) So...binding check!

[roll0]

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That ended up being a good pact, so I'm not influenced by him and suppress his sign, which is constant tears, at will.

Martine, Inner Region

Martine takes just a moment to focus, before looking at each of his companions in turn, a serene smile barely visible from under the hood of his robes. It was good to be out of the clergy. He knew it was his lot to atone, but he did prefer to do so by talking to others.

"I doubt we shall have anything too terribly challenging. Ruffians generally steer clear of groups, unless they have good cause. Should they do so, they will either use shadows or words to conceal themselves until they are ready to do their work. I shall watch for the latter; if someone else would be so kind as to keep an eye out for the former?"

OOC:

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Upon entering this area, Martine would have manifested Inertial Armor (augmented to 3 points) and Conceal Thoughts, both without any Display (Concentration DC 16, vs my check of +18).

Each have a duration of 4 hours, and provide me with the following bonuses:
+5 Armor bonus to AC (armor itself is invisible)
+10 Competence to any Bluff check that is opposed by Sense Motive
+4 to any save vs any spell or power made to read my mind.

Power Points: 21/25
HP: 23/23
AC: 17
Diplomacy: +12*
Bluff: +8 (+18)*
Sense Motive: +8*
Intimidate: +3*
Spot: +1
Listen: +1

*: Intend to manifest Attraction, Endowed (Will DC 17) without display if we encounter anyone who wishes to deal with our group outside of combat. This will provide an additional +4 bonus on these checks, and provide the opportunity to talk.

Also, Spot and Listen rolls: [roll0], [roll1]

Arus shrugged his shoulders, feeling the Haversack lightly cutting into them, and idly wondered if leaving the wagon he'd arrived with at the temple was a good idea.

Seeing one of his comrades taking point, Arus let himself fall back further in the group to the rear, trying to seem like he was uninvolved. Any miscreants that dared approach their group would not do so without a very good reason.

He pays a token attention to following with the group, focusing most of his attention on the surrounding crowds.

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Taking 10 on Spot and Listen: results 21 each.

Larice

I pull my cloak tight around me, ensuring the my face is mostly hidden in the shadows of my hood. Hiding my identity doesn't come easily to a Paladin of the Shining Sword, but I'm not fool enough to be unaware of the danger I'd be putting my companions in by travelling openly in this district. At least coming across as someone awkwardly attempting to hide their full-plate and identity would not be unusual - and certainly better than exposing myself as a Paladin.

I put these thoughts aside as I cross the threshold into the slums of the outer district, focussing on the mission at hand.

"We need to seek someone who might have the information we seek. We should seek out the most disreputable establishment we can find - no doubt we will find what we need there."

Zsiss

Hearing the paladin and taking good natured initiative, Zsiss walks up to the roughest looking person within 60ft, he stands tall, making sure to look menacing, "Zsiss strong, Zsiss look for work. Who hire Zsiss?" he draws out his S's.

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Call that a Gather Information or Intimidate
GI[roll0]
Or
Intimidate[roll1]

Prospero

"Um, rough areas you say, Larice, isn't that dangerous? You know that I don't like violence of any sort. I don't like to see people get hurt. " He took pride that he'd never had to kill a human being and didn't want to change that. Life was precious and that was why he'd agreed to consult with these holy warriors and their giant lizard monster in matters arcane.

"Now, can anyone tell me more about these creatures that are supposedly causing so much havoc within the Inner City?"

Martine frowns, and shakes his head slightly. "No. Dockyard bars and dens of crime aren't the sort of places these things would be released at. Whatever released these things needed some peace and quiet to call them forth; such magics take some time to perform. No, wherever this is, it's going to be somewhere organized."

Martine then ponders for just a moment, hand stroking his chin, before continuing. "Those reports of the disturbances... Didn't they include a location? By starting there, we may be able to find signs of their origin."

@DM:

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Would we have been privy to the actual reports? If so, what was the location(s) of the disturbances?

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I kind of forgot that you guys were all trying to be nonchalant and incognito and stuff. I will edit my post to something to the effect that he wonders why cloaked and hooded figures with a big ol' lizard are coming into the slums.

Ghost continued to watch the newcomers. He wanted to move closer to maybe try to eavesdrop on their conversation, but he hadn't made a pact with anyone who could help him sneak closer. And he could use tricks and theatrics to even the odds with the common hoodlums of Fifth District, but he didn't think he would be be able to do quite as well against this group. Even if it was just a bunch of yuppies from up on the hill slumming it, they had that lizard person with them. And from where he was standing, they didn't look like snot nosed lordlings.

I'll just have to keep an eye on them, he thought. Not that I can do much by myself if they're up to something.

Busy gnawing on the previously-discarded parts of a ratburger, Bez is quite surprised to be confronted by a hulking lizard-man and interrogated about employment.

Looking down at his tattered cloak and dirty traveling leathers, Bez chuckles quietly. "I don't think I'd be able to help you much, friend. If I knew where to find good work, I'd have gone and signed up myself."

Looking around at the beastman's compatriots, he quietly adds "Unless of course, you're willing to settle for some less-than-tasteful work. I know some ratcatchers that might be willing to hire a little muscle, and you lot look like you fit the bill."

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With an Intimidate skill mod of +12, I figure Bez is easily the roughest-looking person in the immediate area. :smallbiggrin:

Also, since he's from somewhere else I figure a little strange lingo would be acceptable. Ratcatcher being a derogatory slang for adventurer/sell-sword.

Martine watches back, impassively, at the unusual individual that the lizard seems to have found, focusing carefully on his body language and such. An observant fellow would notice the sudden attention Martine is paying.

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Sense Motive: [roll0]

Determining the trustworthiness of the information he's giving to Zsiss

"It isn't necessarily true that summoning creatures takes a lot of time, nor does it require privacy and quiet." Prospero takes on a lecturing tone, "It is easier and safer for the summoner of course but who knows what kind of individual or group we are dealing with. Law breakers, risk takers, anyone who would consort with entities of the lower planes is capable of anything. It behoves us not to underestimate them."

He keeps an eye on the distasteful man talking to the lizard beast. Does he honestly think that such well presented gentlemen and lady would be willing to work as ratcatchers. The gall of the man.

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Originally Posted by candycorn

Martine frowns, and shakes his head slightly. "No. Dockyard bars and dens of crime aren't the sort of places these things would be released at. Whatever released these things needed some peace and quiet to call them forth; such magics take some time to perform. No, wherever this is, it's going to be somewhere organized."

Martine then ponders for just a moment, hand stroking his chin, before continuing. "Those reports of the disturbances... Didn't they include a location? By starting there, we may be able to find signs of their origin."

@DM:

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Would we have been privy to the actual reports? If so, what was the location(s) of the disturbances?

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The locations of the disturbances are fairly well-spread, but you believe you have narrowed them down to just south of your current position being the epicenter. The rest seem to spread from that location.

"We should clearly begin at the epicentre of these disturbances," although sure that we all know what we're doing sometimes Prospero liked to talk when he was nervous. "We can either split the area along a grid pattern and search on grid at a time or work out from the centre in a spiral pattern. A grid is probably slightly faster but a spiral is probably more thorough."

"Honestly though from the reports that we have simply being in the vicinity should be sufficient to detect any disturbances. I just wish we had more information and I could set up warning magics of some kind." He tries to remember if there is anything in the history of The Shining City that might have a connection with demons, devils or abominations. A wizards tower, a mad experiment in summoning, a sacrifice, a string of murders with eldritch overtones, that kind of thing.

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Knowledge (History) [roll0]

Zsiss

Zsiss returns with his meager information to find the brains of the group coming up with far more elegant solutions than he. Zsiss stands and listens, trying to absorb the nuances of the culture around him.

Martine shrugs, replying, "Fair enough, but let us be clear on what we are searching for. The kinds of people we are looking for are not the kind that wastes their life away in a run down bar. We're looking for people who either withdraw from others, or lead them. The former will be hard to ferret out, unless we're intending to break in doors. As such, I suggest we begin by focusing on those that are a bit more organized. Groups of thugs may not be our summoners, but there's a decent chance they either know something about the outbreak, or they are working for those responsible."

Martine was referring to others, of course.... He had other ideas for how to identify who in the room to focus on.

With that, Martine begins to head towards the nearest disturbance.

"That sounds like a sensible idea to me."

Aelitae remains a short distance from the group, following them, but trying not to appear too close to them

The group headed down the street, subtly followed by a group of thugs. As they rounded a corner, a large man holding a large club greeted them. "'Ello there, me lovelies." he said, as a smaller man walked out from behind him to stand beside him. "I'm sorry, but you seem to have wandered into our territory. Now, I'm sure you can understand that I'm going to have to ask you to hand over your coinpurses. Don't try to fight; you'll just make this harder on yourselves." The sound of crossbows being loaded and locked echoes from several rooftops. You see several men walk out from various allies. In total, you'd assume there were at least ten of them, if not more in hiding.

"Really, I prefer this to be civilized."

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Originally Posted by thedarkstone

The group headed down the street, subtly followed by a group of thugs. As they rounded a corner, a large man holding a large club greeted them. "'Ello there, me lovelies." he said, as a smaller man walked out from behind him to stand beside him. "I'm sorry, but you seem to have wandered into our territory. Now, I'm sure you can understand that I'm going to have to ask you to hand over your coinpurses. Don't try to fight; you'll just make this harder on yourselves." The sound of crossbows being loaded and locked echoes from several rooftops. You see several men walk out from various allies. In total, you'd assume there were at least ten of them, if not more in hiding.

"Really, I prefer this to be civilized."

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"OI!"

"You horning in on my marks you sodding son of an annis!? I saw them first, they're mine."

He turns to the group.

"I'll be having those purses thank you!"

Following along further behind, Ghost wasn't quite able to hear what the thug said, but given the way all the thugs were standing, their intent was pretty clear. Ghost did his best to move closer discreetly, preparing himself to aid these people in any way he could.

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I forgot to state what my Pact Augmentation was before this battle. I never actually picked one and I don't want to metagame, although I would have picked SOMETHING when I made the pact. So if it's all right, I'll roll a d8, since there are 8 pact augmentations.

[roll0]

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+1 Insight Bonus to Armor Class it is, then. So my armor class will be 18 for this fight.

Prospero is very concerned, he really doesn't want to hurt these thieves and brigands, "Gentlemen, there is really no need for violence. " He looks up at the buildings around him.

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How tall are they? How many crossbows are visible? We can count ten but how many are on the rooftops? How many in this second group? If I cast web above us and anchor it to the buildings on either side of the alley can I provide total concealment from the crossbows or the majority of crossbows? If there are only a few on the rooftops then could I block off the alley with web to separate the thieves so that most of them can't reach us? I don't need to actually catch any in the web but it would be nice to do so.

Initiative if it's required [roll0]

Martine focuses on the man in front of him, probing for just a moment, before subtly sending forth his mental energies at the speaker.

"We won't be giving our coin easily, and you don't need the attention this brawl would give. It would be better for you to go and find an easier mark."

OOC:

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Manifesting Psionic Suggestion on the speaker. Suppressing all displays (Concentration DC 17 vs my Concentration skill of +18).

Expending focus. Will DC 18 or follow the suggestion.

Larice

My normally cool demeanour cools noticeably. My tactical assessment is thus: I'm a high ranking Paladin of the Shining Sword. I'm wearing full plate armour, and have a heavy shield. My companions have all been chosen for this mission for their worthiness. These are mere street brigands, scum it is my duty to reeducate. I'm not playing along with this.

"You think us at a disadvantage, but you are sorely mistaken!" I rebuke their leader, drawing my sword and pointing it straight at his throat, not remotely intimidated by his gang's theatrics. I issue an ultimatum of my own: "Go home and rethink your lives or face harsh sanction."

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Free action to talk.
Swift action to slip into martial spirit stance.
Readied action: If there's even a hint of hostile action I'm going to charge their leader or the closest brigand if that's not possible.

INIT: [roll0]
AC: 21/11T/20FF
AC if charging: 19/9T/18FF
Charge attack (power attack +4): [roll2]
Crit conf (19-20/x2): [roll1]
Damage: [roll3]

Ghost tried to keep out of the notice of the street thugs as best he could while trying to get a count of how many crossbows where up on the roofs and how far away from him they were. He also glanced around trying to find a defensible position from which to strike at his first target, maybe somewhere he could put his back to so the enemy couldn't completely surround him and he could use Focalor's sadness (Aura of Sadness) to further hinder their ability to hurt him.

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Search Check: [roll0]