"Well then," Mirth replied. "Let's get agile. Let's jump out and head to the gate. Try not to attract too much attention, stick to the shados like I showed you. We can rendezvous with Hanker to get your sword and everything else. After that we can get to the 'Undine'."
With these words, Mirth stepped on the window sill and disappeared into the night. You didn't hear the thud, so his landing must've been easy. Your turn now.
Constitution saving throw (DC 13). You have a +2 bonus for wearing heavy armour. Alternatively, you can make dexterity save with bonuses Mirth provided (same DC).
Then a stealth check to make sure you aren't seen. DC 12. If you succeed, you gain +1 to stealth permanently (thanks to Mirths instructions), if you fail, too bad.
"Make up your mind, woman!" exclaimed jarvey in irritation. "I have no time... Oh, here they are! Officers!"
A guard patrol, a man and woman clad in heavy armour, approached.
"Sir!" they saluted, recognizing superior officer.
"Please escort lady Fiona wherever she may wish to head," liuetenant commanded. "Gently, if you please."
He headed off promptly, before anyone could cut in.
"Where shoul we take you, m'lady?" said the woman.
Both checks successful, I will edit your CS accordingly later. Also, consider the items you gave returned and the dagger gone, although I haven't the time to edit this at the moment. I will in a day or so.
You reconviene at the "Drunken Undine". Pict is already here, sipping an ale with grimace of utter disgust. The rest of the tieflings have assembled as well.
"You look like you ate a bowl of shit," Mirth commented, nodding at the druid. "What's wrong?"
"Might as well have, lad," said Pict, moving placing mug at the table. "You sure this place doesn't have some decent mead?"
"This place doesn't have anything decent, period," Caress cut in. "Were you able to find anything out?"
"Yes, although less than I would like. Apparently the guards were successful in creating enough troubly so that Sirin, the bard, left the city. According to his girlfriend, he boarded the "Sea serpent" and departed towards Luskan. I... believe her," he added after a pause. "As for lady Elein,she is blithly unaware of the fact that she is indeed being watched by both the guard and a couple of thuggish young men, who, after some persuasion, revealed they were hired by someone named Leone to make sure young priestess stays out of trouble. Other than that, the were of little help."
"Leone? So it's true, then?" Caress said, mostly to herself. "He is a... figure of authority among local criminals. It seems Elein got herself a powerful protector. In exchange for her healing services, no doubt. Hear that, Sorrow?"
"Yeah," Mirth added. "That means if you invite her to dinner you might be relieved of your... sword."
"Mirth, I will ******* deck you myself. I would have already, but you haven't told us what you've found," said Caress threateningly. "Give it up."
"Eh, nothing too solid," Caresses disappointment was almost palpable. "It seems young liuetenant recieved a certain sum of money directly from his superior officer. Who, given the pay rates, should not be in possesion of such a sum , let alone be throwing it around."
"That's it? You weren't able to find anything else?" asked Sorrow.
"Well, there was some sort of secret stash of something, but we could not risk setting off the traps," Mirth reluctantly admitted. "It was a close call with guards already."
"Cowards", the leader summed up. "We will not get the same chance again. So, what do we have so far? The Captain paid lieutenant a lot of money, more money than he should for any plausible legal reason, but not so much that it is unexplainable. Based on that we will assume that these few thousand had to come from the third party who in the benefactor of this overly complicated scheme. So someone pays a few corrupt guards to... what? Make sure there are very few battle-worthy mages in the city? Why? Why not try and have us killed? In addition to that, everything I just said is pure conjecture,we have no proof and are practically back where we started. Fantastic. Any great ideas? I'm all horns."
"Before I leave you to stew in frustration, I just have one question to ask. Are there any nobles you could think of in this city that might have any reason to get everybody with magical abilities to leave town? Because the fact that someone is tossing gold at the captain to make sure that none of you casters can so much as take a piss without having to deal with a platoon of guards breathing down your neck leads me to believe that someone bigger than the city watch is the source of your issues and if you can figure out which puffed up prick is responsible, you might also find out why they don't just go the simple route and slit your throats."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
I will assume you mean "Undine", because Crassus is way past rendezvous point. Please read more carefully next time.
When you enter the tavern, the group seems to be in the middle of some discussion. You've missed the beginning.
"Nobles? There are several noble houses in the city, but no one I can think of will profit by removing magi. But you're right, only a handful of people can so easily move a vast some of money," Caress anwered Crassus.
"Makes sense," the druid supported her. "Whoever is paying guard captain is hardly giving away their life savings. There's bound to be more where that came from."
"So it's either a noble or a wealthy merchant," Sorrow summed up. Suddenly Hanker started gesturing heavily. He look at her and added "Or a crime lord."
"Which narrows our field to three dozen people or so... Finally! We thought you got lost!" Mirth noticed you. "What have you discovered?"
"Really not that much. Jarvey is investigating some mages, hoping to find reason to throw them out of the city. Someone is afraid to have people with that power in the city. He's working under his bosses orders he says."
"Which confirms what we already know, providing no tangible evidence," concludes Mirth. "What's next?"
"Now, if I undestand the process correctly, we need to start meticulously checking everyone who could afford all of this, try to get what we can out of the gnome bank, which is a highly improbable lead, that sort of thing," Caress signed and looked at Mirth. "Why can't this be as easy as you?"
Rogue gave her a shrug.
"But you'll have to do this without us, I think," Pict cut in. "Our deal with Brennan involved finding out what we can about this and we did. I suggest we return to him and see what he found out about the curse."
"I'm going to have to agree with my druid friend here. We only came here for some answers, not to get involved with nobles and politics. Not for free anyway."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
"Well, don't let the door hit you on the way out," said Sorrow, somewhat disappointed.
"And remember, our base of operation is here, the rites are high, but so is satisfaction, do not forget to mention our exellent work," automatically advertised Caress.
As you walk towards Brennan's shop, you realize it's morning already and none of you have slept. Getting back to the necromancer may be the obvious choice right now, but where do all of you want to go next?
"We should probably go to the Blossom after we finish with Brennan. I don't know about you, but I'm beat after spending the entire night in a guards barracks with an obnoxious Tiefling."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
"Yes, must have been difficult," Pict sympathized. "Tiefling or not, remaining silent once in a while never hurt anyone. And I agree, but are you sure we can afford it? That place isn't cheap and I'd hate for Violet to have to pay for us... again."
"I do need some sleep. I had a strange experience tonight. Deceiving that guardsman was really funy but when I headed away from the Blossom voices inside my head assaulted me, warning me to go further."
Wait, that's weird. I thought we had established that voices are part of Violets day-to-day and she consults them, even though their origin is unclear? And the rest of a party is unaware of them, as far as I know. Why is she suddenly disclosing their presence?
"They own you much more more than gold," hissing voice in Violet's head suddenly emerged. "None of them would be alive if it weren't for you!"
Although trade was already lively in the Bazaar, you had to wait for Brennan to come and open his shop. He was clearly not a morning person.
"You lot look like hell," he greeted the company. "Come on in. So what is it that you found out?"
As the mage prepared his shop by releasing layers of security spell on him merchandise, Pict started retelling everything you could figure out. It actually took more time than everyone expected, with all the theories Caress and you managed to build.
"Shit," Brennan concluded when Pict was finished. "That's a big ******* theory, but if the shoe fits... I suppose I'll have to call for a meeting with everyone. We could try and figure out how to deal with it together. It is a shame Sirin is gone - I loved his songs. Especially battle marches. I don't know how much you've heard about a pirate attack on the city, but it was Sirins spell-songs that helped organize the militia and got us magi attacking in sync. Oh, but that is no concern of yours."
He pulled Picts amulet from behind a counter.
"Had quite a bit of fun, untangling that curse. It's crude, but solid," he handed the amulet back to Pict. "As you may or may not be aware, this little dark beauty drains the persons - or creatures - will, channeling it though magical output. Simply stated, the more magic you use, the quicker your will is drained. While certainly dangerous to anyone, it's devastating to mages of all kinds, as we use will as a component in spellcasting. It is also particularly dangerous to Fey - willpower is their life's blood. Quite ingenious, actually, to curse a Fey in this manner - the more they fight the curse, the stronger it gets, the weaker they grow. I applaud."
Brennan paused and produced a parchment full of notes from behind the counter. It seemed he spent quite a lot of time trying to figure all of this out.
"The curse is Fey-made, that much is clear, but, to my surprise, bound and placed by a human. Or, at the very least, a mortal, which is good for you. It's the ABCs of necromancy, you see. Every curse can be lifted. Had it been placed by a fey, I would have been able to break the curse with a counter-spell, provided I had access to a source of magical energy equal or greater than that of a curse," Brennans voice changed, grew monotonous, as if he was lecturing an adept. "But, the curse is secured in a way only mortal could provide - by blood magic. Which means, that same blood is required to lift it."
Strange, conflicted expression appeared on Picts face. Necromancer gave him the parchment and continued.
"Here you will find everything I said you in writing and formulas I doubt any of you will be able to make sense of. On the other side is a description of a ritual you will have to perform in order to break the curse. It's non too complex, plus, it doesn't necessarily take a wizard. Young sorceress here, or you, or any divine caster could perform it. But it will require sacrificing the one who placed the curse, so there's that. Beyond this, I don't know how to help you. I suppose I could help you track an unfortunate caster, but for that you'd have to bring me a sapphire, iron spindle of a spinning wheel and a finger of someone who's died their natural death. And a hundred gold. For now, take this, for a job well done."
The druid didn't seem to hear you. He looked blankly at the mage, dumbfounded by what he just heard.
"That," he finally spoke. "That is not the answer I was hoping for, but... I guess I should've expected it. Are you absolutely certain?"
"Yes," Brennan said, as he crossed arms on his chest. Then, seeing look on everyones faces, elaborated: "This spell is in my direct area of expertise, the information I gave you is all I, or anyone, for that matter, could take from it and it's accurate. I'm not denying there might be something I have missed, but that can only be remedied by examining the actual Fey the curse has befallen, not a piece of it's physical manifestation. However, what I said still holds."
"I see," Pict answered. "So, you may be able to track her? With those ingredients? They're not going to be easy to come by."
"Her, huh? And no, they're not, but that isn't my problem. Now, unless there's something you wanted to ask or purchase, I have a shop to run."
"Well then," Mirth replied. "Let's get agile. Let's jump out and head to the gate. Try not to attract too much attention, stick to the shados like I showed you. We can rendezvous with Hanker to get your sword and everything else. After that we can get to the 'Undine'."
With these words, Mirth stepped on the window sill and disappeared into the night. You didn't hear the thud, so his landing must've been easy. Your turn now.
"Make up your mind, woman!" exclaimed jarvey in irritation. "I have no time... Oh, here they are! Officers!"
A guard patrol, a man and woman clad in heavy armour, approached.
"Sir!" they saluted, recognizing superior officer.
"Please escort lady Fiona wherever she may wish to head," liuetenant commanded. "Gently, if you please."
He headed off promptly, before anyone could cut in.
"Where shoul we take you, m'lady?" said the woman.
DM Price of Misfortune (finished)
Con Save:7
Stealth:18
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
"To the Blossom please."
You reconviene at the "Drunken Undine". Pict is already here, sipping an ale with grimace of utter disgust. The rest of the tieflings have assembled as well.
"You look like you ate a bowl of shit," Mirth commented, nodding at the druid. "What's wrong?"
"Might as well have, lad," said Pict, moving placing mug at the table. "You sure this place doesn't have some decent mead?"
"This place doesn't have anything decent, period," Caress cut in. "Were you able to find anything out?"
"Yes, although less than I would like. Apparently the guards were successful in creating enough troubly so that Sirin, the bard, left the city. According to his girlfriend, he boarded the "Sea serpent" and departed towards Luskan. I... believe her," he added after a pause. "As for lady Elein,she is blithly unaware of the fact that she is indeed being watched by both the guard and a couple of thuggish young men, who, after some persuasion, revealed they were hired by someone named Leone to make sure young priestess stays out of trouble. Other than that, the were of little help."
"Leone? So it's true, then?" Caress said, mostly to herself. "He is a... figure of authority among local criminals. It seems Elein got herself a powerful protector. In exchange for her healing services, no doubt. Hear that, Sorrow?"
"Yeah," Mirth added. "That means if you invite her to dinner you might be relieved of your... sword."
"Mirth, I will ******* deck you myself. I would have already, but you haven't told us what you've found," said Caress threateningly. "Give it up."
"Eh, nothing too solid," Caresses disappointment was almost palpable. "It seems young liuetenant recieved a certain sum of money directly from his superior officer. Who, given the pay rates, should not be in possesion of such a sum , let alone be throwing it around."
"That's it? You weren't able to find anything else?" asked Sorrow.
"Well, there was some sort of secret stash of something, but we could not risk setting off the traps," Mirth reluctantly admitted. "It was a close call with guards already."
"Cowards", the leader summed up. "We will not get the same chance again. So, what do we have so far? The Captain paid lieutenant a lot of money, more money than he should for any plausible legal reason, but not so much that it is unexplainable. Based on that we will assume that these few thousand had to come from the third party who in the benefactor of this overly complicated scheme. So someone pays a few corrupt guards to... what? Make sure there are very few battle-worthy mages in the city? Why? Why not try and have us killed? In addition to that, everything I just said is pure conjecture,we have no proof and are practically back where we started. Fantastic. Any great ideas? I'm all horns."
The table fell silent.
DM Price of Misfortune (finished)
"Before I leave you to stew in frustration, I just have one question to ask. Are there any nobles you could think of in this city that might have any reason to get everybody with magical abilities to leave town? Because the fact that someone is tossing gold at the captain to make sure that none of you casters can so much as take a piss without having to deal with a platoon of guards breathing down your neck leads me to believe that someone bigger than the city watch is the source of your issues and if you can figure out which puffed up prick is responsible, you might also find out why they don't just go the simple route and slit your throats."
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
When the guards have left, Violet will return to our rendevous point to meet with Crassus.
When you enter the tavern, the group seems to be in the middle of some discussion. You've missed the beginning.
"Nobles? There are several noble houses in the city, but no one I can think of will profit by removing magi. But you're right, only a handful of people can so easily move a vast some of money," Caress anwered Crassus.
"Makes sense," the druid supported her. "Whoever is paying guard captain is hardly giving away their life savings. There's bound to be more where that came from."
"So it's either a noble or a wealthy merchant," Sorrow summed up. Suddenly Hanker started gesturing heavily. He look at her and added "Or a crime lord."
"Which narrows our field to three dozen people or so... Finally! We thought you got lost!" Mirth noticed you. "What have you discovered?"
DM Price of Misfortune (finished)
"Really not that much. Jarvey is investigating some mages, hoping to find reason to throw them out of the city. Someone is afraid to have people with that power in the city. He's working under his bosses orders he says."
"Which confirms what we already know, providing no tangible evidence," concludes Mirth. "What's next?"
"Now, if I undestand the process correctly, we need to start meticulously checking everyone who could afford all of this, try to get what we can out of the gnome bank, which is a highly improbable lead, that sort of thing," Caress signed and looked at Mirth. "Why can't this be as easy as you?"
Rogue gave her a shrug.
"But you'll have to do this without us, I think," Pict cut in. "Our deal with Brennan involved finding out what we can about this and we did. I suggest we return to him and see what he found out about the curse."
DM Price of Misfortune (finished)
"I'm going to have to agree with my druid friend here. We only came here for some answers, not to get involved with nobles and politics. Not for free anyway."
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
Violet seems eager to leave. "Indeed we also have personal business to attend to."
"Well, don't let the door hit you on the way out," said Sorrow, somewhat disappointed.
"And remember, our base of operation is here, the rites are high, but so is satisfaction, do not forget to mention our exellent work," automatically advertised Caress.
As you walk towards Brennan's shop, you realize it's morning already and none of you have slept. Getting back to the necromancer may be the obvious choice right now, but where do all of you want to go next?
DM Price of Misfortune (finished)
"We should probably go to the Blossom after we finish with Brennan. I don't know about you, but I'm beat after spending the entire night in a guards barracks with an obnoxious Tiefling."
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
"Yes, must have been difficult," Pict sympathized. "Tiefling or not, remaining silent once in a while never hurt anyone. And I agree, but are you sure we can afford it? That place isn't cheap and I'd hate for Violet to have to pay for us... again."
DM Price of Misfortune (finished)
"I'm hoping that Brennan will pay us for our information, but the worst case scenario is that we'll be owing Violet a lot of money."
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
"I do need some sleep. I had a strange experience tonight. Deceiving that guardsman was really funy but when I headed away from the Blossom voices inside my head assaulted me, warning me to go further."
"They own you much more more than gold," hissing voice in Violet's head suddenly emerged. "None of them would be alive if it weren't for you!"
Although trade was already lively in the Bazaar, you had to wait for Brennan to come and open his shop. He was clearly not a morning person.
"You lot look like hell," he greeted the company. "Come on in. So what is it that you found out?"
As the mage prepared his shop by releasing layers of security spell on him merchandise, Pict started retelling everything you could figure out. It actually took more time than everyone expected, with all the theories Caress and you managed to build.
"Shit," Brennan concluded when Pict was finished. "That's a big ******* theory, but if the shoe fits... I suppose I'll have to call for a meeting with everyone. We could try and figure out how to deal with it together. It is a shame Sirin is gone - I loved his songs. Especially battle marches. I don't know how much you've heard about a pirate attack on the city, but it was Sirins spell-songs that helped organize the militia and got us magi attacking in sync. Oh, but that is no concern of yours."
He pulled Picts amulet from behind a counter.
"Had quite a bit of fun, untangling that curse. It's crude, but solid," he handed the amulet back to Pict. "As you may or may not be aware, this little dark beauty drains the persons - or creatures - will, channeling it though magical output. Simply stated, the more magic you use, the quicker your will is drained. While certainly dangerous to anyone, it's devastating to mages of all kinds, as we use will as a component in spellcasting. It is also particularly dangerous to Fey - willpower is their life's blood. Quite ingenious, actually, to curse a Fey in this manner - the more they fight the curse, the stronger it gets, the weaker they grow. I applaud."
Brennan paused and produced a parchment full of notes from behind the counter. It seemed he spent quite a lot of time trying to figure all of this out.
"The curse is Fey-made, that much is clear, but, to my surprise, bound and placed by a human. Or, at the very least, a mortal, which is good for you. It's the ABCs of necromancy, you see. Every curse can be lifted. Had it been placed by a fey, I would have been able to break the curse with a counter-spell, provided I had access to a source of magical energy equal or greater than that of a curse," Brennans voice changed, grew monotonous, as if he was lecturing an adept. "But, the curse is secured in a way only mortal could provide - by blood magic. Which means, that same blood is required to lift it."
Strange, conflicted expression appeared on Picts face. Necromancer gave him the parchment and continued.
"Here you will find everything I said you in writing and formulas I doubt any of you will be able to make sense of. On the other side is a description of a ritual you will have to perform in order to break the curse. It's non too complex, plus, it doesn't necessarily take a wizard. Young sorceress here, or you, or any divine caster could perform it. But it will require sacrificing the one who placed the curse, so there's that. Beyond this, I don't know how to help you. I suppose I could help you track an unfortunate caster, but for that you'd have to bring me a sapphire, iron spindle of a spinning wheel and a finger of someone who's died their natural death. And a hundred gold. For now, take this, for a job well done."
DM Price of Misfortune (finished)
"Great. Now we can pay for some rooms at the Blossom without having to mooch off of Violet."
Xenophon: Topaz Dragonborn Fighter (ixi's Dragon of Icespire Peak)
More
The druid didn't seem to hear you. He looked blankly at the mage, dumbfounded by what he just heard.
"That," he finally spoke. "That is not the answer I was hoping for, but... I guess I should've expected it. Are you absolutely certain?"
"Yes," Brennan said, as he crossed arms on his chest. Then, seeing look on everyones faces, elaborated: "This spell is in my direct area of expertise, the information I gave you is all I, or anyone, for that matter, could take from it and it's accurate. I'm not denying there might be something I have missed, but that can only be remedied by examining the actual Fey the curse has befallen, not a piece of it's physical manifestation. However, what I said still holds."
"I see," Pict answered. "So, you may be able to track her? With those ingredients? They're not going to be easy to come by."
"Her, huh? And no, they're not, but that isn't my problem. Now, unless there's something you wanted to ask or purchase, I have a shop to run."
DM Price of Misfortune (finished)
END OF CHAPTER 2
DM Price of Misfortune (finished)