The Crimson Echo Season Four

[razorfloss]

Upon hearing the various ideas to Trina's tragic circumstances Jeqem offers an idea that bothers him but could potentially save an innocent's life. Could we not have an already condemned prisoner sentenced to die be made to look like Trina while she is disappeared from the city? It's not exactly right but if they're already sentenced to die, they can save an innocent that doesn't deserve her fate. as he says this however, he balls up his face in distaste as if the very idea disgusts him. Failing that couldn't we just brew a potion that simulates death and have her drink it publicly in a show of poetic "justice" as he says justice however, he makes air quotes and mutters to himself Damn Asmodeans before continuing his suggestion to satisfy the more bloodthirsty among the crowd. We would have to make it look painful but that's easy enough to add and not have any long-term side effects

[Stelio Kontos]

Those close enough to Aliani could see the vein starting to pop in the side of his neck at the sight of Trinia's back bruised and bloodied at the hands of those... those despicable monsters, was as close as he could come without distracting himself more fully.

"Great, so they're going to take a bull**** coerced confession over, you know, any sense of reality, are they?" he finally snapped. "You know, you didn't *have* to give it to them. You could have at least, you know, taken some time to investigate the veracity of this so called 'confession' under the grounds of truth and justice. For that matter, you could have binned it. I suppose I should be grateful that for once that wasn't an option."

At the Hellknight's words, he simply rolled his eyes. Hadn't they gotten rid of these clowns already? He had a few other choice questions as well -- but for now he kept them to himself.

"if there is any hope of averting this ruling, it will be in poking a hole in the confession. In our investigations under Ileosa we have determined many facts about the murder. We need to undermine that confession by showing it inconsistent with those facts, that the specific acts Trinia confessed to were not the means by which Eodred died. It will be difficult to convince the Arbiters, but getting them on Trinia's side is a trifle compared to the mob,"

Dalen eyes Silas and Aliani, "one way or another, time is drawing short for Trinia Sabor. If there is anything you plan on doing on her behalf, it's now or never,"

"Obviously." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

"Okay. Mr. Rittle, you figure out with Miss Croft the absolute best way to poke those holes in this case. Then you take it to the arbiters. Smash their door down if you have to, I'll bail you out. She needs someone in there to defend her."

"And yes, 'Turk', we may need reinforcements. That's about the last bunch of reinforcements we need, but any port in a storm. If you think you can control them, then get them here. But you keep them back from the front lines. They're as likely to ignite this as they are to put it down; a SHOW of force is going to be much more effective. One ill-timed strike will be the match that starts it all, and the fewer people that get that opportunity to strike, the better."

"And someone give me some paper, I need to think of the best way to talk down an angry mob." He gave a wry smile. "I suppose those sleepless nights scratching at plays will have served as a dress rehearsal, hmm?"

"And Miss Sabor? You are not getting sent back to the Asmodeans. If you are, you have my personal word that there will BE no Asmodeans left, or I shall join you in death. Remember, most of all: you haven't made any problem for us. You haven't made any problem at all. And don't let them tell you otherwise. Whatever happens from here, is not up to them. I need you to believe in that, to believe in us. You need to stay strong during this, and if you do, you WILL prevail. They will continue to drag your name through the mud, to blame you, call you horrible names. None of it is your fault; it's what they need to move the levers of politics in their direction. It's a reflection on them, not on you. However much mud they drag you through, when all is done, there will be a chance to cleanse yourself of all their wicked machinations. Hold fast to that thought."

[Inspectre]

Standing in the corner trying still trying to look comforting to Trinia, at least, Ishani nervously clears his throat as various options for faking Trinia's death and/or convincing the Arbiters to shove her confession up their collective asses are voiced.

"Um, excuse m-m-me."

Ishani says quietly, just patiently waiting as he is ignored for the first few moments, drowned out by the various voices speaking until people realize he was trying to contribute something.

"B-but what about the Queen? As the nominal head of the legal system, she is permitted to pardon any three individuals from all crimes committed, including capital crimes, each year under Article Fourteen, Subsection Three of Korvosan law . . . at least, I think that's the right subsection . . ."


"I'm not sure that our new queen is politically stable enough right now that she would risk pardoning her husband's supposed killer . . ."

Kroft states, although she is clearly thinking the possibility over.

"It would not do anything about angry mobs wanting to harm her, unfortunately, but I can arrange for a protective detail for as long as necessary. Regardless, the queen may have some ability to influence the Arbiters to more closely consider the evidence rather than rushing to judgement either without a pardon - I assume you did manage to rescue her from Haeluna?"

[Stelio Kontos]

"We did. She's a bit under the weather at the moment; I don't think she's in any condition to be pardoning anybody."

[Darvin]

"It is nonetheless considered legally admissible evidence. One of Domina's many contributions to our fair city's "improved and expediated legal code."

"I'm well aware, but fortunately for me it is also legally permitted for a citizen to be openly disdainful of the law without breaking it. Aliani isn't in chains, after all. Last I checked," Dalen muses as he looks over his shoulder expecting to see a disapproving glare from his friend.

Could we not have an already condemned prisoner sentenced to die be made to look like Trina while she is disappeared from the city? It's not exactly right but if they're already sentenced to die, they can save an innocent that doesn't deserve her fate. as he says this however, he balls up his face in distaste as if the very idea disgusts him.[/color]

"Setting aside the fact that any number of relatively simple divination spells would reveal such trickery, I would suggest not proposing that in front a Field Marshal who just gave an impassioned speech about the dispassionate application of the law," Dalen chides.

"Great, so they're going to take a bull**** coerced confession over, you know, any sense of reality, are they?"

"That is how it works, yes," Dalen says with an almost supernatural candor, completely agreeing with Aliani without a hint of outrage in his voice, "they will do what they think is best, based on their own judgement, values, and priorities. Reality has surprisingly little to do with it,"

"B-but what about the Queen? As the nominal head of the legal system, she is permitted to pardon any three individuals from all crimes committed, including capital crimes, each year under Article Fourteen, Subsection Three of Korvosan law . . . at least, I think that's the right subsection . . ."

"And that would be a fine way to get both Trinia Sabor and Ileosa Arabasti lynched by the mob. Few are as dutifully bound to upholding the law as our dear Field Marshal, and many would relish the chance to use such an unpopular decision to remove our queen from power completely, and offer her to the mob almost like a ritual sacrifice," Dalen shakes his head, "I do not know if the queen will be in any position to do anything tonight after what has transpired, but if she were to intervene on Trinia's behalf it would best be done subtly. To approach the Arbiter's and suggest that Trinia has been cooperative in the investigation of all the conspirators in the murder, and that judgment should be postponed until such time as all of them are brought to justice,"

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Turk listens to responses and nods when appropriate.

"I will make the necessary communications to call for the aid we need most."

Turk looks to Aliani next.

"Aliani was it? The Cerulean Society is not an assassins guild, a Bounty Hunter Guild, or even a mercenary guild like the Hellknights of the Nail. They are much more refined and precise. Subtlety and restraint are required for the profession. While I can appreciate your grandiose dramatization and oversimplifications in a heated moment, I simply wanted to make it clear. Should the Cerulean Society wish to stand at the front lines, we would not need to make our presence known.

He exhales with a sigh of resignation.

"Enough posturing. We are both here to aid the city. You said you could have the names of people who might be leading the riot tonight? If you could supply me with that list. I am sure we could arrange for them to stay home for the evening."

He looks back to the painter girl then to the feild Marshall.

"that will be the end question. Do you wish to fake her death, free her from the charges.... or something outlandish?"

[Inspectre]

Grau gives a wounded frown at Aliani's cutting remark involving shoving a document involving a murder into a bin to be forgotten about, while Kroft seems to rally herself a bit, a note of indignation cutting into her voice.

"Being Field Marshall especially means that I don't get to choose where and when to apply the law, Mr. Rose, nor would tearing it up in front of that smug bastard and flinging the damn pieces into his face have accomplished anything besides alert the Arbiters that I can no longer be trusted to enforce the city's laws. And as it turns out, he had already sent advance notice to the Arbiters to expect something of this nature, so I'm sure it wouldn't have taken long for a copy to find its way into the Arbiters' hands even if I had tried to suppress this. To say nothing of the fact that someone clearly has been sitting on a plan to make Trinia Sabor the scapegoat for Eodred's death for quite some time. I'd love to know what the Gazette's source is."

Despite her outburst of irritation at Aliani, Kroft isn't able to sustain it for long and slumps back into her tired state a few moments later, rubbing her temples before giving an exasperated sigh and nodding tiredly in Dalen's direction.

"And Mr. Rittle has the right of it - I'm going to pretend that my exhaustion had me hearing things a moment ago, and that I did *not* hear all of you openly planning ways to thwart Korvosa's justice system over a capital crime, in front of the Field Marshall of the city guard, right in the middle of her own office. At least let me have that much, please. If Ms. Sabor is going to be saved, it will need to be through strictly legal means."

"W-w-what about exonerating evidence? If we c-c-can provide t-testimony of s-s-similar weight to Miss S-Sabor's confession, s-s-surely the Arbiters will take t-that into consideration as well!"

Ishani offers next, prompting Grau to thump his fist into his hand.

"Hey, that's right! We've got that slimeball Kreed locked up downstairs, he was a big part of Lamm's operation too, right, named in his letter and everything! If he says Trinia didn't do it, then the Arbiters have to balance that against her confession, right?"

"And the Asmodeans have the weight of Trinia's torture to offer to attest to her confession's "authenticity". What do we have to offer to prove Mr. Kreed's testimony is true?"

Kroft objects, looking as if she just ate something bitter as she argues in support of Trinia's confession, according to the law of Korvosa.

"The word of a servant of Abadar!"

Ishani insists sternly, and then returns to his default quiet stammering.

"Or at least, I c-c-could f-f-force him to t-t-t-testify within a zone of t-t-truth! Well, I don't have t-t-that blessing p-prepared, s-s-so t-tomorrow, or I'd have to go get a s-s-scroll from the t-t-temple! F-for a n-n-nominal fee, of c-course!"


"No! I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life, but I don't want anyone to go through what I just did! If you have to hurt him to save me, then -"

Trinia objects, her tone forceful enough to cause Ishani to jump back, raising his hands placatingly.

"N-no no, it w-won't hurt him! If he doesn't want to t-t-testify, he can just remain s-s-silent! No t-t-torture involved!"

"Magical collection of evidence is a . . . complicated topic in Korvosan law, particularly enchantments, even divinatory ones like Zone of Truth. It would probably be less controversial if you were able to use a Discern Lies spell, and then interviewed him Ishani."

"Still doesn't mean he has to say anything useful though. You sure we can't just . . . "encourage" him to volunteer information, just a little?"

Grau suggests, immediately getting skewered by a glare from both Kroft and Trinia.

"No prisoner of the city guard is going to be harmed, not even for this."

"No hurting other people for me! Not to help me-"

Trinia turns her glare on Aliani.

"Not to rescue me."

Glares at Jeqem

"And certainly not to make someone take my place! I did this to myself, and if I have to I'll pay the . . . the . . ."

Here Trinia's bravado finally fails, and the young painter collapses back into tears.

"Well. We still have some options open to us before it comes to that. I suggest we make what time left we have available to us before nightfall, and our hand is forced."

Kroft says with grim determination.

Downtime Options!

The city is not going to **** just yet, so you can split the party without fear of getting jumped and dying a horrible, sad - yet hilarious - death all alone. But in the few hours prior to nightfall, how would you like to spend your time? Available options provided by the DM are below:

• Speak to Adonis Kreed, and see what he is willing to testify to in regards to Trinia's involvement with the conspiracy - without *making* him talk.
• Go see the queen, if she has woken up yet, and ask her to help - discretely
• Go investigate the Gazette and see if you can find out how they got the information on Trinia so fast - and from whom
• Go speak to the Cerulean Society about the offer Turk made
• Pre-emptively try to put out some of the riots by rounding up the expected ringleaders, convincing the townsfolk not to freak out over the reveal of Eodred's murderer in the paper, etc.
• Go speak to the Arbiters to testify to what you know/poke holes in Trinia's confession
• Gather information (your choice of topic)

[Darvin]

"I'll speak to Kreed and see what I can do about convincing him. With or without him, I can speak to the Arbiters on behalf of the Queen to try and at least buy time for Trinia," Dalen states his intentions, "I suspect you may require my assistance tonight. I won't prepare any spells until then, but I should be able to provide non-lethal ways of restraining or at least slowing down an angry mob,"

...

When he is lead to Adonis Kreed, Dalen takes a moment before speaking, he approaches Adonis and extends his hand, "Dalen Rittle, wizard contracted under Queen Ileosa to investigate the matters surrounding the death of King Eodred," whether Kreed shakes or not, he continues, "the Arbiters are meeting tonight, to discuss the fate of Trinia Sabor. You are aware that Gaedran Lamm's written testimony is one of the key pieces of evidence against her, and Lamm named you as well. I, for one, find his version of events very unconvincing. He's made many attempts to silence Trinia Sabor, both in the past and now seeks to do so from beyond the grave. And he seeks to silence you as well. And that fact alone means I am very interested in hearing what you have to say,"

"Gaedran Lamm is dead. Haeluna Summersun is dead. Vreeg, if you know the vile fellow, is dead. We now must ask ourselves whether Trinia Sabor and Adonis Kreed will follow in their footsteps. Trinia has been very cooperative, providing a great deal of information for our investigation, and has convinced us that she was hapless pawn ignorant of the conspiracy around her. I intend to speak on her behalf shortly. Where do you stand?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Diplomacy: (1d20+21)[36]

[Stelio Kontos]

"You're right. Forget I suggested that particular plan" Aliani replied, with a bit of genuine contrition. "But I do hope that you won't be so caught up in your duty that you'll be willing to see an innocent person killed in the name of justice. That's the sort of thing that can ride on one's conscience for a very long time, I hear."

"And Miss Sabor, I assure you, we are not going to be doing to anyone what they have done to you, nor anything close to this. The world is not all such a cruel place. At least not all the time."

The playwright sighed, a sigh that turned into a yawn of his own. It had already been a long day. "Why don't I wander down to the Gazette. I can't imagine why they think jumping the gun on this is such a good idea, but perhaps I can impress upon them the damage that a false report can cause. Likely to hurt them as it is anyone else, in the long run, right?" He shrugged. "Even if we can get it put off for one night..."

His mind flashed through all the various encounters they'd had, who might be amenable to putting out the word that a quiet night in the streets would be most welcome. Nothing sprang to mind, but the walk to the Gazette might trigger something, he hoped.

[tonberryking]

Arin stands near the door of the crowded offer, barely making a sound as she glances back and forth, listening to the others, and receives only a few vague glances in return. She does try to get the human wizard Dalen's attention with hastily asked question...

...And she's off!

Sort of.

With no desire to go back into the sewers unless absolutely necessary, the little goblin in the white cloak wanders around the perimeter of the guard building several times and also puts in the effort to get up on the roof, to check it's defenses. She doesn't want to be prepared for just the attacks on any obvious entrances; she wants any and all knowledge that may benefit her in what's about to come. To onlookers, it loks almost like she's patrolling the place, but she doesn't care if that's seen as humorous by anybody.

Spoiler: OOC/Rolls

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(1d20+10)[29]

Gather info check to gain any knowledge about how one might get in or out of this place, including any defenses (or lack thereof) on the roof in case people could get to our roof from the next closest one, etc.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

As a gossip collector, Turk goes to the streets. Hes going out to get the names of those who will most likely want to be active in a riot tonight concerning Trisha being accused of being a kingslayer. He needed names, he needed where they lived, and he needed their places of occupation.

Spoiler: ooc

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I only need 1-2 Hours to Gather information (1d2)[1]
(1d20+18)[25] Diplomacy to Coax Information Individuals to stay home [Rogue Talent]

Once he has the information about the Individuals and Families who may attend the riots. He reports to his office within the Cerulean Society. He cross refrences the names with the ledgers he has for any families that can be bribed to stay home without having to send additional units to ensure they dont come out. He then reports to his superior within the guild.

"I have found an opportunity for the Society.... the Feild Marshall is desperate enough and needs help. We can take advantage and bring order in the wake of the Chaos Lamm brought"

Spoiler: OOC

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(1d20+18)[28] diplomacy

[Darvin]

Before going to meet Adonis Kreed, Dalen casts Ears of the City to ask questions for the party and himself. (Copied from Discord to the IC thread for posterity)

Question #1. "Is there a way into the guard building from the sewers or underground?"

Answer: 1) There used to be an escape tunnel to get out of the citadel when it was a fortress guarding the easiest crossing over to Korvosa from the mainland. East Shore has pushed the walls out on that side so it's no longer as needed to guard the edge of Korvosa, so it's now city guard and they bricked that tunnel up. It's possible there's other exits into the sewers/underground that no one knows about.

Question #2. "Who or what is Kusasfa?"

Answer: 2) The city is silent.

Question #3. "Who is Jostilina, the woman with the peculiar manner of speech?"

Answer: 3) There is a missing acolyte named Jostilina Susperio from the small chapel/enclave of Shelyn within Korvosa, who was deeply troubled - an addiction to Pesh and who reported having trouble sleeping due to horrible nightmares (hence the addiction to drugs to stop those). She went missing from the enclave a short time prior to the riots, and you found the spiral shell necklace she wore in Lamm's stash of goods.

Question #4. "Has there been any recent information about someone claiming to be Rolth being active in Korvosa?"

Answer: #4 - The city is a relentless assault upon Dalen's ears. Although not as infamous as someone like Blackjack, Rolth made enough of a splash with his necromancy and chaos 20+ years ago before getting caught and "executed" by Domina that he's become sort of a boogeyman in Korvosa's urban legends. Ergo, there are countless rumors and bad misfortune blamed on him by the citizenry, so much so that it's difficult to sift out what Rolth is ACTUALLY doing NOW to people just attributing it to him

Dalen does get a few rumors that he manages to sift out from the chaff, however.

First, of course, he gets the rumor about the maid from the castle that was abducted by Rolth and turned into his little geas'd spy. He gets a similar rumor about an employee at the Jeggare Museum who is now missing, and is begin blamed by Jeggare for the robbery at his museum while you were pursuing Lamm at the prison.

Given that you already found the missing owlbear - that ROlth had turned into a necrocraft monster - you KNOW for a fact that he was involved in that heist

The new disturbing detail that you get was that while Jeggare only cared about the owlbear, that was not, in fact, the only thing that went missing from the museum. About a dozen stuffed eagles - the preserved remains of "pets" kept by an ecentric uncle of Percival Jeggare - also are now missing.

Two other people have also gone missing for a few days, prompting a concerned family member to lodge a request with the city guard to find them, only to retract it a few days later when the missing person resurfaced - in an eerie similarity to the maid and the museum worker that Rolth abducted.
Those two are the owner of a small apocathacary and alchemy shop over near the Acadamae, and a porter working down on the docks loading ships heading out of Korvosa.

Question #5. "Are there any specific individuals known to be "short fuses" for starting riots?"

Dalen gets two names from rumors floating about the city, that will likely lead to some portion of rioting in the city tonight. the first is Jack, the Milanite leader Aliani hit it off so well with. Apparenlty he's been planning some sort of demonstration over by the castle, and with the city guards busy elsewhere and the news of Trinia's accusation, tonight seems likely to be the night. Second, over by the docks, another familiar name - Fishguts Jim, the fisherman that the party had encountered during the night of the riots and saved from some reefclaws. He's pretty bitter about King Eodred's death and has been stirring up his fellow fishermen that Ileosa is going to lead the city to ruin.

And one final name comes up, that Dalen ALSO recognizes - Turk Vigo, the thug-for-hire whose initial botched attempt at kidnapping Trinia kicked off this whole mad scramble to begin with. He's planning on stirring up some **** tonight too, which seems odd because why would he care about all this? He must be working some other angle that he's hoping some rioting will let him exploit to pull off some sort of job.

[Inspectre]

With only a few leads to go on and only a few hours left before nightfall, you all decide to split up to cover matters best suited to your skills. Kroft remained behind in her office, continuing to stand guard over Trinia while Ishani returned to the Cathedral of Abadar and Grau led Dalen down to the dungeons below Citadel Volyshenek. Your efforts would have to be enough.

Dalen

Grau leads you down into the dungeons beneath Citadel Volyshenek, which although are kept tidy and clean by the guard, are still nonetheless actual dungeons. You pass a pair of guardsmen standing guard at the top of a set of curving stairs leading downward, which ends in a long hallway with cells set into the walls on either side every few feet. Lighting is provided by lanterns hanging from the walls rather than torches, and the warmer, even light also helps to dispel the common notion that this place is where people are held, not thrown away to be forgotten.

Whether by luck or intention, it appears that they also cleared out the cells, leaving it obvious which one was the only one occupied presently. A guard is also present down here, a young woman with her vivid strawberry-pink hair pulled up into a bun at the back of her head. She is speaking quietly to the only cell’s occupant, casually munching on a crisp apple. She glances over to see you coming, and straightens up, tossing the half-eaten fruit into the cell through the bars before turning and walking away, giving a crisp salute to Grau as she passes the two of you to take up a position near the bottom of the stairway to give you privacy.

Coming up to the cell door alongside Grau, you see the cell’s occupant is indeed Adonis Kreed, slimeball lawyer and rabble rouser for hire. Despite being locked up in a cell, the lawyer is still dressed in a tastefully cut silk vest, shirt, and pants, his suit coat balled up underneath his head with his hands as he lounges on the bed, legs propped up against the cell door’s bars. He eyes your offered hand with an amused smile, but does not get up.

“Pardon me if I don’t get up to take your hand, Mr. Rittle. I’ve finally gotten comfortable despite these harsh accommodations – rest assured, Sergeant, that I will be lodging a formal complaint with the Arbiters about my treatment here.”

“Yeah, you don’t look very comfortable to me, Kreed. Want me to come in there and fluff your pillow for you?”

Grau growls, eliciting a dry chuckle from the lawyer as he turns his emerald eyes back to you. He listens intently as you continue to introduce yourself and your purpose for coming down here.

“Well, you certainly are moving up in the world, aren’t you Mr. Rittle? From nobody to the queen’s personal investigator! One marvels at the coincidence that you, of all the potential people in all of Korvosa, would be chosen for this task by Her Majesty. While I’m sure that you’re doing a good job, you must be running terribly low on potential leads to come to seek my aid! I don’t even know why I’m here!”

Kreed insists, voice dripping with condescension as he works a hand out from beneath his head to place it over his heart.

“All I know is that my name was written down in some letter found on the body of that degenerate criminal Gaedren Lamm! While I profess my confusion over why he would seek to slander my name so, I must also confess that I am a criminal lawyer who has defended any number of Korvosa’s unfortunate down-trodden citizens who have run afoul of the law. As such, my name would certainly be known to him, and perhaps he took offense to my efforts – who can know the workings of such a depraved mind? I believe that is the only reason why I am under suspicion at this moment . . . unlike Trinia Sabor. As I understand it, she delivered the poison which took Eodred’s life, and I can only imagine that her signed confession also confirms that hers was the hand which applied it! Tsk tsk tsk, in my experience, that is more than enough evidence to convince the Arbiters of her guilt, unlike a simple name randomly scribbled by a mad anarchist.”

“Yeah, well, maybe we should release you in a couple hours if you’re so innocent, Kreed. I’m sure the riotous mob that’s coming for Trinia would be delighted to hear your assertions of innocence.”

Grau grunts, prompting Kreed to flash you both a toothy smile that was a little too toothy.

“Oh, but you won’t, Sergeant. That would be against the rules, and we all know how much of a stickler for the rules our Field Marshall is. No, she – and by extension you – will die first, before some ignorant cretin lays even a finger upon my person.”

Kreed swings his legs down from the cell bags, sitting up as he turns his unblinking shark gaze back to you.

“But let it never be said that Adonis Kreed is not an upright and helpful citizen of Korvosa, either! You say that you are here on behalf of Her Majesty, Mr. Rittle? Alright then, let’s play a little theoretical game. Just speaking strictly in the hypothetical now, assuming that I do know something about Gaedren Lamm’s criminal conspiracy, and could speak with authority on the subject regarding Trinia Sabor’s participation in said conspiracy, what is my incentive to do so? Right now, the only evidence tying me to King Eodred’s unfortunate passing is my name appearing in Gaedren Lamm’s letter. But if I were to provide helpful testimony about said conspiracy, that would confirm that I was indeed part of such a conspiracy – and thus also ensnared in the same noose now closing around poor Trinia’s delicate neck. Why would I provide testimony to the girl’s innocence, then, if the same testimony could later be used to prove my own guilt? What assurances do I have that such a punishment would not follow my selfless act, and what is Her Majesty prepared to offer as a reward for my aid? And . . .”

Here Adonis trails off, looking down at the half-eaten apple sitting on the floor of his cell, and nudges it gingerly with the toe of his suede boot before continuing quietly.

“And what protections can you offer against the same forces seeking to silence Miss Sabor?”

Aliani Rose

Kroft frowns, but raises her head to meet your gaze evenly – clearly this was something she has wrestled with before now.

“Then I suppose I will not have any trouble staying awake over the long nights of work to come, Mr. Rose. I will do what is required of me in this case . . . but no more – do you understand?”

From there you head off to the offices of the Korvosa Gazette, which as it turns out is located not too far away from Citadel Volyshenek – likely due to the rent being cheaper in Midland along the Docks. Or perhaps the location just makes it easier to pump the sewage they can’t get onto the page out into the Jeggare River.

To your surprise, you are able to just walk right into the building, a converted warehouse just back from the docks. There is a dingy reception area just inside the door, but no one is manning the front desk so you just continue on unimpeded into the back. There it becomes immediately obvious why no one is up front – the main floor of the warehouse-turned-printer shop is even more of a madhouse than the city guard’s fortress was!

People are running back and forth between the half dozen printing presses taking up the majority of the floor space, snatching up papers as they are finished to hang up to dry on cluttered lines strung everywhere there is open space to hang a line across. Standing in the midst of this chaos is a gnome balanced on a pair of stilts, slowly turning in a slow circle as he barks out orders through a metal horn (OOC: it’s basically a bull horn).

“Come on Johnson, pick up the pace! We need at least a thousand copies of this by sundown! Sandra, that text is starting to look like a little smeared, get that typeface wiped off and start again! And – who the devil are you!?”

The gnome says reflexively into his bullhorn as he turns and catches sight of you. Lowering the horn, he picks up a spyglass hanging around his neck and holds it up to his eye, examining you before he jump back, nearly toppling over into the printing press behind him. After a moment of recovery, he switches back up to the horn, blasting his voice in your direction.

“By Pharasma’s spiraling piss, it’s Aliani Rose! You better not be here about the review of last week’s play, because that was a perfectly fair and balanced assessment of your work lately, mister!”

When it becomes clear that you’re not here to debate the finer points of the Gazette’s less-than-stellar review of your latest play – gods, that felt like a lifetime ago now – the gnome seems to relax a hair, and blasts out, “One moment! I’m coming to you!”

He then weaves his way across the printing floor, dodging several people hustling back and forth between the printing presses, and ducking under lines of drying papers with practiced ease. As he gets close to you, he unstraps his feet from the stilts and hops off of them, catching them before they can fall off in an uncontrolled direction, bringing them down to rest lightly on the back of his shoulders as he steps forward to offer his hand up to you, the other hand still clutching the metal horn.

“Sissyphus Bartlebee the Third, at your service Mr. Rose. I’m afraid you have come at a bad time, as we need to hustle if we’re going to get our special edition out by tonight. We’ve been on a downward slope ever since the Old Korvosa Star beat us to reporting King Eodred’s death by a day, but this is our big chance to scoop them!”

Looks around warily for a moment, and then stands up on his tiptoes to “whisper” his scoop through the horn directly into your face.

“They’ve caught Eodred’s murderer, and my source has gotten me all the juicy details on her identity! And no, it’s not the Whore Queen after all, whaddya think we are, The East Shore Daily!?”

Arin

While it is a little surprising to you that you are able to just wander around Citadel Volyshenek unescorted, it seems most of the guard have greater concerns than you at the moment. Of course, most of the guards are down in the courtyard or manning the front gates at the moment – damn, the guard seems really understaffed at this point, don’t they – but there are a couple of patrols up on the walls that give you only a passing glance. Maybe they think since you’re already inside, you probably belong here? A dangerous assumption to make, that is for sure, but given Grau seemed to think Kroft would be interested in hiring you as an adventurer to help defend the citadel perhaps the guard simply is that desperate.

Which is another potential hole in their security around Trinia Sabor, but at least from Dalen’s spell you don’t have to worry as much about an infiltration from below . . . maybe. It makes your skin crawl to think about how many more of those blue-skinned freaks could be slinking around below the city streets even now, just waiting for nightfall for a chance to prowl up onto the surface and steal people away to take them below and tie them down to altars to sacrifice to their – no, stop that! You needed to focus right now, and for the moment that meant surveying the fortress for other means of ingress besides the front gates or up from below.

The good news is that the guard is probably right to focus mostly on the front gates, as whoever initially built Citadel Volyshenek picked out a good spot to build. Nestled back into a little peninsula that juts out into the Jeggare River, the fortress is nearly surrounded on three sides by the Jeggare River. Admittedly, the river is not terribly deep near the shore on either side of the fortress, but it is another obstacle that adds another dozen feet to the climb up the citadel’s sheer stone walls, overlooking the city below by a good fifty feet. At the back of the fortress is the keep, adding another good thirty feet or so to get up to the top of the parapets of the keep’s towers from the surface of the river below. Looking down at the river around the back, you can see that there is a small private dock, sealed off from the rest of the fortress by a guarded portcullis – presumably it serves as a means for the guards to get out onto the River if there’s trouble on a boat.

There’s just one thing that bothers you, floating over there in the northern shallows that are overshadowed by the keep itself – what’s that little swan-shaped boat doing there? It doesn’t seem to be crewed at the moment, and although its hard to tell from this far away, it seems to be tied up against the wall and held there by a rope looped around an iron spike hammer into the rocky bedrock that the citadel rests atop.

Curious to get a better look at this potential trouble spot, you decide that the only way to get a better look is from almost straight down, atop the keep’s tower parapets, and so start the winding climb to get up there. As you get higher up, you realize that there’s no guards patrolling around up here, which seems odd since the other battlements at least have one or two guards wandering around keeping an eye on things. Your growing alarm goes up another notch when you come across a grappling line dangling down over the north side of the wall from where it is tied to a crossbow bolt embedded in the side of the keep’s tower just above the parapets.

And finally, you get up to the top of the keep’s central tower, the highest point in Citadel Volyshenek, and locate the intruder, a black cloaked masked figure that could only be the legendary Blackjack! And he’s not alone, either, as you come up the stairs to find him knife-in-hand, crouched over an unconscious, blindfolded, and gagged woman, who is clad only in her small clothes (underwear) and tightly hogtied, with a noose running from her bonds to her neck as a clear and deadly disincentive to struggling.

The vigilante whirls as you ascend up the stairs, clearly having heard you coming, and slowly raises his hands up and out from his sides.

“Okay, I know this appears rather alarming, but before you do anything rash I think you should know that this guardswoman was like this when I got up here. I was going to cut her free before attempting to rouse her, so I could figure out who did this to her, and why her uniform and armor is missing.”

Blackjack explains evenly, before tilting the point of his knife to point back at himself, before turning the knife to point at you.

“Why don’t we start over with proper introductions. I’m Blackjack, and you are . . .?”


Turk

It’s a bit annoying how the damn wizard manages to get information that takes you a good hour of talking to people to accomplish, but at least he only managed to get a couple of names and little more out of the aether before his magic failed him. You meanwhile, manage to get far more information, including the most important information of all – where all these would-be anarchist scum would likely be gathering tonight prior to embarking on another round of attempting to burn the city down.

Fishguts Jim was a nobody fisherman who eeked out a living on the river with his boat and occasionally ferrying passengers along the river. Ironically enough, like many sailors and fishermen, he drowned his sorrows at the Creaky Hammock, an inn and tavern barely more than two blocks away from Citadel Volyshenek.

This Jack fellow, clearly a Milanite anarchist seeking to take up the cause of Haeluna and Gaedren Lamm, was meeting up with his fellow radicals in front of Haeluna’s shop tonight, and then marching up the street to the Heights, where at the base of the Grand Mastaba pyramid atop which Castle Korvosa itself rests, was going to stage some sort of demonstration before the very gates of the castle itself!

And Turk “Fishmonger” Vigo, a lowlife-for-hire and career kidnapper and murderer, was staging some sort of protest over in the wealthy South Shore district. Given South Shore had gone largely untouched during the initial riots due to that being where most of Korvosa’s lesser nobility lived, and thus the district had its own patchwork of private security, that was a pretty bold place to try and start some trouble. Presumably Turk had some hairbrained scheme in mind, and he was a thug-for-hire, not a revolutionary believer, unless Lamm had inspired a whole new generation of revolutionaries to follow in his wake.

What Dalen’s spell had missed, however, was that there were two other, more minor names that you heard were planning on riling crowds up into a violent frenzy at various bars across Korvosa tonight – Sid “Lavender-hands” Stonebrow and Anton Bellavue. Two names that you recognize, because they’re members of the Cerulean Society.

Disturbed by the possibility that these two are working alone to their own ends . . . or the even more disturbing possibility that they’re not, you head up to Old Korvosa to speak with the boss – Guildmaster Boule. A bit of a paranoid man by habit, Boule kept his own location a secret, so if you wanted to talk to him, you spread the word and let him find you. Sure enough, after about an hour of waiting at a designated tavern for such a meeting, the portly leader of the Cerulean Society slips into the seat next to you, the chair creaking slightly in protest.

“I heard you wanted to speak with me, Turk. What’s this about?”

The guildmaster listens quietly as you explain the offer you had made on his behalf to Field Marshall Kroft, finally sighing as you conclude your report. Pushing himself up from the table with a bit of effort, the guildmaster inclines his head towards the tavern’s door.

“Walk with me, son.”

Once you are outside and away form prying ears as you walk through the winding narrow streets of Old Korvosa, Boule opens up.

“I wish you hadn’t made that offer, Turk, because unwittingly you’ve put the Society in a tight spot. You see, I’ve received word from our . . . benefactors that with the queen’s coronation coming up, we need to shake things up, keep Her Majesty off-balance and reacting instead of plowing ahead with whatever moronic agenda is rattling around up there in that empty head of hers. I’m sure if you’ve been speaking with the Field Marshall you know that they’ve got a girl accused of murdering King Eodred. It’s unfortunate, but pushing that narrative and getting the citizens riled up over her execution, both for and against it, is just the opportunity that we need to keep things . . . unstable for just a little bit longer, until our benefactors have their own pieces in place.”

No one knows exactly who the mysterious “benefactors” of the Cerulean Society are, but the three obvious suspects are House Ornelos, the oldest and most powerful house in the city, House Jeggare, the richest house in the city, or House Arkona, who have set up their manor in the squalor of Old Korvosa itself, rather than the Heights or South Shore like the other nobility.

“We’ve also got several jobs lined up for tonight, given that the Guard is going to be locked up tight within their own fortress for the evening, leaving the city ripe for the picking. It would be a shame to let this opportunity go to waste, Turk. I’m aware you don’t particularly like some of the . . . less-than-legal businesses that the Society sometimes partakes in, but I do have a society of thieves to manage. One or two nights a year of them off their leash is not that heavy of a price to pay for stability in Korvosa’s underworld, is it Turk?”

Boule shakes his head.

“No, I’m afraid that tempting as it is, I don’t see how the Society can both fulfill our benefactors’ desire to see a fresh wave of anarchy break out over the next couple nights leading up to Her Majesty’s coronation, and also keep things calm to fulfill your promise to the Field Marshall, tempting as it is to finally have that stuck-up bitch under my heel.”

[Darvin]

"What assurances do I have that such a punishment would not follow my selfless act, and what is Her Majesty prepared to offer as a reward for my aid? And . . .

“And what protections can you offer against the same forces seeking to silence Miss Sabor?”

"Delivering the 'kingslayer' to the mob would be the easy way out for the Queen. Yet she shields Trinia Sabor even now. She has not abandoned the girl, and even at this late hour seeks to save her if she can. Those actions weigh volumes more than any promises I could ever make on her majesty's behalf," Dalen explains, pauses for a moment, then continues, "on the other hand, we have those who have stopped at nothing to snip a loose end, even before she spoke out. The Asmodeans have abducted and extracted a confession from Trinia, and would do it again. You will have to decide for yourself, do you stay silent and hope that you are not the next thread to be culled? Or do you cooperate, and make allies with those who don't abandon friends when it becomes inconvenient?"

"As to the matter of Trinia's confession, it might actually be to our benefit that the confession reads that she applied the poison. As I mentioned, we know exactly how it was applied, and if the confession is inconsistent with those established facts then that is our best chance to cast doubt upon it,"

[Stelio Kontos]

"I would expect nothing different, Miss Kroft." Whether that was a compliment or an insult would be left to the reader.

~~~~~~

At the mention of the reviews of his last play, Aliani let out a friendly disarming chuckle. "Oh, heavens no. If I had a copper for every critic, I'd be a very wealthy man, would I not?"

Sizing the man up, it seemed clear that building his business -- for all the things that entails, the money first probably, it was always the money -- was foremost on his mind. An acceptable angle to

He took the gnome's hand in a friendly but firm shake, stooping down to one knee to meet the man on his level. "I'm most pleased to meet you, Mr. Bartlebee. It's ... well, it's that very thing you've started upon that is what brings me here. My own source has let me know what you're going to publish, and I'm -- well, as a concerned citizen of Korvosa, I'd hate to have your fine publication's reputation tarnished by inaccuracy. We're only as good as our word after all, and how would it look if you ran with the story and it ended up being totally wrong? People come to the Gazette for the truth after all, and getting something like this wrong, that could set you back quite a bit couldn't it?

Do you have somewhere private we might discuss? I'd be happy to share what I know of the matter. An exclusive inside scoop, if you will."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I'll take 10 on Diplomacy, for a 19, trying to influence attitude.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Turk considers the guildmasters words.

"I can tell you dont like not knowing where your money is coming from. Your benefactor certainly has their eyes set on sowing chaos in the exchange of power. That girl, is likely innocent. Used like a tool by Laam, and even in death she is being used in his mechanizations. You know me, I would have any plan of Laam be put down."

He sighs as he nods.

"Order over the underworld is important. Forging that chaos into order is a dire need. Anton and Stonebrow... They are not currently under orders to pull jobs tonight. If the Society is going to take advantage, More hands on deck would be better no? Send them down to south shore. Theres going to be a riot down there, and with the guards of south shore, Im sure our benefactor would benefit from rival houses being hit. As long as we avoid.... Jeggard and Arkona."

He takes a moment to think.

"A Time to balance the books is coming Guildmaster. And I believe hedging your bets on both sides will benefit you the best. You dont need to send our best to the feild marshal. Send her fresh meat, recruits, street urchins, those looking for a chance to prove their loyalty to the society that we can afford to lose, and that are not involved in our operations tonight. The Feild marshal is so desperate that even non combatants that act as message runners for the evening, would put her in debt. And you wouldnt have lost anything, and would have gained much. Especially without knowing who our benefactor is, their goals could be like Laams, not having the Societies interests at heart in the long run. "

[DarkOne-Rob]

Bellinda Swiftfoot Female Lawful Good Halfling Bard (w/ 2 Archetypes), Level 5, Init 4, HP 37/37, Speed 30 AC 19, Touch 15, Flat-footed 15, CMD 16, Fort 5, Ref 10, Will 6, CMB +2, Base Attack Bonus 3 “Dawnbringer” (+1 Cold Iron Scimitar) +13 (1d4+10, 18-20/x2) Light Mace +8 (1d4, 20/x2) Dagger +8 (1d3, 19-20/x2) Mithril Shirt (+4 Armor, +4 Dex, +1 Size) Abilities Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16 Condition Battle Dance (Inspire Courage, +4 vs charm/fear and +4 on attack/damage rolls) Arcane Strike (+1 damage and magic)

Bellinda listens to the big folks talk for a long time. Once it is clear they are all too wrapped around the axle to make a good plan she sighs and shuffles over to the doomed painter. "I'm Bellinda. Can I sit with you, maybe try to help you feel a little better? I can get those cuffs off, if we're subtle about it..." she says, quietly, before settling down with her most genuine and hopeful smile. "I worship the Dawnflower, and she would not have me abandon you to this fate alone. I'll stay with you while the others try to find a way out."

The halfling then takes Trinia's hands in hers, making sure her motions are easily visible as she works to comfort the other woman, even to the point of encouraging tears as she offers a (small) shoulder for her to cry. "It's alright - justice, real justice, will come. We've just got to have some faith..."

Spoiler: Mechanics

Show

Bellinda will use all her skills to distract anyone watching - especially guards and Kroft - as she works. Her first goal is that Trinia can move freely, unlocking any cuffs or shackles she's wearing. Once she's free, Bellinda will begin working on a distraction for the threats in the room, preferring something nonviolent. Then, when there is an opportunity to get her out, Bellinda will scout and lead her away to safety - the cathedral of Saranrae, where she will apply for sanctuary.

Please see Bellinda's character sheet for all skill modifiers - I could imagine this becoming something of a mini-adventure or skill challenge in itself.

Long story short, Bellinda won't let Trinia wallow in self-pity tonight, only to be hung in the morning.

Via the Message spell(s) Bellinda will let the others know of her intentions. The other PCs can help as they wish, using the tactics they like. Bellinda isn't a planner, but she will welcome their help.

[tonberryking]

Arin pauses for a heartbeat--taking in the shocking display before her, and takes half a breath when she realizes that the mysterious masked man doesn't seem at all bothered by her appearance, which is usually a good sign.

Usually.

She also doesn't really know enough of Blackjack to assess the kind of character the rumors paint him out to be.

Before the breath is finished, her sword is out and in both hands, razor edge up. The little goblin's expression, however, is neither angry nor furious; she's not immediately condemning.

If you were a murderous intruder, you wouldn't go to the trouble of tying her up so thoroughly and THEN try to cut her throat...Though clearly you're the second intruder up here since you obviously haven't stolen her guard uniform for a disguise," she motions with the tip of her sword, though she doesn't take her eyes off the man. But she also takes a step back.

"Remove her bonds, and then be on your way; whatever you've come here to steal isn't worth trespassing in this stronghold right now, what with the trouble going on. I've no time to stop you; not when I need to sound the alarm over the first intruder. But I've no need to defeat you, either, if you're not a malicious rogue."

Spoiler: OOC/Rolls

Show

Arin is getting ready to bolt back down the stairs because, yeah, Intruder is already in the building.
Sense motive:(1d20+7)[11]

[razorfloss]

Annoyed at the fact that the odds of saving Trina are almost nonsexist because of Asmodean nonsense he pretends to not notice Belinda trying to unshackle her. He turns towards Trina I can't promise freedom that would be giving you false hope, but I can promise I can keep the public from doing something regrettable after saying his peace he leaves to go to the market to find supplies to create a tear gas like potion and find a rat or other smaller animal to spread it before things go wrong.

[Inspectre]

Dalen

Kreed sighs as he bends down to scoop up the half-eaten apple, holding it between thumb and forefinger as gingerly as possible as he turns it back and forth.

“I don’t think you’re listening to me, Mr. Rittle. As you said, there are powerful forces at work attempting to tie off all the loose ends sticking out from the Gaedren Lamm fiasco. And you and your lot seem determined to keep pulling on those loose threads. Staying the Hells as far away from you as I can manage seems the better bet for survival right now.”

Kreed shakes his head as he continues to focus on the apple, turning the uneaten side up now and scratching lines into the thin skin of the apple with his thumbnail.

“Simply put, I think you’re so far underwater at this point that you can’t even see the surface anymore. So let me give you some free legal advice – the Arbiters are going to want this wrapped up as quickly and as quietly as possible. No one is served by leaving King Eodred’s death unavenged in the public’s mind – no one that matters in this city, anyway. And since you’ve already chopped down those that are the best fit for the crime and it’s “just” punishment, that leaves only plausible suspects for them to hold up – such as Miss Sabor.”

Kreed snorts and continues working on his carving into the apple’s face with his thumb, not looking up as he continues to elaborate on Trinia’s doom.

“So it’s not going to matter to them what the actual truth is, Mr. Rittle. They need a convenient scapegoat to focus all of the citizenry’s pent-up rage and hatred on, because the alternative is that the citizenry continues to vent that pent-up rage and hatred on unfocused and unproductive pursuits such as the riots. Her brief proximity to the King prior to his death is sufficiently plausible for the courts to sell her guilt to the public after the fact, and her confession, no matter how threadbare and self-contradictory it may be, is sufficient to validate that seed of suspicion and seal her fate. No one’s going to actually read it anyway – it’s enough that it merely exists. No, I’m afraid that Trinia Sabor will die screaming in agony, and probably to thunderous applause. And if you insist on standing in the path of that tidal wave, you will all be swept aside and drown in the murkiest depths of this city’s political sewer.”

Pushing himself up to his feet, Adonis Kreed walks over to the cell doors and slips his hand through, dropping the apple into the palm of your hand.

“Is that message clear enough for you?”

He asks, locking his murky green eyes with yours. Dropped eaten side up into your palm, you can feel the lines that the lawyer scratched into the surface of the uneaten half’s skin . . . and that rather than random lines scoured into the flesh, they’re organized and interlocking . . . letters! Turning the apple over discretely in your palm, you see the following message etched into the soft skin of the fruit.

SAVHER
IHELPU
135MAS
ESHORE

Aliani Rose

The gnome sizes you up for a moment, and then nods, sending another blast up into your face with his response.

“Alright. This way!”

Hopping back up onto his stilts, Sissyphus Bartlebee the Third leads you across the shop floor, pausing every now and then to berate one worker or another to hurry up with the presses. A vague facsimile of Trinia in black and white watches your progress behind the gnome from a hundred different angles, dripping dagger clutched in one hand, the hateful lie emblazoned above her head in bold letterface – “KINGSLAYER”.

Dropping down from his stilts again once you are both across the room, Sissyphus leans the stilts up against the wall next to a shabby door leading into a cramped back office, the walls papered with yellowed copies of the Gazette that seem to chronicle past successes (at least in the gnome’s mind). Setting the horn down onto the equally cramped desk, the gnome flops down into the upholstered easy chair that seems to be the one non-spartan piece of furniture in the entire building – your own available chair on the other side of the desk is a shabby stool.

“Alright, Mr. Rose. I don’t know what you could have uncovered that my expert sources haven’t – this scoop about the Kingslayer’s capture comes from my most reliable freelancer, codenamed “The Imp on the Wall”. But I’m willing to give you a fair shake. You have two minutes – go!”

(OOC: Bit of a repost from the Discord discussion on this, but here we go officially!)

Like the aforementioned imp on the wall, a dark thought suddenly comes to your mind unbidden. This muck raker only wanted a juicier story than the one that he already thought he had. And you actually have one that you could feed him – one that was absolutely true. Queen Ileosa was not a noblewoman who followed in Queen Domina’s footsteps by traveling out from Cheliax to this meager former colony to be a queen instead of a minor noble. She was a nobody, a street urchin who Andaisin had scooped up to mold into her protégé and a fake proper lady. Then, she was brought here to seduce King Eodred by the mysterious nobles who sponsored her to be their mouthpiece in the king’s bed.

Having seen the ugly pettiness of the “Council of Nobles” up close now, you are certain that once news of this got out, it would destroy Queen Ileosa’s rule before it could even get started. The nobles would reject her immediately, and with an inability to even pick out a seneschal they would undoubtedly become deadlocked over a replacement sovereign. Civil war would follow, and although countless people would die, so would a significant portion of the nobles on the losing sides. In five minutes you could do far more damage to the government and nobility of Korvosa than Gaedren Lamm and Haeluna could have ever dreamed of accomplishing. And maybe in the chaos and confusion, everyone would forget about the little painter girl who was being pushed forward as the source of all evil in Korvosa. All you had to do was tell the truth, and you could watch this whole damned city burn, far beyond anyone’s ability to snuff out this time, until only ashes remained.

Turk

Boule is silent throughout your argument, and for several long moments afterward, clearly sorting through your suggestions and the probable outcomes, before he finally shakes his head with a chuckle.

“Playing both sides against the middle is a high risk move, Turk. I would have expected you to advocate for a safer option – seems you can still surprise me after all. Alright, what’s life without a little risk? I can have Anton and Stonebrow stir up trouble closer to Southshore – I had not heard about someone else planning a job there tonight. I’ll leave it up to their own initiative whether to help or hinder whatever is going on there. Either way, bringing the riots to their own neighborhood is certain to shake the minor nobles out of their complacency and start complaining – that’ll certainly get the city back into turmoil as our benefactors requested.”

Boule rubs his thick sausage-like fingers together, and then grins at you.

“And since this is your idea, I’m putting you in charge of the group that we’ll loan to the Field Marshall. I should be able to spare a half dozen of our greener members – that shouldn’t tip our hand too much that we’re not fully invested in following our benefactor’s wishes. Use them as you see fit in keeping the riots from boiling over beyond an angry mob gathered outside the gates of Citadel Volyshenek.”

(OOC: Until tomorrow morning, Turk gains 6 instances of being able to apply a +2 bonus to anyone’s d20 roll (skills or attacks), as one of these Society members pops out effectively to aid another. He can spend multiple people to add additional +2 bonuses, but they’re all one-time uses so he’s got 6 +2s or 1 +12, or anywhere in between. You may apply these retroactively, as members get signaled to come help out to save a failing roll.)

“Now if you’ll excuse me, Turk, I think I’ll go have an early supper and turn into bed early. All of this anarchy and running around is bad for my digestion.”

The guildmaster smirks, and then heads off down the street, your meeting with him clearly at an end. Perhaps not quite the result you had hoped for, but it was still six more people who would help you tonight to stifle the riots instead of fanning the flames.

(Was there anything else Turk would like to do before the sun sets?)

Bellinda

Trinia gives you an uncertain smile as you sit down on the cot next to her, although her eyes are quick to fill with tears again after you explain your desire to help her through this. She takes full advantage of your offer of a shoulder to cry on immediately, wrapping her arms around you and burying her face into your shoulder with wracking sobs. Which, it turns out, is mostly an act as she quietly whispers back into your ear, her voice tense but lacking the quavering sobs she was belting out a moment ago.

“Let me know how I can help – I’m rubbish at picking locks, but I have a bit of magic and I’m not half-bad at picking pockets.”

After Trinia spends another minute with the waterworks – mostly for Kroft’s benefit – she pulls back and you start discretely planning how to get her out of here before the mob can break in. Which, although not impossible with the guard severely undermanned at the moment, Citadel Volyshenek is still a fortress that you and Trinia are almost directly in the center of.

There are basically only two ways of getting Trinia out of here – down to the basement and breaking into whatever secret escape tunnels existed that the guard bricked up (or failed to discover), or up to the battlement walls and climbing down the sheer walls to the Jeggare River and risking a nighttime swim over to the nearest dock.

Going out through the main gates will be almost impossible with so many guards set up there – and an angry mob forming beyond that. Likewise, trying to hide Trinia somewhere inside the fortress until morning would only be delaying the inevitable – once Kroft is aware Trinia has escaped her office, it’s only a matter of time before the guard searches the entire citadel to try and find her.

So one of those two destinations are the only viable escape routes ultimately, but the immediate challenge is escaping from Kroft’s office. For that, there are three challenges that you will need to surmount – Trinia’s shackle connecting her to the cot, Kroft herself, and the guardsman posted immediately outside of Kroft’s office.

(OOC: So, here’s the start of, for lack of a better term, the skill challenge to spirit Trinia out of the citadel. We’ll frame it sort of like a Chase, which is a mechanic in Pathfinder, in that there will be a number of locations that you, Trinia, and anyone else helping will need to move through to get to the end. Moving to the next location in the sequence will require surmounting an obstacle in one of several different ways. For now, it is assumed that you can Take 10 on any of these checks, although once the initial escape is discovered and you’re under more time pressure that will likely go away.)

Kroft’s Office

• Trinia’s Shackle – A cursory inspection of the lock reveals that it’s a fairly high quality lock, not impossible for you to pick open but not something you could do without a bit of time and effort (DC 30 Good-Quality lock). Ideally, you could spend a couple of minutes and work it open, but with Kroft right there you simply don’t have the time or opportunity to just sit there and work on it (i.e. can’t Take 20 with Kroft in the room). Alternatively, Trinia points out that the ring of keys on Kroft’s belt definitely has the key to her shackle on it, and that it’s “the small, pointy, two-pronged one”. Obviously, lifting the key off of Kroft is highly risky for all but the most deft of thieves, but it would make removing Trinia’s shackle easy and discrete. A third option would be to smash the cot to let Trinia slip the other shackle free of the wreckage, but it does appear to be of fairly sturdy construction. Challenge: Disable Device DC 30 (pick the lock) *or* Sleight of Hand DC 20 (lift the key off Kroft) *or* Smash the Cot (STR check DC 18 or 20 points of Slashing damage vs. Hardness 5) Danger: If Kroft is present in the room, she gets an opposed Perception check against either your Stealth (picking the lock) or your Sleight of Hand (lifting the key) – she immediately notices attempts to smash the cot. If Kroft notices you attempting to help Trinia escape, this escape ends in failure as you are kicked out of her office and/or Trinia is moved to an actual cell.
• Cressidia Kroft – The Field Marshall of Korvosa, Kroft considers it her personal duty to protect Trinia – while also keeping her prisoner. While fatigue has frayed her nerves, she has received a Lesser Restoration from Ishani while he was here and thus is “good to go” without sleep until at least morning. While she is present in her office, if she notices any attempts to free Trinia the escape immediately ends in failure. You can either wait until the opportune moment calls her out of the office (like an angry mob outside the walls after the sun goes down), or make a move earlier by luring her out of the office/knocking her out (bonus points for adding Assault *and* Unjust Imprisonment to your list of crimes if you shackle her to the cot in Trinia’s place). Challenge: Bluff DC 20 (lure her out of the office) *or* wait for nightfall developments *or* render her unconscious (through drugs, violence, or magic). Danger: A failed Bluff to lure her out of the office for a few minutes will just get you rebuffed and probably make Kroft resistant to further attempts as she gets suspicious (+5 to the Bluff DC for each failed check), while a failed assault on her could very well end with *you* in a jail cell.
• Guard Outside – While not as formidable a challenge as the Field Marshall of Korvosa, the junior guardsman just outside her door could certainly raise the alarm if he sees Trinia slipping out. With him standing literally RIGHT OUTSIDE the door, slipping out past him will be virtually impossible (he will hear/feel the door open behind him). So, you’ll need to either get rid of him beforehand or do some fast talking to sway him to your side. Challenge: Bluff DC 15 + Stealth DC 15 (distract him and then slip out while he’s looking the other way) *or* Diplomacy DC 25 (convince him to aid you by pretending not to see you leave with Trinia) *or* knock him out (drugs/violence/magic – he will be a much easier target than Kroft, being only a 2nd level warrior). Danger: If you fail to convince the guard, he will sound the alarm and the escape will turn into a chase almost immediately out of Kroft’s office.

Trinia’s Aid:
While a damsel in perpetual distress, Trinia is not entirely helpless, and is certainly willing to help however she can. To this end, she has 5th level Bard spells (1st DC 14 – CLW, Hideous Laughter, Featherfall, Grappling Scarf 2nd DC 15 – CMW, Minor Image, Cat’s Grace), Bard Songs (Inspire Courage +2, Inspire Competence +2, Countersong, Fascinate – DC 15), and Skills (Acrobatics +15, Bluff +11, Climb +10, Stealth +7, Sleight of Hand +11).


Arin

“Logically reasoned, milady, although I see you wish to keep your identity a secret, as you haven’t introduced yourself yet. No matter, I suppose I can hardly begrudge you considering my own attire.”

The masked vigilante quips, a note of amusement creeping into his voice. With a flourish, he slashes the dagger he is holding through the rope connecting the noose around the guardswoman’s neck to her bonds, but then drops the knife, allowing the small blade to clatter to the stones next to her still-bound form.

“I am afraid, however, that while I also have no desire to cross blades with you, I am here to steal from this citadel – an innocent heart whose honor has been besmirched by the machinations of this city’s very ruler, and whose fate now hangs on an edge even thinner than my blade’s. I speak of course of Trinia Sabor, the young lady accused of murdering King Eodred. And while her own heart is in the right place, Field Marshall Kroft has allowed her hands to be tied even more tightly than this young lady’s by her perceived duty to our city – she cannot help her. I can. So I am afraid that we are once again at an impasse.”

Blackjack gestures to the unconscious guardswoman, and then at the stairs behind you.

“Clearly, there is another intruder here in the fortress, one I imagine who is here at the behest of a master without such noble intentions towards Miss Sabor. While I share your concern at said intruder’s existence, you running off to sound the alarm will make my own attempt at freeing Miss Sabor and spiriting her away rather difficult, if not impossible. Rather than solve this impasse with violence as my predecessor here has clearly done, I will instead appeal to your better nature. Regardless of whether you believe in the girl’s innocence or guilt, you are not a member of the guard, you are not here out of a duty to the city. Indeed, I suspect our beliefs would align on a great many things – so help me. The guard needs to be made aware of this other intruder, but give me five minutes to relocate to another perch within this citadel from which I can watch the patrols of the guard and figure out a way to get to Miss Sabor after nightfall. And then, if you too believe in the young lady’s innocence, help me get her out of this mire she has so unjustly been cast into to die for the twisted satisfaction of the masses, and distract them from the blood dripping from our new sovereign’s hands.”

Jeqem

“I hope that whatever you are planning, it is not lethal.”

Kroft warns as you promise to help protect Trinia from the wrath of the angry mobs tonight.

“Ugly as their actions may be, these people are simply misguided and their anger misplaced. Unfortunately, we may never know who is directing their anger towards Miss Sabor, save for Gaedren Lamm who is thankfully already standing before Pharasma for judgement.”

Kroft clenches her hands into fists, and its clear she very much would like to know who is responsible for inflaming this latest round of hysteria and rage. Unfortunately, that’s also a problem for another time, *after* the angry mob has been – non-lethally – dealt with.

To that end, you head out of the citadel after the meeting breaks up to do some shopping. While it takes you a bit of time to find all of the necessary ingredients, Korvosa’s various markets are still open. You manage to find what you will need to magically imbue and combine to create a truly impressive stench that will choke and gag the assailing mob of angry citizens, but shouldn’t kill any of them no matter how much of the noxious fumes they actually breathe in. Finding a delivery method for the stench takes a bit more of your precious remaining time, but as a city with a working sewer system and docks with ships coming in from all over the world, it doesn’t take that much effort to eventually locate a rat you are able to coax out of hiding with a bit of cheese. It’ll be a bit risky sending the rodent out into the packed crowds, but even if the poor creature is inadvertently trampled to death its passing will be one with more meaning and purpose than the usual struggle for simple survival. And, so long as you don’t direct it into the densest portions of the mob to come, it should be well practiced enough at dodging footfalls to evade the panicked stomp thrown its way now and again before its attacker succumbs to the fumes it’ll be emitting.

With both the means and delivery method now secure, you hurry back to the citadel as the sun begins to dip below the horizon. It was going to be another long night in Korvosa.

(OOC: Any other preparations that Jeqem would like to make prior to the night?)

[DarkOne-Rob]

Bellinda Swiftfoot Female Lawful Good Halfling Bard (w/ 2 Archetypes), Level 5, Init 4, HP 37/37, Speed 30 AC 19, Touch 15, Flat-footed 15, CMD 16, Fort 5, Ref 10, Will 6, CMB +2, Base Attack Bonus 3 “Dawnbringer” (+1 Cold Iron Scimitar) +13 (1d4+10, 18-20/x2) Light Mace +8 (1d4, 20/x2) Dagger +8 (1d3, 19-20/x2) Mithril Shirt (+4 Armor, +4 Dex, +1 Size) Abilities Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16 Condition Battle Dance (Inspire Courage, +4 vs charm/fear and +4 on attack/damage rolls) Arcane Strike (+1 damage and magic)

The next several minutes are some of the most intense of Bellinda's life, as she and Trinia work together to free the young artist.

First, Bellinda swipes the keys from the honorable jailer. "Cressidia - may I call you that?" the halfling asks as she stands up. "This has to weigh on you too. You know this is wrong, but you're trapped too, in a way. I'm a good listener, would you like to talk about it?" she continues as she walks up to the sitting captain of the guard and places a small hand on her knee. With a bit of distraction she slips the key free and, after listening for a moment or two, sits back down with Trinia, quietly unlocking the shackles.

"Ma'am - I'm suddenly really cold," says Trinia, shivering violently as Bellinda leans over.

The little halfling woman places a hand on Trinia's head and says, "She's feverish! Burning up - I know she's to die tomorrow, but surely we can get her some heavy blankets or something...This cot won't do anything to help her avoid the chills!"

With an exasperated sigh, Kroft rises and steps outside, apparently intent on getting some blankets for the prisoner. It is at this point that both women drop all facades and move to the door, where Bellinda finds the guard. "I'll try to distract him," she says, stepping out and beginning a dance that utterly fails to capture his attention. Without waiting for Bellinda to return, Trinia casts a spell, twice, causing the young man to double over in laughter as it works the second time. "Quick! Let's go!" urges Bellinda as she guides the freed prisoner past the guard and into the darkest shadows of the keep they can both find on their way to the wall.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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See Discord for the rolls.
Sleight of Hands (24). This defeats "Trinia's Shackle," if I understand things correctly.
Bluff checks - Bellinda used Aid Another successfully in Discord. Trinia passed the DC 20 Bluff check in Discord. This defeats "Cresidia Kroft."
Bellinda failed to fascinate the guard and it took Trinia two castings of Hideous Laughter to leave the guard helpless, but two rounds of spells and he's helpless. This defeats "Guard Outside."

Once outside the office, Bellinda and Trinia are going to head for the least-manned and darkest portion of the walls while searching for rope and a good, heavy cloak along the way. The plan is for Bellinda to hold/secure the rope while Trinia climbs down. Then Trinia uses the cloak to hide her face and they make their way to the cathedral of Sarenrae. What more do you need from me, @Inspectre?

[Stelio Kontos]

The devil on Aliani's shoulder whispered those hateful thoughts into his ear, but he managed to resist that particular temptation. Yes, that particular secret would ruin Ileosa. But so what? There would just be another to take her place, after all. When would they learn that it wasn't the people that was the problem -- it was the throne itself that was the common denominator in Korvosa's ugly past. And not the physical seat, of course....

As he walked into the gnome's office, he scratched briefly at his neck. "Guide me to a better world..."

"Two minutes? Understood" Aliani replied, leaning casually against the stool, stooping so as to look the wee fellow straight in the eyes. "I'm really not supposed to be talking about all this, but ... it's too important to hold back any longer. I've had the pleasure these last few days of working with a group of people that have been investigating Eodred's death -- fascinating stuff, will make for great theater. They've learned a few things. First and foremost, your picture is all wrong. Word is the king was poisoned, not stabbed. A small detail of course, but it does show that your imp is rather careless. Second, and more importantly, the painter girl is being set up. The only thing they actually have on her is that the Asmodeans tortured a 'confession' out of her. You really think some street artist could pull off something like that? You seem too smart a man to believe that. I concede that your readers may not be -- which is precisely why this is a dangerous thing to get wrong."

"So, that's the reason not to print what you're printing. I sense that given your investment of time and effort into publishing that, you're going to need something particularly salacious to replace it. Which brings us to point number three: our dearly departed king has a brother. Well, a half-brother. A tiefling half brother, as it happens. I'll let you figure out how that works, procreation-wise. The single most important thing to know is that that poison was administered via contact with some playing cards. Eodred, as it happens, frequently visited his brother, hidden away from sight. Care to guess what their favorite activity was? And said half-brother has quite recently disappeared."

Aliani paused. What he wouldn't do to have a pocket watch to pull out right about now. "Those are all the facts that are fit to print, as they say. Now, something for the editorial section: why would the Asmodeans go to all that trouble to kidnap and torture a peasant girl? One could speculate, if one wanted to, that they would have quite a strong connection with the fiend. That they'd do anything to protect him .. perhaps even help him claim the throne, and thereby claim rule over Korvosa for themselves."

"A strange truth perhaps, but sometimes as you know the truth is stranger than fiction. You would be doing this city a great service bringing this to the light of day, if you ask me. I'd do it but I don't have the platform. You do."

"There's just one thing I ask: keep my name out of it; I'd be done for if they knew I was leaking this to a proper newsman. You keep to that bargain, and I'm more than happy to keep feeding you the *real* inside information."

With that, he eyed the gnome, trying to size up his thoughts.

Spoiler: OOC

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Casting Guidance, then taking 10 on Diplomacy (using Guidance) and Sense Motive (20 and 22 respectively), as might be needed.

[razorfloss]

Dalen

“I hope that whatever you are planning, it is not lethal.”

Kroft warns as you promise to help protect Trinia from the wrath of the angry mobs tonight.

“Ugly as their actions may be, these people are simply misguided and their anger misplaced. Unfortunately, we may never know who is directing their anger towards Miss Sabor, save for Gaedren Lamm who is thankfully already standing before Pharasma for judgement.”

Kroft clenches her hands into fists, and its clear she very much would like to know who is responsible for inflaming this latest round of hysteria and rage. Unfortunately, that’s also a problem for another time, *after* the angry mob has been – non-lethally – dealt with.

To that end, you head out of the citadel after the meeting breaks up to do some shopping. While it takes you a bit of time to find all of the necessary ingredients, Korvosa’s various markets are still open. You manage to find what you will need to magically imbue and combine to create a truly impressive stench that will choke and gag the assailing mob of angry citizens, but shouldn’t kill any of them no matter how much of the noxious fumes they actually breathe in. Finding a delivery method for the stench takes a bit more of your precious remaining time, but as a city with a working sewer system and docks with ships coming in from all over the world, it doesn’t take that much effort to eventually locate a rat you are able to coax out of hiding with a bit of cheese. It’ll be a bit risky sending the rodent out into the packed crowds, but even if the poor creature is inadvertently trampled to death its passing will be one with more meaning and purpose than the usual struggle for simple survival. And, so long as you don’t direct it into the densest portions of the mob to come, it should be well practiced enough at dodging footfalls to evade the panicked stomp thrown its way now and again before its attacker succumbs to the fumes it’ll be emitting.

With both the means and delivery method now secure, you hurry back to the citadel as the sun begins to dip below the horizon. It was going to be another long night in Korvosa.

Jeqem smirks but it looks cruel as he walks out the roomIts perfectly safe if uncomfortable for the idiots who try anything as he leaves he goes to the market questioning animals if they've seen anything weird along the way.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Turk

Boule is silent throughout your argument, and for several long moments afterward, clearly sorting through your suggestions and the probable outcomes, before he finally shakes his head with a chuckle.

“Playing both sides against the middle is a high risk move, Turk. I would have expected you to advocate for a safer option – seems you can still surprise me after all. Alright, what’s life without a little risk? I can have Anton and Stonebrow stir up trouble closer to Southshore – I had not heard about someone else planning a job there tonight. I’ll leave it up to their own initiative whether to help or hinder whatever is going on there. Either way, bringing the riots to their own neighborhood is certain to shake the minor nobles out of their complacency and start complaining – that’ll certainly get the city back into turmoil as our benefactors requested.”

Boule rubs his thick sausage-like fingers together, and then grins at you.

“And since this is your idea, I’m putting you in charge of the group that we’ll loan to the Field Marshall. I should be able to spare a half dozen of our greener members – that shouldn’t tip our hand too much that we’re not fully invested in following our benefactor’s wishes. Use them as you see fit in keeping the riots from boiling over beyond an angry mob gathered outside the gates of Citadel Volyshenek.”

(OOC: Until tomorrow morning, Turk gains 6 instances of being able to apply a +2 bonus to anyone’s d20 roll (skills or attacks), as one of these Society members pops out effectively to aid another. He can spend multiple people to add additional +2 bonuses, but they’re all one-time uses so he’s got 6 +2s or 1 +12, or anywhere in between. You may apply these retroactively, as members get signaled to come help out to save a failing roll.)

“Now if you’ll excuse me, Turk, I think I’ll go have an early supper and turn into bed early. All of this anarchy and running around is bad for my digestion.”

The guildmaster smirks, and then heads off down the street, your meeting with him clearly at an end. Perhaps not quite the result you had hoped for, but it was still six more people who would help you tonight to stifle the riots instead of fanning the flames.

(Was there anything else Turk would like to do before the sun sets?)

Turk gives a smile and a nod.

"May we all profit before the sun rises."

With aid on the way, Turk sets about casing the exterior and interior of the field marshals building. Looking for the best ways to break in, and the best ways to prevent those intrusions.

[Darvin]

“Is that message clear enough for you?”

Dalen looks at the apple, feigning disgust as he reads the message. He then drops it to the ground and crushes it beneath his boot, erasing any evidence, "very clear, Mr Kreed. It's apparent to me that I'm wasting my time here, and I have more important places to be. I assure you, getting a little wet is the least of my concerns right now,"

He walks out, making sure only to smile when he's out of sight of the others. Kreed's opinion that the Arbiters would not be swayed was likely correct, and without contravening testimony the strategy changed. Dalen strode to find Kroft as quickly as possible.

"Ms Kroft, I've spoken to Kreed. He won't help us directly, but I think he might have let slip something I can follow up on. I very much doubt we will be able to convince the Arbiters, so I'm going to head out now and see what I can surmise. I will try to be back in time to join you, but if I don't return, our strategy is simple: delay. Tell the Arbiters that Trinia's ongoing testimony is important to investigating others in the kingslayer conspiracy,"

Dalen strides towards the exit at a brisk pace, stopping as he passes a room with someone else working inside. He raises an eyebrow as he notices the Ifrit man who was apparently part of their party to save the queen in this new time stream. He walks in and claps his feet loudly on the floor to announce his approach, "Alchemical potions? I can't say I recognize these reagents," he raises an eyebrow, "Jeqem, was it? I've a lead to follow up on, if you care to join me. Hopefully we can be back before anything goes down tonight,"

Spoiler: OOC

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Dalen invites Jeqem to join him on their journey to 135 Mast Street on the East Shore.

Before leaving Dalen will open his spellbook for 1 minute to prepare 2 copies of Deep Slumber. If Jeqem joins him, he will use his remaining Pearl of Power to cast Mount. His Mount spells last 10 hours so his own from earlier is still around so they will both have one.

[tonberryking]

The goblin silently draws her sword in response to the masked vigilante, a pearly razor edge glinting off the light above.

However, it becomes clear in a moment that the blade isn't for him as Arin does the unthinkable and turns her back to who may well be a potential threat. Not just to her but the entire citadel.

"I'll give you what time I can, but the other intruder is undoubtedly inside right now heading for the girl. I'll have to stop them with or without you. Also, my name is Arin."

She takes off in a sprint back down into the citadel, hoping Blackjack has the sense to go find another hiding place while staying outdoors rather than head inside after her.

She tries to make a beeline to Trinia's cell, trying to catch the attention of any guards in her path.

"INTRUDER! WE HAVE AN INTRUDER INSIDE HERE! KEEP ANY OF THE LADY GUARDS AWAY FROM SABOR'S CELL!"

Spoiler: OOC/Rolls

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I'm just throwing whatever rolls at this I can think of.

Diplomacy for BlackJack:(1d20+10)[18]
Acrobatics check if it helps her get to Trinia faster by diving between legs or running up the side of a wall, dodging too-talls:(1d20+12)[25]

More diplomacy to get the guards on my side: (1d20+10)[23]
And... why not? A perception in case I see any suspicious guards: (1d20+1)[17]

[razorfloss]

Dalen looks at the apple, feigning disgust as he reads the message. He then drops it to the ground and crushes it beneath his boot, erasing any evidence, "very clear, Mr Kreed. It's apparent to me that I'm wasting my time here, and I have more important places to be. I assure you, getting a little wet is the least of my concerns right now,"

He walks out, making sure only to smile when he's out of sight of the others. Kreed's opinion that the Arbiters would not be swayed was likely correct, and without contravening testimony the strategy changed. Dalen strode to find Kroft as quickly as possible.

"Ms Kroft, I've spoken to Kreed. He won't help us directly, but I think he might have let slip something I can follow up on. I very much doubt we will be able to convince the Arbiters, so I'm going to head out now and see what I can surmise. I will try to be back in time to join you, but if I don't return, our strategy is simple: delay. Tell the Arbiters that Trinia's ongoing testimony is important to investigating others in the kingslayer conspiracy,"

Dalen strides towards the exit at a brisk pace, stopping as he passes a room with someone else working inside. He raises an eyebrow as he notices the Ifrit man who was apparently part of their party to save the queen in this new time stream. He walks in and claps his feet loudly on the floor to announce his approach, "Alchemical potions? I can't say I recognize these reagents," he raises an eyebrow, "Jeqem, was it? I've a lead to follow up on, if you care to join me. Hopefully we can be back before anything goes down tonight,"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Dalen invites Jeqem to join him on their journey to 135 Mast Street on the East Shore.

Before leaving Dalen will open his spellbook for 1 minute to prepare 2 copies of Deep Slumber. If Jeqem joins him, he will use his remaining Pearl of Power to cast Mount. His Mount spells last 10 hours so his own from earlier is still around so they will both have one.

Jeqem looks at the man seeing he's healed up and responds Gladly

[Inspectre]

Bellinda

Kroft sighs as you appeal to her better nature, setting her pen back into its inkwell and rubbing at her eyes with a tired sigh.

“Reality does have a way of souring our dreams. My father was an exceptional guardsman, and all I’ve ever wanted was to live up to his legacy. I fear that I’ve made too many mistakes, accepted too many compromises to ever achieve that. I thought it would get easier as I moved up the ranks, got more control over the Guard so I could do more about the corruption, and yet now I find myself mired in this damn city’s politics. The laws are what they are for a reason, and if I simply ignore them then I am no better than that damned Field Marshall Jeggare before me. But now the laws are telling me that I’ve not only got to stand aside while an innocent girl is tortured to death to satisfy someone’s perverted sense of “justice”, but I’ve got to happily serve her up to her murderers as well.”

Kroft lowers her hand away from her face to clench it into a fist, slamming it into the table with a sharp crack that causes Trinia to jump and flinch back at the sudden outburst of violent anger.

“If that was the worst of it, I could maybe force myself to accept it. To convince myself that it was a necessary evil for the greater good of rehabilitating the Guard. But now I can’t help but wonder, how many other times did I make that compromise, choose what the law said over what was right? How many times did my willingness to turn a blind eye to this damn city’s corruption result in an innocent losing their life? Their blood is on my hands, Bellinda, and nothing I can do will ever let them be clean again.”

Kroft sighs again, leaning over her desk to rest her elbows on its surface as she rests her head in her hands.

“My father would be ashamed of me.”

She says quietly, more to herself than anyone in the room currently, and while she doesn’t cry or unleash any further outbursts of frustration, she simply sits there for a long few moments, lost in her own thoughts or memories. You take that as a good moment to quietly slip your hand off her knee and over to the belt of keys at her waist, locating the one Trinia told you about, and deftly lifting it off of the ring and into the palm of your hand.

Either as further cover for your actions or to help break the mood, Trinia then immediately launches into her performance of feeling chilled, prompting Kroft to raise up from her desk and join you over by her. Skeptically, she feels Trinia’s forehead, frowning as she doesn’t seem to feel the same fever that you are sensing, but nonetheless the Field Marshall does seem genuinely concerned about Trinia’s well-being.

“Maybe I should have Ishani come back – he assured me that poultice would take care of any potential infection. I knew I should have insisted that he cast Remove Disease, but he was adamant not to be wasteful of Abadar’s blessings on problems that might not happen.”

Kroft chews on her lower lip for a moment, clearly weighing her options before she nods, pushing Trinia to lie back onto the cot and covering her up with the thin blanket she already had.

“I will be right back – we may still have a few potions of Remove Disease in our stockpile of emergency supplies. Bellinda, keep her calm – I’ll be right back!”

And then the Field Marshall hurries out of her office, startling the young guardsman outside who hurries to salute pointlessly as Kroft hustles past him, acknowledging his existence with only the briefest of nods before the door to her office falls shut again. Trinia immediately sits up, throwing the blanket aside as she lifts her chained wrist up to you.

“Aww, I feel kinda bad now – the Field Marshall seems like she actually cares about me. I wasn’t sure if she was keeping me here to stick it to the Asmodeans or just trying to avoid a scandal if I had been found beaten to death in a cell for “trying to escape”. Still don’t trust her to keep me safe if the Arbiters decide to throw me to the wolves though, so let’s get out of here!”

Moving over to the door, you slip outside first, attempting to get the guard’s attention – that part is successful, but you fail to hold it as the man keeps glancing back into the office with clear curiosity and suspicion – no doubt wondering what had prompted the Field Marshall to hurry out of her office so abruptly. Trinia answers that question a moment later when she tries to slip out through the door, and finds herself getting glared at by the shocked guardsman.

“Hi there! Did you ever hear the joke about a kobold, a dwarf, and a Varsian walking into a bar?”

Trinia asks, quickly weaving an enchantment spell into her words . . . that also clearly fails as the guard reaches for his sword and starts shouting an alarm. Weaving a second spell, Trinia asks again, “Okay, so how about this – a thief, a clergyman, and a paladin find themselves in Hell . . .”

The man finally bursts into laughter, collapsing on the floor as Trinia inclines her head down the hallway in the opposite direction that Kroft had come from. It’s at this point that you start hearing more shouts of alarm from the walls outside of the fortress, being relayed in sequence by patrols. But it’s not a warning about your escape attempt, instead they are shouting – “Intruder in the citadel! Keep all female guards away from the Field Marshall’s office!”

Not ten seconds later, a female guard with strawberry-colored hair comes sauntering around the corner, munching on an apple. She stops when she sees you and Trinia, her lips pulling back into a cold smile that is not reflected in her slate-grey eyes as she rolls the half-eaten apple off her fingertips to the floor.

“Well, this certainly makes my job easier.”

Trinia raises her hand to weave another spell, but the intruder woman is faster, making a complex series of motions with her fingers before she simply blinks out of sight. The hissing rasp of twin blades being pulled from their scabbards coming from where she was standing a moment later confirms that she merely went invisible, and not teleported somewhere.

“Uh, I think this is the part where we run away!”

Trinia remarks as she turns and dashes off down the hallway in the opposite direction from where you had been intending to go. With no choice really but to continue following Miss Sabor, you at least had an idea of where this corridor went from previous exploration in plotting out an escape route. Somewhere jingling and tromping behind you, and slowly dropping further behind as her stolen guard chainmail weighs her down, is the invisible intruder, but the noise she’s making definitely confirms that she’s still coming.

New Challenge! Run away from the scary intruder lady!

(We are officially in a chase now, and so Taking 10 is no longer an option. The good news is that you are faster than the intruder as her appropriated chainmail has slowed her to 20’ move speed while you and Trinia are at 30’. As such, you will receive a +2 bonus to all of your checks for this leg of the chase.)
You have a choice of taking one of the following two paths out of here. You and Trinia must each make at least one of the three following checks listed for whichever path you choose. You may also choose to have Bellinda and/or Trinia make two or all three of the checks instead to gain the benefits that passing each of the given checks provide you (they stack). However, if you attempt a check and fail, it does slow you down a bit and gives the intruder a chance to start to catch back up.-

Through the Supply Room! – Duck through a nearby bulk supply room, weaving around crates and racks of spare armor and weapons, to get to the far side – and maybe find a spare cloak and rope along the way.

• Weave through the mess (Acrobatics DC 20 or Stealth DC 20) – You tumble and duck around the supplies in an erratic pattern that should keep you safe from any attacks. Benefit: You and/or Trinia are not targetable by the intruder this round (i.e. she can’t throw stuff at you).
• This ought to slow her down! (CMB Check DC 15 or Disable Device 20) – You tip over racks of weapons and stacks of crates, hoping to make enough of a mess that the intruder will have to slow down to get through it. Benefit: You and/or Trinia effectively create difficult terrain in this room, slowing the intruder down further (and giving you a bigger boost to your rolls next time).
• There’s gotta be rope in a supply room, right? (Perception DC 20) – While running through the room, you check some of the boxes/racks for what you want/need later. Benefit: You and/or Trinia pick up a cloak, a 100’ length of rope, or some other item you think you will be useful here (maybe a Net to drop over the intruder or something? Mostly just here to give you a third option.)

Through a Guard Patrol! – Move towards the nearest exit out onto the walls of the citadel – and bump directly into a patrol of guards that’s coming in to try and protect Trinia from the intruder. Of course, they might take offense to the fact that Trinia is wandering around free.

• I got her, you get her! (Bluff or Intimidate DC 20) – You convince the guards that you’re trying to keep Trinia away form the intruder, and that they should worry about keeping her off your back rather than worry about taking Trinia into custody. Benefit: Bamboozled momentarily, the group of guards do not join in the chase after you, and instead try to slow the invisible intruder down.
• Coming through! (Acrobatics DC 20 or CMB Check DC 15) – You and/or Trinia shove and tumble your way through the patrol and just keep running, leaving them to figure out what just happened and hopefully get the intruder to blunder right into them. Benefit: You and/or Trinia are not targetable by the intruder this round (i.e. she can’t throw stuff at you).
  
• Hey, I could use that, thanks! (Sleight of Hand DC 20) – You purloin a useful item off one of the guards, whether that is a cloak, a length of rope, or some other useful item. Benefit: You and/or Trinia pick up a cloak, a 100’ length of rope, or some other item you think you will be useful here (maybe a Net to drop over the intruder or something? Mostly just here to give you a third option.)

Spoiler: Intruder Lady Portrait

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Aliani

Sissyphus is quiet for a long moment after you finish your two minutes, clearly mulling what you’ve told him over. He seems interested in your story at first, although he clearly starts to get bored when you bring the Asmodeans into it. He doesn’t seem particularly on their side; it’s just that the idea that the Asmodeans are up to shady things that might possible benefit them in the future or simply make someone else’s day worse is not news to him. Perhaps in a former Chelish colony where the Asmodeans are ALWAYS up to shady things to make the world a far worse place is just a normal day. Finally, the gnome places his hands on the table in front of him and examines you intently.

“You got any proof of this? Of the brother’s existence, I mean – and is this the love child of Domina and the devil she sold her soul to for the throne, the real Eodred who was replaced by a human child Domina adopted, or the actual devil sent by Asmodeus Himself to stand guard over Domina’s secrets? Sorry, there’s just been a whole lot of urban legends about the man over the years, so I want to know which one you’re exactly claiming is the truth here.”

Sissyphus sighs and shakes his head.

“I don’t doubt that the girl is a proxy for some noble – peasant girls don’t tend to just decide to off the monarch on a whim. Personally, I am really rooting for the theory that the painter girl and the Whore Queen were going hot and heavy in the king’s bed behind his back, and she put the girl up to killing off Eodred to keep the whole affair a secret. Maybe she even thought it would end up with her on the throne at the end of it – the fact that it actually worked out that way for the empty-headed harlot is just proof reality is stranger than fiction! I really don’t know what game the nobles are playing at with propping up Eodred’s last bed-warmer on the throne, but I suppose it’ll all make sense in a few months after the city’s gone to **** and one of the nobles has to step in to take over.”

Ah, and there it is – the true core of this hateful little troll’s most heartfelt devotion – whether a raging misogynist or simply a hater of all things Cheliax, Sissyphus has decided that he loathes Queen Ileosa with every fiber of his being. He will always believe the worst of her, and will make something up whole-cloth if he can’t find anything to justify his disdain for her on any given day. And as someone in charge of one of Korvosa’s three major gazettes, he is also in a prime position to sway the opinion of the public as well. You think you’ve just found one of the wellsprings for the general citizen’s hatred of Queen Ileosa.

But how to use that effectively without harming Queen Ileosa’s image further? He had a flicker of interest in the news of Eodred’s half-brother, but apparently there’s been enough whispered rumors and half-truths over the years about Venster that his existence is no longer spicy enough to pique the jaded muckraker’s interest. And muckraker he is – even if you could present hard evidence that the king was murdered by his own half-brother, Sissyphus would still be tempted to release some screed blaming it on Queen Ileosa instead. And no doubt that while he might not spell out his little theory in tonight’s special edition, there was sure to be plenty of innuendo impugning the virtue of both Trinia and Ileosa in that article.

“Well Mr. Rose, I do appreciate you stopping by, but I do need to get back to it here. Unless there is anything else, do you think you can show yourself out?”

The gnome says, slipping off his chair and hefting his horn back up.

Turk

Returning from your productive(?) meeting with your guildmaster, you pause a short distance away from the citadel and ponder how you would break into the fortress. It was definitely a daunting proposition – with the normal compliment of guards manning the walls, maybe even all but impossible. Like all older buildings within the city, rumors abounded of secret passages leading up into the depths of the citadel from the sewers – remnants from escape tunnels dug when the fortress was the front and last line of defense for the city against Shoanti raiders. Most of those tunnels were supposed to be sealed up by now, but of course there was always some drunkard who swore they had heard from their friend’s cousin that they had escaped from the citadel using one of those tunnels after getting picked up by the guard.

The thing is, though, that right now the fortress was no longer with its normal compliment of guards, and that left vulnerabilities like any other undermanned outpost. True, the high walls and strong gates would likely keep out all but the most determined and prepared riotous mob even without many guardsmen available, but for the lone infiltrator there might be gaps in the lookouts and patrols up on the walls that could be exploited. Even so, the citadel’s high and sheer stone walls would be a daunting climb, and a would-be infiltrator would need to actually get to the base of them without being seen on the approach to even get a chance to start the climb before a patrol of guards with bows showed up to foil the attempt.

There was no real way to approach the walls from the shore – the narrow strip of land connecting the citadel to the city proper was under full watch of the front gates and guardhouses, and only a narrow ledge stretched out from either side of the entrance to wrap around eventually around to the back of the citadel. Alright, so you would have to approach from the river that buttressed the citadel on three sides – that meant either a boat or swimming. A boat could be fairly easily seen, and while the Jeggare River was not that hazardous to swim in there were enough reefclaws and devilfish beneath the waves to add some risk without the guards even needing to cultivate water-based defenses of their own.

So the only really easy way to get into the fortress would be to disguise yourself as one of the guards and just walk in, hoping to be able to bluff your way through the front gates by pretending to be a new guard called in. Here, the guards’ depleted number might actually work against such a plot, given the reduced numbers also meant a much tighter-knit group of people, who would recognize and know each other, at least enough to spot a brazen fake walking right up to them.

You’re still mulling over how you’d talk your way in when there is a sudden commotion by the front gates, and the guards manning the barricades start running back inside as the heavy gates begin to swing closed. Shouts of “intruder! Don’t let any female guards near the Field Marshall’s office!” ring out over the distance to your sharp ears, along with a fainter cry coming from up along the walls of “Jailbreak! Jailbreak, go into lockdown! The Kingslayer has escaped!”

Darvin & Jeqem

Reunited in the courtyard with a new potential lead and some surprises for any would-be rioters, the two of you mount up on Dalen’s conjured steeds and move to take your leave of the citadel. You are just out through the main gates when there is a sudden hue and cry up on the walls, stirring the already agitated guardsmen manning the front gates into a swarming hive of activity.

Shouts of “intruder! Don’t let any female guards near the Field Marshall’s office!” sound out from the walls, joined shortly thereafter by another cry - “Jailbreak! Jailbreak, go into lockdown! The Kingslayer has escaped!” Godsdamnit, what has Aliani done now?

Regardless of what has prompted this sudden excitement, the guards are rushing to close the front gates behind you as part of some security protocol, even though any intruder or escaping prisoner would have to be suicidal to try and cut their way out through the over dozen guardsmen manning the gates at this moment. You could leave the guards and those of your fellowship that are still in Citadel Volyshenek – certainly Bellinda and Arin if Aliani hasn’t already returned, to deal with this latest mess, so that you can press on to actually try and investigate Adonis Kreed’s secretive plea/offer for help – or stay and try to talk your way back into the citadel to deal with whatever catastrophe has befallen Trinia now (requiring a Diplomacy DC 15 check – yes, I know Dalen can make that in his sleep, it’s the principle of the thing damnit. If your loyalties were more questionable, it would be a lot higher. )

Spoiler: Dalen only

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There has been something nagging at you from the back of your mind since going down to see Adonis Kreed. Something familiar, that you were failing to remember . . . something about apples . . . and as the shouts of "intruder! Keep the female guards away from the Field Marshall's office!" ring out, your brain finally clicks it into place. Back in a previous world, from the first time you had met Adonis Kreed.

The soft crunch of someone biting into a juicy apple from somewhere above you directs your attention briefly upward, where you see a young woman with strawberry blond hair sitting on a nearby rooftop, enjoying an apple as she enjoys the show – suggesting that not every onlooker is watching this unfold from out on the streets. She gestures a greeting with the bitten apple in her hand at you, then returns her attention to the man on the fountain. Below her perch is a narrow dark alley that Dalen could dunk into to cast spells unseen by the crowd at large, although that would leave him rather far away from the fountain and the half-elven man (let’s go with around 100 feet, so Close/Short range is out, but medium & long range spells should still reach him from here).

****

As Adonis surfaces from the pool, you quietly enact your spell and focus your will upon the lawyer. Unfortunately, either due to possessing an unexpectedly strong-will, the elven half of his heritage, or simply poor luck, you feel your spell break and fall away without taking its proper effect. Briefly, you see Adonis scan the crowd, clearly aware that someone had just attempted to cast a spell on him, although you do not believe that he manages to pick you out of the crowd in particular. That cold sensation of having a spell bounce against your will may have perhaps spooked the man, however, and been the final straw in his attempt to beat a hasty retreat out of here through the disintegrating crowd.

Rhetoric provides a troubling update on his own a moment later as you sense his frustration and confusion through your mental link. His frustration is short-lived, however, to be replaced with joy. Looking back towards the roof as you sense him slowly returning back to you, you see your familiar approaching with a half-eaten apple wedged in his beak. Clearly the girl was gone, perhaps simply leaving via the nearby rooftop window once the excitement of the imminent riot was quashed. But her sudden disappearance is troubling nonetheless, although given the apple is already half-eaten the only worry there should be Rhetoric developing a taste for sweets.

And then just a few minutes ago, in this world . . .

Whether by luck or intention, it appears that they also cleared out the cells, leaving it obvious which one was the only one occupied presently. A guard is also present down here, a young woman with her vivid strawberry-pink hair pulled up into a bun at the back of her head. She is speaking quietly to the only cell’s occupant, casually munching on a crisp apple. She glances over to see you coming, and straightens up, tossing the half-eaten fruit into the cell through the bars before turning and walking away, giving a crisp salute to Grau as she passes the two of you to take up a position near the bottom of the stairway to give you privacy.

Coming up to the cell door alongside Grau, you see the cell’s occupant is indeed Adonis Kreed, slimeball lawyer and rabble rouser for hire. Despite being locked up in a cell, the lawyer is still dressed in a tastefully cut silk vest, shirt, and pants, his suit coat balled up underneath his head with his hands as he lounges on the bed, legs propped up against the cell door’s bars. He eyes your offered hand with an amused smile, but does not get up.

That girl, slightly different appearance, no doubt why your mind hadn't immediately recognized her, but it was the same WOMAN. Kreed's little apple-munching shadow.

Arin

Bidding adieu to Blackjack for now, you hustle back down from the highest tower of Citadel Volyshenek, screaming bloody murder as you dash headlong back towards the Field Marshall’s office. Various patrols of guards on the walls who hear your shout of alarm pass it along, and the citadel immediately erupts into a flurry of activity as efforts are made to lock the fortress down. That might well make things difficult for a certain vigilante, but given he was self-professed here to kidnap (was it really kidnapping when it was a jailbreak?) Trinia Sabor, well, nuts to him.

Unfortunately, as you start getting back down to the walls that would lead you along to doors leading into the citadel’s keep, you start hearing back another shout from the guards – “Jailbreak! The Kingslayer has escaped! Lockdown the citadel!”

The work of your mysterious intruder? Blackjack (how’d he pull *that* off?)? Or some other third-party . . . or perhaps even Trinia Sabor herself, given the Field Marshall’s office and being shackled to a cot therein was hardly a high-security prison. Whatever the cause, you only see patrols of guardsmen frantically moving about the walls at the moment, a few heading inside to the keep and presumably to the Field Marshall’s office, but no one looking particularly suspicious at the moment.

On the plus side, despite your small size and thus gait, you manage to scamper down from a few platforms down to the next section of wall below, and thus make it back to a door leading inside the keep in record time. Hopefully you weren’t going to be too late!

(Next update, Arin will join in the chase involving Bellinda, Trinia, and the intruder, plus any guards or other parties *cough* Blackjack *cough* who want to get involved. Where-in she will be able to help or hinder Trinia’s escape as she sees fit!)

[Stelio Kontos]

Aliani pursed his lips; this wasn't entirely going the way he'd hoped. He rose to his feet, letting the gnome know that yes, he could get back to his business soon enough, as soon as the playwright had said his final piece.

"Listen, I understand... there's a lot of reasons to hate Ileosa. I'm not going to argue any of them. She slept her way to Eodred's side, and that got her to where she is, and she's wholly unqualified, am I right? And when they get rid of her, it'll just be someone else without Korvosa's interest in mind."

He sighed. "Look, I don't know whether you fancy yourself a businessman or a patriot, but ... either way, the least you can do is leave the painter girl out of it. She doesn't deserve it, even if the rest of them do."

He leaned in, lowering his voice. "You do that, and I can get you all the proof on Venster you need. Story of a lifetime, if you ask me. But I can't do it if the whole city goes mad."

Without waiting for a reply, he turned heel and left the room, unsure of what was to happen next. Perhaps he could try to reason with Jack, if he was to be reasoned with, and if he was lucky enough to run into him.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Spoiler: New Challenge! Run away from the scary intruder lady!

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(We are officially in a chase now, and so Taking 10 is no longer an option. The good news is that you are faster than the intruder as her appropriated chainmail has slowed her to 20’ move speed while you and Trinia are at 30’. As such, you will receive a +2 bonus to all of your checks for this leg of the chase.)
You have a choice of taking one of the following two paths out of here. You and Trinia must each make at least one of the three following checks listed for whichever path you choose. You may also choose to have Bellinda and/or Trinia make two or all three of the checks instead to gain the benefits that passing each of the given checks provide you (they stack). However, if you attempt a check and fail, it does slow you down a bit and gives the intruder a chance to start to catch back up.-

Through the Supply Room! – Duck through a nearby bulk supply room, weaving around crates and racks of spare armor and weapons, to get to the far side – and maybe find a spare cloak and rope along the way.

• Weave through the mess (Acrobatics DC 20 or Stealth DC 20) – You tumble and duck around the supplies in an erratic pattern that should keep you safe from any attacks. Benefit: You and/or Trinia are not targetable by the intruder this round (i.e. she can’t throw stuff at you).
• This ought to slow her down! (CMB Check DC 15 or Disable Device 20) – You tip over racks of weapons and stacks of crates, hoping to make enough of a mess that the intruder will have to slow down to get through it. Benefit: You and/or Trinia effectively create difficult terrain in this room, slowing the intruder down further (and giving you a bigger boost to your rolls next time).
• There’s gotta be rope in a supply room, right? (Perception DC 20) – While running through the room, you check some of the boxes/racks for what you want/need later. Benefit: You and/or Trinia pick up a cloak, a 100’ length of rope, or some other item you think you will be useful here (maybe a Net to drop over the intruder or something? Mostly just here to give you a third option.)

Through a Guard Patrol! – Move towards the nearest exit out onto the walls of the citadel – and bump directly into a patrol of guards that’s coming in to try and protect Trinia from the intruder. Of course, they might take offense to the fact that Trinia is wandering around free.

• I got her, you get her! (Bluff or Intimidate DC 20) – You convince the guards that you’re trying to keep Trinia away form the intruder, and that they should worry about keeping her off your back rather than worry about taking Trinia into custody. Benefit: Bamboozled momentarily, the group of guards do not join in the chase after you, and instead try to slow the invisible intruder down.
• Coming through! (Acrobatics DC 20 or CMB Check DC 15) – You and/or Trinia shove and tumble your way through the patrol and just keep running, leaving them to figure out what just happened and hopefully get the intruder to blunder right into them. Benefit: You and/or Trinia are not targetable by the intruder this round (i.e. she can’t throw stuff at you).
  
• Hey, I could use that, thanks! (Sleight of Hand DC 20) – You purloin a useful item off one of the guards, whether that is a cloak, a length of rope, or some other useful item. Benefit: You and/or Trinia pick up a cloak, a 100’ length of rope, or some other item you think you will be useful here (maybe a Net to drop over the intruder or something? Mostly just here to give you a third option.)

Bellinda Swiftfoot Female Lawful Good Halfling Bard (w/ 2 Archetypes), Level 5, Init 4, HP 37/37, Speed 30 AC 19, Touch 15, Flat-footed 15, CMD 16, Fort 5, Ref 10, Will 6, CMB +2, Base Attack Bonus 3 “Dawnbringer” (+1 Cold Iron Scimitar) +13 (1d4+10, 18-20/x2) Light Mace +8 (1d4, 20/x2) Dagger +8 (1d3, 19-20/x2) Mithril Shirt (+4 Armor, +4 Dex, +1 Size) Abilities Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16 Condition Battle Dance (Inspire Courage, +4 vs charm/fear and +4 on attack/damage rolls) Arcane Strike (+1 damage and magic)

Bellinda catches up to Trinia and pulls her sharply into a large storage area where she knows there is another way out. "This way - lose her in here!" she whispers as she tries to lead the way. Though Bellinda trips and knocks over one crate (likely giving away their direction) she is able to turn that into a trip hazard for their pursuer as she dodges further into the room.

Trinia, for her part, deftly dives through the detritus, leaving the mysterious, would-be assassin to flounder behind them.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Bellinda failed the first check (Stealth) but passed the next two (Acrobatics and Disable Device). Trinia passed her Acrobatics check.

Does that cover my round, @Inspectre?