Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Nov 12, 2024 at 4:02 AM, finished with 28 posts and 4 votes.
[X] Sirim's plan, pretend to be a customer...for now. -[X] The group will use their new Hats of Disguise to change their identities and apparent races before approaching the shop, and Warty will be returned to statuette form by Mina using Wild Arcana to cast Carry Companion.
It is not Gorok's Ghosts who make their way across moon-cast shadow of castle Greyguard as the evening tide goes out, over the expanse of sand slick with algae touched by the dying warmth of fish caught by the tide. There is Ram-Tep, a shaven-haired scholar of far off Sothis, his scared guard in crocodile hide armor, a somewhat scruffy halfling guide, local from the look of him, and a pair of porters for any valuables one may acquire in the Teeth. Mina had wagered Sir Pisca would not want to join you in feigning such a menial role, but the knight had surprised her.
'It's not like anyone would recognize me,' he'd said, and you can only hope it's true. No one up on the ramparts of the castle would suspect you of honest dealings, but then there are precious few honest reasons for the well-off to walk abroad among the Teeth at night.
The islands are tied together by an array of shabby rope bridges that trail off into wooden 'roads' of sorts, the wood too old and rotten to be worth tearing up, but stiff solid enough to keep the off the worst of the muck. The lanterns that hang on the corner of shops and taverns in the rest of the city are absent here, leaving one to find their own way in the dark by memory or else bring a lantern and deal with whatever that might attract. Mina, under her scholarly guise, summons a mage-light not because it's needed, but in the hopes that the show of power will deter footpads.
It seems to work, as far as it goes. Alas, there's more ways to find trouble abroad on these streets than to look like an easy mark. As you pass by what one assumes is a tavern from the reek of cheep spirits and the sort of food even Cob might turn his nose at, the door crashes open and an orc-kin with slate grey stony skin that makes you wonder if he has some troll in him as well tosses out one man like a sack of offal then hefts another as a cry goes up from behind you.
"Gut you like a kipper puke-eye!"
You have no idea what a 'kipper' is, but they apparently have a spine because that is when the third man shanks the orc-kin, allowing his friend a chance to pull weapons. Judging from the cheers coming from inside the tavern it's unlikely he'll be getting much help.
"Three on one, that ain't fair!" Cob shouts and pulls out a bone knife to cut the offender's hamstring, though in his excitement he slips on a patch of unidentifiable slime and misses the mark.
"What are you on about?" the one who had just eaten dirt shouts, maybe in the hopes of regaining some of his dignity.
[] Try to talk the brawl down, the last thing you need is to stick out in anyone's mind this close to your target
[] If this started than you are finishing it fast
-[] Use magic
-[] Do not use magic
[] Write in
OOC: Welp, you did teach a goblin what fair play is, or rather Mina did. Also, he literally needed to crit fail to not hit that guy, I almost didn't make the roll. And then he actually did.
Crap, that's a bit inconvenient, but I can't blame Cob for taking Mina's lessons to heart. At least he doesn't look like a Goblin at the moment, though he probably isn't helping the local Halflings rep very much.
If we need to, we can end this whole mess in blood and viscera, with or without magic, but those options are more likely to bring unwanted attention. We should at least try to deescalate the situation before resorting to more drastic measures, IMO.
[X] Try to talk the brawl down, the last thing you need is to stick out in anyone's mind this close to your target
-[X] Kori uses Bluff to defuse the situation. Mina uses her Fortune Hex on him, if necessary, and Sir Pisca uses Aid Another to further enhance his efforts.
Glad to see Cob is learning lessons well, but even he isn't immune to crit fails, lol.
Still, hope we can ease this off and prevent anyone from dying over a drunken brawl.
[X] Try to talk the brawl down, the last thing you need is to stick out in anyone's mind this close to your target
-[X] Kori uses Bluff to defuse the situation. Mina uses her Fortune Hex on him, if necessary, and Sir Pisca uses Aid Another to further enhance his efforts.
At what point of plan are we? Do we need anyone's reference to get in?
"Leatherworker down by where they make fishhooks on north isle, ask for patchleather, and when the fellow says you look a might prosperous for that, just say, 'I just like the look of it'. That'll get you to one of his ghoulrunners as a customer. I'm guessing you can make your own way up from there."
Maybe there is no harm in appearing a bit different from a regular customer shopping for leather, though not so much as to present ourselves as a hit squad.
There's definitely some vendor-trash in our equipment, even from before the pirates.
Not that selling it makes such a big difference to our total values at this point, but it should still be done.
We are not Viserys to let a collection of dozens of items rest in our hoard armories until some baby-adventurer with the right skillset to make use of them shows up.
Yeah, I don't see much point in collecting everything. Even if we do have plenty of cash, we can always have more. We can also use the stuff as gifts or to empower our allies.
Our Iruxi auxiliaries could use a few pieces of gear. We've got enough +1 Cloaks of Resistance for all three of them, plus a couple Rings of Protection and +DEX belts.
We could give a few pieces to Pisca, too. As much as he pissed me off early on, he's been helpful and will hopefully continue to do so. There is the +CON amulet and +CHA headband in the pirate's loot that he should get if he has any common sense at all (looking at his dump stat, though...), but we could also give him one of our old +DEX belts, a Ring of Protection, and Mina's old Spellguard Bracers. Even if he doesn't choose to keep those pieces of pirate loot, we should let him use them when we go Drow hunting, and we should give him our excess stuff before then, too. Every little bit can help.
@DragonParadox, I accidentally missed a couple updates on the sheets. I'm not quite sure about the update for Kori. His new bracers provide a blanket +5 Competence bonus to Perform checks, but he doesn't actually have any ranks in Perform. Then again, Perform can be used untrained, so it should work.
@DragonParadox, I accidentally missed a couple updates on the sheets. I'm not quite sure about the update for Kori. His new bracers provide a blanket +5 Competence bonus to Perform checks, but he doesn't actually have any ranks in Perform. Then again, Perform can be used untrained, so it should work.
With a +11 Perform bonus, even without buffs, Kori could pass as a low level Bard in a pinch. I don't see him being comfortable doing it, but that's just another tool in his kit should the need arise.
That said, it's hard to imagine him getting in front of a crowd and doing a comedy routine.
I thought about it more as an Oratory skill, much like People's Dancers, which we were mistaken for once already. It could be helpful when we are selling our talent as a Seer.
Or if/when we choose to go back to the People as Tomcost seems to want.
[X] Try to talk the brawl down, the last thing you need is to stick out in anyone's mind this close to your target
-[X] Kori uses Bluff to defuse the situation. Mina uses her Fortune Hex on him, if necessary, and Sir Pisca uses Aid Another to further enhance his efforts.
I thought about it more as an Oratory skill, much like People's Dancers, which we were mistaken for once already. It could be helpful when we are selling our talent as a Seer.
Or if/when we choose to go back to the People as Tomcost seems to want.
That's actually a pretty good use for it. A +11 bonus to Perform checks isn't amazing, but we can buff it pretty easily with a few spells. Between Perform, Bluff, and Kori's knowledge of Azlanti history, he could probably do a respectable job of influencing fellow Darkfolk when we return to Nar Voth someday.
Maybe work the 'Reincarnated Azlanti' angle? Or just play it off as channeling the spirits of his ancestors?
Of course, we would still need to be very careful, since there are forces in the Darklands who wouldn't take kindly to someone else manipulating their puppets.
That's actually a pretty good use for it. A +11 bonus to Perform checks isn't amazing, but we can buff it pretty easily with a few spells. Between Perform, Bluff, and Kori's knowledge of Azlanti history, he could probably do a respectable job of influencing fellow Darkfolk when we return to Nar Voth someday.
Maybe work the 'Reincarnated Azlanti' angle? Or just play it off as channeling the spirits of his ancestors?
Of course, we would still need to be very careful, since there are forces in the Darklands who wouldn't take kindly to someone else manipulating their puppets.
I'm hoping we're at least 9th level before we venture back down into the Darklands. 8th level at a minimum, so Kori will have 4th level spells at his disposal, but 9th gets Mina and Sirim access to their 5th level spells.
[X] Try to talk the brawl down, the last thing you need is to stick out in anyone's mind this close to your target
-[X] Kori uses Bluff to defuse the situation. Mina uses her Fortune Hex on him, if necessary, and Sir Pisca uses Aid Another to further enhance his efforts.
I have just now realized that I neglected to add any spell scrolls to our big purchase for the purpose of Mina or Sirim learning them, except for the ones @BeepSmile recommended. I'm not sure how that slipped my mind. I guess maybe I was too fixated on gear.
I know we've already spent a metric fuckton of money, but I'm going to put together a small list of additional scrolls for use to purchase soon, either before we leave Cassomir or after we return to Andoran. Nothing weird or attention grabbing like Deathwine, just some basic spells we're lacking that could prove helpful. There will be times we want to prepare and cast spells normally instead of relying on Wild Arcana all the time. And there are a lot of spells that cannot be duplicated using Wild Arcana if they have a casting time longer than a Standard Action.
1st and 2nd level spell scrolls are pretty cheap, and even 3rd level aren't too bad either (never mind the fact that we're rich).
If there are any ya'll think should be added, let me know.
[X] Try to talk the brawl down, the last thing you need is to stick out in anyone's mind this close to your target
-[X] Kori uses Bluff to defuse the situation. Mina uses her Fortune Hex on him, if necessary, and Sir Pisca uses Aid Another to further enhance his efforts.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Nov 13, 2024 at 4:49 AM, finished with 17 posts and 5 votes.
[X] Try to talk the brawl down, the last thing you need is to stick out in anyone's mind this close to your target -[X] Kori uses Bluff to defuse the situation. Mina uses her Fortune Hex on him, if necessary, and Sir Pisca uses Aid Another to further enhance his efforts.
There are, in the normal run of things, very few things that will have a killer with their blood up and their spirits... spirited by drink to stop and listen, and sweet reason isn't one of them. But those words, especially in combination with the sound of heavy-soled feet coming down the street thanks to a quick thinking Sirim, do the trick.
Thus the five of you are only a somewhat more muddy and scuffed than is to be expected by any that would cross the Teeth by the time you make it to the leatherworks, and not wearing someone else's blood. There is no sign up front and, as far as you know, possesses no other name. It does not really need it. Built of brick surrounded by the bobbled together refuse of the sea, surrounded by gang marks painted one over the other, most recently some kind of uneven red crescent, the place is a safe as anywhere in the shadow of the Greywatch. 'Men of means,' the sort of folk who dwell in places like this are called, an ironic twist to the old Taldan form for a noble, 'Men of mame'. They will find what or who you are looking for here, alive or dead. It's in short, the kind of place where living shadows red of eye might swirl behind a mage and speak with their voice to weary looks not terrified.
"My master seeks patch-leather."
"Well ain't that strange," the man sitting in the chair by the fire, a iron banded club at his side mutters. "He seems a mite well dressed for that. Is he sure he wouldn't rather have something of finer stock?"
"He enjoys the look of it."
Mina's shoulders tense at the uncomfortable weight Sirim puts on the word 'enjoys'. Thankfully, you are the only one to notice. All the leg-breaker turned doorguard sees is a strange magician too disdainful to speak to the 'help' himself.
"Come on up, see for yourself." A heavy iron key ring jangles as he picks out the right one to open a door in the back, hidden behind rolls of newly-cured leather and heavy is the door itself. It leads into a kind of back room where one wall is brick from the original construction and the other is more salvaged wood, the smell of mold mixes with the sharp reek of urine and something heavy and briny.
"That's one way to test your clients intestinal fortitude," you hear Pisca mutter to himself behind you.
Or hide the smell of rot. You do not share the thought.
Alas, the smell does not get any better once you mount the narrow stairs to the second floor. The door at the top is already open, leading into a room with three tables, only one of which has stools to sit on. From the look of the stains that mark the others they are meant for displaying 'wares', though thankfully all of them are empty. The air inside is almost... savory. You swear it reminds you of something Oka would cook up.
"Wormwood...?" Mina asks no one in particular as she sniffs, to which a laugh rolls out from a darkened corner, thin and scratchy like bone scraping against bone. What you had taken for a sack piled there and forgotten reveals itself to be a man corpse pale, sporting a beard only a shade or two more yellow.
"Aye, helps with the reek and ghosts." The man barely needs to introduce himself as Skal, not that he spends much time on pleasantries: "What can I do you with, learned one? Looking to expand your trade?"
"My master seeks fresh corpses for his work, perhaps even alive if you can procure them. Age and state of health matter not, though they must not have been dedicated to any god in life or in death." Sirim continues to play the part of herald for the prideful Ram-Tep. "Seven hundred gold per head." He names a price, exceeding even a fully trained artisan slave in the daylight markets of Cassomir. Haggling might add verisimilitude to the act, but it might also get Skal to use his head instead of latching on with both hands.
Indeed, there's gleam of suspicion in those rheumy eyes, but not quite enough to keep him from speaking, swallowing sounds in his haste with a wet gurgle. "What 'bout age? Will you be taking you'g 'uns?"
The part of your mind that likes to pull apart puzzles is already considering which sorts of necromancy one might or might not prefer children for, the rest of you is quietly pondering the most efficient way to pull him apart.
"So long as they are clean of divine taint," the shade answers.
"You'll have to tell that on your own, can ye?"
Mina nods wordlessly. One good thing about the disguise is she doesn't have to hide her disgust.
"I'll have a shipment brought on the morrow, same hour, same place, for you to judge, live ones even. Will that suit ya, learned one?"
Sirim Bluff: 1d20+13+4 (Bestow Insight) +5 (Mythic Heroism with Encouraging Metamagic)+ 4 (Bestow Insight) +1 (Guidance) = 31
vs
Skal Sense Motive: 1d20+10 +5 (Suspicious Circumstances) = 30
What do you do?
[] Keep the ruse going, talking to slaves who have been moved by the conspiracy will give you insights while keeping them in the dark longer
[] Take Skal prisoner now, you can handle his thugs and then cut your way to his partners before they even know what's coming for them
[] Write in
OOC: I thought about making the buffs a vote, but I wanted to get this moving faster, especially with the encounter last update interrupting things.
www.d20pfsrd.com
