[Umzamo] Adanar By Cometlight (A Campaign Journal)

[Tam_OConnor]

No, Urgrim said that. You're going to trust the dwarf on a vengeance quest to say what evil is?

[flabort]

I wouldn't trust a dwarf, OR anyone on a vengence quest to define morality for me.
I'd trust an elf to do so less, though.

[Fayd]

Though if you're really pressed for things, try hugging a puppy or two.

[The_Werebear]

Hehe, I'll second being an unreliable morality meter. After all, Urgrim did just headbutt legitimate authority on a hunch.

[Kaulesh]

Hehe, I'll second being an unreliable morality meter. After all, Urgrim did just headbutt legitimate authority on a hunch.

Did he break any of the family jewels this time?

[Fayd]

Did he break any of the family jewels this time?

Naw, it wasn't that good of a hit. But it accomplished the desired end goal: not getting caught.

[Fayd]

Thank you all very much for your patience. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: A Brazen Attack. Or: Plots, Poison and Plague, Oh My!

Spoiler

Show

We skip to the next morning. We plot for a bit and have a conversation with Bug. Urgrim wants a verbal contract assuring that he is fed and housed as long as he’s working for the Plan. Bug informs him that the Rats in the city have been debasing the Dwarven coinage with tin, and this makes Urgrim upset enough that he takes his alcohol off of the list of things that the Plan will have to provide for him. Immediately afterward, I go out to gather information about Tozi and his habits. We already know, thanks to Gav, that he frequents a restaurant called the Brazen Bowl, often with a lady friend. Which particular lady-friend varies by the day. His guard is light: it mostly consists of his students who have done well that week. Urgrim goes to stake out the Brazen Bowl, with Gav following shortly behind. The Ninja, The Nobleman, Yhennon, and Jan stay behind.

I find out that the lady-friend of the evening is Adelle, an independent courtesan with Peri blood (and thus, blue hair --“You gotta have blue hair”) known more for her prowess in ‘conversation’ than in the martial arts. They plan on eating at the Brazen Bowl tonight. Politically, there is no obvious successor to Tozi. Martially, Tozi is a very fast fighter, who fights using the Lion Talon double-broadswords, though he incorporates some elements of Wind Fist style into his style. I decide that, given my talents… a visit with Adelle may be in order. But if our plan is to work, I need to know the lay of the land at the Brazen Bowl, so I head back there and (unexpectedly, for me) meet with Gav and Urgrim. I relay what I know and they relay what they know of the geography of the restaurant.

The Brazen Bowl is a three story restaurant, with the kitchens below the actual structure in a (possibly) artificial hill. The first floor consists of private booths, the second floor has a large bronze or brass stage, and the third floor is mostly a balcony to see the stage, with more seating. Mission accomplished, for now, I transform into a young Peri girl with green hair and go to meet with Adelle.

As I’m walking away, a man exits out the kitchen door and begins to make his way on what appears to be a supply run. Gav tails him, while Urgrim continues his vigil (and his drinking.) Gav follows the man all the way to a warehouse in the merchant’s district. After waiting for a time, the man exits, carrying a very small package. He’s also carrying it quite carefully, as if it is poisonous or something. Gav follows him back to the Brazen Bowl.

Meanwhile, Yhennon was reading a bit more on the comet, and we learned that for the next 12ish years, it will progress from the eastern horizon to the western, whereupon it will change directions and begin to fly off the other way, traversing the sky again in another 12 years. Afterwards, he goes to speak with Jan, who is, understandably, still quite upset. He explains more of what is going on with her, bringing in the Lantern Archon and all of it, and they take a bit of a walk, getting lunch together in the merchant’s district. During the meal, Tam took a look at Yhennon’s character sheet and had him roll a d20. (He rolled poorly.) …Ominious... When paying for the meal, Jan still won’t touch any money. Yhennon brings that up far more tactfully than I did and gets the same answer I did. “It’s blood money, and it’s better to not touch any of it.”

I go to where Adelle makes her living, and am greeted by a rather surly guard. “I’ve come a long way to see Adelle!”

“She’s all booked for this evening.”

“No, not for that, I came to visit!”

“Let me guess. You’re her long-lost sister, right?”

“Me? Her sister? Of course not. I’m her cousin.”

A succeeded deception check later: “I’ll see if she’s receiving guests.”

It takes about an hour for me to actually get in to see her. She’s artfully lounging on a chair, and I, playing the excited young cousin, bounce in with “Adelle! Adelle!”

She doesn’t recognize me (obviously, as the person I am doesn’t exist, but I digress) and asks who I am.

I roll a quick deception check for a common Peri name… “I’m Mika’s daughter! I’ve heard so much about you! They talk about you all the time!”

“Well, it’s good to see that I’m famous back home…” Adelle is quite obviously bored.

“I… I don’t suppose you would want to have dinner tonight? I’ve heard of this lovely place called the Brazen Bowl!”

“Oh, that place… I eat there every week…”

“Every… week? … You must really be rich! Would you? I’ve come so far to see you…”

“I suppose I could…” (heavily hinting that she would rather eat her own foot than eat with me, which is actually just fine with me)

“Oh… I guess… I’m sorry for bothering you…” and I leave the room, looking obviously upset.

Inside, I’m actually quite pleased with myself as to how that went, and my mission was, one hundred percent, accomplished. During the conversation, I was studying her face and form so that, if I have to, I can use her face for the upcoming plot.

I meet up back with our small seditious group and we begin phase two: Shopping. I go and get what can pass for a cook’s outfit. It’s cheap, easy to find, and I pay for it myself. Urgrim, after borrowing some cash from Gav, goes to a rat catcher. They’re one of two groups of people in the city authorized to deal in poison, the other being alchemists.

“I’ve got a monster of a rat and I need some poison to get rid of him.”

“What kind of rat we talking here?”

“Two feet worth and smart as a devil. He’s got a taste for poison, knows when I’ve poisoned something. I need something concentrated and tasteless.”

“I think I’ve got what you need right here.”

Two hundred Luna later, Urgrim walks out with a poison that will deal 4 points of Constitution damage for a failed DC 16 Fort save that dissolves in liquid and is completely tasteless, with more saves needed later.

He hands me the packet and I ask them to help me find the right face for this job. Eventually, we settle on something completely nondescript… the most bland looking human you can imagine. I change my human racial ability score bonuses from +2 to CHA to +2 to DEX to help with the Sleight of Hand checks that are coming up.

I sneak my way into the kitchen in full cook garb purchased that very day, and only get a passing glance from the people in charge… My deception score, especially when attempting to pass myself off as a specific person, rocks. I explore the building for a bit, looking for ways in and ways out as well as the general layout of the building (for later…) and then make my way down into the kitchen, where I begin chopping vegetables. Poorly. (Nat 1-ed the Profession (Chef) check…) The head chef rather loudly reprimands me on my methods and I do a little better the next time, but he has me spin the roast boar. “But not too fast!” I apologize quickly - -

“What did I say?! Not too fast! You must be patient!”

I bow and apologize slowly and make my way to the boar while keeping my ears out for the name Tozi, or anything similar. Eventually, I overhear that a special dish is being prepared for Sifu Tozi’s dinner tonight; it was imported specially for him. Fried Basilisk Eyeballs. Bingo. I jump when I hear Tozi’s name and the head chef has me sit down, absolutely still, for 5 minutes.

Before that time is up, a loud disturbance comes through the supply door. Urgrim, acting more drunk than usual, has crashed through the door and is stumbling about, trying to make his way upstairs. He’s pretending to be so drunk that he cannot understand language… when he suddenly snaps a little out of it and “remembers” that he’s part of tonight’s entertainment. A juggler, in fact! SOMEHOW… they believe him, and he’s brought upstairs. But not before he nabs a rice dumpling and takes a bite out of it… and then he puts it back, leaving the head chef gaping in aghast horror. I make use of the very convenient Dwarven distraction and sneak up to the simmering basilisk eyes and stir them evenly and quietly… for a very long time. Nearly the entire meal, in fact. Midway through stirring, I feel a tap on my shoulder and see the Pink Ninja, who insists on asking me what dish I’m poisoning. I whisper “The fifth course! Shoo! I can’t draw too much attention.”

I wait until just before the eyes are about to go for their final steps of preparation (because the heat would do nasty things to the poison) and Sleight of Hand the poison in with a Fairy Godmothered roll for an absolutely huge check. The Basilisk Eyes are plated and brought upstairs. I bide my time, steal a kitchen knife with sleight of hand, and wait for the sixth dish to be going upstairs before I make any sort of move. On my walk through the first floor, I throw the cook’s hat into one corner and my apron under a table.

As I ascend the stairs into the dining area, I hear Urgrim… from the stage… call out “And now for the man I came here to get hit by! Sifu Tozi, if you would honor me?” Color me surprised… I didn’t think this was going to be this easy!

Tozi walks up to Urgrim, breathes a little more heavily he should be, coughs a little bit, and yet gets right into his standard Lion Talon pose and delivers a MIGHTY double-handed jump strike at Urgrim. Urgrim, however, still stands, though I can tell that that had to hurt. Tozi bows to our dwarf (still a little unsteadily.)

“Thank you Grandmaster Tozi! Everyone give him a round of applause!” Urgrim cries out to the gathered patrons. Everyone applauds Tozi and our dwarf as Tozi goes back to take his seat. When he gets about to the lip of the stage, I hurl the knife at him, sneak attacking and critically hitting him for lots of damage.

If you were surprised, you were in good company… so was the rest of the party.

Let’s backtrack to catch up with the rest of the party. The entire party desired to be there this evening, and Gav, the Pink Ninja, and Yhennon waited to watch the other arriving diners for a while before they decided to go in. Tozi and Adelle entered first, protected by three Lion Talon guards. Tozi is unarmored, though he does have a very impressive set of double broadswords in a single sheath at his back and a golden whip at his waist. They were followed by Juntao, a “respectable businessman” and his two gigantic Dhar guards. (The Dhar are as close to Vikings as you will find in our setting… and the shorter of the two was over eight feet tall.) They were followed by a Larlonite Purifier and a Taborite Monk... and this displeased me (the player) greatly. A Larlonite Purifier is an ordained priest of Larlon, god of healing and life. Essentially, a highly-qualified doctor. The Order of St. Tabor is the militant order of the church of Laeros, god of civilization, and are known for their brutal, and unique, halberds.

As the trickle of important looking people began to wane, the party entered the restaurant through their own unique means. The Pink Ninja simply ran up the side of the wall, jumped in through a balcony, and sat herself at an unoccupied table. The Nobleman simply used his status to get in, and he was seated at a comfortable “unoccupied” table. He slightly confuses the waiter by ordering two drinks. Yhennon and Gav take a while to determine the proper method to enter the Brazen Bowl. First, they consider trying to fake their way in as entertainment (an animal trainer.) Then, they consider simply leaping up to the second floor balcony and going in through there. Finally, Yhennon looks at Gav and says “You know what? Let’s just have dinner.” And so they stride right in through the front doors and are seated a table or two away from Tozi. They notice him cough a bit… and it’s the unhealthy sounding chest coughing. It would appear that the dwarf’s bargain has already taken effect…

Speaking of the dwarf, you already know that he entered the restaurant under the guise of an entertainer. This thoroughly confused the night’s scheduled entertainment, a young flautist of indeterminate gender. Urgrim simply asks that he… or she… play some exciting music for his turn on the stage.

The first course comes and goes with little ceremony. There’s some lovely flute music, some lovely food, with the courses planned by the Nobleman’s player; he’s very knowledgeable about food and this sort of thing, so the DM lets him design the courses to complement each other and Tozi’s main dish well.

For the record, when the Brazen Bowl employee came to usher the flautist to the stage, he lingered just a little too long in the waiting room and fixed the strange dwarf with just a little too suspicious a glance… one tackle and he finds himself not quite successfully faking unconsciousness. One very solid kick after that and he finds himself tied up under a table quite some time later.

In any event, during the second course, Urgrim shoos the flautist off the stage. “Welcome ladies and gentlemen! I am a new form of entertainment …a Dwarven Endurer! The idea is to find the sturdiest dwarf one can, and attempt to topple him in a single blow. We dwarves are famous for being tough as nails, and I’m iron among dwarves! Does anyone feel they can fell me?”

Before anyone can respond to the Dwarf’s challenge, Yhennon leaps to his feet, yelling “I have spent many years studying the human body! I will accept your challenge!”

Yhennon strides out on to the stage, studies the dwarf for a bit, and makes an Accurate Attacked punch to the dwarf’s favorite area of attack… for one point of damage. Urgrim berates him for trying such a tactic (and failing at it so hard) and asks one of Juntao’s Dhar bodyguards to try her hand… see if he’ll actually FEEL something!

Vaguely amused, the dhar winds up for a far mightier hit --about a third of his total hit points, to be approximate. “But I still stand, though it was a mighty hit lass!” he makes his way off stage to rest for a bit before trying that again. The flautist, traumatized that his… or her… career has him accompanying an insane dwarf asking for people to hit him, goes back to the stage to play another beautiful melody as the third course arrives. This whole time, the Pink Ninja has been bounding back and forth between the two sets of tables as well as spying on Tozi. Several times, she leaps over the heads of his personal guard… and they don’t notice a thing. The sheer number of times she pulls that off is comedic. Gav, seeking more information about my plan, has her go find me in the kitchen.

The fourth course arrives, and with it, Urgrim takes the stage. Immediately, Yhennon leaps to his feet and demands another try. “As the academic approach didn’t work, I’ll have to try something a little different!”

Yhennon, the middle-aged man, strength score of 9, backs up, and charges, jumps and power attacks down at Urgrim with his elbow, while yelling “FOR ACADEMIA!” He deals 8 points of damage, something his player is rather proud of.

“Better, but I’m still up! Next, why don’t we mix things up a bit!” He points to one of Tozi’s guards and to the Taborite, calling them up to the stage. “I’ll give the two of you a little time to discuss strategy. I’ll be waiting.”

The student is quite clearly terrified to be talking to the Taborite. She’s strong, famous, and apparently rather attractive for her age (she’s about 50.) Neither the crowd nor Urgrim can hear exactly what the Taborite is telling the bodyguard, but there are a lot of rather vicious hand movements involved. They synchronize their strikes, and Urgim takes a hefty amount of (nonlethal) damage from a double handed hit across the face from the student and a knee to the kidneys from the Taborite. Thankfully, he rages before the hit lands and therefore isn’t in any danger of going down. He thanks the two of them and hobbles off the stage, promising to be back when he can feel his back and legs again.

The fifth course is coming out by this point --which includes Tozi’s basilisk eyes. Gav, knowing what to expect from my chat with our Pink Ninja, walks casually over to the Taborite and the Purifier. After a polite exchange of greetings, he addresses the doctor: “It probably doesn’t surprise you that my friend there” gesturing to Yhennon, “is with the circus, and he’s asked me to come and speak with you. While the dwarf can take quite the beating, past the façade he’s certainly feeling the abuse. My friend was wondering if you might come and have a look at him?” The doctor kindly agrees. Gav thanks the Taborite for lending her companion, whom he then leads down into the booth area of the restraint with Urgrim.

“Most of this is internal, so there’s not a whole lot I can do, but…” with a little bit of work, Urgim is healed a little of his damage, and he stumps upstairs to where the Pink Ninja meets him and delivers some Ki-healing… which brings him nearly up to full. Meanwhile, Gav caught the Purifier in conversation (untrained diplomacy check success!) in an attempt to keep him occupied and away from the scene as Tozi takes our potent poison. When he begins to stretch the limits of his diplomacy skill, he thinks quickly and mentions that cough he had a session ago, and once again the friendly doctor is more than happy to give him an examination.

To Gav’s (and his player’s) mild distress, the Purifier informs him that he was right to have his cough checked; he can’t tell what it is without a full checkup, but there’s definitely more fluid in his lungs than there should be… He advises Gav to come see him in the morning at the inn where he and the Taborite are residing. Gav, somewhat subdued, thanks him, and the two return to the dining room.

Meanwhile, while Gav kept the doctor out of the room, Tozi popped both of the (poisoned) Basilisk Eyes down and a minute or so later clutches at his chest, coughing. Adele is a little concerned, but he pushes her away, gesturing that he’s fine. When the Purifier returns to his table (across the diameter of the room from Tozi) he is greeted by the Nobleman, who engages him and his Taborite companion in an engrossing conversation. Tag-teaming social skills for the win!

Oh look, the dwarf is returning for another round; he makes a grand gesture toward Master Tozi and begins to speak…

FAST FORWARD

And back to me, running for my life through the crowd of shocked diners and bursting out the main door. Tozi, who to my utter astonishment is not dead, yanks the knife from his chest, charges the outside balcony and manages to catch me in one round with a single jump strike dealing 25 points of damage --exactly enough that if I’m not healed within one round… I will die. The Pink Ninja, the first to react in the chaos, chases after Tozi and Winddances as close as she can get to me to heal me. This happens to be balancing on Tozi’s head (the only square within range) but she performs the acrobatics check and brings me up to a point where I won’t immediately die.

Urgrim, being the lawful guy he is (he did make an oath to see this through) jumps from the second floor balcony to assist me. He used all his movement that round to get outside. Gav takes a similar approach, though he isn’t able to cross as much distance and he’s trying to maintain the image that he’s rushing to Tozi’s defense, not ours. The Nobleman, the Purifier and the Taborite get up and hurry down the stairs for the sane path to exiting the building. Juntao is protected by his massive Dhar bodyguards, but is looking on the scene with a completely blank face. Yhennon is mosty, like everyone else, standing in aghast horror. As the mass of people around him scramble about, most of them departing in high degrees of haste, he begins reaching for and downing every drink in his immediate vicinity. He also amazingly makes the fort save against the alcohol; in his own words: “Emerald Tower Drinking Parties.”

Tozi’s thought process, near as we can tell, went something like this: “I have a ninja on my head. I should do something about that.” He takes out the whip and uses it to catch the ninja and smash her into the ground. She’s largely in the same state I am (bleeding out) and things don’t look good.

Urgrim does what he can to assist. He lurches from crawl to charge to where Tozi is standing over us, and attacks him. Now, he didn’t roll very well on his chance to hit. He asks Tam if he would have caught Tozi flat-footed, which would have made all the difference. Tam decides to leave it to the flip of a coin. While singing “O Fortuna.”

Urgrim calls correctly. His wild swing connects, dealing 15 points of damage. Tozi’s spine was replaced with the pickaxe head… Urgrim killed him outright. As he falls to the ground, his bodyguards, such as they are, are just catching up through a main door of the restaurant. After watching in stunned silence as their leader falls before their eyes, they scream “KILL HIM!” and all charge Urgrim. They knock him unconscious… not that that was hard. He’d already taken a lot of non-lethal damage.

Then the Taborite comes out of the Brazen Bowl and roars “EVERYONE FREEZE! ON THE GROUND! NOW!” The force in her voice compels Tozi’s students to comply without question. Most of the rest of us were already there. The Purifier and Gav hurry up and, after quickly confirming that Tozi is deceased, start stuffing bandages into wounds to stabilize the bleeding folks… I LIVE! MWAHAHAHAHA!

Inside the restaurant, Yhennon has finished downing his drinks, and he decides to listen in on a bunch of people having a rather heated discussion next to him. Mostly the topics revolve around “There’s no clear successor” and “Oh gods! Can you believe it! Think of the news! We’ll be the talk of the town!” Yeah. Lovely town, Talmar.

Juntao walks casually out of the Brazen Bowl, analyses the scene for a bit, and then silently orders one of his bodyguards to take the Pink Ninja. The Taborite disagrees with this, and she and one of the Dhar nearly come to blows. The Nobleman intercedes, along with some help from Gav, to wait until the story of what happened has come to light. Juntao orders the Purifier to, now that everyone is either stable (or in the case of Tozi, dead) wake us up for questioning. He starts with the Dwarf. (Urgrim mutters something… unkind… about Bug)

“What happened tonight?”

Urgrim answers very honestly. He saw the knife, jumped down, and decided to help the fight.

The Pink Ninja is next, and she says she saw the knife, and hurried after Tozi and the assassin to help. Neither of them state explicitly whom they went to help.

Finally, they wake me. I wake and simply yell “DAMMIT ZIVIEL!” in Planar (Court) … and nobody seems to understand me. (We learned that Ziviel is Bug’s real name... when we asked him what his real name was, he snarkily said that we wouldn’t be able to pronounce it, not having the requisite language. When I asked him “Oh really?” in Planar (Court) he graciously supplied us with his name. Every time we use his real name Gav will insist we can just call him Bug.) They ask me the question they’ve asked the others: “What happened here?”

“Well, how far back are we talking?” I respond.

“The night is still young.”

Thinking quickly, I say (in Court) “Ziviel, get out here, and be careful… come down through the ground if you have to.” Gav had apparently had the same thoughts, for Bug floats out of the ground next to me almost before I’d finished speaking, to the varied surprise of everyone present (--feigned, in Gav’s and the Nobleman’s cases). “Introduce yourself.” Pause… I roll my eyes. “Please.”

He introduces himself. In Court. Roll my eyes again. “In Aurbeski, please?” He complies. “And whom do you serve?”

“I serve the Mistress of Planning, Sanselie.”

I direct a question at the Purifier: “Are you familiar with Sanselie? Can you explain to us what it is she does?”

The Purifier explains that essentially, she weaves and executes this mysterious Plan of hers, supporting the civilization of Laeros (god of civilization.) That last bit turned out to be a particularly helpful thing… I didn’t know that.

“Ziviel, can you explain why Tozi had to die?” I inquire.

“This man would have been a source of great chaos in the days to come. He has been eliminated before he could cause this chaos.”

So, I turn to address the Taborite. “So, ostensibly, we were protecting the city, and your interests with it.” …Roll Deception, did very well.

Juntao pipes up. “I accept your version of events. You are free to go, and you will not be blamed for what has happened tonight. However, she,” he indicates the Pink Ninja, “is coming with me.”

Uh-oh.

“And what is your interest with her?” I ask.

“She is not new to being an assassin. The last time she was in this city, she was hunting someone, and was told never to return. She has returned, and so, she must pay.” We find out that her original target was… him. Ah. Urgrim and I try to get her free by saying that she just sort of fell in with us, and that she really didn’t have any say in this due to Bug, but Juntao conters with the logic that, because of the Comet suppressing magic, everything was done of our own free will.

Thinking quickly, I say, “I have a bargain for you, with critical information that may indirectly save your life --something you would not have had were it not for her presence-- in exchange for her.”

Juntao is skeptical, but agrees to hear me out at least.

“Purifier, how much do you know of the Fey?”

“That they are vengeful.”

“Do you know of a species known as the Brilliant Archers?”

He grimaces. “They’re disease spreading spirits.”

“Earlier this week, I was visited by some of them. They said they were coming to ‘enjoy the fun.’”

I should have stopped there… but I was caught up by my own momentum. “The dwarf and I made a bargain with them --to try to keep them from entering the city…”

Failed deception check. Miserably failed. The Purifier, who is barely containing his considerable anger: “You’re lying.”

“Let me rephra-” Punch! and I’m unconscious again. Well, perhaps ‘barely containing’ is the wrong phrase for this instance. On the other hand, I managed to strain a holy man’s vow of peace! Good work for the evening.

Juntao tells Urgrim and the Pink Ninja (who has been covertly ki-healing herself back to full) that they’ve earned her freedom, after a fashion. “You have 15 minutes to leave the city. After that, anyone in the city will have free reign to kill you on sight.” He then very pointedly dismisses Tozi’s students, who, with one last glower at our trio of assassins, hurry off to their academy complex.

Urgrim responds with some snippet of snark that unfortunately none of us can seem to remember.

“14 minutes.”

Urgrim carries me back to the inn, waking me up along the way. I gather some of my stuff (I am leaving the biggest things, such as the mule) in the care of the rest of the party so I can escape the city as unnoticed as possible. I shapeshift into a form with a higher Constitution and another face. I walk up to the front gate and spin a story about my sick mother waiting for medicine out in the refugee camps. “She can wait until morning.”

“No she can’t!…Would 10 Luna help you change your mind?”

He lets me out through a small portcullis. Victory!

The Pink Ninja simply runs up a wall and vaults over the head of a guard. He notices… something… but doesn’t pay it any mind.

Urgrim gets to the inn and has a sudden revelation. Tozi looked REALLY familiar! Urgrim runs back to the Brazen Bowl and takes another look at Tozi’s face… sure enough; Tozi was one of the men who killed his family. With cursory explanations to the Taborite and Purifier, who were about to move the body, Urgrim says a ritual prayer to Rihissa, goddess of vengeance, drawing three figures in Tozi’s blood, and scratching one of them out. Part one of his quest has been fulfilled.

Then, Urgrim runs to the docks, finds a dinghy, slaps 5 luna down on the dockside and rows around the harbor walls, and is free of the city. We sort of meet up again, and wait for morning when the non-implicated half of the party will join us.

Because, to the sudden realization of astounding irony, exasperating for the character and endlessly amusing for the player, STILL nobody knows who Gav Jagger is. Session Break.

[flabort]

Wait...

At the end, when you said no-one knows who Gav Jagger is...
Were we supposed to be worrying about that?

[Fayd]

Wait...

At the end, when you said no-one knows who Gav Jagger is...
Were we supposed to be worrying about that?

The character is trying to become famous, I think. And despite this being his mission... he didn't get associated with the end results.

[Cade Rentyr]

Wait...

At the end, when you said no-one knows who Gav Jagger is...
Were we supposed to be worrying about that?

Gav's been asking pretty much everyone we meet if they've ever heard of 'the famous Gav Jagger' and getting shot down every single time. The reason for this is that I took the Unremarkable trait, that makes deception easier at the cost of reputation. Since he's already a swashbuckler, I wanted to go for a Captain Jack Sparrow-ish joke: "Has no one ever heard of me?"

So far, no one has. And in a twisted sort of way, Gav is extremely irked when he realizes that he's entirely the reason we just assassinated a city leader but he still doesn't get even a little famous for it.

[flabort]

Ooooohh...
"Nobody" not meaning nobody in the party, but actually meaning no commoners or anybody who isn't in the party.

Ok, I get it now. Seeking fame and fortune, and being completely unable to attain the "fame" bit.

[Fayd]

Ooooohh...
"Nobody" not meaning nobody in the party, but actually meaning no commoners or anybody who isn't in the party.

Ok, I get it now. Seeking fame and fortune, and being completely unable to attain the "fame" bit.

Or, ironically, the fortune bit! Money is NOT something we have in any great quantity.

[MountainKing]

Or, ironically, the fortune bit! Money is NOT something we have in any great quantity.

Didn't you just get paid for your assassination job?

[Fayd]

Didn't you just get paid for your assassination job?

I really wish so, but the assassination quest was given by a deity, and as such, there wasn't much in the way of material reward.

[flabort]

Too bad XP isn't really tangible, then, right?

[Fayd]

Too bad XP isn't really tangible, then, right?

We did level up from this, which is nice.

[stabbitty death]

in your first campaign did you take a feat to get those 2 cantrips at will, and if so what is it called?

[Fayd]

Nope, it was just a part of how the old magic system worked. Things are a little different now that we've moved to something completely different, but... Yeah. No feat.

[stabbitty death]

too bad, presdidigitation at will=win

[stabbitty death]

how do you determine the challenge level of monsters?

[Fayd]

Ummmm... Not sure. Tam?

[flabort]

Say, uh, How's morchana doing?
I know she's in a different game, but, it would be nice to know.

[Kaulesh]

Say, uh, How's morchana doing?
I know she's in a different game, but, it would be nice to know.

Seconded, and Fluffy.

[Fayd]

Next chance I get to talk to them, I'll ask!

Chapter 6: It’s Not a Matter of Where He Grips It

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We leveled! A lot of people got fun new toys from class features or feats (I mostly just got skill synergies. Rogue 2 is a little boring, but Rogue 3 makes it all better!)

Urgrim, the Pink Ninja, and I spend the morning sitting out in front of the city waiting for the party to arrive. They, for various reasons, take their sweet time leaving. Yhennon goes to buy a healer’s kit while Gav and the Nobleman (now revealed as Reizei Yukio, Reizei being his surname, and I will now start calling him by one or the other) paid a social call to the Larlonite Purifier and the Taborite monk. Gav also wanted to take the Purifier up on the offer of getting a thorough checkup.

This turned out to be a very good idea. The Purifier took 20 on the heal check and diagnosed Gav with a case of a disease called the “Weeping Pox.” Acts and spreads similar to a cold, has the nasty oozing sores of something like smallpox. Tends to leave permanent scars, and once you’ve had it you gain immunity –like with chicken pox. Nasty thing, especially if you get a particular strain later in life. The Purifier gave Gav a treatment and instructions on how to prepare more when Gav remembered that Yhennon is a skilled healer.

With their errands complete, the other half of the party (and Jan) decide to leave the city. They meet up with Urgrim, Ninja, and myself, and we begin to make our way up the switchbacks that lead back up onto the plateau. Towards evening, Tam has us make observation checks, and we, as one, turn back to the city. A large group of people with weapons left through the front gate of the city and were beginning to surround the refugee camp. After they had finished surrounding the camp, they lit it on fire and began cutting down the refugees. After a very short time, the entire camp is destroyed. As the soldiers reform and march to the front of the gate, they are all killed by a hail of arrows from the gatehouse.


It would appear that someone is taking some rather extreme measures to protect the city from plague and exercise his newfound power at the same time, as well as potentially eliminating his competition --those soldiers definitely looked more Lion Talon than Rat Clan. It was a great move. Terrible, yes, but great.

And there’s nothing we can do other than shudder and move on. We leave Talmar at our backs (Gav makes sure to spit in its direction before it falls out of view) and head towards Rimtown along the caravan route, making sure to stay away from the village we “helped” on our way in. We’re not sure if it is necessarily a safe place to be, what with us hypothesizing that the plague markers helped attract the Brilliant Archer’s attention. Yhennon is performing Heal checks on Gav to help him throw off the disease along the way, and he is doing very well --Gav winds up shaking it off before it even really gets started. Along the way, we see a Lion Talon guardhouse. We’re running low on food, so we decide to trade what we have (a massive amount of booze from the barfight) for food. There’s only one guardsman here, and he’s more than willing to accommodate a trade. After the trade, just as the guardsman is beginning to drink from the first bottle, Urgrim tells him that Tozi is dead.

Cue spit-take. When he learns that Juntao is almost certainly in control of the city the guardsman promptly decides to desert and head north. Then again, upon hearing that we’re heading that direction ourselves, he figures he might as well join us. This means only one thing --a near-seraphic cry of joy resounding in the hearts of every adventurer: “STUFF!” We strip the guardhouse of everything valuable and all of its supplies (which comes out to a decent supply of food and several sets of leather armor and double-Talmar-broadswords --standard Lion Talon armaments) and begin making our way to Rimtown with our new friend Gao, formally of the Lion Talon. He doesn’t have any PC levels but he’s definitely built like a fighter, so in our spare time we take turns sparring with him --yes, even Yhennon goes a round on occasion, if only for the sake of learning how to handle himself better in melee.

…We only get a few days out though, before we have to stop. Urgrim and I both caught the Weeping Pox.

Personally, I blame Gav. (In all actuality, it was probably Tozi’s dead and diseased body or our foray into the refugee camp to bargain with the Brilliant archers, but this way is more fun.) I eat some damage (to both my Constitution and hit points) the first day of the disease, and immediately ask Yhennon for help. (Yhennon has already had the disease as a child, so he’s in no danger.) The first day, it doesn’t quite work and I eat a second bit of damage (thankfully, I can increase my constitution. The group decides to stop for a time until we’re better, and Yhennon works on healing us up. His dice are HOT. He rolls 3 nat 20s in a row to help Urgrim and I throw off the disease. (There were also several nat 20s for Gav’s treatments.) On top of his already high Heal modifier… we’re back on our feet and mostly back to normal after a week or so of travel.

We realize that the caravan route isn’t being particularly rich in food for us (in fact, being forced to scavenge for food and slow down for the pox turned an 8-day trip into something closer to 14), so we decide to go offroad a bit and find a village to purchase some food. Urgrim knows of a village somewhere along a branch of the river leading to Rimtown. Jan’s heard of it, and happens to actually know where it is. We leave Gao flexing menacingly at the cart while we see what we can negotiate, which turns out to be a fair share, actually; the village is willing to provide food and transportation to Rimtown for us for the cart, the mules, and some swords and armor from the Lion Talon Guardhouse. We were rather pleased that the cart got us so much… We weren’t expecting it to have much resale value!

There’re only a couple speed bumps in the plan: Gav is adamantly opposed to giving up his mule, Git (“He may be a dumb ass and an ugly git but he’s the best companion I’ve had for years now. No, I’m not forgetting about you,” he says, tapping the side of his head irritably) and I have a small attachment to Pugnox, (though I’ll let him go if things are too difficult.) After suggesting butchering the mules for food --twice-- Urgrim comes up with a rather ingenious solution. He constructs two harnesses and puts the mules out over the side of the raft. One would think the animals would be uneasy swaying suspended over open water, but Git (at other times known as Stupid Git, Smelly Git, Ugly Git and Lazy Git, Gav proudly informs us) hardly bats an eyelash, and Pugnox… Well, after surviving (probably) a few centuries of Fey amusement on their home plane Pugnox is fairly convinced everything is an illusion anyway, especially concerning his master, yours truly.

While the boat owner goes to go get someone to pilot the boat for us, Gao begins gathering up and concealing as many swords as he can, leaving only 2 behind (because we did only promise swords --we creatively failed to specify beyond the plural ). Reizei, who is handling things on the other side of the cart, suddenly asks Gao if he’s wearing armor.

“Yes?”

“Is your armor wearing armor?”

……

And so we only leave 2 swords and a single set of leather armor behind.

The trip is largely uneventful… until the last day, when we feel an earthquake strike and the river quite suddenly begins to swell. Our boatman is quite skilled and he manages to ride the wave just fine. (Though Gav does laughingly bestow his mule with his new nickname of Sopping Git, getting a tail flick to the face for his trouble.) We come around the bend headed into Rimtown and are a little surprised by what we see.

Or, perhaps more accurately, what we don’t; the city is gone, and in its place, there’s a large waterfall where the lake has apparently begun draining into the mangroves below. I’m of the opinion that there’s nothing to be gained here, so I want to move forward. The party desires to at least poke around for a bit, and they outnumber (and outvote) me, so they get off the raft and explore. Our boatman heads back upriver. Looking down at the mangroves, we can see the destruction of the city, and several people notice something very surprising: people are moving down there... and not the kind of twitching of the mostly dead, but honest to goodness walking around. They appear to be the students of the White Crane school, based on their robes, and Yhennon decides to go pay them a visit… Bloodhawk regained the ability to fly when he leveled up, and it’s only 4000 or so feet down.

Down below, the White Crane Master, in armor with huge ornate wings attached to the back is drilling his students as well as trying to have them gather supplies from the remains of the city. In short order, Yhennon and the Master devise a plan to get the students back up to the top of the plateau. The Master, as frustrated as Yhennon is by the comet (if it wasn’t there, the wings on his armor would work and he could fly out of the situation) orders his students out of the trees… Every one of these students has the feat Winddancer, making gravity an option --so long as you’re standing on something solid at the end of the round (at feat-level base). We (the party) are going to gather rocks and drop them down at a steady pace so that the students (and the Master, of course) can leap from rock to rock and climb up the cliff. It’s only 4000 feet or so. Jan, being the only one amongst us with ranks in perform, keeps rhythm for us.

The party begins making preparations for this, with Urgrim, Gav, Gao, and Reizei gathering rocks. I’m trying to gather information from any Fae in the region, but, as has been typical thus far, I’m getting nothing… aside from the fact that there’ll be a waterfall spirit here in about a century or two. Yhennon, also wishes to help with the gathering rocks process, but he doesn’t have many reliable methods of breaking rocks apart. His most powerful weapon is Bloodhawk’s face, after all. He does ask if he would be able to fly up with some big rocks and drop them to break them into smaller rocks, but as Reizei’s player slyly put it: “It’s not a matter of where he grips it…”

“…it’s a simple matter of weight ratios!” chimes in the rest of the group.

On the way up, 5 students missed a rock, which meant missing a Winddancer step, which would have meant plummeting to their dooms. The Master, probably after rolling his eyes and muttering something about training, waited, caught a falling rock, and threw a rock to each student to get them back in the ladder. 4 of the 5 manage to recover their Winddancing stride, but one stumbles and continues to fall. Bloodhawk tries to catch the guy… and the poor NPC probably would have survived had he not broken his leg on Bloodhawk’s back. Ker-splat…

Bloodhawk, feeling the impact himself and unable to reattempt the rescue, flies back up to the cliff, where he requires some healing before reverting to human state.

We deliver our report about what’s happened since we last saw each other, while Gao tries to hide his origins (and his rather distinctive swords). The Master, in addition to saving 4 of his flailing students and getting back in the ladder himself just fine, did all this while carrying someone; a new student, a woman without the Winddancer feat in really nice bronze chainmail apparently was carried down by the Master when the town collapsed, and he carried her back up. Urgrim seems to suspiciously recognize her and has me try to talk to her to glean some information, to see if she’s one of the people on his list. I can’t really get much out of her other than where her armor came from: Hoboblin smiths who delivered their goods to Ada (or Nar) through the !chan plateau. The !chan are a race of people still fighting the Faerie War. The Hobgoblins are the “Bronze Fist of the Fey Courts.” Yet somehow they got commerce through? Something is fishy here, but there’s not enough for me to make a call on.

We break about here for the evening.

[Tam_OConnor]

I don't use the Challenge Rating system anymore. Mainly because with the new system, opponents of equal level are a fairly good challenge (since the various monster types have their own level progression). The only other thing I have to keep in mind is how powerful the individual classes are:
Humanoids: 10 points
Animals: 15 points
NPC Classes (Adept, Armsman, Expert): 20pts
PC Classes and most monsters: 25pts
Dragons, Outsiders and Undead prestige classes: 30pts

There's also the optimization angle: I can build monsters/NPCs to be synergistic and whatnot, or not. For horses, for example: your average riding horse isn't that well optimized. Your average warhorse is devoted to milking every extra point out of its identical point value.

But in general, I just eyeball it. The PCs taking out Tozi was one of those things that they really had to ponder: trying to go toe to toe with him took two characters to negatives in as many rounds.

On Morchana: Her new character is Brunhildr, a Dhar Valkyrie Swanmay trapped in the mad, mad world of the Underdark. She's turning to alcohol to deal with it, as pushed on her by the ship's cook, Kiaran. Kiaran's a drow mage with a vow of indulgence. A few sessions back, Kiaran painted the town red, and visited some truly strange establishments. All I'm going to say is auto-erotic self cannibalism. Kiaran has ties with Vinnie, the attercop ex-slave who makes his home in the crow's nest, from which he occasionally catches bats. Jiles (played by Fluffy's player) is the resident mad surgeon, with a set of enormous bunny ears grafted on. He's got at least two more grafts in the docket. His mother had strange taste in men, and he could charitably be called a half-zombie. Jiles is hunting an enormous orange whale, Gurgatron, who ate his dog, Nemo. Steering the ship is the merrow Pulse, a prince among his people. His dad was around when Aurbesk sunk beneath the waves. Pulse has a brother named Adanar, which creates some interesting implications. Until recently, they were also accompanied by the demigob Jaebu, who has since retired from privateering to wander the weeds (player got tired of him, is rolling a new character).

To date, they've captained the dwarven slaver Gotta Catch 'Em All as a prize crew for the dreaded pirate No-Beard. After arriving in port, No-Beard informed them about a drow treasure fleet, and they sailed out to ambush it. While waiting in ambush, they signed a deal with the dwarven privateer Kelad, securing a place in his battle-line. During the battle, our 'heroes' took possession of the elven holk The Silky Hammock, and sailed the treasure ship back to their home port, dealing with the horrible curse laid upon the mountains of treasure in the ship's hold. That treasure went towards buying them a modified surfacer vessel, fitting with a drow propulsion system, submersible capability and extra-dimensional interior.

[Morchana]

On Morchana: Her new character is Brunhildr, a Dhar Valkyrie Swanmay trapped in the mad, mad world of the Underdark. She's turning to alcohol to deal with it. . .

I have also helped to melt a ghost and have set up a blacksmith shop on the ship. I think I am the only good-aligned character on the ship. It's a terrible place, and not even that seaweed grog makes it any better. . . and the spiders! Ick!

I did go to an opera and got paid to kill convicted criminals on stage. It was glorious.

[flabort]

demigob

Got a typo, there, Tam.

Gotta Catch 'Em All

What a coincidence! I was just watching the series on Youtube!



So Fluffy's player is playing a half-zombie with Bunny ears!
That's... That's... That's got more potential for hilarious than an "omni"-vore.

[Tam_OConnor]

No, no, that's not a typo. There are three kinds of goblinoids: Goblins (also called dinner), Hobgoblins (the civilized sort) and Demigobs (Bugbears; or goblin-ogres).

Did I mention the part where the reason Jiles has bunny ears is because they killed a twelve-foot tall bunny that oozed cuteness? (Not literally, but its DR was fluffed as 'you just can't bring yourself to hit something this cute') It's a little bit silly.

[RdMarquis]

Nice to see you pulled of killing Tozi, and that was an awesome way of getting up a mountain.

On another note, the secondary campaign has one of the weirdest cast lists I've ever read. I'm not sure whether to laugh or be creeped out.

[Fayd]

Nice to see you pulled of killing Tozi, and that was an awesome way of getting up a mountain.

On another note, the secondary campaign has one of the weirdest cast lists I've ever read. I'm not sure whether to laugh or be creeped out.

Aye, I'm still surprised it worked! (The killing Tozi bit. And the getting up the plateau bit.)

The cast does sound hilarious. From the bits I hear of things, the campaign is full of all kinds of silly.