Madness, Blood and Thunder in Ravens Bluff IC

[candycorn]

Misti Marva's Moonlight Pawnshop

Alaister looks a bit irritated, as he replies tersely, "Actually, I've had to take a few extra... precautions, shall we say? It seems that my name has been making its rounds around this fair city, and that's something that makes me a bit... skittish. Take, for instance, a group that was searching for the same individual I was, using you as a front for the search. Yes, I knew about them, and about you. I just had no interest in following it up, because I'm not some bloody fool that seeks out trouble from unknown strangers. Imagine my surprise, however when that group suddenly shows up on my doorstep, setting me back a full week in my searching, because they are PRECISELY that type of bloody fool. For the love of Oghma, I woke up the other day with a damned note hammered into the door of where I sleep! Where I come from, such notes mean something... and it's not pleasant. So I ask myself, how could they possibly have gotten such comprehensive information on me so quickly?" He pauses for just a moment, before continuing, ""You just answered that, quite clearly, when I walked through your door."

His tone softens a bit, as he continues, "I know you've got a reputation for finding things out. I know also that you were just doing what you do. I bear that no ill will, despite the inconvenience it's caused me. I'd like to deal with you, however, to prevent future inconveniences, for either of us."

Alaister walks around a table, finger lightly tracing the outline of one of the more delicate items on the table. He speaks out again, tone neutral and businesslike. "I want my name out of any information that is provided by you or your associates. In return, I'd be happy to assist you, from time to time, in finding out information that you may profit from. First one free, further work at reasonable rates. Interested?"

[Frog Dragon]

Bitterstone, Watch Station

"Haven't looked yet. It was a reward for routing the goblins out in the countryside. I was supposed to distribute it to the others but now.." He sighs. "Anything else you need to know?"

[TheFallenOne]

Bitterstone, Watch Station

"Uh-huh." The watchman seems rather unconvinced. "So that goblin thing was supposed to be you? Anyway, you don't look like the type who'd take payment without even bothering to look at it. Not the first time someone thinks it clever to report a generic bag with this or that much money in it stolen in the hope we find something like that on a crook. Anyway, even if you had such a bag don't expect it to turn up again. If you can't identify the gems so much as putting them in another bag is enough to make your claim implausible."

Misti Marva's Moonlight Pawnshop

Misti giggles lightly at Alaister's tale of how the others made contact. "They've been that clumsy? Surely you exaggerate, and their hammer wielder isn't in the city anyway."
Her eyes narrow at the subtle threat of 'future inconveniences'. "Trust doesn't come that easy Alaister, though your way of offering a free gift when accepted and 'inconveniences' when denied might surely work on many. This Cybrarvain is remarkably elusive, so much so I doubt he's using that name or his business or anything else I can track him by at all in this city. And then you show up. Awfully convenient, and quite strange two people coming from different directions find a trail leading to the Bluff, but inside the city there's nothing, isn't it? You have the smell of a trap Alaister, and coming here with disguises and veiled threats won't help matters. That's the price for being good at -the game-. Once people know you're good, they'll be hesitant to trust you. And I know you're good. Very good. So I'll keep an eye on you until I'm sure you're not playing on the wrong side, but I won't sell your name to anyone else in the hopes my suspicions are false. Best deal I can offer."

[Frog Dragon]

Bitterstone, Watch Station

Jorran shrugs. "Don't believe me? Fine." He says, putting his chain shirt on. "It wasn't as if I was actually expecting you to succeed at this. I'll track him down myself." Finishing with his armor, he tosses his cloak on, starting to walk out while inspecting his gear for any other lost items.

After that, he goes shopping for replacement gear.

Spoiler

Show

Buying another masterwork greatsword. In addition, he will buy a scimitar and a dagger. Also 10 tindertwigs.

[candycorn]

Alaister shakes his head ruefully. "I wish I were exaggerating. I could provide you the note from my door, if you need convincing of their... ineptitude. I never met their hammer-wielder. Only their elf scout and some bookish clergy girl. Neither are a threat to me any longer."

Alaister waits for just a moment, just long enough to let Misti contemplate the different meanings of that statement, then continues, "I had a little chat with the two of them last night over a glass of wine, and it turns out, they're not serving at the whim of some nobleman's son looking to avenge an imagined slight. As such, I may be able to turn the situation to recover my lost time. That is why I am not overly concerned about my inconvenience."

Alaister hesitates for just a brief moment, then says, "I will accept your offer, though. I don't mind someone trying to watch, so long as the whole town doesn't know my business. You can judge for yourself what side I'm on, though I can save you the trouble right now. The side I'm on is my own. The causes I advance are my own. I'm not in anyone's pocket, nor do I intend to be."

Alaister turns to walk out, catching himself after a step and saying over his shoulder, in an offhand, conversational tone, "But I have to ask myself Miss Marva... Were Cybrarvain to lay a trap... Who would the man try to snare in it? Would it be a small band of fools too inept to handle even the basics of -the game-... Or would it be the connected, skilled informant supplying them information? You are truly lucky I'm NOT in his pocket. If I were, well... Let's just say that seeking sensitive information is far less dangerous than speaking it. You play a dangerous game, Misti... But I'm not the one you should be watching for...

...Nice shop, by the way. I might have to stop in again sometime, perhaps buy a few odds and ends from you."

[TheFallenOne]

Bitterstone, Watch Station

"Let me remind you then citizen that assault is a crime, even on someone who stole from you the other day. You find him, call the watch. Not that I expect you to listen, so better don't let us catch you doing anything illegal, got it?"

Spoiler

Show

kept the other money not in the haversack then? If so shopping accomplished

Misti Marva's Moonlight Pawnshop

"You don't want to get crushed, make reliable and well connected friends and don't step on the toes of the powerful so much the price of removing you is worthwhile. I think I count as well connected, and surprisingly the ones you disparage so managed to get on my good side, whereas you failed at it. Perhaps think about that one on your way home." She smirks, showing her dimples as she watches Alaister leave.

[Frog Dragon]

Bitterstone, Watch Station

"I won't." Jorran says bluntly as he walks out of the door.

[candycorn]

Misti Marva's Moonlight

Alaister shakes his head as he walks out. Daft woman! How much does she think connections will protect her from a man they can't see, who kills in a way that can't even be attributed to him easily? If there's one thing I know, it's that he doesn't like his security and information compromised. She's going to get herself killed... Alaister pauses for a moment, as wheels turn inside his head... Unless I stop it. Marva will get her service, whether she requests it or not. And if things work out as I hope, I'll prevent her death, prove I'm not with the assassin, prove my credentials, and get a little information on the assassin to boot. Excellent. Time to get started.

Spoiler

Show

Alaister will find a quiet area, reapply his disguise, since evidently it's not up to par, and then begin gathering some information.

Disguise: (1d20+12)[16] (with inspiration)
Gather Information: (1d20+10)[24] Areas/properties in the vicinity of the pawn shop that are any of the following: Abandoned, recently rented, available for rent, or owned but not currently occupied.

Gather Information: (1d20+10)[29] Same as before.

Will carefully refer to the area by street intersections, not by reference to the shop. Will check at governmental agencies first. If I get good information there, I'll move to word of mouth in the vicinity. Otherwise, I'll try a different agent, after a shift change.

That should take up the rest of my day.

[Frog Dragon]

About Town

He thought to go speak to Mirielle first, but realized that he didn't actually know where her new apartment was. However, he did know where the temple of Mystra was. He could just go speak to Aya first.

Securing his new sheaths on his belt, he makes his way to the castle-like temple of Mystra.

[Sallera]

The Halls of Mystery

It is some time before Aya returns, and she nods at Jorran in passing. "Just a minute, I see Miri left me a present." After taking a minute to confirm the quiver's provenance and inspect its properties, she returns with a satisfied smile. "Now then, judging from the expression on your face, you're not here to worship. If that's the case, let's go outside. The temple is for Temple business."

Finding a suitable patch of green outside, Aya begins carefully withdrawing a wide variety of arrows from her old quiver and pack and feeding them one by one into the nondimensional pockets of the new one. "So, what brings you here? You missed the meeting last night, so I take it the greycloaks had something for you."

[Frog Dragon]

The Halls of Mystery

"Yes, they did." Jorran says. "Turns out they had a budget to solve the goblin problem, and since we did it for them, they decided to reward us with it. But that's not why I missed the meeting. I got attacked on my way there, and I lost. He kept asking who the greycloaks were. I woke up at the Bitterstone watch house this morning. Some of my stuff was missing, including the Greycloaks' reward. According to them, it was 10000 gold in gems, to be distributed equally. Didn't get a chance to check the bag before the ambush." He scratches at the bandages on his head. "So yeah, we have a new problem. I don't know what he wanted with me or the Greycloaks, but it can't be anything good."

[Sallera]

The Halls of Mystery

"Huh. Well, you managed to get mugged in style, at least." Aya studies Jorran's face for a moment, then unwraps a new bundle of arrows and continues her work. "Sounds like you've got payment for us to help worked right into the deal, anyway. You woke up at the watch house... so presumably they know, yeah? Ought to be careful not to step on any toes in the process, then."

With a sigh, Aya slings the new quiver onto her back, retrieving and replacing a few different arrows, then nods decisively and takes a scrap of paper from a cloak pocket. After taking a minute to memorize the contents, she hands it to Jorran. "That's Mirielle's new place. Head over there and she should be around. I'll prepare a bit of tracking magic and meet you halfway along the Promenade in Bitterstone about an hour past sundown; with luck, Miri and I can find something out if you show us the location of the incident. If that fails, we'll have to see if Alaister can live up to his claims - he's got a provisional agreement with Mirielle as of last night, by the way, so that worked out."

Spoiler

Show

Sense Motive: (1d20+6)[15]

Using Autohypnosis to memorize the address; should have done that anyway.

[Frog Dragon]

The Halls of Mystery

Jorran looks at the piece of paper. "Good. If we can catch him soon, we might be able to get him before he has fully healed from his injuries. He was asking about the identity of the Greycloaks, so I doubt he's very well connected here. He might lack access to clerical magic. And yeah, the watch knows what's going on." He tucks the note into a pocket. "Anyway, I'll be there."

[TheFallenOne]

Candycorn

Spoiler

Show

The streets in Silverscales are unnamed. Near the pawnshop, there's a derelict building used as garbage dump by the locals. In two months, it will forfeit to the city and be torn down unless the owner shows up again. A mercenary captain won the thing in a game of cards and is either dead or doesn't care about the place.

Several places can be rented or subleased, though the docksiders are apprehensive towards outsiders unless they pay extra.

[Sallera]

The Halls of Mystery -> Bitterstone

Returning to the temple for her evening devotions, Aya requests blessings of seeking and perception, then dons her gear and heads out to the Promenade, strolling back and forth along the middle of its length until she spots Jorran. "Evening. Hope you can remember the place the incident happened. You said he was injured, right? Blood is blood in a city, but we might be able to follow it with the right magic."

Spoiler

Show

Once we find the location, Aya will cast Scent and Living Prints to attempt to follow the blood trail; the latter to renew whatever small traces he might have left, and the former to distinguish one drop from another.

[Jeff the Green]

Spoiler

Show

Alright, let's move this along. I'm assuming Jorran got there in time for Mirielle to prepare appropriate spells.

Apartment -> Bitterstone

Jorran arrives just as Mirielle is preparing for her evening devotions. She listens to his hasty recitation and considers the problem. Damn, this really isn't my specialty. She adds a few divinations to the spells she prays for and goes with Jorran to meet Aya.

"If we can get close to where we think the assassin is, I can try to pinpoint Jorran's sword. Otherwise I may have to get some scrolls. Let's get moving."

[Sallera]

Bitterstone

Aya nods, casting her enhancements and taking a minute to orient herself using her new perceptions. "I'll see how far blood gets us, then. If it runs out, we'll have to hope we're close enough for your magic to take us the rest of the way."

[Frog Dragon]

Bitterstone

"This should be the place." Jorran says as he leads the group through side alleys. He pauses for a second, then nods to himself. "I was attacked right about there." He points at one spot on the street. "I fell over there. He points at the place where the side street joins with the main one.

Spoiler

Show

I assume nothing has been cleaned?

[TheFallenOne]

Bitterstone

The place of the ambush still shows signs of the battle if one looks closely; luckily it didn't rain in the night, though the humidity of the morning dew and fog reduced the traces. Some blood can still be found where a bleeding wound was sustained, though there is an unexpected problem: while Jorran's blood is easy to make out with an enhanced sense of smell, the blood of his attacker has a completely neutral scent. It doesn't stand out in the slightest from the smells around you; salt of the sea, faint but still noticable, traces of people passing through and some less pleasant odors as well.

[Frog Dragon]

Bitterstone

Focusing on the scents, Jorran frowns. "Annoying." He says, walking over to the spot where he was first attacked. He inspects the wall the assassin had had his back against when Jorran had gotten his first hit in. "I slashed his torso open here. There should be his blood on the wall, probably without any of mine being mixed in." He says.

Spoiler

Show

Hunter's Sense Stance.

[TheFallenOne]

Spoiler

Show

Same here. Blood, no scent. I don't think you had the stance active during the fight, or did you?

[Sallera]

Bitterstone

"I'm new to tracking by smell, but either this guy's a pretty strange sort of person, or he was smart enough to take precautions against it." Shaking her head, Aya looks around the alley, a faint greenish tinge outlining the blood traces in her sight. "And if he was that prepared, he'd know enough to bind his wounds before going too far as well."

Spoiler

Show

Ordinary tracking attempt to follow the blood trail, then, using Living Prints to eliminate the time penalties; while Aya can't follow the trail by smell, the blood's lack of characteristics should still make it possible to distinguish it from Jorran's or anyone else's.

Knowledge: Local (or whatever's appropriate): (1d20+3)[19] - are there any races that would naturally have such a characteristic, or is this likely the result of magic?

[TheFallenOne]

Spoiler

Show

roll Survival then?

One short for better information. There's a spell to remove one's scent.

[Sallera]

Bitterstone

After a few trips up and down the alley, Aya returns to the others. "No scent, no tracks. If he had magic enough to remove the one, he could probably conceal the other, too; I don't have access to anything strong enough to counter that."

"Miri, can you pick up anything? If he had divinations in mind when he took his precautions, he might have stashed the loot nearby to prevent it from being used to trace him."

[Jeff the Green]

Bitterstone

Mirielle looks doubtful. "I'll try, but I can only detect it if it's nearby.

"I'll try running down the street to cover as much area as possible. Which way do you think he'd have gone?"

Spoiler

Show

Mirielle will run, using Travel Devotion if possible, as fast in the direction Aya/Jorran guess to get the most area out of locate object. It lasts 5 minutes and has a range of 600 feet.

[Sallera]

Bitterstone

"Now that's a novel tracking technique." Aya giggles, then nods toward the south end of the street. "If he hangs around the area, Silverscales is a good bet, but that's not a place to run headlong through at night. Go down to Westwall, maybe, and run along the main road a bit. Could get lucky; we'll follow you."

[TheFallenOne]

Bitterstone, Silverscales

While covering a decent area, Mirielle detects no sign of the sword visualized in her mind, and Jorran's attacker remains elusive.

The Sanctuary

However, he too seems eager for a second meeting. Returning to the Sanctuary, Jorran finds a letter delivered by the Raven Express waiting for him. The block letters look chiselled rather than written, and the message reads BLACK SORROW CARES NOT FOR SWORD, BAG OR CONTENTS. ANSWERS MATTER. WANT EXCHANGE, WEAR BLUE SHIRT AND WANDER THROUGH BITTERSTONE AND SILVERSCALES COME NIGHT. DO SO SEVERAL HOURS, COVER WHOLE DISTRICTS.

7th of Marpenoth

Spoiler

Show

short meeting and possible encounter with the monk is the last scene we go through before macro

[Jeff the Green]

Apartment -> About Town

Mirielle wakes early. At least, earlier than she would like. She prepares breakfast for Keeva and herself, and inquires whether Keeva had learned if she might be allowed to copy some of the books in the High House of Magic.

After breakfast Mirielle leaves a note on her door for Jorran and Aya:

Jorran and Aya,

I will be gone most of the day. If you need to leave me a message, append it to this note. I will be home before sunset if you need me.

-M

She then runs a few errands: she leaves a note at the Posh Paladin for Alaister, asking him to meet a couple hours after noon; she purchases a new weapon; and she makes inquiries into who might be able to add enchantments to her holy symbol.

Spoiler

Show

Purchasing a MW quarterstaff with two wand chambers, and putting the lesser vigor and cure light wounds wands in them.

I assume it would take 4 days to add +2 Wisdom to my reliquary holy symbol?

3 days until I can use Mercantile Background again.

[candycorn]

7th of Merpenoth

Alaister stretches, sitting up in his bead as he hears the sounds of a town long since awake from outside his shuttered window. He rolls out of bed, fumbling around for the mirror, to begin preparing for the day's activities, gathering more dirt on Marva's activities. That's about the time he sees the note. He reads it, scowling.

They would need to meet right when I have the chance to set an ambush on this bastard. Ok, ok, calm down. There's gotta be a way to turn this to my advantage. It's an early meeting, so it's probably fairly urgent. It'll probably require a bit of information or follow up on my part, but it hopefully won't kill my whole day. The only thing I really want to get done anyway is to explore that garbage dump near Misti's shop. The rest was just seeing what I can find.

After that, he rushes, getting ready, drops a quick dweomer upon his headband, puts on his day's disguise (a commoner) and steps out to look for Mirielle and her merry band.

Spoiler

Show

Disguise: (1d20+12)[26] (feeling inspired today)

[Sallera]

The Halls of Mystery -> About Town

Although she took the time for a thorough bath after the previous night's activities, Aya is still up at her usual hour, briefly speaking with Dalair before leaving as is her custom. With the demon storm mostly pushed to the back of her mind now that the necessary people know of it, she continues cultivating the seeds of her plans, assuming Mirielle would ask Alaister about Jorran's thief when they met to confirm each others' motivations. The knowledge she'd obtained of Sarbreen indicated that her theory about Chemcheaux had only a small chance of being correct, but the rewards if she was... well, those were worth the work. She can't follow up on that until she has her map, however, so she sets about a few other lines of questioning; it was probably safe to make one or two more inquiries for the moment, as long as she asked around in different districts than she had in the previous days.

Spoiler

Show

More Gathering, then. If Jorran is up early, he might be able to catch Aya before she leaves if he's so inclined; otherwise, she'll return to the temple near sundown as usual.

(1d20)[5] - see if she can collect a couple more stories or bits of information about the Flaming Swords, especially their living members
(1d20)[17] - whether there are any captains that make regular trips to and from Calaunt, and if so, when
(1d20)[11] - possible entrances to Sarbreen
(1d20)[4] - a retry