Anything that is scavenged is a potential divination target, at least for the party. Though that does sound like a pain in the arse for us to do...
Actually, @DP, for the stuff that's too big to loot* - that might incentivise any drow or opportunistic scavengers to steal the barge - can we break pieces off the Distillery, and then had that in as a divination target for a potential tracking operation by the Governor's people
*if it's too big to loot, but valuable enough, I would like to revisit leaving the barge, and might want to claim it. This is highly unlikely to be the case, just stating now ahead of time.
Fair enough, hope Governor appreciates that as well.
Should that mean we should torch ship on our way out? Its nearly broken after all, only 4 health left last I checked, and it denies the 'distillery' to anyone else who might come around to salvage it.
Basically getting ride of a mobile drug lab after all.
Instead of destroying it, we might be better off unmooring it so it can drift away from the shore. That would leave it intact for retrieval if the governor wants to but would deny easy access to anyone without a boat.
I'm not worried about someone showing up to save him, more that there'll be some random event that interrupts Gorok finishing him off, or that the drow will do something that'll demand a check or a save from Gorok and Mina, and that'll buy him extra rounds.
Having Cob there would make that less likely.
I didn't consider that someone might teleport in tbh, I do think that's very unlikely though.
----
Anyway, Kori has Channel Viour (Torso) I think Kori should switch from Torso to Limbs as a move action. It almost certainly won't matter, but I want Kori to be able to go fast.
More importantly, I think you should not cast Cure Moderate Wounds and just stick to wands of CLW for our party members; shit might still go down & we could very well want that spell slot.
Cob can probably wait for Mina to return to use her Hex (Also, if she's being carried by the Abductor Beast, she can use Healing Hex on herself and Gorok while following the drow).
I think we should also use some CLW charges on Pisca, in case more shit goes wrong/not annoy him. But mainly in case shit goes wrong.
Not to full health, we can wait for Mina to get back and go over everyone and then finish with a CLW, but
Gorok is still highly buffed up right now and can reactivate Haste as a Free Action.
Having Mina along provides a spellcaster, a source of healing, and another attacker if necessary, in addition to being able to use her Hexes to help Gorok or impede the Drow.
The Drow is swimming away, which is slow for anyone without an actual Swim speed. Kori or anyone else going fast doesn't really matter in that context, since they won't be the ones swimming after the Drow. That'll be the Abductor Beast. Freedom of Movement doesn't give one the ability to fly underwater or swim faster, it just allows you to fight unimpeded, without being slowed down by interference from the water.
As for Kori healing himself, he has four 1st level slots, four 2nd level slots, and two 3rd level slots remaining. Him using a 2nd level slots isn't going to significantly reduce his resources but it will do significantly more healing in a shorter period of time. CLW wands don't heal very much per charge.
Pisca doesn't actually need healing, AFAIK. The damage he took was all part of the boosted HP he got from Bloodraging. He should be at full health, just Fatigued while recovering from the Bloodrage. He was raging for 5 rounds, I think, so he'll be back to 100% in 10 rounds or so.
I think that while the specific processes for making that drug might be secret, the that vast majority of alchmist tools he made use of would be general purpose/could be repurposed.
Anything that is scavenged is a potential divination target, at least for the party. Though that does sound like a pain in the arse for us to do...
Actually, @DP, for the stuff that's too big to loot* - that might incentivise any drow or opportunistic scavengers to steal the barge - can we break pieces off the Distillery, and then had that in as a divination target for a potential tracking operation by the Governor's people
That's not really how Divination works in Pathfinder, dude. Pieces of the barge or distillery are only going to be useful for spells like Track Ship or Locate Object, used to specifically find the barge or the rest of the distillery equipment.
Actually, @DP, for the stuff that's too big to loot* - that might incentivise any drow or opportunistic scavengers to steal the barge - can we break pieces off the Distillery, and then had that in as a divination target for a potential tracking operation by the Governor's people
"The West Winds Company here in Cassomir has been accused of bringing in illegal shipments of slaves into the city, but the guard never been able to track them down. They seem to vanish into thin air once they make it into the Dog's Teeth. The guard suspected they were using the slaves to make eskelette..." Bozbeyli's expression changes into one of utter revulsion as he explains that the base of the drug is the marrow of humanoid skeletons, recently made skeletons. Using old powder to make eskelette inflicts the user with ghoul fever or rarely causes them to rise as some other kind of undead, so the gangs which produce the drug acquire slaves at low prices, then kill and animate them to harvest their bones. That the W.W.C. might be involved in such a horror had the potential to upend Absalom trade entirely and remove the Magpies as a faction in Cassomir, but the missing slaves had never been found, living, dead, or undead. If they are instead being sold off to the drow, that would be both less disturbing but even more troubling for the peace of the realm.
After giving you the address of the company's main offices here in Cassomir, as well as the name of the Captain of the Guard should you choose to involve them, the Lord Governor is about to send you on your way [...]
"Skal Sallowflesh's sailing high in the surf these days, big man in the corpse trade, ghoulrunner. Guess that tells you what I think happened to those slaves. He's been branching out into eskelette, cutting it with something exotic. Alchemist I'm tight with said it's got traces of mushroom, meat, an' magic, lots of magic. You can't grow something like that in the Teeth, there ain't no room on those shitty little islands, and I'd heard he can't be smuggling it in. That leaves down. They're growing something down in the Low Locker, which means there's either a new way down or they have a man on the inside in the Guard. "
We are looking for evidence of illegal trade by WWC, connections between WWC activities and House Basri, and who, if anyone, was compromised by house Basri in the process.
We also have a lead on the elves through the head of Miska, the elven pirate. I assume we still have it.
A bit of retrospection about what we might be looking for:
We are looking for evidence of illegal trade by WWC, connections between WWC activities and House Basri, and who, if anyone, was compromised by house Basri in the process.
We also have a lead on the elves through the head of Miska, the elven pirate. I assume we still have it.
That week ended as of Kuthona 15th; today is 17th. We get to try again if we so desire.
My first instinct was to send Cob with Gorok as the ultimate Hunter-Seeker team with on-demand Haste, but having a spellcaster on hand is reasonable.
What will be our next step? I thought of hitting Skali, even as diminished as we are, because no way he'd have security comparable to a drow den, but if we aren't doing that, I guess we are reporting to the governor soon. Do we interrogate the Alchemist and Miska's skull beforehand? I imagine we can't barge into the palace with a tied up drow in tow. Do we want the governor to be present during the interrogation so he could ask the right questions?
I have suspicions that Bozbeyli might let the Alchemist go if he tells enough incriminating things backed up by evidence to stabilize the situation in the city. As bad as drow are, they can't direct politics and policies. In that sense people making use of the drow are way worse. If drow operations here are disrupted, there will not be much left for them but to withdraw back to the Locker, and it would be no big loss to sell out everyone who dealt with them. I... wouldn't mind that ourcome, if it is in the cards. I think a noble house with a disproportionate amount of money and influence working openly under the sun is more dangerous to us than drow.
Given what the governor said before, though, that the reveal of eskelete trade could be the end of Magpies as a faction in Cassomir, the reveal of them colluding with drow to do so would be worse, and may prompt them to do something impulsive to keep it from becoming public.
What will be our next step? I thought of hitting Skali, even as diminished as we are, because no way he'd have security comparable to a drow den, but if we aren't doing that, I guess we are reporting to the governor soon. Do we interrogate the Alchemist and Miska's skull beforehand? I imagine we can't barge into the palace with a tied up drow in tow. Do we want the governor to be present during the interrogation so he could ask the right questions?
I didn't want to go after Skali when the plan called for all the Drow to be dead. Now that we have a prisoner to worry about keeping secure, he's even less of a priority.
We can't question the skull until Mina has had a chance to prepare another Speak with Dead spell and interrogating the Drow would mean allowing him to regain consciousness, which is less than ideal for a few reasons. I think that after we leave the barge, we should all head for the governor's residence or office (are they one and the same?), Leontas' men included.
Pisca can cast a Mount spell to Summon a horse we can put tie the Alchemist to and we can put Kori's Cloak of Human Guise on him to hide his appearance. That won't prevent the real bad guys from learning where he was taken eventually, but it should help prevent random bystanders from seeing stuff they aren't supposed to.
I have suspicions that Bozbeyli might let the Alchemist go if he tells enough incriminating things backed up by evidence to stabilize the situation in the city. As bad as drow are, they can't direct politics and policies. In that sense people making use of the drow are way worse. If drow operations here are disrupted, there will not be much left for them but to withdraw back to the Locker, and it would be no big loss to sell out everyone who dealt with them. I... wouldn't mind that ourcome, if it is in the cards. I think a noble house with a disproportionate amount of money and influence working openly under the sun is more dangerous to us than drow.
I can't see him allowing the Alchemist to go free. That's far too much of a political hot potato he would be dropping. The Drow need to be eliminated for his power and reputation to remain intact.
Also, it would just be really dangerous to leave such an accomplished Alchemist with the temperament of a Drow to work against you after they have become an outright enemy.
Given what the governor said before, though, that the reveal of eskelete trade could be the end of Magpies as a faction in Cassomir, the reveal of them colluding with drow to do so would be worse, and may prompt them to do something impulsive to keep it from becoming public.
Yeah, that's why the Drow need to die. And one of the reasons we need to have such a large escort right now. Just in case the governor decides we are now surplus to requirements and need to be eliminated.
Pisca can cast a Mount spell to Summon a horse we can put tie the Alchemist to and we can put Kori's Cloak of Human Guise on him to hide his appearance. That won't prevent the real bad guys from learning where he was taken eventually, but it should help prevent random bystanders from seeing stuff they aren't supposed to.
Empty a container, tie him up very very well, do the human guise trick (clever idea!), otherwise have him naked, put him in the container and let fresh air in every 10 minutes.
Bonus points if we're supremely lucky enough to see a drug here that'll fuck him up for a bit.
Edit: I would prefer to go after Skali if it's reasonably possible, but I don't think we have the time to get there while handling this prisoner.
I can't see him allowing the Alchemist to go free. That's far too much of a political hot potato he would be dropping. The Drow need to be eliminated for his power and reputation to remain intact.
I can, if it is kept under wraps. There is little incentive for the Alchemist to talk otherwise, even though we might have to offer something to help with it.
Dragging the drow to the palace might make 'keeping it under wraps' a bit complicated though, yeah.
Also, it would just be really dangerous to leave such an accomplished Alchemist with the temperament of a Drow to work against you after they have become an outright enemy.
The Alchemist has a bit of a different temperament compared to the rest of his crew. I suspect his offer of surrender was genuine, and he was trying to double-cross them with it; he just didn't realize we aren't the people he thought he was surrendering to. If the drow operations in Cassomir are dismantled and their allies purged, there will be no one left to work with, be it against the governor or someone else.
I am not arguing this is how it is going to be. I say that I can see it working out.
That's extremely unlikely. Sirim is the one with the paranoia, and his read on the man is positive. There are a lot of problems it can create for him out of thin air, and no problems it can solve that aren't solved with merely chasing us out of town.
Empty a container, tie him up very very well, do the human guise trick (clever idea!), otherwise have him naked, put him in the container and let fresh air in every 10 minutes.
Bonus points if we're supremely lucky enough to see a drug here that'll fuck him up for a bit.
Edit: I would prefer to go after Skali if it's reasonably possible, but I don't think we have the time to get there while handling this prisoner.
The only extradimensional bag we have with the capacity to hold him would be the Looter's Satchel, and it's going to be full of loot and a dead Summoner.
Unfortunately, a level 13 Alchemist is completely immune to poison. We can't drug him into unconsciousness. As long as we don't heal him, however, that's not an issue. He won't be waking up as long as his HP remains below 0.
There are eyes on it, of course, and the governor's office is bugged, but it's a big building. There will be plenty of places that can be easily cordoned off for a while to keep random staff from wondering by, and none of them will be under surveillance. That doesn't mean someone couldn't Scry the location, but there is only so much we can do.
I figure it might be worth having Kori use a 3rd level spell slot to cast Deeper Darkness in whatever place the Alchemist ends up being stashed. That way only Kori and others with the See in Darkness ability could see. It would probably unnerve the Alchemist somewhat, but more importantly it keeps anyone Scrying him from actually being able to see his location. You can't Teleport to an unknown location.
I didn't want to go after Skali when the plan called for all the Drow to be dead. Now that we have a prisoner to worry about keeping secure, he's even less of a priority.
Skali is a different piece of the puzzle we could have started with. He is a local drug dealer, which is not important in itself, but he is the one who had dealings with the drow 'before the up-towners approached him', emphasis on 'before'. His value is limited because he doesn't know or care who they are so long as they pay, but it can be assumed he was House Basri's contact to the drow. He had to send a note to the Alchemist to warn him about a batch of slaves being redirected, so he must be one of the middle-men in this trade.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Nov 23, 2024 at 7:34 AM, finished with 40 posts and 4 votes.
[X] Operation Salty Barnacle, Stage Five -[X] Gorok and Cob deactivate their Boots of Speed when combat ends to preserve their remaining magic for the day. Cob finishes off the Summoner. -[X] Gorok and Mina return to the Abductor Beast and use it to chase down the fleeing Drow guard. Her See Invisibility spell might prove useful if the Drow had some means to become Invisible. --[X] Mina uses her Healing Hex on Kori before she departs. --[X] Kori uses Inspired Spell to cast a Water Breathing spell on everyone and passes Mina the Silent Spell Metamagic Rod. It has a single charge left for the day and she may need it underwater. He then casts Stabilize on the Alchemist and Cure Moderate Wounds on himself. -[X] Sirim and Leontas tell them where the Drow went into the water and what direction he seemed to be going, then Sirim moves to join the group down in the hold. -[X] With assistance from Kori, after tightly binding, blindfolding, and gagging the Alchemist, Cob uses the Looter's Satchel to begin systematically looting the Drow, starting with the unconscious Alchemist, and stealing anything of potential value in the barge's holds. He also bags the dead Summoner. The goal is to be out of the barge within a minute, if possible. What we leave behind can be picked over by the authorities or scavengers. -[X] Sir Pisca allows his Bloodrage to end. While resting from the rage, he stands guard while Kori and Cob go about their business.
A hand twitches on the floor, sending ripples in a pool of blood. Where the blood is cooling the hand is not. He did surrender after all, you think with satisfaction dulled by pain, though soon Mina's hands open, filled with healing light. After a moment's thought Gorok motions to Cob to kill the remaining drow, but you put a hand on on his shoulder as he approaches the alchemist eskelette distiller. "He has much to answer for."
Akorian heals 16 Damage -> Now at 48/65
Mina looks at you surprised before shaking her head. "Oh right, you meant as in questions? Sorry, you were speaking Taldan. I don't usually mistake languages, except..." she slurs her words a little, but she seems unharmed. "Except when it's my language."
To be fair, everyone seems slow and befuddled by the sudden lurch in the happening of things as time seems to settle back from the desperate vicious pace of battle. Underfoot the boards groan alarmingly. There are large sea chests stacked against the back walls, filled with reagents perhaps, with silver certainly, more wealth for the taking if that had been the aim this night, but the question lingers: What's one missing foe?
Truth is you don't know and that's more damning than any other answer. Who has a stake in this and who might sharpen that stake to a point to drive into the backs of strange outlanders if their place in this affair should come to light? So as quickly as you're able you lay it out to the others, sure that Sirim would agree were he here and not floating among the smoke and splinters of the upper cabin.
Gorok nods his agreement and Mina chooses to go with him back into the water, to see through any glamor the escaped elf may be using to slip out. It seems a simple chase to round off the night. Alas, they does not swim for long. From the bridge of the Floating Bloat you watch as Mina and Gorok come up onto the shore to give chase, and ahead of them you see the light of torches.
"Shit!" Leontas curses sharply as he lowers a spyglass that glimmers faintly with power. "It's the law."
Of all the places and all the times to encounter the Cassomir Watch, this is the least welcome.
"They are going to see the drow and..." you trail off. All they would see is an odd looking elf and likely let him through. They'd be more likely to stop Gorok. Or try to at least.
"How many of them are there?" Pisca asks as Sirim rises into the air to get a better look from above.
"I can see eight lead by woman with a red sash."
"That will be a cornicen, a horn-blower, what they might call a serjeant in Cheliax. She's not going to argue with a full knight over damages, though you might want to make the prisoner scarce just in case."
"And all the corpses?" Leontas asks, darkly amused. "Those tell a story all on their own."
"How much air do those magic bags have?" You ask after a moment.
In the end you are off the Floating Bloat before the Watch makes its way to what remains of the upper deck, though in the confusion the last drow did manage to slip the snare, leaving only Pisca to explain that there had been some some kind of fight between the gangs over territory while he had been... in the area, with the implication that he had been drinking under heavy guard yet. Unlike you and your friends, Leontas and his fellows can's exactly melt into the shadows, but they know how to keep their mouths closed and play the part.
Encounter Roll (Who Shows Up): 1d100 = 14(The Guard, cutting off the pursuit)
Rolls to Loot the Boat: Automatic success (Many Hands+Bags of Holding)
Pisca Bluff: 18, 19 vs Cornicen Sense Motive: 19 (Suspects he's bullshitting but does not know how)
"So when do we get paid for the guarding of your body?" Leontas half-whispers at the knight.
"You already did," he snorts in reply. "Check your spoils. No really, check them in case someone grabbed a contact poison and we need to rush to a mage."
The sellsword pulls out what looks to be a coin, only its made of mirrored silver with the mark of a chalice on it. "What, d'you think this is our first time looking demonaics? Would've turned purple if I was poisoned, same for any of the others."
Alas, dealing with the poisoner is not as easy as the poison. You need to interrogate him, but the dwarf back at the tavern you're staying will not appreciate his rooms being used for such a purpose.
Better to...
[] Bring him to that tavern where you had stopped a brawl on the way to Skal's hideout, he probably isn't too picky about guests leaving blood on his floor
[] Find an empty warehouse and break in. You'll only need it for a short while and be long gone by morning's light
[] Write in
OOC: Back to regularly-sized updates now that we are out of battle time. Your luck wasn't the best, but it could have been worse.
I've decided to stop being convincible that endeavours are going to succeed with "reasonable resources assigned to a task/goal".
Because things go wrong.
To mitigate the consequences of things going wrong, it is better to assign more resources/attention to a given goal than one would expect them to require.
Like having Gorok attack the Alchemist despite it being reasonable to have expected him to have fallen to Pisca and Cob.
Or sending Cob with Gorok and Mina, since Cob could have stealthed past those guards while tracking the drow, and assassinated him in a dark corner.
[X] Bring him to that tavern where you had stopped a brawl on the way to Skali's hideout, he probably isn't too picky about guests leaving blood on his floor
We have the Alchemist (alive) and a bunch more Drow (corpses).
@DragonParadox
Is there any reason why don't just bring the Drow to the Governor and have him interrogated in professional circumstances, with professional help?
I've decided to stop being convincible that endeavours are going to succeed with "reasonable resources assigned to a task/goal".
Because things go wrong.
To mitigate the consequences of things going wrong, it is better to assign more resources/attention to a given goal than one would expect them to require.
Like having Gorok attack the Alchemist despite it being reasonable to have expected him to have fallen to Pisca and Cob.
Or sending Cob with Gorok and Mina, since Cob could have stealthed past those guards while tracking the drow, and assassinated him in a dark corner.
[X] Bring him to that tavern where you had stopped a brawl on the way to Skali's hideout, he probably isn't too picky about guests leaving blood on his floor
I get your frustration, dude, but that's a dangerous and wasteful way to approach situations. Sure, maximum possible effort in every encounter might work more often than not, but it can also leave us overexposed and lacking resources for the next encounter, which can follow right on the heels of the previous one.
We don't get the luxury of having a full night of rest before every fight, after all.
Gorzeh is the largest though he is not technically good aligned. The Iomedae, Sheylin and Desna in that order. Serenrae has shrines, but she is not graced with a large temple thanks to the history of Taldor with the Cult of the Dwanflower.
I get your frustration, dude, but that's a dangerous and wasteful way to approach situations. Sure, maximum possible effort in every encounter might work more often than not, but it can also leave us overexposed and lacking resources for the next encounter, which can follow right on the heels of the previous one.
We don't get the luxury of having a full night of rest before every fight, after all.
I mean focusing on the high level foes in front of us and making sure they are dead, rather than trying to efficiently expend the minimum amount of actions to kill them. Which is what I let myself be convinced to do.
Once the target is dealt with, our party can pivot to addressing the new situation - if we plan to have Gorok stab a dude, and the dude dies before Gorok's turn comes up, Gorok isn't gonna stand there scratching his ass. He's gonna go on to the next target.
As such it is better to focus on targets, even if we think they are doomed. They aren't down 'til they're down. And even then not always.
I mean sending the sneaky killy person after the escaping drow because I know that things can go wrong even if I can't predict what they might be, rather than keeping him with us in case of an insanely unlikely incoming teleport.
The bolded bit is what it feels like your elegant (and I use the word 'elegant' as a genuine compliment) plans go for.
But your aim for elegance comes at the cost of redundancy in our efforts to achieve primary goals.
It would be a mistake for me to continue to allow my appreciation of the elegance of your plans convince me that it is 'ok' to take accept risks that come from not having more redundancies.
