Inspectre
 A continuation of The Crimson Echo: Season Three! 
 OOC Thread 
 Dramatis Personae 
 
 Spoiler: Our Heroes 
 

 
 Spoiler: Allies 

 
 Spoiler: Cressidia Kroft 

Field Marshall and commander of Korvosa's city guard, Cressidia is perpetually overworked and has become something of a practiced insomniac to keep up with the unending paperwork of her position, particularly after the recent troubles immediately following King Eodred's death and Lamm's uprising.  With a dwindling guard force and rumblings of further unrest due to Trinia Sabor's situation, it doesn't look like she will be getting more rest anytime soon, either.  Old friends with Vencarlo Orsini, Grau Saldado, and Sabrina Merrin - whose friendship has soured into barely concealed hostility following Kroft's election to Field Marshall several years ago.

 
 Spoiler: Portrait 

 
 

 

 

 
 Spoiler: Enemies 
 

 
 Spoiler: Important People 

 
 Spoiler: Of Korvosa 
 

 
Inspectre
 Locations 
 
 Spoiler: Korvosa 

 
 Spoiler: Map of Korvosa 
 
 

 
 Spoiler: Districts and Neighborhoods 
 
 Spoiler: East Shore and Gray 
 
 

 
 Spoiler: Midland 
 
 

 
 Spoiler: North Point 
 
 

 
 Spoiler: The Heights 
 
 

 
 Spoiler: Old Korvosa 
 
 

 
 Spoiler: South Shore 
 
 

 

 
Inspectre
 Other Important Information 
Inspectre
 The Story So Far: 
 
 Spoiler: How It Normally Goes 

 
 The party is brought together by Zellara, a middle-aged Varisian woman who is a Harrow (fortune) reader.  She claims Lamm has wronged her too, and has brought all of you together to take revenge against the old criminal who has wronged each of you in some way. 
 Following intel provided by Zellara, the party goes to an old fishery that has been serving as Gaedren Lamm’s base of operations.  After fighting through the couple members of Lamm’s gang, you confront the old man in his lair and kill him. 
 Searching Lamm’s lair reveals Zellara’s severed head, leading to the revelation and confession from her that she is a ghost and has been this entire time.  She brought you together after her death to take revenge on Lamm, and selected all of you because she sensed that you had some greater fate to play beyond just killing Lamm. 
 Amongst Lamm’s possessions is an incredibly detailed and expensive brooch that is the property of Queen Ileosa, King Eodred’s wife – how it came to be in Lamm’s possession is a mystery, although theft by one of his little lambs seems most likely. 
 Later that night, King Eodred dies and the city is thrown into chaos.  The party is forced to seek shelter indoors, perhaps back at Zellara’s old house, or perhaps at your own nearby residence.  Along the way, the party has to deal with angry rioters, rambunctious imps enjoying the chaos, and possibly even a hungry otyugh. 
 After the city has calmed, the party eventually goes to the royal palace to return the brooch to Queen Ileosa.  After a brief meeting with the solemn queen-in-mourning, the party is generously rewarded and asked to meet with the head of Korvosa’s city guard, Field Marshall Cressidia Kroft, to aid the city further. 
 After meeting with Korvosa’s most overworked civil officer, Field Marshall Kroft asks the party to investigate a group of city guardsmen who deserted their posts and have taken up shop in a butcher shop known as All the World’s Meat. 
 Investigating the butcher’s shop reveals that while the ringleader of the deserters, Verik Vancasterkin, is indeed knowingly guilty of desertion, he is unaware that his men have set up a murder-for-hire business on the side, disposing of the bodies of their victims as part of the free meat distributed out to the desperate citizens of Old Korvosa. 
 Following the party’s success in capturing Verik and his gang of miscreants, Kroft assigns a new task to the party – dealing with the smarmy ambassador from Cheliax, Darvayne Amprei.  Amprei has been taking advantage of the chaos following Eodred’s death and his position as ambassador to enrich himself at the cost of the city, and Kroft wishes to convince him to back-off.  How she intends to do this is acquire evidence of his misdeeds, or at least compromising information that could undermine his position back in Cheliax. 
 A friend of Field Marshall Kroft, Vencarlo Orsini, is present at this meeting and explains that he is aware of someone who likely has such damning evidence on Damprei, and who probably would be willing to part with said information in exchange for a good amount of coin – Devargo Bravarsi, the so-called King of Spiders, who is a major crime boss running a den of sin and inequity known as Eel’s End in Old Korvosa. 
 The party travels to Eel’s End, bargains with Devargo, and convinces him to part with his evidence against Damprei – a series of love letters between him and his mistress, which also includes details of several occasions where he has exploited his position as the Chelish ambassador for his own personal gain. 
 By this point, there is a growing belief that Eodred was murdered rather than simply died of advanced age, and one popular suspect in his murder is Queen Ileosa herself.  Another potential suspect is a young painter that King Eodred hired a few months ago, Trinia Sabor, who Kroft asks the party to quietly bring in for the girl’s protection. 
 Despite the party’s best efforts, the apprehension of Trinia Sabor goes sideways, with the young painter proving to also be a talented acrobat as she leaps out of her apartment and races out onto the Shingles, the twisting maze of roofs, clotheslines, and bridges that span across the top of Korvosa’s slums. 
 Things tend to go one of three different ways here - the party manages to catch Trinia, Trinia eludes the party long enough to run directly into a wandering patrol of Hellknights who promptly arrest her, or previously unknown assailants attack Trinia in the streets, killing her before the party can intervene. 
 In the Shizu-verse, which is where two of our PCs are from, unknown assailants fire crossbows at the fleeing painter, wounding her at a critical moment and sending her tumbling to her death on the streets far below.  The world shifted into its new state shortly after her death, and the party had no idea what follows this point, as they abruptly found themselves in a new world, with a similar but much different set of memories sitting alongside their memories from this first world.  They have jumped to different worlds several times since then, as we have recruited new people a couple times before this recruitment drive. 
 You may wish your character to come from a world where one of the other two outcomes with Trinia happened instead. 
 If your PC caught Trinia, and decided that she was innocent of the King's murder and thus should be protected: 
  You hid Trinia away, to attempt to smuggle her to safety later as the city at-large is now aware of the accusation from Queen Ileosa that Trinia murdered the King.  Several days later, it was announced that Trinia Sabor was apprehended and would be publicly executed, under the orders of Queen Ileosa.  The real Trinia was safe where you put her, so this was an either a fake or a case of mistaken identity.  
 If Trinia got away from your PC (until she blundered into the Hellknights, anyway) or iff your PC caught Trinia, and decided that she was guilty of the King's murder and handed her over to the guard for punishment: 
  You handed Trinia over to the guard, letting Field Marshall Kroft, who had approached you about finding Trinia in the first place to learn the truth, decide what was to be done with her.  Several days later, it was announced that Trinia Sabor was apprehended and would be publicly executed, under the orders of Queen Ileosa - and against Kroft's protests.  
 Your last assignment from Field Marshall Cressida Kroft, who you had been working with over the past couple weeks since returning the Queen's pendant to her, was to resolve a potentially severe diplomatic incident with the Shaonti, the native "barbarians" who had originally lived here before Korvosa was founded (and driven off by the Chelish settlers).  It seems during the riots a prominent Shaonti, Kynndor Thok, was murdered and rather than his body being handed over to his father for burial in the Shaonti tradition, it had been carted off to the Grey District to be dumped in an unmarked mass grave with everyone else who had died during the recent unpleasantness.  As his father was a leader amongst the Shaonti people, this was going to be a serious diplomatic incident and could push the already unfriendly remaining Shaonti towards war - which in Korvosa's weakened state due to the succession crisis following King Eodred's death, would likely not end well for anyone. 
 Your attempts to locate the body of Kynndor Thok hit an additional roadblock when you learn that his body was stolen from its mass grave, apparently by a group of derro for experiments with necromancy, a school of magic all but forbidden in Korvosa.  You venture down into their lair beneath the Grey District, in a warren of catacombs known as the Dead Warrens, eventually dispatching their leader Vreeg and recovering Thok's body.  You return to Kroft triumphant, only to be greeted with the news of (fake or real) Trinia Sabor's scheduled execution. 
 Your last memory is of attending the execution of the hapless painter, Queen Ileosa addressing the crowd and rallying them against Trinia, promising her blood as a balm for their recent sorrows caused Eodred's death and the riots.  Perhaps you attempt to rescue the painter from the executioner's axe, sway the crowd and the Queen to mercy as the painter girl is innocent, or simply watch on helplessly.  In any event, it all goes wrong and much as during the Shizu-verse chase in the alley, Trinia dies in front of you despite any attempts to help her.  Your perception shifts to your new world shortly thereafter. 
 
 

 
 Spoiler: How Its Gone This Time 

(A similarly rough, general summary of the Crimson Echo, Seasons One through Three, is provided below.)

 
 Seeking to avoid a repeat of the original disaster, Silas goes to Trinia’s apartment first thing before King Eodred is even announced dead.  Silas and Trinia are attacked by several gang members who seem intent on kidnapping the girl as part of some wider conspiracy.  While Trinia is knocked unconscious by a poisoned crossbow bolt, she survives the ambush and Silas gets her to safety back at his place.  A bit later on, corrupt guards show up at Silas’s place looking for her, seemingly part of the same conspiracy.  Silas and Trinia again escape from harm and releasing the girl is in more terrible danger than previously believed, he takes her to Vencarlo Orsini’s house to hideout.  While not happy to get a babysitting job dumped in his lap, Vencarlo agrees to keep the girl safe and out-of-harm’s way for now. 
 Eventually, the party is once again assembled by Zellara, who again sets them on the trail of Gaedren Lamm as his old fishery base, although she notes that the threads of Fate seem oddly out-of-alignment. 
 Arriving at the old fishery, the party once again fights through Lamm’s goons, albeit considerably more of them this time as Lamm seems to have found the money to hire a local gang for protection.  Lamm ultimately escapes from the party aboard the old boat he has moored at the back of the old fishery, a previously ruined derelict that he has suddenly found the money to repair into a sailable vessel.  While Lamm makes his escape, the party has to contend with the leader of the hired gang, who consumes a vial of shimmering orange liquid, promptly gains magical powers, and starts ranting at the party about how the city was all going to burn and rot. 
 The drug that the local tough consumed was almost certainly a new drug called Shudder, a potent substance that (apparently truly does!) gives the drinker magical powers – albeit at the cost of going stark-raving mad.  Lamm is apparently the sole distributor of the drug currently, which is certainly one reason he could be considerably richer and more powerful in this brave new world. 
 The party still finds Zellara’s severed head, along with his stash – although the queen’s special brooch is notably absent from the minor hoard. 
 King Eodred dies, and the city again plunges into chaos.  The party deals with angry rioters, a few obnoxious imps, and a squad of Hellknights, members of the local mercenary band of the Order of the Nail, who are brutally putting down every rioter in sight with horrific amounts of violence.  The party manages to largely steer clear of the Hellknights, although Aliani sends one of their officers – a dead-eyed Hellknight named Xerxes – chasing after Lamm. 
 Through the chaos in the streets, the party rescues several people – a local fisherman known only as Fishguts Jim from some reefclaws, Nadine - a ballerina who is old friends with Aliani - from some thugs, and Beautrice – Nadine’s twin sister – from the psychotic leader of a street gang known as the Dusters who had burned Beautrice’s face with acid, leaving her gravely ill and on the edge of death. 
 As things begin to calm down, the party is approached by Field Marshall Cressidia Kroft, who is aware of the party’s existence thanks to Vencarlo Orsini as well as Dalen approaching her prior to the riots to offer his services. 
 The Field Marshall is badly overworked, and lacks the resources to attend to a request from Queen Ileosa, namely to see to the safety of the Chelish Ambassador, a woman known only Lady Andaisin.  The ambassador has a small nondescript home in Old Korvosa, and with the riots still ongoing, the party is being asked to find her and escort her to the royal castle for her own protection. 
 Ambassador Andaisin is unharmed, although the party finds her unsetting and suspicious, particularly after noticing that there seems to be blood and signs of a struggle inside the house (seen through the open front door) despite the ambassador claiming nothing happened the previous night.  Nonetheless, the party obediently escort her to the royal palace, where they briefly meet with the ambassador’s old and close friend, Queen Ileosa Arabasti.  The queen thanks the party for their efforts at protecting the ambassador, and offers them a new task – escorting her elven handmaiden Elliana, around the city tomorrow to survey the damage from the rioters and present her with a list of problems the crown could attempt to solve. 
 During the meeting with the queen, Aliani brings up Beautrice’s condition, leading the queen to dispatch her personal physician, Dr. Reiner Davaulus, to attend to her now infected injuries.  Dr. Reiner manages to cure Beautrice, although he is unable to remove the scars left on her face from the acid. 
 While having some misgivings about the entire thing, the party ultimately agrees and returns to the palace the next morning to pick up the curious handmaiden.  The queen’s personal bodyguard Sabrina Merrin, believed to be the city’s most skilled warrior, is very insistent that no harm come to the handmaiden. 
 In the course of escorting the handmaiden around the city, the party comes across the handiwork of the Order of the Nail, in the form of numerous impaled and crucified bodies left in the middle of the street.  They also meet the drunk and demoralized guard sergeant Grau Saldado, eventually managing to convince him to pull himself together for the good of the city despite the horrors he had witnessed the previous evening, both from the rioters and the Hellknights. 
 The tour of Korvosa goes sideways when Aliani suggests to go investigate the suspicious Ambassador Lady Andaisin’s house, which handmaiden Elliana reluctantly but finally agrees to do.
[*}The inside of Lady Andaisin’s house is a death trap full of horrors, including animated furniture that attempts to murder the party (Elliana included), and the re-animated bodies of a kill squad Lamm sent after the ambassador (and surely the source of the blood upstairs that led to this suspicion in the first place).  Worst of all, the party discovers a booby-trapped shrine to Urgathoa, goddess of disease, gluttony, and undeath which ultimately sets the entire house ablaze in an attempt to destroy the evidence.  The party ultimately escapes, but Handmaiden Elliana is badly shaken and vows to inform Queen Ileosa of this discovery. 
 While down in the basement the party also learns a bit about Elliana’s backstory - that she grew up as an orphan on the streets of Westcrown in Cheliax, that she came to Korvosa along with Queen Ileosa and Lady Andaisin, and that she is a worshiper of the Empyean Lord Lorris the Savior Hound (with a small medallion of Lorris tucked under her clothes) 
 On the way back to the palace, the party comes across a group of Hellknights who are publicly executing a group of civilians that they had supposedly caught rioting and looting the previous night.  Handmaiden Elliana marches forward to confront the Hellknights and challenge their legal authority to summarily execute Korvosan citizens, when the whole thing is rendered moot by the arrival of Korvosa’s most famous vigilante and masked hero, Blackjack, who frees the civilians and engages the Hellknights in a duel to keep them busy while the remaining prisoners make good on their escape.  The party aids Blackjack discretely, and Elliana is injured by a stray lightning bolt after she pushes aside a child who would have otherwise been caught in the bolt and killed.  Miraculously, Elliana sustains only minor injuries as well (nothing a few CLW spells can’t fix!), although Sabrina is less than amused when the party arrives back at the palace and Elliana’s injuries are discovered. 
 The party handles various personal business over the next few days, before they again meet with Field Marshall Kroft.  Kroft introduces the party to one of her top detectives, a clean-shaven man named Rhev (who was also a drunk slob, disgraced ex-guardsman, and member of the party in the original timeline).  Rhev had been assigned tracking down Gaedren Lamm, due to his Shudder business, his apparent involvement in Eodred’s death, and his stated intention to lead a revolt against the city’s nobility and topple its government.  Rhev announces that he is looking into several potential leads into Lamm’s business, including references to a “painter” that he apparently used, possibly to poison Eodred.  The trail of evidence Rhev has found so far seems to lead directly back around to Trinia Sabor. 
 Shortly thereafter, the party is invited back to the royal palace for a luncheon with Queen Ileosa.  There the queen presents the party with several personal gifts as a reward for escorting her handmaiden around the city on what the queen felt was a most productive survey.  While there, the party broke the news that they believed King Eodred was murdered via poison, leaving Queen Ileosa distraught as she had apparently been uninformed of Kroft’s suspicions. 
 The topic of Trinia Sabor came up during the conversation, and the party advocated for the girl’s innocence, learning in turn of another possible suspect – King Eodred’s tiefling brother Venster, a quiet embarrassment for the Arabasti family due to his heritage, and thus his somewhat secret existence within the castle.  Investigating Venster’s tower also revealed Trinia Sabor’s work area, where she had indeed been diligently working on a secret painting, still half-finished, commissioned by King Eodred to be a gift for Ileosa, rather than anything illicit. 
 This seemed to be enough to convince the queen of Trinia’s innocence, and ultimately led Silas to petition the queen to protect Trinia, as it was believed she would be better able to protect the girl than Vencarlo.  Wishing Trinia to finish the painting that Eodred had commissioned, Ileosa promised to ensure her safety and asked the party to bring her here, which the party did (over Aliani’s protests). 
 Around this same time, Aliani’s mentor, Haeluna Summersun, had recruited him fully into her secret organization of Milani worshippers.  Aliani reluctantly accepted her offer to become a leader within the movement, and encouraged the party to come with him and meet the other leaders at an upcoming secret meeting.  During this meeting, Gaedren Lamm made an appearance, announcing his intentions to topple Korvosa’s government, and requesting – as a former member of the Milani group – their formal assistance in his revolution.  With Lamm is a certain dead-eyed Hellknight – Xerxes, the same Hellknight Aliani directed to chase after Lamm the night of the riots.  Ultimately, thanks to the party’s arguments, the other Milani leaders voted against supporting Lamm, and the criminal leader stormed off. 
 There were some insinuations from Haleuna  that Gaedren Lamm may in fact be Aliani’s father as he was apparently close with Aliani’s mother several decades ago when he, Haeluna, and Aliani’s mother were all leaders within the Milani group – but no one really believed this to be true. 
 The party has another brief meeting with Queen Ileosa at this point, escorting Trinia Sabor to the palace.  They arrive just in time to overhear the queen formally hiring the Order of the Nail to conduct a series of extensive patrols of the roads outside of Korvosa, which will effectively remove nearly all members of the Order of the Nail from Korvosa for an extended period of time. 
 Shortly thereafter, the party was again approached by Rhev, who had apparently found the drug lab where Gaedren Lamm was currently manufacturing Shudder.  Wanting to shut the drug lab down, Rhev offered the party the opportunity to participate in the bust. 
 The party approached the lab from the sewers, discovering an underground entrance guarded by several wererats.  After a brief fight, the party secured that exit and then decided after barricading the door to go back up and enter the lab from the top rather than this secret underground entrance, believing that with this hidden exit now sealed, anyone inside the lab would be trapped. 
 While the human guards on the ground floor of the lab were easily subdued, what was waiting for the party in the actual lab down in the basement was a much different story.  Here the source of Lamm’s Shudder was revealed – a group of derro, insane little blue men that most believed to be urban legend rather than real.  Their leader, a derro known as Vreeg, wielded a strange artifact he referred to only as The Eye – a literal eyeball impaled upon an iron spike that slowly leaked a black liquid.  While the derro themselves were not that frightful, Vreeg’s pet, a giant cytillipede mutated by Shudder into a fire-breathing abomination that he called Odium, certainly put the party to the test.  Ultimately, Vreeg escaped with the Eye through a tunnel smashed out by Odium, and the badly wounded party elected not to follow the two as they made good their escape. 
 Returning from the drug bust not being a total success, the party yet again gets summoned to the royal palace, only to learn from Sabrina Merrin that Queen Ileosa was missing.  Apparently she had slipped out with her Handmaiden Elliana, obstenibly in order to carry out an ill-conceived plan to hunt down Gaedren Lamm and kill him.  Sabrina asked the party to find the two and convince them to return to the castle before they got hurt.  Worse still, the council of nobles had announced they would be meeting tomorrow to determine the city’s new seneschal, a position with a great deal of influence over confirming Queen Ileosa as the city’s new monarch, or removing her in a favor of a new candidate (and likely sparking a civil war).  The front-runner for that position was currently Chelish Ambassador Lady Andaisin. 
 The party is unable to discover Queen Ileosa’s whereabouts, but they do eventually track down a trail left by her Handmaiden Elliana, a trail leading to Eel’s End and Devargo Bravarsi, King of Spiders.  The good news was that Devargo had established himself as a rival and enemy of Gaedren Lamm’s, and had reached out to the party to meet for discussing a mutually beneficial relationship. 
 With the open invitation to meet, the party is able to be shown into Devargo’s presence with relative ease, and they are eventually able to establish that Handmaiden Elliana had been here as well.  Unfortunately, Handmaiden Elliana had been rather rude to the King of Spiders in demanding information on Lamm’s whereabouts from him, including attempting to charm him.  Devargo had not been amused, and had his pet spiders capture the handmaiden with the intention of teaching her a lesson in respect, although the party was eventually able to convince him that laying a hand on the queen’s personal handmaiden was a *bad* idea. 
 As Devargo was going down into the spider-infested hold to convince his pets to give up their prize, his warship came under attack by water elementals summoned by Lamm, who was seeking to eliminate his rival ahead of a meeting amongst all of the heads of the criminal underworld later that night (Lamm had apparently taken to recruiting the crime lords across the city, having failed to recruit the Milanites). 
 The party battled into the spider-infested hold of the ship has it began to take on water, fighting through several frightened Dream Spiders and invading water elementals, cutting Handmaiden Elliana free and escaping from the hold before it flooded. 
 Undeterred by her near-death experience, Elliana continued to advocate that the party move on to this meeting of the underworld, being held beneath the Kendell Ampitheater, rather than return immediately to the palace.  This resolve softens somewhat when the handmaiden learns why the queen’s immediate return is so pressing (to advocate before the council of nobles tomorrow to try and block Andaisin’s nomination).  Ultimately during this discussion, the handmaiden excuses herself and returns to reintroduce herself to the party sans disguise – as Queen Ileosa Arabasti. 
 Here Queen Ileosa now reveals her reasons for running off alone to attempt to track down Gaedren Lamm – she did not believe that the council of nobles would support her selection for monarch, and she would either be shuffled off into exile or placed in a gilded cage for the winner of the following civil war to claim as a literal trophy wife.  As such, she wanted to do one final good thing for the city – purging it of Gaedren lamm, the murderer of her husband King Eodred. 
 Queen Ileosa also explains that Elliana was a real person, a fellow orphan in Westcrown who looked after her until she disappeared while trying to acquire medicine &amp; food for a gravely ill Ileosa.  Shortly thereafter she was found by Lady Andaisin, leading into her relationship as Andaisin’s pupil.  In memory of Elliana, Ileosa uses her likeness now as a disguise as a way to honor her first friend. 
 Queen Ileosa further reveals the nature of her close relationship with Lady Andaisin.  More than just a mentor, Andaisin created Ileosa the noblewoman – the real Ileosa was nothing more than a commoner street rat from the streets of Westcrown in Cheliax that Lady Andaisin found and adopted.  They came to Korvosa as a pair of grifters, and Ileosa seduced King Eodred into marrying her, and then manipulating him to enact various policies by whispering into his ear – many such policies which were in turn whispered into Ileosa’s ear by Andaisin.  Ileosa’s true nature was therefore a secret which could destroy her if it ever got out, and Lady Andaisin was very much aware of that fact. 
 Despite her misgivings, the party is ultimately able to convince Ileosa to stand against Andaisin at tomorrow’s trial, destroying her candidacy by revealing her status as a worshipper of Urgathoa, technically not illegal within Korvosa but nonetheless strongly frowned upon. 
 Despite the party’s misgivings, Ileosa is eventually able to convince the party to go forward with interfering with Lamm’s meeting with the various Underworld bosses. 
 The party sneaks and fights their way inside to the meeting, overhearing that the reason Lamm has called this meeting to get their assistance and fealty, and to prove his capability of becoming the new overlord of Korvosa’s underworld, he will rob the impenetrable Bank of Abadar, a feat of daring that would certainly prove his skill, if he could pull such an impossible task off. 
 The party then interrupts the meeting, alongside of Blackjack who has also shown up to dispatch Gaedren Lamm.  A fight breaks out, prompting Lamm to reveal a new pet spider infused with Shudder that had acid for venom, but the party succeeds in cutting the criminal mastermind down, only to discover that it is only a derro in magical disguise.  Quite possibly this derro had also been appearing as Lamm during the previous times the party encountered him. 
 As if Blackjack and the party themselves are not enough interlopers to this meeting, another group of cowled and masked spellcasters break into the meeting and start arresting various members of the criminal network.  After convincing them that they were on the same anti-Lamm side, the party learns these cowled figures are a secretive sub-group of Hellknights, the Order of the Eye, essentially a black-ops splinter group of the Order of the Nail who are still operating within Korvosa and chasing after Lamm. 
 While the party is dealing with the secret sect of Hellknights, Ileosa in her Elliana alter-ego is negotiating with one of the crime bosses who has not disappeared into the darkness just yet.  She manages to strike a deal with the representative of the Scarzni at the meeting to come up with a holy symbol of Urgathoa, which she can present tomorrow as fabricated (since everything burned) evidence that Lady Andaisin is a worshipper of Urgathoa. 
 The party eventually manages to extricate themselves and return to the palace with Elliana/Ileosa.  The next morning, they are invited to the council of nobles meeting by Queen Ileosa to watch their fates play out. 
 While intimidated by Lady Andaisin, Queen Ileosa ultimately testifies against her before the council of nobles, explaining the party’s presence as a group of investigators that she hired to look into possible misbehavior by the Ambassador.  What they uncovered, of course, was a bunch of re-animated corpses, along with a shrine to Urgathoa, which the party testified to the council about while Andaisin futilely attempted to deny everything.  Queen Ileosa’s final stroke was the presentation of the (forged by the Scarzni) holy symbol of Urgathoa, which she claimed the party unearthed from the wreckage of Andaisin’s house. 
 Exposed as an Urgathoa, Lady Andaisin is publicly humiliated and quickly voted as dismissed from consideration by the council of nobles.  With a final comment that she was very disappointed in Ileosa, Andaisin stormed out of the meeting, and the discussion turned to other potential candidates. 
 Ultimately, the field of candidates is discarded for one reason or another, and as they near the end of the list Glorio Arkona of House Arkona finally breaks the stalemate by suggesting the mediocre – but neutral to all of the Great Houses – suggestion of Darvayne Amprei as Korvosa’s next seneschal.  Furthermore, in a surprise move, and perhaps inspired by Ileosa’s initiative in exposing Andaisin (although almost certainly due to some ulterior motive), Glorio Arkona further proposes that in order to establish some degree of stability in Korvosa’s usual chaotic succession of rulers, that Queen Ileosa be coronated as Korvosa’s new official monarch.  Amprei as his first action as the newly appointed seneschal agrees, and the motion is swiftly confirmed by the rest of the council – Queen Ileosa will be Korvosa’s next monarch, her coronation to be held one week from now, much to everyone’s surprise. 
 Later that evening, while the party is celebrating their success with stopping Andaisin from becoming the city’s seneschal, they come across a rabble rouser attempting to incite a crowd to riot with the reveal that King Eodred had been murdered (poisoned), a fact which Field Marshall Kroft had been keeping quiet and was going to announce tomorrow.  This rabble rouser, a scummy lawyer named Adonis Kreed, was challenged by the party and verbally thrashed, leading the crowd to abandon Kreed’s idea of marching on the castle to demand answers from the new monarch. 
 The next morning, Field Marshall Kroft approaches the party to formally discuss the matter of King Eodred’s poisoning, which had been confirmed as fact after a second examination by Dr. Reiner.  The second examination had revealed the source of the poison as Reaper’s Kiss, an exotic poison designed to make a slow death appear as a natural decline in health.  Rather than be ingested, the poison is absorbed through the skin, and traces of it were found on Eodred’s fingers, left from frequently handling something that had been coated in the poison repeatedly over the course of weeks or months. 
 This new information casts suspicion on both Queen Ileosa, who had regular access to Eodred, as well as Trinia Sabor who was a painter and thus could easily smuggle the poison into the castle amongst her painting supplies.  With news of Eodred’s death being a murder rather than natural causes going public thanks to the efforts of rabble rouses like Adonis Kreed and others, there is a renewed potential for widespread riots and Kroft is under a tremendous amount of pressure to produce a guilty party to pin the blame for King Eodred’s murder on. 
 In an attempt to help clear their names, Field Marshall Kroft requests the party’s help in convincing Trinia Sabor and Queen Ileosa to talk to her.  They all return to the palace and Kroft interviews Trinia Sabor, leading to the revelation of several more pieces of circumstantial evidence against the painter – namely that her paint supplier had been found dead and had apparently been mixed up with Gaedren Lamm. 
 While this meeting is going on, one of the few remaining maids in the castle, a young woman named Violet, suddenly panics and attempts to flee the party’s presence after she is asked a relatively innocuous question about who was working the night of Eodred’s death. 
 Violet is swiftly apprehended by the party and Kroft, but the strange case takes a horrifying turn as a magical curse begins to cause acid to weep from the girl’s body, nearly killing her and reducing her body into sludge.  Only the party and Kroft’s combined efforts manage to save the girl’s life, and from there they discover that Violet has been put under a Geas through ancient Thassilon runes carved into her skin.  It is suspected that this may be the handiwork of Rolth, a dangerous and deranged necromancer who was imprisoned in Longacre several decades ago, and was believed to be executed . . . or perhaps not. 
 Returning to the original conversation, Kroft also learns of the existence of Venster Arabasti, and investigates his residence inside the tower.  Venster is presently not home, which is quite curious given he was essentially a reclusive shut-in.  Around this time, the party also learns from the maid Violet that she saw Lady Andaisin pay a late night visit to Venster shortly before King Eodred’s death. 
 Lady Andaisin, who is still living in the palace at this point, shows up, refuses to answer any of Kroft’s questions while citing diplomatic immunity thanks to her position as ambassador, and declares that after Ileosa’s betrayal, it’s clear she is unwelcome here and will be leaving to find another private residence.  She then leaves and disappears to some location unknown to the party or Ileosa (and otherwise refuses to elaborate). 
 Later that night Dalen attempts to learn more about the Eye by casting Pagebound Epiphany.  He unexpectedly taps into an ancient trove of Thassilon knowledge about the Eye, claiming it is an ancient evil along with some research notes on the Eye’s involvement in blood magic that result in the transfer of magical traits, along with a seemingly unrelated set of research notes on the existence of parallel dimensions.  Dalen’s research is interrupted by the triggering of an ancient magical booby trap as well, which interrupts his epiphany by casting Phantasmal Killer at him.  Dalen manages to survive relatively unscathed save for some spontaneous bleeding from his right eye, but learns no more about the Eye. 
 Additional research into what Lamm’s planning reveal that he has stolen a cache of weapons from Haeluna’s Milani group, and that he is going to do something at the Longacre Building, the city’s courthouse and civil center, or possibly the Deathshead Vault – the prison beneath Longacre.  This could be a feint to distract from the bank robbery, or his main objective, and the party endeavors to pass along this information to their allies. 
 The party attempts to contact Blackjack by leaving a note at a dead-drop the vigilante had told them to use to get in touch with him.  Said dead-drop is outside Giotorri’s toy shop, and whoever dropped the note off across the street is approached by Pearl and Garnet Giotorri, his “daughters” who despite appearances do not appear to be human.  They are nonetheless friendly and reveal that Blackjack is a “friend of the family”, hence their curiosity before excusing themselves and returning back into the toy shop. 
 The party arrives at Longacre the next morning to find that the building is suspiciously closed, even the areas open to the public.  The party investigates further and discovers that Lamm’s men have taken over the building after entering disguised as guards, and are now holding the civilians inside as hostages.  Blackjack also shows up around this time, explaining that he received their message and that there had been an abortive attempt at robbing the Bank of Abadar just now – a couple men with crossbows running inside the bank and immediately getting taken down by the security.  The bank robbery was the feint and Longacre or the prison beneath it was Lamm’s main objective. 
 Breaking into the employee entrance at the back of the building, the party fights its way through corrupt guards and several Shudder-mutated dogs (Thunder hounds).  Meanwhile, Blackjack breaks into the main courtroom through a skylight and begins fighting the men guarding the hostages there.  The grand melee gets more desperate as a corrupt guardsman named Baldrago who has had several run-ins with the party before now joins the battle as a Shudder-corrupted madman. 
 Baldrago and the corrupt guards are eventually all defeated, saving the hostages and allowing Chief Arbiter Zenobia Zenderholm to emerge from her locked office, which Lamm’s men had been attempting to break into when the party arrived. 
 Several members of the Sable marines, Korvosa’s military arm, also arrive at this point to take control of the scene.  Their commander, Marcus Endrin, is also present and explains he had provided himself and some of his men to the city guard today to serve as a rapid response team – Kroft and the other city guards were on their way over from the Bank of Abadar. 
 While Lamm is not here, it seems he went down into the Deathshead Vault below to stage a prison break of some sort.  The party, Blackjack, and Marcus Endrin descend down into the prison to attempt to find Lamm, despite the fact that the prisoners had been released and were now in a full-on riot. 
 The party deal with a group of prisoners who have taken a some prison guards hostage, along with an acolyte of Pharasma, Kira Nightshade, who was there to provide medical aid.  Blackjack personally rescues the acolyte, earning himself a fangirl in the process.  From Kira and the guards, the party learns that Lamm had passed through here, freeing the prisoners on his way to Cell Block C, only a moderate security portion of the prison rather than Cell Block D where the more dangerous prisoners were kept.  Apparently Lamm is looking for a Professor Hans Leithold, who is an expert of Thassilon lore and its language.  Xerxes the Hellknight was also here, going into Cell Block D to apparently rescue his brother Darius, a notorious gunman and murderer-for-hire.  The party elects to chase after Lamm rather than the disgraced Hellknight. 
 The party catches up with Lamm just as he is breaking into the Professor’s cell and Vreeg unleashes a magical fog that begins to re-animate all of the dead guards and prisoners within Cell Block C into zombies.  Despite planning to get away yet again through a secret derro tunnel, Lamm is caught by Silas and finally killed by the party.  This time it’s apparently the real Gaedren Lamm, although thanks to the fog and the low doses of Shudder he’s been drinking, he gets back up as an undead abomination.  Lamm is quickly killed again for the second and final time shortly thereafter. 
 Despite the party’s best efforts, however, thanks to another appearance by Odium, Vreeg escapes along with the Professor.  Still dealing with the rising undead and with wounded, the party wisely decides not to follow. 
 Searching Lamm’s body, in a concealed pocket the party finds the queen’s brooch, along with a letter written by lamm and addressed “To my Killers”.  The letter is a written confession that Lamm was indeed responsible for poisoning King Eodred, and exposes several other members of the conspiracy.  First, Lady Andaisin as the apparently ringleader of the conspiracy, who provided Lamm with funding along with the queen’s brooch (actually given to her by Queen Ileosa as a gift) as insurance for Lamm’s safety.  Adonis Kreed (contact between Lamm and Andaisin), Haeluna Summersun (provided the poison), and Trinia Sabor (smuggled the poison into the palace) are also listed as members of the conspiracy. 
 With Lamm dead, his revolution is seemingly at an end, although Vreeg is still at large with the Professor.  More troublingly, the party learns from Silas’s daughter Vjala – Blackjack’s mole within Lamm’s organization – that Lamm had discovered some sort of ancient Thassilon weapon and was planning on using it, but needed the Professor to translate the controls. 
 Lamm’s allies are also still in play, as while emerging from Longacre the party overhears Lord Jeggare of House Jeggare berating Field Marshall Kroft over an apparently robbery at his museum, where the thieves stole his owlbear skeleton, which seems like something only a necromancer like Rolth would be interested in. 
 Returning to the palace the party learns that Trinia Sabor has gone missing.  Investigating reveals that it appears she was spirited away from the castle by agents of the Church of Asmodeus, and is now being kept within their great cathedral a short distance away from the castle. 
 Seeking a diplomatic solution, the party returns to the castle to learn that while they were away Queen Ileosa had finally dealt with Ambassador Andaisin.  After learning of her role as head of the conspiracy to murder Eodred, along with the proof via the brooch Ileosa had gifted Andaisin, Ileosa had finally snapped and confronted Andaisin with the evidence personally.  This nearly backfires when Andaisin responds with physical violence, grabbing Ileosa and crushing her Lorris medallion, but Ileosa turns the tables when she reveals that she has spoken with Empress Abrogail Thrune of Cheliax about Andaisin’s worship of Urgathoa.  In response Cheliax has revoked her ambassadorship, and is demanding that she return home immediately, likely to face a heretic’s death.  Or, Andaisin could remain here and be imprisoned from her crimes against Korvosa.  Faced with such a choice, Andaisin chooses quiet exile back to Cheliax over Ileosa’s “mercy” and leaves aboard the Direption which was already in the harbor. 
 The next day, Queen Ileosa, Sabrina, and the party travel to the Cathedral of Asmodeus to negotiate Trinia Sabor’s release.  The high priest of Asmodeus in the city, Ornher Reebs, reveals that they have already extracted a confession from Trinia as to her guilt in Eodred’s death (they are very efficient that way), and threatened that they had a secondary confession which implicated Queen Ileosa as the mastermind for this murder.  In return for ensuring that the confession where Trinia claims she acted alone reaches the Arbiters, the Church of Asmodeus wanted Queen Ileosa to recall the Order of the Nail back to Korvosa. 
 There is some negotiation back and forth for the Church to surrender Trinia into the party’s custody rather than execute her themselves, in return for further concessions from Ileosa, when the negotiations are entirely interrupted by a giant mechanic snake smashing through the roof.  Lamm’s ancient Thassilon weapon has been activated, by Haeluna Summersun, who reveals that she was always on Lamm’s side, and that she was the one who had killed Aliani’s mother, not Lamm (and Aliani’s reason for going after Lamm in the first place). 
 while Haeluna continues to smash up the church, the party attempts to free Sabrina from the rubble as Ileosa runs for safety (Orhner Reebs already having used Word of Recall to escape to elsewhere in the cathedral).  Xerxes the Hellknight and Darius the gunslinger emerge from the metal snake construct to give chase to Ileosa, but are stopped by the party.  Darius shoots Sabrina in the face with a dragon pistol, shredding her face but accomplishing little else but piss her off (thanks to the party’s efforts at freeing her from the rubble, otherwise it would have been a coup-de-grace). 
 Darius falls in battle, alive but left by the party to be dealt with by the Church of Asmodeus.  Xerxes swears revenge and escapes via invisbility. 
 Haeluna manages to snatch up Queen Ileosa in the snake’s mouth and then flies the construct off, kidnapping the queen.  Thanks to magic items produced by Dalen, Sabrina and the party are able to track Queen Ileosa’s location, leading them directly to lamm’s old base of operations within the Grey District, the city’s graveyard. 
 Accompanied by Sabrina and Marcus Endrin, the party finds a way into the Dead Warrens, a network of tunnels beneath the graveyard, through the abandoned tomb of House Poryphia, a disgraced group of nobles who had been banished from Korvosa by King Eodred’s mother Queen Domina. 
 Waiting for the party inside the tomb was more re-animating mist and a large group of exploding skeletons, although with Jeggare’s owlbear skeleton, repurposed by Rolth into a dangerous necrocraft. 
 Overcoming the undead through clever spellwork by Dalen, Aliani’s channeling, and good teamwork (as well as Marcus and Sabrina slaughtering everything that came within reach), the party stands ready to proceed deeper into the tomb, Lamm’s apparent base of operations within the city, seeking Queen Ileosa, Haeluna, and the ancient Thassilon weapon. 
 Moving deeper into the Dead Warrens, the party soon finds itself even further beneath Korvosa, in the underground region known locally as “the Vaults”.  These ancient sewers and tunnels were made by parties unknown, with the extremely dangerous monsters living this far beneath the city making it difficult for scholars to make much progress in determining this information.  However, the primary theory is that these were made by the servants of Runelord Sorshen, who ruled over this land many thousands of years ago.  This theory seems to be correct as the party discovers a sanctuary and laboratory built by Sorshen. 
 Sorshen’s laboratory, although haunted by some sort of psychic remnant, seems to finally offer a plausible cause for the multiverse hopping that has brought the party together – Sorshen was experimenting with a tenth-level spell to allow for multiversal travel.  How this travel was accomplished, why she was researching such a thing, and what relevance this discovery from the ancient past has on your current situation all remain shrouded in mystery. 
 Beyond the laboratory, the party discovers the hangar containing the ancient Thassilon snake construct that Sorshen had built, and Haeluna has co-opted, along with Queen Ileosa who is narrowly evading discovery and capture by Vreeg and Haeluna. 
 The party ambushes Vreeg after reuniting with Ileosa, slaying the derro leader and escaping from pursuing derro reinforcements through an illusionary doorway to an even deeper still part of Sorshen’s hidden laboratory.  What other strange secrets await discovery? 
 After navigating a series of traps, the party comes to a final strange puzzle set as a challenge by apparently Sorshen herself.  Evidentially the ancient Runelord had anticipated the party's arrival here, as the challenge was a scale balanced against three concerns - What the Party Served, What the Party Feared, and What the Party Hoped to Save.  Small stone and metal figurines lined up small recessed alcoves along the walls near the scales, depicting a wide variety of gods, beasts, and men . . . including the party members themselves, locked in battle against a figurine of Queen Domina - not Ileosa - perched upon the Crimson Throne.  Ultimately the party figures out the puzzle, and unlocks the door to a treasure vault prepared for them by Sorshen, along with what passes for an operations manual for the ancient Thassilon construct that Haeluna put to used in severely damaging the Cathedral of Asmodeus. 
 Upon attempting to leave the vault, the party was again accosted by Haeluna, this time with the Eye.  Replacing one of her eyes with the Eye itself, Haeluna was transformed into a terrible amalgamation of flesh and plant, speaking in a voice not her own as she taunted the party with their inevitable defeat. 
 Despite her boasts and terrifying power, the party is ultimately victorious over Haeluna, although almost at the cost of one of their own left clinging at death's door.  The way is now clear to finally leave the tomb, returning Queen Ileosa to the city and preparing for new threats now that Gaedren Lamm's legacy seems to finally be extinguished . . . although a few very important loose ends remain to be solved, including the fate of Trinia Sabor. 
 
 
Inspectre
   Interlude I: Of Embers Extinguished in Blood   
 Theme Music 
 Ileosa strides through the twisting corridors of Castle Korvosa, making her way up from the treasure vaults down in the basement towards the royal bedroom.  Dimly, she is aware that she must be dreaming, reliving the events of that awful night when her world was turned upside down.  But the rush of emotions from that night quickly wash away any rational objections to being here again.

The surge of confidence which she had felt upon first leaving the secret treasure vault that had contained the strange crown she now wore was gone, replaced by a growing unease as she walked through a castle gone mad.  Servants ran back and forth through the halls with a panicked urgency with seemingly no actual destination in mind, save to flee.  Several crashed into her as they hustled away, nearly knocking her over as they staggered and kept moving, either not recognizing her or not caring in their haste to get away from the castle.  Ileosa already knew through her linked pendant that her husband, King Eodred Arabasti the 2nd, was dead but nothing could have prepared her for this level of chaos.  Desperate to return to her husband's side so that she could honor his last request to bring the crown now on her head back to him, Ileosa hurried onward, not stopping to reprimand the careless servants nor attempt to bring them back in control of themselves . . . and she wasn't entirely sure they would have listened to her anyway.

Another sense of deja vu washes over Ileosa as she nears the top of the castle and comes to stand in front of the large window looking out over Korvosa.  She would sometimes come to this window at night to look out over the entire city and marvel at all the little warm lights glowing across the city, each one coming from a streetlamp or the window of a home.  It was comforting to look out at all those countless tiny markers of lives lived beyond the gilded cage that kept Ileosa apart from them, and idly speculate on what sort of details made up their relatively peaceful lives.

But there was no comfort forthcoming from that window now, for the peaceful scene of Korvosa at night had been transformed into a scene of horror.  Korvosa was burning.  The countless warm lights spread out over the city had been replaced with the dancing light of fires burning in the streets, and even from so far away Ileosa could still hear the cries echoing out over the city - "The King is dead!  Down with the Whore Queen!"  She had stood transfixed before that window, gazing helplessly out at the devastation before her for an unknown amount of time before Sabrina had found her, her bodyguard's armor stained with the blood of the dozen men - Lamm's men - she had slaughtered outside Eodred's bedroom while she was away in the treasure vault.

Sabrina does not appear this time, stepping out of an adjourning hallway - instead it is Eodred himself, impossibly alive again albeit with his face now heavily scarred and missing his right eye.  Ileosa ran to him all the same, arms outstretched in relief to embrace him - perhaps this was not such a terrible dream after all!  Ileosa's hopes of such are immediately dashed, however, when Eodred raises a hand as if in greeting - only to bring it crashing down in a hard, open-handed slab to Ileosa's face!  Ileosa crumbles from the blow, her left cheek stinging in pain as she blinked and gasped, more from the shock than the actual pain.  Eodred had at the start of their marriage been coldly indifferent to her, but he had never raised a hand against her.  And while even before his sickness he had been a bit feeble with age, he could always have had other people inflict pain on her if that is what he had desired.

 "Why!?" 

Ileosa cries out, looking up at her former husband in pained confusion.  The king merely offers his hand down to her, helping to pull her back up onto her feet.

 "A sovereign does not beg or plead." 

Eodred intones.  And then he hits her again, another stinging slap to her other cheek that again sends her crashing to the floor.

 "A sovereign commands and is obeyed." 

Both cheeks stinging now, Ileosa blinks away the tears coming unbidden to her eyes as she glares up at Eodred now, as the former king offers her his hand again.

 "Stop it!" 
 "Make me stop." 
 Theme Music 

Again Eodred drags her back up to her feet and again pulls a hand back to slap her for a third time, but this time Ileosa is ready.  Twisting her wrist of his grip, she raises both arms up in front of her face, blocking Eodred's blow with her forearms.  He was strong, impossibly strong, as the impact sent numbing shockwaves trembling up and down her forearms, and Ileosa is sent stumbling backward away from him - but she keeps her footing and remains upright.  The two monarchs, past and present, stand glaring at each other for a moment, and then Eodred seems to nod his head ever so slightly in satisfaction.  He turns away from her, gesturing to the window overlooking a burning Korvosa.

 "Your people are dying.  Even now, their bonds fray and splinter, their fealty melting away before the flames of rebellion.  Without a firm hand to lead them, they will shatter completely." 
 "No!  We stopped Lamm!  He- 
 "Was merely a symptom of a broken society.  Without a strong arm to guide them, the people will elect another to take his place.  Your city will continue to burn, until all that remains is ash and sorrow.  
 “I will not let that happen!  I will do whatever I have to, in order to save this city and its people!  To keep them safe from Lamm and whoever would try to follow in his footsteps!  I will pay whatever price I must!" 
 "This is not something that can be solved by money or tears.  Without a strong will to command them, the people will inevitably seek to follow their own self-destructive desires, to the doom of all.” 
 “I said that I would pay whatever price I must!  If I have to shed my own blood, down to the last drop to save them then I shall do it!  Just tell me what I must do!” 

Here, Eodred seems to lose his patience a bit, as he slams his fist into the stone sill of the window, cracking it.  Ileosa flinches at the crack of stone, her cheeks starting to sting again in sympathy.

 "I told you before, a sovereign commands, she does not beg and plead!  Blood and fear is the only thing that will hold the chaos back, and that is not a price that you yourself can pay." 

Ileosa loses her own temper here, grabbing Eodred by the shoulder and spinning him around to face her directly.

 "Then how am I to save the city, if not through my own tears, sweat, and blood!?  I have no army I can employ to enforce my will upon the people!  They will only do whatever I can convince them to do for themselves!  And given the lack of respect most have for me, I cannot even manage that much most of the time!  If you think you have all the answers, then tell me what they are!  What am I supposed to do!?" 

Eodred simply gazes intently at her for a moment, but just as she is about to look away, no longer able to meet that intense one-eyed stare, he speaks again, as if explaining the simplest concept to a child.

 "A sovereign commands.  If you do not have those who will obey, then find them." 

Ileosa considers the straightforward instruction for a moment, pondering the implications, and then shakes her head.  She turns to look back out the window at the burning city with a mounting sense of hopelessness as she is trapped between what she wishes to be and what the city needs her to be.

 "I do not want others to bleed and shed blood on my behalf!  If there is such a price to be paid in order for my city to be safe, then let me pay it alone!  I do not wish to be that kind of sovereign, that forces others to obey at the point of a sword! 

And here Eodred gives a rasping, mocking laugh.

 "You do not have a choice.  Either you will find others who will obey your will, or you will watch as your city splits apart and consumes itself in the fires of civil war.  A sovereign commands, she does not beg or plead.  If you cannot do even that much, then throw your crown away for someone worthy to take it up in your place, and return to the filth from whence you came, street rat." 

That final insult brought the unpleasant memories of Ileosa’s true childhood flooding back to the forefront of her mind.  Of scraping by through begging for food, of hungry and cold nights on the streets of Westcrown in Cheliax, and countless days spent huddled out of sight for fear that being seen would mean enslavement or worse.  And then memories of that insult being used by her mentor Andaisin during moments of particular cruelty, promising to return her to the streets from whence she came if she could not be molded into a proper lady after all.

Gritting her teeth, Ileosa forced those bad memories away with more recent ones.  The eventual warmth Eodred showed, at least in private, after their heart-to-heart conversation in the garden.  Sabrina’s strength and ever-present concern over her wellbeing.  And her friends, who had fought through Lamm and other untold horrors to save her time and again.  Together, surely they could accomplish a miracle and save this city without having to break it!

 “I will find a way to save this city, even from itself!  I will stitch its disparate pieces together with the desire for the common good!  There must be other people in this city that do not wish to see this city burn!  I will find them all, and together we will –“ 

Again, the voice interrupts her a final time, but this time it is merely a fading echo for as she turns to glare at Eodred she finds that he is gone.

 “Fool.  A sovereign commands, for a sovereign stands alone.” 

A moment later, the progression of events continued as they had in the past, as a blood-stained Sabrina charges in from the adjourning hall.  Her bodyguard rushes over to her, checking her for injuries while scolding her for running off by herself again, a familiar refrain that manages to chase away some of the chill left by the false Eodred.

Then at her orders, the bodyguard escorts her back to the royal bedroom.  They have to step over the bodies littering the hallway, but this time Ileosa does not struggle to keep her stomach from roiling, nor stop to check whether any of them are still alive.

Then they reach the royal bedroom, where she finds Eodred in his bed, thin arms folded on his chest as if merely asleep.  While Sabrina had dealt with all the would-be assassins, someone else – whether a missed member of Lamm’s men or a vengeful servent – had come into the room and scattered a dozen dead stirges onto the bed around him.  The Stirge King was what some had called Eodred, sucking the life out of the city with spendthrift policies so that he could hoard all the wealth for himself.  It had never occurred to them, nor the one responsible for this, that Eodred’s spendthrift policies were to recover the treasury after his beloved mother Domina’s economic policies had led to a great boom in the city’s fortunes – but had left the crown dangerously far in debt to various other noble houses.

Tears coming back to her eyes at the disrespectful sight, Ileosa repeated history as she went over to the bed and knelt down, carefully brushed the desiccated bodies of the striges aside and untangling their claws from Eodred’s hair.

 “I will save this city, beloved.  I swear it!” 

Queen Ileosa promised Eodred’s corpse, replaying her conversation with the imposter over and over in her mind with newfound determination to prove him wrong.  She would do whatever she had to in order to save Korvosa, pay any price.  And woe be to whoever dared to place themselves in Lamm’s shoes next!
 

------------------------------------------------------

 Theme Music 

In her private quarters below decks on the Direption, now a full day out from Korvosa, Andaisin languidly watches a small spider scuttle its way down from its web in a dark corner and start across a beam in her general direction.  Apparently, it was having little luck in catching prey with its web, and so was now going out on a hunt.  Andaisin watched it until it made it about halfway to her before she grew bored and decided to solve its hunger for it – reaching under her dress to brush her fingers across her symbol of Urgathoa, she unleashed the slightest wave of the negative energy her patron granted her.  Immediately the spider curled up and rolled off the side of the beam, falling to the floor without a sound.  One vermin down, at least.

But this small rebalancing of the scales between life and death didn’t even move her to a smile.  A reckoning of her own was coming due, although it would be yet weeks or even months before she actually arrived back in Egorian.  To have a final interrogation by Her Imperial Magestrix and her torturers as to what exactly she had been up to in Cheliax’s wayward colony-turned-trading partner, and why she thought a filthy heretic was worthy of representing the mighty empire as its ambassador.  There would be no acceptable answers to give that would not end with her being burned alive as a heretic, assuming she was even permitted to do more than mewl, moan, and scream as the torturers took care of the preliminaries prior to that final blaze of dishonor.

But at least it would be a private affair, as Her Imperial Magestrix would not wish to appear a fool who did not properly vet her ambassadors to the people of Cheliax.  Staying in Korvosa would have meant much the same fate in the end, but the preamble would be even more torturous and degrading, as she would no doubt have been paraded in front of the masses by her treacherous protégé.  Come see the wicked Urgathoite, the disgraced ambassador who conspired to murder your king!  Pay no attention to the street rat whore she raised to become your queen!  The low-brow filth of Korvosa deserved their new low-born sovereign, and Andaisin’s only regret was that she would not get to watch them march hand-in-hand to the ruin they all so richly deserved!

The faintest squeak of a loose board outside her dingy quarters on this floating vermin nest stirred Andaisin from her latest daydream of that eventual day of ruin for that damnable city and its disgusting denizens.  While not fully aware of her situation, the crew did know that she was an ambassador being called back to Egorian, and thus was not likely long for this world.  She had left the door to her quarters unlocked in the hope that one dark night one of the crewmen would attempt to take advantage of the situation . . . and much like the spider in its web, give her one last good meal to slake her thirst for death before the end.  But to Andaisin’s surprise, the door swung open a moment later to reveal not a drunken sailor not long for this world, but an unexpected old acquaintance.

 “You!” 

Andaisin hissed, swinging herself up off the bed and onto her feet as she lunged at the figure of her own patron, the liaison to the dissatisfied nobles who had approached her with the idea of replacing Eodred sooner than planned.  Those promises of greater wealth and power than she had ever dreamed were all but ashes now, and as she closed in Andaisin intended to repay this provocator in kind and in full as she breathed the words to her deadliest spell.  It was Andaisin’s second surprise of the night when this seemingly pompous mouthpiece nobody sidestepped her outstretched hand, drove their fingers into her throat, and then spun a leg around up into the side of her head, sending her crumbling back onto her narrow cot wheezing for breath.

 “Is that any way to greet a friend, Lady Andaisin?  I thought you at least would know better than to bite at the hand that fed you, unlike certain other members of your inner circle who have already reaped the whirlwind.”
 
Recovering her breath enough for another spell, Andaisin wheezes through the words as she stretches out her hand again, this time filling the doorway and hallway outside her quarters with summoned hellfire.  She does not see her patron-turned-assailant emerge from the flames, but a moment later there is a hard blow to the back of her head and a vice grip around the wrist of her outstretched hand.  Her arm is twisted painfully behind her back as another hand on the back of her neck forces her face down into the ratty blanket of her bed.

 “If you think continuing to attack me is going to result in a fast death for you, I’m afraid you are gravely mistaken.  If you attempt to cast one more spell in my presence, I will simply beat you into bloody unconsciousness, and leave you to the tender mercies of Cheliax’s witch-hunters!” 

Her patron hissed into her ear, and then relented their grip on the back of Andaisin’s neck by a few inches.

 “Or, you can sit here and listen to my alternate proposal like a reasonable human being.  Nod if you understand!”
 
Andaisin briefly considered simply releasing her negative energy aura to its fullest extent, but after the previous two displays she wasn’t entirely sure that her patron didn’t possess a counter to that as well.  So after a moment to consider her non-existent options, Andaisin reluctantly nodded and was hauled back up into a sitting position.  Her former patron sat next to her on the bed, head held close to hers as if they were lovers sharing a private conversation – but Andaisin’s arm was kept twisted behind her back.

 “Now then.  I have come to offer you an alternative choice to the one put to you by our new queen – a third choice if you will.  I will not insult your intelligence by claiming that this new offer will advance your station, nor even restore it to what it was before – you’ve managed to screw that up beyond repair I’m afraid.  No, in all likelihood at the end of this you will still be dead – but you won’t be going into the arms of your Goddess alone.  Before that inevitable moment comes, I am offering you a chance at revenge – against your treacherous protégé, against the interlopers who turned her against you, against the common filth of Korvosa who rejected you simply because of your Goddess.  Is that something that might interest you?”
 
Andaisin’s nod was much quicker this time, and given with a bloody grin as her renewed patron released her arm.

 “Good.  Now then, we will speak on this matter at length once we’ve arrived back in port.  I imagine that the current crew will object to our new destination, however.  Would you mind convincing them to join our cause?  I understand that you have a bit of a specialty in that area of expertise.” 

Her bloody grin only growing wider, Andaisin rose from her bed and strode out into the hallway, where the first sailors were finally arriving to investigate the noise from her aborted rebellion against her patron.  It did not take long for the screams to start.
Inspectre
 Returning Characters – Aliani, Dalen, Bellinda 
 Theme Music 

The new world you find yourselves in settles into existence around you quite rapidly, although your new memories are a few moments in catching up this time.  The result is an unevenness to your perception, as if looking at the world underworld – while standing on the prow of a boat rocked by waves.  The queasy sensation this leaves you with slowly begins to fade as you look around and see familiar touchstones with where you were moments ago.

Haeluna is still dead, lying over there in a pool of . . . well, the melted away ectoplasm and the foul-smelling black liquid taint could either of them hardly be counted as her blood, but it was the closest word for it.  Dalen is still lying next to her in a pool of his own decidedly-still-normal blood, although at least he is still breathing.  Ileosa is lying on the floor a little more than ten feet away, near to Sabrina, unconscious but not bleeding at all despite Haeluna’s threats.  As your memories filter in, your lives are thankfully all pretty close to exactly the same as they were before, sans a few minor differences such as what you had for breakfast this morning.

But there are some differences too – such as Silas and Marcus are missing.  Your new memories soon explain their absence, as Silas remained behind with Cressida Kroft to try and convince the Asmodeans to release Trinia Sabor over continuing to use her as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the queen – which Haeluna interrupted with an attack on the cathedral.  Marcus still came to the tomb with you, but in a seemingly heads-to-tails coin flip change, decided to remain topside to await the inevitable arrival of a whole lot of pissed Pharasman clerics and guardsmen.  Magenta is gone entirely from your experiences in this world, evidentially having never met up with your group at all – and therefore, her fate remains unknown to you.

There are a few new additions to your group as well – a dark-haired half-elf magus called Rina (NPC) who seems to be a grim woman of few words but has occasionally displayed an unusual and frankly a bit alarming skill at magic far beyond your own abilities, and a dark-skinned man with fiery (almost quite literally) red hair named Jeqem (razorfloss) who hasn’t yet revealed much of his own past and motivations to the group but is a fellow worshipper of Sarenrae who Bellinda has seen at the temple several times, and seems to have shared your hatred of Lamm and his efforts to bring Korvosa crashing down into anarchy.

Both of their skillsets proved quite helpful in putting Haeluna down in this world, as without Silas’s steadfast armor and own cold-iron blade her pet plant abomination was considerably better able to defend Haeluna.  However, just as against cold-iron there was little it could do, Jeqem’s summoned flame blade likewise proved adept at hacking through the brambles to strike Haeluna directly.  Rina, meanwhile, was slower than the rest of you in coming around from the nightmare visions, seeming to have a severe traumatic reaction to whatever she saw as she shrank back and cowered away from Haeluna even after regaining control of her body.  She came literally roaring back into the fight with a vengeance a few moments later, however, as she unleashed a simultaneous barrage of three Scorching Rays into the writhing mass of plant ectoplasm and ex-human flesh.  Ultimately, you again prevailed over the corrupted beast that had once been Aliani’s mentor and surrogate mother, but again almost at the cost of Dalen’s life.

 Aliani 
 Theme Music 

Looking down at the battered remains of your former mentor, your relief that it’s over without anyone else dying by her hand is tempered by your sorrow that it was necessary at all.  It still was difficult to believe that this woman who had supported you, encouraged you, and pulled you from the depths of despair had been the same one who had pushed you down into it by murdering your mother.  Her own friend of many years – it still made no sense why she had done it in the first place, but with everyone dead from that original group – Rose, Haeluna, and even Gaedren Lamm - it seemed unlikely you would ever learn what had happened between them.

But maybe now with all of the old guard of Milani worshippers in Korvosa dead, it didn’t really matter who had hurt who, and what had driven Haeluna and Gaedren to become monsters.  Perhaps in death, and with the Everbloom’s blessing, there could even be healing and eventual life anew on the barren fields they had left behind.  Whatever her motivations had been for helping you, whether sinister or a twisted attempt at redemption, Haeluna had given you that gift already.  The barren ground left by your mother’s passing has started to become overgrown with new companionship, belonging, and a burgeoning sense of purpose – and it was Haeluna who had first planted those seeds, and convinced you to water them.

 Unbidden, a memory bubbles up to the forefront of your mind, a dismal day that started much like any other in those bleak several months following your mother’s death.  It had finally become clear to you that the city guard Just. Didn’t. Care. about your mother’s death, and this first lesson in how justice was conducted in Korvosa left you broken.  You had not been taking good care of yourself in the weeks leading up to this, but now you simply spent all of your time lounging in your bed in your dingy apartment, staring at the ceiling and largely debating between attempting to find and kill Gaedren yourself (likely suicide) or simply cutting out the middle man and doing it yourself.

Not even bothering to knock on the ratty door to your rathole of an apartment, Haeluna let herself in with the key she had “borrowed” from you few weeks earlier.  Walking up to the side of your bed, she abruptly declared that the day was too young to waste on sleep, and that a youngling such as yourself needed sunlight just as much as any other sprout.  When you had sullenly – and rather rudely – told her to get lost, and that you were staying right here in bed today, she had produced a small watering can.  And following an announcement that if you were going to stay planted, then she might as well water you, Haeluna turned the watering can upside down and started sprinkling water all of you and the bed.

*That* got you up, and with a bit more cajoling Haeluna had convinced you that she needed help in her flower shop today, and you were the only person she could count on to know the difference between a rose and a tulip.  There was more back and forth arguing on just how useful a starving artist and failed son could be, but eventually she got you down to the flower shop to work the counter and talk to some of her customers.  That was the day you met Nadine, as she came in to buy some fresh flowers to wear in her hair during a street performance.

She was the most beautiful woman you had ever seen – and you wanted nothing to do with her.  But of course Haeluna couldn’t resist meddling and dragged her over to you and insisted that her “little nephew” was the most brilliant floral decorator in the city.  You sort of stumbled through the sale, picking out several colorful flowers with long flat stems that would be easy to weave into her hair, but (in hindsight) completely blew off her (flirting) attempt to convince you to show her how to do so by weaving the flowers in yourself.

The following day, the cycle repeated itself, although at least this time Haeluna hadn’t actually needed to douse you with the watering can, merely threaten to do so.  And yet again the same gorgeous woman came into the store and wanted you to pick out some colorful flowers to weave into her hair for an upcoming street performance.  You were more than a little annoyed that this woman had seemingly forgotten what you had just told her yesterday, and said as much at her face.  Which got you an invitation to join her for an early dinner at a nearby cafe as an apology, which you again were about to rebuff when Haeluna suddenly announced that was perfect because she was closing early!

Outnumbered and betrayed, you sullenly gave in to the request, only to wonder if you were drunk or dreaming when one beautiful woman with flowers woven into her hair multiplied into two almost perfectly identical copies.  And that was your first real introduction to the twin sisters of Beautrice and Nadine, although it would be another year before you became co-performers in a small production, and several years more before you became . . . well . . .but it had all sprouted from that little seed of effort Haeluna had planted. 

In more than one way, you would not be here today without her, and perhaps that was the better way to hold her memory than the twisted broken tangle of hatred and ambition that lay before you now.

 Dalen 
 
 Spoiler: Dreams 

 Theme Music 
 They say that your life flashes before your eyes before you die.  You have always found that saying a bit of oversimplified tripe – Pharasma certainly didn’t need a hasty repeat of a person’s life to remember what they did prior to judgement, and a person’s dying brain was hardly likely to scroll back through everything that person had done as a refresher prior to that sentencing either.  You are annoyed to learn that saying is in fact true to an extent, but even more galling is that your own brain has managed to utterly fail to keep things in a tidy order for you.  Instead of a neat and orderly retread through your life, you fall down through a jumbled maelstrom of conversations and impactful moments of your life.

 
 There’s your first meeting with the queen – in her disguise of her handmaiden – outside the Kendall Ampitheater.  “Elliana Guildenstern.  I had thought it would be safe enough for me to attend a performance at the Kendall Amphitheater without an escort.  Apparently I was wrong.” 
 Then you’re back in the Acadamae, studying for your final on Enchantment magic.  Your instructor, a stern experienced mage from Cheliax who went by the name of Terentius, was quite hard to please, and despite all your hard work it was starting to look like you were going to be in the half of the class that was going to be cut.  There had to be an easier way to convince Old Terentius you were worthy of remaining at the Acadamae . . . and then it came to you.  The simplest, most straightforward solution – Charm Person, that was an Enchantment spell, one you had studied in-depth in this very class, hadn’t you? 
 Back to the future, yet another argument with Aliani, this time in All the World’s Meat, in front of Verik Vancaskerkin, no less.  Wait . . . Aliani hadn’t been there when you and Silas went in and cleared out the butchery of Lamm’s men, who had discovered Verik was actually working as a double-agent for Kroft, and . . . oh damnit, this was a memory from your home timeline, the one where you and Aliani and Silas had first stepped into this mess, though it was still unclear to you what had caused the three of you to be . . . selected? . . . for this nonsense.  Damn, this is going to get confusing very quickly if your brain kept- 
 Back to your teenage years, the day when you first joined the Acadame.  You were shown into a slightly younger Toff Ornelos’s office to sign the official papers marking you as a full-time student of the Acadamae.  As you were signing the papers, a burr on Toff’s pen had nicked your thumb, causing a single drop of blood to leak through your skin and drip onto the signed contract.  Toff had apologized profusely for the minor injury, promising to dispose of the defective pen and reassuring you that despite the bloodstain your papers were still valid.  It had been such an inane moment that you had put it out of mind and forgotten all about it until your dying brain had dredged it up.  Now, with what you know, this brief interaction with the Acadamae’s headmaster didn’t seem so banal and benign. 
 Forward again, and forward to yet another world you had traveled through . . . you were going to need to start labeling these damn things with some sort of nomenclature before they all started to run together in your mind, much as was happening here.  Here you are gathered at Aliani’s house with Silas, and Jakkin, and that Hellknight fellow, what had his name been again . . . oh yes, Gavin Dimir.  Elliana had just transformed herself back into Queen Ileosa, confirming your suspicions of such, and goes on to tearfully hand you all the means to destroy her politically – ““Everything I told you that day in Ambassador Andaisin’s basement is true. I was born an orphan on the streets of Westcrown. I would have died an orphan if not for the kindness of three people – the acolyte of Lorris the Savior Hound who gave me this medallion, my good friend Elliana – whose face and name I now use as a disguise to honor her memory – and . . . Lady Andaisin.” 
 Back now to your Acadamae days, although this is again all the way back to your original world.  You can’t quite recall now what you had done exactly that had pissed Gaedren Lamm off, but he had framed you by planting a few doses of Shiver, Pesh, and other illegal drugs into your dorm room at the Acadamae.  You were now being hauled into the Headmaster’s office, and as you passed by a shield emblazoned with the Acadamae’s heraldry, your hyper-active brain now notices something on the replay ( DC 20 Int check passed! )  There in the heraldry, concealed by all the noise of arcane sigils and imps wrestling with pseudodragons and all that was the same sigil of your infernal patron, as revealed by Sorshen’s little figurines.  It made sense, really, given the Acadamae’s heavy leaning on Infernal Conjuration, but here was actual proof of the connection!  And perhaps, a further lead on tracking down your elusive patron, given it was highly unlikely that you were the only so “blessed” wizard who had attended the Acadamae. 
 Forward again to the council meeting of the city’s noble houses, to select a new seneschal.  Bolstered by your group’s urgings to ensure Andaisin did not become seneschal despite being the front-runner (although you had suggested that the queen should play along with Andaisin to buy more time rather than force a direct confrontation now), Ileosa had “betrayed” her former mentor by exposing her position as an Urgathoite to the council.  *That* had quickly led to her being rejected for the position of seneschal, and a spineless-weasel-bureaucrat by the name of Darvayne Amprei to be selected instead.  For a moment from the way her eyes bored through your soul, you had half-expected Andaisin to start casting spells in an effort to kill you all right there in the council chambers, but she had merely stormed off . . . although it occurs to you now that someone had tipped the Asmodeans off that Trinia Sabor was in the castle, and Andaisin had seen Trinia during one of her luncheons with the queen. 
 

And then you are somewhere else entirely.  For just a moment in your muddled state, you feel a sharp stab of fear that with the jumbled replay of your life now over, you were in the Boneyard – Pharasma’s realm.  It was certainly dark enough to be the end of the line – impenetrable shadows surrounded you on all sides, although you could just barely make out the faintest light burning in the distance off to your right.  With that as your only landmark to reference, you set off towards it, no longer moving at the speed of thought but actually slowly walking across stone, judging from the sound of your footsteps – wait, ghosts made footstep sounds?  Now and then you hear the rattle of chains in the darkness around you, and harsh whispers that echo and bounce out of the shadowy darkness – more replayed conversations from your life, albeit some of the far more sinister ones.
 
 ”Bull fighting, you say?  Shall we test that theory, master wizard?” 
 “Dance about on the strands of the infinite web as much as you wish, insect, but know that you will still learn as she did that the future is immutable!” 
 ”Glitter?  Is that the full sum of your arcane strength, Master Wizard?” 
 ”The story changes but the end remains.  And no mortal, god, or meddling little runelord can scour away what has already been written.  You will fail.  You will *always* fail.” 
 

Finally, you reach the source of the light that has acted as your goal, only to be greeted by another enigma.  Waiting for you within the circle of light there is no grand throne with the Goddess of Fate itself perched atop it, merely a drab stone table above which hang a dozen or more chessboards from chains in a scattered, haphazard fashion ascending up into the darkness.  The table itself is surrounded by a ring of eight high wooden chairs that stand empty – save for one.

Seated in one of the chairs across the table from you is a slumped figure, their features entirely obscured from you by a crimson-colored cowl.  Thick black metal chains criss-cross over themselves all up, down, and around the figure, turning the cowl into almost more of a funerary shroud.  Only one hand remains free to flit to-and-fro over the one chessboard currently sitting on the table in front of the figure, although the quiet clatter of chains at each movement of the figure’s hand and occasional slips of the one still-free corner of the cowl from the hand it conceals offer glimpses of a thick shackle locked around a slender wrist.  Above the figure at the top of its chair is affixed a small, faded bronze plaque that has almost had its face corroded and scoured away entirely, although with considerable difficulty you manage to make out the Thassilon runes that label the chair’s occupant – and somehow understand them to mean “Love &amp; Fertility”.  As you step into the circle of light, the cowled figure wearily raises its head as much as the chains will allow, revealing the next layer of obscurement - an ornately detailed porcelain mask that despite its artistic painted swirls and embedded gemstones only gives the vaguest impression of a feminine face.  With a quiet clatter of chains, the figure raises its shackled-yet-free hand up in front of the mask, extending one gloved finger up to tap its lips – sshhh – and then points at the chair across from her, with its back directly to you.

Cautiously you circle around the table partway towards the strange figure, and see that there is not one being seated at the table after all, but two.  Seated across the table from the masked prisoner of “Love &amp; Fertility” is an amorphous mass of shadow, a single eerie cobalt blue eye burning from atop the vaguest sense of a sinuous neck, its focus seemingly on “up” at the array of chessboards hanging from chains above the table.  The chair that it is presently “sitting” in is more a battered mass of splinters than a functional piece of furniture, barbed chains also looped around the wooden frame but here seeming to be more holding it together than binding the shadow in place.  The bronze plaque above it reads “Toil &amp; Prosperity” but the plaque has been nearly pried out of the wood entirely, and around it two fresh words have been harshly scoured into the wood, over and over again in an overlapping infinity-esque helix – “Suffering &amp; Fear”.

  “Take your best shot, Pretender.”  

The shadow booms, chortling a bit at something only it could see in the shadows above the table, beyond the hanging chessboards.  Clearly it was distracted by whatever it was watching . . . although a twisted knot sinking to the bottom of your stomach suggests that you know exactly what it’s watching right now.  Continuing to try to take advantage of its distraction, “Love &amp; Fertility” beckons you over with a crooked finger, and then points at the chair nearest to you currently, almost exactly halfway between the two occupied chairs at the near end of the table – this one labeled clearly as “Succession &amp; Ash” by the bronze plaque on the back of the chair. With only the logic of a dream to guide you and the cowled figure’s emphatic finger pointing, you carefully slip around the chair and sit down at the table.

Now seated, you can clearly make out the details of the chessboard laid out on the table between the two opposing forces . . . and that the pieces are the same figurines as you saw before the treasure vault.  It’s clear now also that this was not a match of chess, for no match of chess was ever this lop-sized, a handful of sparkling white marble pieces scattered across the board, each surrounded on all sides by half a dozen or more times their number of opponents cast in obsidian.  Your eyes are drawn to the largest concentration of white figures that appear to have cornered one black piece at the edge of the board – sure enough, those are the figurines of you and your allies, surrounding Haeluna.  As you watch, the cowled figure directs Aliani’s figurine, not so much by touching it with gloved fingers as you first thought but merely gesturing and sliding the piece over into contact with Haeluna via telekinesis.

  “Well done, Pretender.”  

The shadow grunts as Haeluna’s figure topples, striking the chessboard and not so much shattering as splattering open, dark ichor bursting out to form an inky pool around the broken figurine.  As the shadow continues to prattle on about the inevitability of your demise, the cowled figure hastily dips a fingertip into the ichor and paints a wide circle around one of the few marble figurines standing at a distance away from your group – the same strange tattooed man you had seen as multiple figurines in multiple scenes outside the treasure vault.  After inscribing the circle in gore, the cowled figure taps the board next to it for emphasis, and then writes something in Thassilon next to it – but here your understanding fails you.  The cowled figure again taps the board next to the figurine for emphasis, then seems to realize that you can’t understand the message that is trying to be relayed.

The figure begins writing again in Haeluna’s gore, faster and faster, line after line of text down and across the surface of the board in front of you.  At first you don’t understand, but after the first several lines you realize that it’s an alphabetical translation of Thassilon into Common!  You are literally being given a lesson on the Thassilon alphabet!  It’s a bit of a slow process to go letter by letter, your eyes flicking back and forth between the letters still being translated and the figurine, but you manage to start the translation of the message – “F-i-n-d K-u-s-a-s-f-a . . .” and –

A loud, shrill scream of agony suddenly pierces the silence of this place, as the board in front of you is abruptly yanked up by the chains at its corners, up and out of sight into the darkness.  A new board is slammed down into its place, rattling the pieces on its surface as it lands.  This one’s board state seems even more dismal, the distance between marble pieces even further apart and the obsidian figurines seem to have multiplied again.  “Love and Fertility” begins hurriedly sketching a message onto the new board, only to finally run out of fresh ichor to smear onto the board partway through.  Without the full alphabet list to reference now, translating what did manage to get written is difficult, but you think you got the gist of it – “A-n-s-w-e-r-s i-n B-l-o-o-d-s”.  The cowled figure seems to be trying to form the last few letters with their gloved fingers, but there is suddenly a loud clatter of chains and the entire hand is yanked back off the board, out of sight behind the figure’s chair.

  “Still trying to cheat Fate, even after everything you’ve suffered?”  

The shadow booms from its seat, and you glance over to see that the eerie blue glow is now firmly settled on you and the chained figure – you’ve run out of time.

  “Heh heh heh.  Such a wasted effort – the Master Wizard is never going to understand in time, no matter how much help you slip to him.  But very well, if you wish to prolong both of your suffering for the thousandth or ten-thousandth time, I will indulge you a little more.  Here, why don’t I offer my own assistance to the child.”  

The glowing eye turns to fixate fully on you, and you reflexively cringe back into the chair as an overwhelming aura of dread presses down on you.

  “They say that Prophecy is dead, Master Wizard.  But as you lie awake over the nights to come, tormented by visions of these moments to be that you fail to avert, perhaps you will have a different opinion.”
  
The shadow exhales deeply in your direction, but it is a whirlwind that strikes your face rather than a cloud of hot breath.  The chair you are sitting on tips over backwards into the darkness, sending you tumbling, and then the wind lifts you up off the ground entirely, spinning you out of the circle of light and abruptly into a nightmare, or series of nightmares.

 
  You stumbling, slipping, and then crawling away from a cowled figure as it drops Greg’s lifeless body halfway across the doorstep of your front door.  As you flee further into the depths of your own home, flames wick up the walls and turn the room into an inferno.  
  You standing on a crowded dock, watching the crowd scream and scatter as a ship out on the Jeggare river comes full-speed into dock itself, timbers crashing and breaking apart before its prow.  A black banner flies from the main sail, depicting a skeletal hand, middle finger upraised.  
  You looking out over a silent Korvosa, black flags flying from every flagstaff, as fires burst into existence along the river separating the city from Old Korvosa.  
  Queen Ileosa sitting slumped on the Crimson Throne, it now living up to its name as both it and she are soaked in blood, likely due to the catastrophic hole in Ileosa’s chest.  
 

And then you gasp and find yourself alone again in the inky blackness, although . . . something seems oddly familiar about this darkness . . . wait, are you lying in your own bed at home? 

(*cue Dalen’s own unconscious dream of learning some new spells)
 

 Bellinda 
 Theme Music 

Through the mounting stress and fear that came from fighting alongside Aliani and Dalen and the others to get down here, find the queen, and then get her out, a brief sense of relief cuts through as Haeluna finally falls.  Doubtless there were some in the church of Sarenrae who would caution against feeling relief from the death of another thinking being who could have been somehow saved and convinced to turn to the side of light.  But Haeluna had been given those chances to renounce her path, and tossed them aside in favor of continuing headlong down her path of darkness until it led her to becoming that  thing .  Gaedren Lamm had been the blackest soul you had ever met, and yet that thing – and the Eye that spawned it – had eclipsed his evil in a matter of moments.  Instinctively, you knew that there would be no reasoning with the being responsible for that, no mercy or compromise possible, just resistance or submission followed by death once your usefulness was over.  Sarenrae had doctrine about such irredeemable Evil as well, but it was deeply unsettling to actually meet such a being in the flesh and being forced to fight for your literal life and soul.

And yes, it was with a feeling of relief that you watched as Aliani took his shot, caved Haeluna’s skull in, and she actually stayed down this time after a final taunt from the monstrosity.  City will rot . . . that certainly did not bode well for Korvosa’s future, but that would have to be a concern for tomorrow.

 Yes, tomorrow – that reminds you of a sermon that you had heard recently, around the time of King Eodred’s death, immediately following that first awful night of rioting in the city.  You had been brought together by the machinations of Zellara, a Varisian fortune teller who had sent a message to you promising revenge against Gaedren Lamm.  That was how you had met Dalen and Aliani, and together with Silas you had gone off hunting Gaedren Lamm at his current hideout in an old fishery along the Docks.  He got away from you there, and then the riots kicked off that same night.  Concerned about possible violence against the Church of Sarenrae, you had broken off from the others and headed back to the modest chapel that served as your new home now rather than ride out the riots at Dalen’s house.

It was little surprise, then, to find that a great number of people who wanted no part in the madness outside on the city streets had taken shelter within the simple chapel.  There was no money to hire actual guards, and so the actual clergy had taken up armor and weapons to stand guard around the chapel, and allow inside only those who were not here for violence.  Of course, you stood beside them through the night, despite a few initial offers to go inside and take shelter with the other civilians instead.  Thankfully, the chapel of Sarenrae was in one of the nicer parts of the city – the Heights as it was called, only a few blocks away from Castle Korvosa – and so no actual violence came near the chapel, save for a pair of vagrants looking for easy looting, who skittered away into the night once they saw you and others.

With the break of dawn, the chaos of the riots backed down to a simmering rage rather than outright anarchy.  And about an hour after daybreak, a tired Lord Valdur Bromathan had arrived with half a dozen guards to relieve you in protecting the chapel.  The head of a very minor noble house, Lord Bromathan was a friend to the church and occasional practicing member of its clergy, when he could find time to visit.  Accompanying you and the others inside, Valdur (as he preferred to be called rather than Lord Bromathan) looked over the huddled masses of citizenry that had taken shelter overnight, and immediately moved up to the pulpit.  From there he began a sermon meant to reassure the masses that there would be a tomorrow.

“Friends, I do not know if it was faith in the Dawnflower or fear in the darkness and chaos outside that brought you in here, but I want you to know that you are safe here regardless.  Yes, there is darkness and chaos in this world, but there is also light and hope!  If you look outside right now, you will see for yourselves that the dawn is here.  That is the Dawnflower’s promise to us, that even the blackest of nights must eventually give way to the light of day.  So it will be with our fair city in the face of this troubling time!  My friends, we have been given that most precious of gifts – tomorrow!  Another day, another chance to make our city a brighter and better place.  Let us not turn away this chance out of fear of the darkness, but embrace it and step boldly back out into the light.  So that we can make tomorrow’s sunrise even brighter!”
 

Bringing an end to Gaedren Lamm’s organization should have brought about a brighter tomorrow.  Now, you aren’t so sure that Korvosa is through its long night just yet.

 Jeqem 
 Theme Music 

The old lady-plant-monster-thing was dead.  Good.  The beast had burned like any other at the touch of flame, but the nightmares and unhappy memories it had dredged up from the depths of your own mind had been rather unsettling.  You glance around to see that most of your allies were still standing too, with the exception of the wizard – acceptable losses.  At least Bellinda appeared to be mostly unharmed save for a few thorns left by the creature’s breath weapon – it would have been a shame to lose a fellow worshipper of the light.

 As you ponder what to do now, you reflect back on what had led you to this point.  You had been one of those seeking shelter at the Church of Sarenrae during the night of the riots.  It had seemed the natural place for you to go, after recently learning of the Dawnflower and converting yourself into one of her few followers in this damned city.  With the breaking of the dawn the next morning, one of the noblemen who fancied himself a priest of the Goddess stopped by to visit, and gave a brief sermon to smooth the frayed nerves of the masses.

“Friends, I do not know if it was faith in the Dawnflower or fear in the darkness and chaos outside that brought you in here, but I want you to know that you are safe here regardless.  Yes, there is darkness and chaos in this world, but there is also light and hope!  If you look outside right now, you will see for yourselves that the dawn is here.  That is the Dawnflower’s promise to us, that even the blackest of nights must eventually give way to the light of day.  So it will be with our fair city in the face of this troubling time!  My friends, we have been given that most precious of gifts – tomorrow!  Another day, another chance to make our city a brighter and better place.  Let us not turn away this chance out of fear of the darkness, but embrace it and step boldly back out into the light.  So that we can make tomorrow’s sunrise even brighter!” 

A simple speech, perhaps, but it had encouraged some of the crowd to go back out into the city and reclaim their lives, such as they were.  You had also been inspired, and asked one of the lesser priests if there was something you could do to help.  That had eventually led you to be paired up with Bellinda, a more senior member of the congregation, if only by a little time.  Bellinda was on the trail of Gaedren Lamm, a foul blight upon the city in need of being cleansed.  Eager to prove yourself, you had tagged along on Bellinda during her various adventures with the others seeking to end Gaedren Lamm, and had made yourself useful.

Now Gaedren Lamm was dead, the last of his followers – that devil woman Haeluna – was dead, and perhaps the city would be able to move on.  Although perhaps things would not be that simple, given the last dire dying words of Haeluna – this city was destined to rot.  Good, more blight for you to cleanse.  You did like to make yourself useful, after all.

 Turk 
 Theme Music 

You had gotten involved in this case much like anyone else – find Gaedren Lamm and put him out of everyone else’s misery.  The path you took to get there, however, was a little different in that Lamm had never wronged you personally . . . not in this world, at least.  But you had been troubled by waking dreams, flickers from another life in a different world, one in which Lamm had arranged for your fall from grace.  As such, you knew what he was capable of, and so when the call went out – discretely, as always within the Society – for members to keep an eye out on activity associated with Gaedren Lamm so that it could in-turn be tipped off to the Guard, you started paying attention.

Your specific route into the wake of destruction left by Lamm across the city was the rogue Hellknight Xerxes, a member of the local order of Hellknights, the Order of the Nail.  He had been presumed missing after the first night of the riots, but resurfaced several days later, now apparently helping Lamm instead of hunting him.  Hoping you could kill two birds with one stone, you focused your efforts on Xerxes, figuring if you could find him you’d find Lamm in close proximity.  Plus there was a bit of professional pride on the line – while not a sworn Hellknight of the Godclaw – you would have needed to travel to Cheliax and petition the Order directly for that honor – your family had served that Order faithfully, leaving behind several relics for your use to carry on their work in keeping Korvosa a civilized place ruled by laws.

Rather than waste time running down blind alleyways and beating up snitches, however, your investigation focused on what someone like Lamm could possibly offer a man like Xerxes.  And your investigations turned up an unlikely lead – Xerxes had an older brother who was not part of the Order.  Instead, Darius had forced his own path as a mercenary, thug, and later on a killer for hire.  That last career choice had gotten him eventually a spot in the high-security dungeons of the Deathshead Vault beneath the Longacre courthouse.

So the rogue Hellknight had a brother locked up in an infamous prison . . . that could be reason enough to join a brigand seeking to turn the entire city upside down.  Figuring out how to take advantage of this information proved to be even more difficult than finding it, however, as prisoners in the Deathshead Vault didn’t get visitors.  That was fine, you didn’t need to actually talk to Darius, just figure out the other part of the problem, which was when and how Lamm was going to free the gunman.

Here you got a bit lucky – or unlucky, depending on how you saw it – as Lamm’s men boldly attacked the courthouse while you were inside waiting for your audience with the Arbiters.  There were a few too many of Lamm’s men present to fight on your own, so you opted for the better part of valor and hid in a side room, biding your time.  When you heard the sounds of fighting out in the courtroom nearby, you made your dramatic re-entry into the fight, coming to the timely aid of an intrepid band of heroes who as it turned out, were also hunting Lamm.  And also Blackjack, the notorious vigilante who for centuries had haunted Korvosa, in various guises, fighting criminals, righting wrongs, and just generally being a nuisance to the ruling class.  Allying with such a criminal wasn’t ideal, but at that moment everyone had the goal of stopping Lamm, and it was still several against your one, so biding your time was back to being the order of the day.  Besides, a high-profile criminal like Blackjack was sure to give you plenty of other opportunities to bring him to justice later, after Lamm was dealt with.

Fighting your way down into the prison itself, you came to an impasse when it became clear that Lamm and Xerxes had split up.  The others – Aliani, Dalen, Silas, and Bellinda you believe their names were – chased after Lamm immediately, while you decided to continue hunting Xerxes.  Splitting your forces unfortunately turned out to be a mistake, as while you caught up to Xerxes he managed to get away by turning himself and his brother invisible.  While you had been aware Xerxes, like all members of the Order of the Nail, were some kind of arcane spellcaster, you hadn’t been briefed that he knew that particular spell.  Oh well, at least the others had managed to do right by the city and actually bring Lamm down, putting an end to this threat for good.

Or so you had thought before your continuing hunt for the wayward Hellknight and his brother brought you to the Cathedral of Asmodeus, again on the day that Lamm’s associate, Haeluna, had descended on the cathedral with some sort of gigantic mechanical flying magic snake construct, smashed in the cathedral’s roof, and made off with Queen Ileosa who had been present for a meeting with the high priest of Asmodeus, Ornher Reebs.  Sure enough, that same band of plucky heroes-in-the-making had also been present as some sort of extra muscle for the Queen beyond just her bodyguard.  Xerxes also made an appearance with his brother as Haeluna’s own back-up, and while the party managed to drop Darius, leaving him to the not-so-tender mercies of the Asmodeans, Xerxes had again turned himself invisible and ran off after swearing revenge.  You had considered trying to chase after him again, but seeing how you still had no countermeasure for his invisibility you had little hope of pulling that off.  So rather than split your efforts to futility yet again, you cautiously agreed to join the others in their headlong pursuit of Haeluna’s mechanical monster.

That chase had led you to the Grey District, Korvosa’s sizable graveyard, watched over diligently by the Church of Pharasma – which was good given something in the cursed soil of the Grey periodically rose the dead from their slumber.  Unfortunately, the group hit a serious schism when the trail led directly into the mausoleum of House Poryphia, a defunct noble house within Korvosa (though with still thriving branches in other cities throughout Cheliax).  The Pharasmans were quite zealous in their prevention of desecration to tombs as much as they were about putting down the undead, and stomping through a noble mausoleum was a serious violation of at least half a dozen other legal statutes, despite the extenuating circumstances.  Rather than wait for the Pharasmans to inevitably arrive so that you could have permission granted to investigate the tomb, the queen’s bodyguard insisted on an immediate breach.  The commander of the Sable Marines, Marcus Endrin, argued rightly in favor of waiting, but ultimately nobody was going to stand in the way of the rumored deadliest swordswoman in the entire city – that Sabrina Merrin was a very scary lady when she was half-mad with worry.  So neither you nor Marcus weren’t going to try to arrest her, but crossing into the threshold without permission proved to be a compromise of principles that was too much for you.

So you both waited for the Pharasmans to arrive, and as it turned out you didn’t have to wait all that long – within a few minutes a heavily armed patrol arrived, followed by two more groups attracted by the sight of a wing of Sable Marines plunging down into the Grey to land near an old tomb.  It was several minutes after that before they managed to get in contact with the High Priestess, Keppira D’Bear, but thankfully her response was immediate and decisive – if enemies of the city were using a resting place of the dead as shelter, then they needed to be driven out post haste.

Now with your presence authorized – along with a whole hell of a lot of pissed-off Pharasman reinforcements – you and Marcus descended down into the tomb, swiftly following the party’s wake of destruction through the tomb.  Apparently a necromancer had taken refuge down here along with what was left of Lamm’s organization, according to now even angrier Pharasman clerics who surveyed the scattered bones across the tomb’s floor with a knowing eye.  A break in one wall of the mausoleum led to a claustrophobic warren of low-ceiling tunnels, apparently carved by the mythical derro, blue-skinned insane halfling-esque boogeymen of Korvosa’s urban legends.  Well, apparently they had been real, as the ones you came across were all quite dead, more handiwork of the party and the queen’s bodyguard.

Eventually, the warren gave way back to stone walls, and here the Pharasmans got nervous.  They said that these were part of the Vaults, an ancient network of constructed tunnels that snaked far beneath Korvosa, and that had never been fully explored.  Most of those who went down to attempt to map them never came back, presumably killed by ancient traps and even more ancient and fearsome monsters than the derro.  No one went this deep if they could help it, not even large, heavily armed bands of pissed-off Pharasmans, apparently.

Seeking yet another compromise, you had offered your services to scout ahead of the main group, confident that the party had – probably – carved as safe a path through this portion of the Vaults as readily as they had managed against the undead and derro.  That presumption had immediately paid off, as immediately after you slipped down the long flight of stone stairs in front of you, you had arrived at the impossible sight of a well-manicured garden deep underground, no doubt the result of some rather impressive magic.  And you had found the party of would-be heroes, having managed to cut a swath through the last of their enemies, laid Haeluna low, and rescued the queen. . . although she was apparently unconscious, along with one of their own number, a wizard named Dalen.

 Arin 
 Theme Music 

You awake as you always did these days – with a sharp intake of breath in preparation for a scream, only for the terror that waked you to be smothered immediately down to a somewhat disconcerting numbness by the strange new blessings that had accompanied your return to the living.  Despite the disorientation that came from having your emotions suddenly go from full-on terror down to nothing, you much preferred it to the alternative.  You don’t know how you would have coped with having intrusive thoughts of the Bad Place pushing in on your waking moments as well.  Lots of alcohol probably, not that you had the coin for that at the moment.  Nor were you entirely sure how your unusual new body would process it.  That was your other unusual blessing, your rebirth as a squat, green-skinned, yet physically fit . . . creature you couldn’t quite identify.

But there was no time today to reflect on your unusual re-origins.  Today, you were finally going topside, back up to Korvosa, and hopefully up to find some answers.  Answers to what Nira had done to you, how you could escape the Bad Place for good, and perhaps most important, just what the Hells was going on with this gods-forsaken city now.

Gathering up your gear, you head out along the path you had cautiously mapped through the tunnels over the past week, finding safer potions of the city’s sewers you could walk through without getting accosted by wererats, otyughs, or any more – yugh! – godsdamned derro.  You had seen more of those blue-skinned freaks than you could handle at this point.

You eventually manage to slip your way out a loose sewer grate overlooking the thin stream of filth it was dumping into the Jeggare River, scramble up the hillside, and just like that you were back in Korvosa.  Near the Midland Docks, by the look of it.  Perfect!  It looked like today was even going to be a quiet day in the city, with no one running around screaming that the city was doomed or the “Whore Queen” was going to bring ruin upon the city.

Your first stop was Citadel Volshyenek, home to the city guard.  With some old friends you had made within the guard, including the grudging respect you had earned from their commander, Field Marshall Cressidia Kroft, you should be able to get your bearings there at least.  That was just a short walk from here along the docks, and as you padded along the rough cobblestones barefoot, you got some curious stares from passerby, but at least no one was running away shouting “monster!” just yet.

Eventually you make it to the front gates of the imposing citadel, to find that it was – relatively speaking for recent days at least – a swarming hive of activity, with over a dozen guardsmen manning the front gates.  Evidentially they were expecting some kind of trouble sooner rather than later for Kroft to call up so many of the guard’s diminished number after the riots and corruption and desertion induced purges of the guard rolls.

Fortunately, while the guards moved to block your way from proceeding inside the citadel, neither did they immediately attack you either.

“Move along . . . citizen.”

One of the guards manning the front gates snapped, brandishing his longspear.

“Citadel’s closed for the rest of the day, Field Marshall’s orders.”

“Hey, hey now!  There’s no need to be rude, Brandt!  I’m sure she’s just curious about what’s going on.”

A familiar voice called out from behind the front rank of guards, as a familiar face stepped out into your line of sight – Sergeant Grau Saldado.  Your luck was improving!  While it is true that the sergeant had hit on you the first time you had met, he had been completely ****-faced drunk, and seemed to think you were some old friend of his called “Neffi”.  You’d eventually managed to get him to go home and sleep it off . . . in the other? world, in your past life, and had been at least friendly acquaintances after that.  Of course, your hopes of managing to just bat your eyelashes at him and get him to do whatever you asked were quashed when he knelt down in front of you, and said.

“It’s probably not going to be safe out here in a little while, sweety.  You should probably run along home to your parents.”

Great.  So your potential in to get some answers on the state of this world thought you were a literal child.
DarkOne-Rob
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
 Bellinda sweeps in from the side, her movements a prayer to Sarenrae - a prayer which is answered as her new blade again arcs in between Haeluna's ribs, scouring another deep wound in the creature's chest that would have outright felled a mortal opponent...

 

   "Well . . . done .  . . Pretender."   

 

And then . . . the world goes sideways...

 

...You also feel strangely stronger, as if either your trials here in this world were harsher, or perhaps merely as a side effect of passing through the veil between worlds to arrive here.  Whatever the future may hold, it seems you would need to work together with these newcomers to your group to find answers, and continue to protect Korvosa from the Eye's final threat.

   City shall burn . . . City shall rot    
 

      
    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 blinks her eyes as she looks around, seeing her friends victorious against the monstrous plant-creature-betrayer hybrid. Seeing Dalen fall, unconscious but still breathing, she rushes over and begins praying over his spine body, "  Dawnflower - heal our friend! Let him see your sunlight again!  "

 
 Spoiler: Mechanics 
Cast  Cure Light Wounds  as many as three times to get him conscious:  (1d8+5)[ 7 ] ,  (1d8+5)[ 12 ] ,  (1d8+5)[ 7 ] .
 

Once Dalen opens his eyes, Bellinda sighs in relief before awkwardly stepping back to give him and the rest of the party room. She then looks over to the other fallen (NPCs) and tries to help them too, with what healing magic she has left after Dalen returns to consciousness.

Finally, looking at what is left of Haeluna, Bellinda sadly shakes her head. "   Not sure I will ever feel safe again after seeing that...   " she says quietly before kneeling down and closing the remaining eye of the dead woman. Then, she looks around and notes the missing artifact. "  Hey! Does anyone see that fearful eye? We should destroy it...if it is still around at all...  "
Darvin
 
 Spoiler: Dalen unconscious 

Everything is pitch dark. Well, that's certainly annoying. Dalen reaches about blindly in the inky blackness, finding a lamp and lighting it. He's in his study, his spellbook splayed open on his work desk and surrounded by ink, reagents, and the copious notes he'd been taking these past few days.

He sits down to the table and pores over the diagrams he'd painstakingly drawn, frowning as he notices a minor error that had escaped his attention previously. So obvious now, he quickly scratches in the corrections. Then he notices an inefficency he could improve, so he begins to scribe those corrections. He had to optimize, be more efficient. He didn't have the power of the archmage, so he would have to make better use of every scrap of arcane energy at his disposal.

"What's this that has your attention? Anything you care to mention?" Rhetoric lands on his shoulder.

 "I'm trying to figure out how to bypass the limitations of the Sleep spell. I've developed three distinct methods of casting the spell already, but they all share the same limitation. See here, the there's the connection with the nervous system. The body will simply force the mind back awake, as quickly as a lightning bolt, so this connection must be saturated with arcane energy first. The bigger the body, the more power required. Even a weak-willed troll is completely impervious to my existing version of the spell as a result. But that's just half the problem. See here, on this diagram, the stitch between the material plane and the dimension of dreams that pierces the soul. That needs to be frozen, otherwise the soul's resonance with the dimension of dreams will disrupt the fragile and artificial slumber. The brighter the soul, the more energy we'll need to deliver to achieve that,"  Dalen feels an uncanny buzz as he describes the connection to the dimension of dreams, as if there's something he should be noticing. Odd, but he's too focused on his explanation to stop,  "the spell's magical payload is simply not enough to saturate all these points, and will pass over strong individuals with no effect,"
 

"So stop the glower, and use more power," Rhetoric suggests the obvious.

 "Even if I did have that much power - which, to be clear, I don't - the full payload would need to be delivered simultaneously or it would just pass over the victim. To achieve this I'd need to simultaneously cast the spell... three... times,"  Dalen stops as a realization strikes him, and rapidly flips between the three versions of the spell he'd worked on. They  could  be superimposed. But he'd need to be efficient, he'd need to remove every unnecessary line of spellwork to fit them together. But it could definitely be done. Dalen sets to work, his mind totally focused on achieving this breakthrou

"While your work is sublime, you're almost out of time," Rhetoric's beak turns towards the inkling of light coming from the window. Dawn was coming.

 "I just need to go faster, that's all,"  Dalen grits his teeth. He could see the spellwork in his mind's eye, his eyes darted across the page as he converted rapidly from diagrams and runes to mental construct and back again.

"Ileosa is waiting for you," Rhetoric drops the rhyming. The comment irritated Dalen; he hardly had enough time for his studies. Not to complain about having such a powerful and generous patron, but he was overworked. He was quickly becoming her full-time court wizard at this rate, what with the matter of the kidnapping, the Asmodeans...

 "I can't go faster than this,"  Dalen grits his teeth, his hand was moving faster and faster but it couldn't keep up with the spellwork in his mind's eye. Just another limitation for him to optimize. At the speed of thought his mind built and unbuilt the spell lines, like he'd practiced thousands of times before. But he needed to do it faster this time. Maybe he could use the lines themselves to speed up the process... that was a novel idea. He constructed new scaffolding in his mind, lines with which to rearrange spell lines that would make and unmake spell lines. Something didn't seem right, the orderly structure of arcane magic in Dalen's mind seemed different than how he left it. Like walking into a dark bedroom and tripping over a bunch of junk strewn about that he hadn't left there. Well, this was the raw material he needed to complete the spell so he may as well use it. He didn't have time to question where it came from.

Light streamed into the window. He snapped the spellbook closed, panting. Not only had he developed a  much  more potent version of the Sleep spell, but to do it this quickly he'd developed spell work to massively accelerate himself and others for short periods of time. And he could use these principles more generally going forward. He felt exhausted, physically and mentally, but above all else he felt pride. This was what it meant to be a  Master Wizard . He quite liked that moniker, who was it again who had used it?

 "It's done, I figured it out,"  Dalen chuckles as he walks to the window,  "it would have been quite useful yesterday to have this. During the giant snake attack, the delving into the Thassilonian ruins. The battle against that Haeluna woman... wait, how did that end?"  the memory of a claw tearing a hole through Dalen's sternum... Ileosa casting something... as a Sorcerer? That wasn't right, but it was definitely real, Rhetoric grabbing his wand as it slipped from his hand and then...

 "Oh. Oooooh. Am I dead?"  Dalen wonders aloud. He closes his eyes, and feels the slight tug of his empathic connection to Rhetoric. Not the figment of his mind that had been talking to him a moment ago, but the real one. He could feel his familiar's concern. That connection would have snapped if he were dead, so he was still alive. And he could feel terror being replaced with concern. So Haeluna was not alive. Unfortunate, he would have very much liked to have gloated over her, but in all fairness the last word belonged to Aliani. In any case, he sighed,  "no, I'm just unconscious. Strange, though, this feels a little too real. I can definitely feel my own arcane energy, and these  are  the exact notes I've been working on. Which means..." 

Dalen rushes over to his desk. Most of his notes have disappeared, and all that remains is the diagram showing the connection of the mind, soul, and dimension of dreams,  "I really need to pay more attention to this kind of thing," 
 "Yes, you do,"  a raspy voice emanates from where the dream Rhetoric was perched. Dalen turns around, but sees only a yawning void. His study disintegrates as he tumbles into it, and his mind fractures into discordant dream.
 


Dalen gasps as Bellinda's magic courses through him. He coughs and a spattering of blood comes out of his mouth. It was both excruciating painful and tasted awful. His clothing was torn up, and blood soaked. He casts Prestidigitation on himself to at least remove the blood. He'd need to prepare Mending tomorrow to fix the tears and rips left by Haeluna. But  looking over his shoulder it was apparent his threads were in better shape than she was.

 "Thank you,"  Dalen says,  "if you or anyone else could spare another two or three more, I'd appreciate it," 

He walks over to Ileosa, retrieving and stowing his wand. He kneels and checks to make sure she's okay. When Bellinda mentions the eye, Dalen responds.

 "I'm not sure if it's within our power to destroy it,"  Dalen sighs,  "but if anyone does see it cover it  immediately  lest it cause more havoc," 
Darius Vibrtrar
Having fought Durro through the forsaken crypts of banished nobles, Turk had been chasing after the queens kidnappers. He had nearly taken after Xerxes, the fallen hellknight. Cursing under his breath he was once again too late to the scene to make an impact. He comes across the scene with pools of ichor everywhere, and the infamous, or rather rising stars of the city and queens champions were rising from throughs of battle.

Turk is a Tall Varisean, tanned skin with violet eyes, and white hair. He is of average build for his height. Around his waist and shoulder is a turquoise scarf, embroidered with pictures like a tapestry. He wears the commanding leather armor of a Hellknight, with the icon of the Order of the Godclaw proudly on display. A leather helm with lenses sits atop his head as he scans the area.

 
 Spoiler: ooc 
60ft range, Detect Chaos, will observe for 3 rounds to determine alignments and if there is a chaotic paladin/cleric type from powerful aura detection
 

 "Clean up crew has arrived, what assistance is needed. Where is the queen?"  
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) 
 
  
"  She's over here - unconscious, but alive!  " Bellinda answers her...friend's(?)...question. "  I see no wound, but she won't wake up...  " she continues, obviously worried about the Queen.
Darius Vibrtrar
Turk advances and kneels beside the queen and holds a hand above her, closing his eyes as his hand gives a gentle glow.

 
 Spoiler: Spellcraft DC 15 

Detect Poison
 (1d20)[ 6 ]  DC 20 Wisdom to know the poison
 

 "She could have inhaled something, or touched something, we cant rule out assassination attempts." 
Stelio Kontos
As the fatal blow landed, and Aliani's world fell apart competely, he sank to his knees.  Dimly, in the back of his mind, was a recognition of all else that was going on. Bellinda was taking good care of Dalen -- better care than he could have himself provided in that moment.  Ileosa and Sabrina were out of it, in their own ways, but not dead, and would almost certainly recover (with, if nothing else, better than he himself could provide).

That he had killed his mentor, the woman who had more or less saved him from the depths of despair five years ago, made his stomach turn.  Even if she had been responsible for every bit of that despair...  that  was not the woman she had been.  She was, he finally decided, both of those things, the peacock and the cockatrice in turn.  That she had been unable to suppress the cockatrice was ...

... he finally decided that it was, above all, a failure of hope.  That things COULD get better.  That change WOULD come, if one but stayed the course.  That a better day lay ahead, if one but worked for it.

He knelt over what was left of her body, a few tears running down his cheek.  It was all right to shed tears at a loss.  He sat silently for a few moments, offering a silent prayer to recover whatever may have been left of her soul.  The last two words were a bit louder, in the voice of the angels, a long forgotten homily come to mind.

 "Resurget cineribus" .

A further moment of silence followed.
razorfloss
Jeqem stares into space as if a thousand miles away and his red hair and orange eyes have dimmed like a dying flame and mutters to himself  This is wrong. I should be dead   as he pats himself down absently as if looking for wounds that should be on his person yet are not. He looks around seeing faces that are both familiar yet not as memorious that are his yet not pour in his head showing his adventures with Aliani, Dalen and fellow Sarenrae worshiper Bellinda and various others that are no longer here. He feels a since of sadness but it feels distant as if scabbed over from time before he shakes his head as his red hair and orange eyes seems to ignite again and his attention turns towards Dalen. Noticing his bruised and battered appearance he digs in his bag for a second before pulling out a green looking potion that seems to look like mold in a bottle and walks towards him   Here drink this it's a healing potion. Yes, it looks disgusting. No, I can't get it to look better. Yes, I have tried. I promise its good for you and I swear on my Goddess it is what I say it is 
 
 Spoiler: OOC 
If that color is hard to look at it i can change it
 
Darvin
 "Thank you, but you should preserve such expensive curatives. I can await treatment from the bards once they're satisfied their magic isn't needed elsewhere,"  Dalen tries to avoid wincing,  "I've expended a  great deal  of parchment today, and I know all too well how expensive it will be to replace," 
 
 Spoiler: OOC 
Given the remaining spell slots, I suspect Dalen can be brought up to full health without expending consumables
 
razorfloss
Jeqem raises an eyebrow and looks Dalen up and down taking note of his various bruises and injuries before shrugging and says   If you say so but if you change your mind, it's still available   while looking dubiously at his comment before muttering  Sarenrae save me form well-meaning idiots  and goes to check on the queen. Upon seeing her unresponsive he checks to make sure shes still alive.


 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Heal check  (1d20+10)[ 21 ] 
 
Inspectre
Slowly, the party pulls itself back together after the difficult battle against the Eye-empowered Haeluna.  Dalen is brought round by a healing spell from Bellinda, and then offered another curative by Jeqem although the wizard turns down the consumable in favor of more easily regenerated daily magic.  None of that seemed to be forthcoming for him, however, as Aliani stood over the body of his fallen mentor and everyone turned their attention to the comatose queen.  Turk arrived on-scene during the examination of the queen, pitching in his own magics to determine if she was suffering the effects of some kind of poison - not a terrible expectation given Haeluna's obvious love of poisons.  But there didn't seem to be anything outwardly wrong with the queen, save for a small scrape in her scalp, left no doubt by the jagged metal crown she worn when her head hit the floor after collapsing, leaving a thin trickle of blood to stain her already copper hair an even darker shade.

Off in a corner of the garden by herself, the normally taciturn Rina wheezed and coughed, clearly struggling to overcome her own lingering bout of Haeluna's blast of magical terror.  She had seemed to be more heavily affected by it than anyone else with the exception of Sabrina, spending the first few seconds of the fight against Haeluna running off to that corner and cowering in lingering fear.  That had eventually gone away, replaced by a bout of berzerker fury as she screamed out a trio of scorching rays that blasted gaping holes in Haeluna's shoulder.  Now it seemed she was back to struggling to try and reclaim her composed, unflappable demeanor.  She does manage to call out to Aliani, however.

  "You did what had to be done, Aliani.  You saved us . . ."  

The magus trails off into silence, but gives a grateful nod to the playwright before returning to her brooding.

 
 Spoiler: Perception DC 15 

  ". . .like you always do."  
 

 
 Spoiler: Sense Motive DC 11 

Although she generally maintained this aloof, edgelord "don't come near me or I'll cut you" air about her, in this moment right now Rina is really struggling to control her emotions.  Something about Haeluna's transformation and fear attack had deeply traumatized the magus, and she was really struggling to put her untouchable façade back together.  And that look of gratitude she had given Aliani just now, mixed in with a host of other emotions . . . that was the same sort of look Nadine, Beautrice, and hopeful groupies sometimes showered the playwright with.  It wouldn't take much effort on the playwright's part right at this moment to potentially add another to his tally of romantic attachments . . .
 



Despite her recent comatose state, Sabrina is much more rapid in her processing of what just happened and getting over it than Rina.  To wit, she immediately pushed her way through the group of people clustered around Queen Ileosa and knelt down beside her, reaching down to pick her up and cradle the queen in her arms.

 "We need to get out of here,  now !" 
 Theme Music 

Sabrina declares, and without another moment for debate hefts the queen up, carrying her in her arms despite a grunt of pain as the effort pulls on her still-wounded shoulder.  Still, the bodyguard persists in her efforts to carry Ileosa's limp body to safety and out of this strange underground garden made by a possibly ancient and certainly eccentric wizard.  She - and by extension all of you - are met at the stairs leading up out of this place by a dozen stern-looking Pharsman clerics and guards.  With them, at least, is a pair of friendly faces - Marcus Endrin and Kira Nightshade, the acolyte of Pharasma the party had saved during Lamm's prison break.

  "Well, you guys certainly aren't looking good!"  

The acolyte exclaims, lifting up her holy symbol of Pharasma and unleashing several waves of positive energy in rapid succession - which succeeds in healing everyone's wounds including Sabrina's shoulder and Dalen's missing kidney, but fails to cause the queen to even stir from the depths of her unconscious state.

 "Well, it seems that you've managed to rescue Her Majesty, that's one positive thing, at least.  Unfortunately, it seems that any remaining compatriots of Lamm managed to escape out through one of that maze of tunnels that lead us down here."
 
Marcus explained as you all began to make your arduous way back up to the surface, Sabrina not stopping for a moment, leaving everyone having to hustle to keep up with her back out the way you all came.  You gather more Pharasmans as you move through the warrens, until you have an escort nearly two dozen strong as you emerge back into the sunlight from the Poryphia tomb.

  "Perhaps one of us should examine the queen . . ."  

Kira offers, immediately trailing off as Sabrina skewers the young acolyte with a glower.

 "No, the only one who is going to examine her is the royal physician.  He'll know what to do . . . he has to." 
 "It would be much quicker to the castle if we fly there on my hippogriff." 

Marcus offers, whistling his mount down out of the sky, and for once Sabrina simply nods in agreement rather than arguing.

 "I will provide escort."   Rina says simply, casting a spell on herself before beginning to hover up off the ground a short distance above and to the right of Marcus's hippogriff.  Sabrina awkwardly pulls herself up into the saddle behind Marcus with one arm, her other arm continuing to cradle the queen.  She simply glares anyone who attempts to help her back, and eventually manages to get up into the saddle, keeping one hand around Marcus's waist and the other around the still comatose Ileosa.  Before he lifts off into the sky, Marcus turns to the group and smiles.

 "Well, while I return Her Majesty to the castle for treatment, perhaps you all should report to Field Marshall Kroft.  One of my men stopped by while I was waiting for the Pharasmans to arrive, and reported that the Field Marshall has had some surprise success in . . . hmmm, "negotiations" with the Cathedral of Asmodeus about the status of a certain infamous painter." 

Marcus's smile falters as he chooses his next words carefully.

 "Unfortunately, there have been some . . . complications, as well.  I'm sure the Field Marshall can explain!" 

And then Marcus' hippogriff leaps up into the air, banks around sharply for a moment, and then shoots off towards the castle, Rina trailing closely behind in the air.

(OOC:  The world is your oyster again!  Although I imagine that you will probably want to get over to Citadel Volshyenek sooner rather than later *hint hint* 😏 )
razorfloss
Seeing Sabrina and company fly off and bickering over the health of the queen Jeqem scroffs and rolls his eyes    Ignore the trained healer of course. It's not like I'm trained healer or anything. It's not like I'm vetted by the resident church of the dawnflower. I'm not insulted one bit nope. Not. At. All!!  As he says this his hair and eyes seem to come aflame getting brighter and brighter. As he finishes his rant he yells knowing damn well they won't hear him   SHES FINE BTW JUST NEEDS SOMETHING TO SHOCK HER OUT OF HER VISION AND OR WAIT FOR IT TO END.  finishing his rant he turns towards the party    Anyone else needs a pick me up   he says looking at Dalen and frowning.
Darvin
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  "We need to get out of here,  now !"  
 

 "Agreed,"  Dalen pants, and braces himself for the pain of ascending in his broken state.

Seeing a Cleric at the surface brought him untold relief, as truth be told he felt like he was going to collapse under his own weight.


 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  "I will provide escort."   Rina says simply, casting a spell on herself before beginning to hover up off the ground a short distance above and to the right of Marcus's hippogriff. 
 

Dalen watches the spellwork with curiosity, marveling at the power Rina was capable of exerting. A spark twinkled in Dalen's eye, the rare awakening of the child who once looked upon the world with wonderment but now only occasionally peered through these adult eyes. It might take a bit of prodding, but Dalen  had  to get a chance to study her spellbook and copy that spell. What could he offer her... hmm... he pops open his own spellbook idly as he ponders it then stops cold. Color drains from his face as he sees an entire section added to his book. He snaps it shut. He'd seen many impossible things today, but the scope was so grand that he was practically numb to it. This, though, he could  understand  the impossibility of this. This was his spell work, his lines, his own though process and unique style. He'd done this,  while unconscious , and he had no idea how.


 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  "Unfortunately, there have been some . . . complications, as well.  I'm sure the Field Marshall can explain!"  
 

 "Well, best to make haste then,"  Dalen proceeds to cast a Mount spell. He climbs atop the steed, then turns to his compatriots,  "If anyone else is coming, I can manage one more horse," 

He waits a moment to see if there are any takers, then departs directly for Volyshenik.
Darius Vibrtrar
Turk follows along with the procession as everyone leaves the underground. He watches with understanding as the bodyguard will let no one near the queen while she is unconscious. He smiles seeing the glare from several people who are self conscious.

While walking his eyes will often fall upon the one individual among them who is emitting enough chaos aura to be a demon themselves, or just worship a being of chaos. He would have to observe and decide how to handle that situation.

 "To the Citadel then" 

He looks over to Jequem in confusion.

 "Visions? You have evidence to prove the queen is receiving visions? 
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 leads the party to the Pharasmans before stepping back out of the way as they discuss and argue. She nods in support of Jeqem, remembering(?) their common faith and feeling confidence in his healing skills in spite of her muddled memories messing with her mind. "  Thank you, but I'll pass on the horse - a slow, steady walk will do my racing heart some good, and the sun feels good after that night...  " she says in answer to Dalen.

As they head towards the Chelish-influenced citadel she whisper-sings several songs of praise to Sarenrae, apparently grateful to be safely out of the underground catacombs.
razorfloss
 
 Originally Posted by Darius Vibrtrar 
 He looks over to Jequem in confusion.

 "Visions? You have evidence to prove the queen is receiving visions?  
 

Jeqem sighs the long the sigh of medical professionals everywhere when someone unqualified questions their skills his hair dimming slightly all the while before responding in a cold sterile tone as if discussing the weather and not the health of the queen.  Only my experience as a healer. Physically she's fine however going by her eye movements which seem erratic and unfocused. She's either having a vision or having a pretty bad dream probably form stress. In my professional opinion she's probably reliving a particularly bad day brought about by stress and this is purely psychological. She will awake in a few hours a day at worst. Unfortunately, this affliction isn't uncommon among those who have gone through traumatic experiences and the queen has been though a lot. My suggestion a few days rest before she gets back to work. Is that sufficient proof?  
Darius Vibrtrar
Turk listens calmly and patiently. He nods, actively listening and not immediately dismissing the healers diagnosis. He pulls out some paper and writes some notes on the diagnosis.

 "That is a well thought out diagnosis, and a reasonable hypothesis based on your experienced observations. But I wouldn't call it proof. Thank you for your input, I will take it with the weight
expected from someone of your station. I hope that you are correct and the queen will be well. 

He continues on the way to the castle.
Stelio Kontos
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
   "You did what had to be done, Aliani.  You saved us . . ."   
 

The bard looked back up at her, a sad, forced smile pursed on his lips.  Under normal circumstances he might well have reciprocated the look that had flashed across Rina's face ... but these were not normal circumstances.   "If you say so"  he whispered, before returning his gaze to what was left of the body before him.  Reluctantly, he rose to his feet as the group departed, covering what was left behind with whatever was left of her clothing.

He was as happy as everyone else -- well, not quite as happy as Dalen, but pleased nonetheless -- to see the Pharasmans.   They appeared less pleased to see the group, however.

 "My deepest apologies for the intrusion upon this sacred ground.  Under normal circumstances, we would never have considered such a breach of decorum.  I am afraid that, well ..."  he waved at the queen limp in Sabrina's arms  "... as you can see, there were mitigating factors.  Time was of the essence." 
 "Miss Nightshade ... do you think you could help me arrange for a proper burial and ceremony?  I realize this may not be the best time to ask.  I would of course make whatever contribution might be necessary."   He looked back down the stairs at the mangled corpse.   "A dear friend of mine passed away today.  I would like to honor her, as I remember her -- not as she now is." 

The next few moments passed by with Aliani deep in contemplation.  It was Marcus that finally snapped him out of it; Aliani's head cocked up immediately.   "Trinia?  Did they get her out of there?  Tell me they got her out of there."   There was a certain invigoration about him, a new purpose, after those words.   "You can save the horse.  I think I'd like to walk, if it's all right.  I need some fresh air, and a bit of time to ... process things." 

He'd leave the thoughts of just what had happened to the queen to the others.  They could figure that out well enough.  That the newest member -- was that right, 'newest'?  It was getting harder to tell.  At any rate -- that he was giving Aliani strange glances periodically did not escape the playwright's notice.  For now, at least, he ignored it, walking at a brisk pace towards the castle.  It was probably going to be a long night.
Darvin
 
 Originally Posted by Stelio Kontos 
  "You can save the horse.  I think I'd like to walk, if it's all right.  I need some fresh air, and a bit of time to ... process things."  
 

 "Quite understandable; if you like, you can drop by my workshop this evening and we can talk. I can understand that this was particularly hard on you,"  Dalen stops and proceeds to cast Message, pointing at Aliani.

 
 Spoiler: Aliani only 
 "or perhaps you might be able to arrange for the chance to speak with the dead if you petition your goddess,"  Dalen whispers to Aliani. Their breakthroughs in power had thus far been synchronized, and if so then Aliani could now cast a Speak with Dead spell, and perhaps get Haeluna to share in death what she would not in life.
 
Stelio Kontos
 "I would very much like to talk"  Aliani replied quietly, before cocking his head to the side as though listening to a far off voice.

 
 Spoiler: Dalen only 
 "There are other ways.  Even if it were permitted, I very much doubt she'll want to speak to me again." 
 
tonberryking
While it may well have been the literal place of her birth, or rather: rebirth, Arin wonders if it would be an affront to her goddess if she literally swore to never return to the sewers, but time and circumstance would later make a liar out of herself.

Do all paladins think about these sorts of things?  The fear of The Bad Place had since faded, because while awake she literally could not sense fear, but the lack of a proper direction haunted her still. So she had best get a start on  something  she kept telling herself as she unfurled the white cloak she'd kept clean and away from the filth of the sewer for this very moment.  Somehow, the cloak flourished in a sudden breeze as if all the gods wished for her to experience a flare of drama before getting on with her new reality, which helped her move with purpose.  That, and the size of the cloak hid (most of) the fact she was rather well armed...  The sword she carried was new, unused by her hands but she carried it with a preternatural familiarity so she didn't trip up or stumble with it, even as she tugged on a set of boots she'd also not worn until she was well out of the sewer.  Fortunately she was adroit enough to avoid stumbling even while keeping a stride, too.

But being mistaken for a child... that was a different kind of stumble altogether...

 "I'm afraid, Sargeant Saldado, that while I am no less an acquaintance, you have mistaken me for someone else,"   her voice is even and slightly deeper than that of a preteen,  "But I'm afraid I must insist on making a social call to the Field-Commissioner.  Especially with all that's been going on. Don't worry though; I'm much too small to make any waves that you good servicemen would need concern yourselves with..." 
 
 Spoiler: OOC/Rolls 


Diplomacy:  (1d20+10)[ 19 ] 
 
Inspectre
 Arin 

At your deeper voice and eloquent speech, Grau closed his eyes and gives an exasperated smile, as if you've just played a trick on him and he's finally getting the joke.  A few of the guards back at the barricade they're assembling in front of the citadel's gates snicker at his misfortunate to assume a smallfolk was an actual child.

"My apologies for the mistake, little Miss.  I'm afraid that the Field Marshall is involved in a private meeting, and will not be available for the rest of the day . . ."

Grau explains politely, although then he seems to get a good look at the sword and armor underneath your cloak, and trails off, clearly thinking.  Making a decision, he gets back up to his feet and gestures through the gates.

"On second thought, little miss, if you happen to be looking for work, I think the Field Marshall would be happy to speak with you.  Truth be told, we could use every hand that we can find for tonight . . . a storm's coming.  Here, I'll escort you."

For a moment, you feel a spark of irritation as it seems Grau does not, in fact, know you at all.  Then the realization catches up to you that you're an anomaly in a new world different from your home - so *of course* Grau wouldn't recognize you.  At least he's still a bit of a gullible lout like he was in the past world, or maybe the guard really is that desperate for whatever trouble is about to hit the city next.

(Additional update is posted below under the "Everyone" section.)

 Everyone Else 

Apparently the leader of this particular band of Pharasmans, lkikely because she's an actual cleric of Pharasma despite being only a young acolyte, Kira speaks on the church's behalf.

 "Bishop D'Bear is certainly not happy that expediency took precedence over proper procedure in disturbing the dead, but I am sure that she will be pleased to learn that everything worked out in the end, and the queen is unharmed . . . more or less." 

At Aliani's request for burial services, the acolyte nods respectfully, giving him a comforting, practiced smile.

 "Of course, Mr. Rose.  We will gather up the bodies for identification prior to burial.  That will likely take a few days regardless, so there will be time to come back and make arrangements later." 

No one else takes Dalen up on his offer for a mount, so the wizard simply rides along beside the group as you casually walk the hour or so through the city streets to get down to the Docks and Citadel Volyshenek.  When you get there you find that the home base of the city guard is a hive of activity, an unusual sight after much of the city guard has been attrited away by deaths from the riots, desertions, and Kroft's own dismissals.  They are clearly preparing for the worst as they set up barricades in front of the citadel's already formidable front gates and erect other temporary additional fortifications.  Recognizing all of you by now, you are swiftly waved through with an acknowledgement that the Field Marshall was expecting you, and hurried up into her office.


 Everyone 

Arriving in the office of the Field Marshall near the top of the citadel, you once again find it in its by-now familiar disarray, with papers scattered about on all of the available surfaces.  What is different is that the debris has been cleared away from one back corner of the office now, and a cot has been set up in the cleared space.  Lying face down on the cot is a familiar blond-haired painter with a knack for getting into trouble - Trinia Sabor, while a cleric of Abadar - another familiar face, Ishani Dharti, administers to the welts and weeping cuts on Trinia's bare back with some sort of poultice.  Kroft meanwhile, is pouring over some notes at her desk, not watching the two, but looks up as you all enter, reaching for her sword but relaxing as she sees that it is only all of you.  Silas is also standing in the corner, the tiefling fidgeting and chewing on his right index finger nervously as he watches Trinia's treatment finish.

 "N-now, this will need to be a-a-applied s-several more times over the n-next c-c-couple of days, but you s-should make a f-full recovery without scarring." 

Ishani explains with his usual stammer to Trinia before he steps back, allowing Trinia to sit up and then helping her slip back into a loose buttoned-up tunic marked with the sigil of the Korvosan guard that appears to be several sizes too large for her.  Trinia seems to need the help as she flinches and hisses in pain when the cloth touches her back, and also due to the manacle that is locked around her left wrist, connecting her to the frame of the cot by a thin chain.

 "As you can see, I managed to convince Ornher Reebs to turn Miss Sabor over to my custody, after I threatened to close the cathedral down due to structural concerns and march the entire guard in there to force an evacuation."
 
The Field Marshall explains, gesturing over at Trinia and Ishani, and then closes her eyes and gives a tired sigh.

 "Good thing that he caved to that; don't think I would actually have enough guardsmen left to loose if I had to force the issue and the Asmodeans resisted.  Unfortunately, now we have another problem - when he handed over Miss Sabor, High Priest Reebs also handed over a signed confession that his inquisitors extracted from Miss Sabor last night, confirming that she is one who poisoned King Eodred." 
 "Oh Gods, is THAT what I signed!?"   Trinia exclaims, growing pale as Kroft nods and continues.

 "Unfortunately, I was duty-bound to in turn hand that over to the Arbiters.  Combined with the letter from Gaedren Lamm calling her out by name as part of the conspiracy to murder the King, as well as other circumstantial evidence such as the fact that she did have access to the castle and the King due to the painting he had commissioned her to create, and it doesn't look good.  The Arbiters are deliberating tonight, so we should have a verdict by tomorrow morning - I have a meeting with them in a couple hours to offer my perspective of the "evidence" against Miss Sabor.  But it is entirely possible that the Arbiters will declare her guilty, in which case I will have no choice but to, in all likelihood, remand her  back  to to the Asmodeans for them to carry out the standard sentence . . . death by slow torture." 
 "What?  No . . . no you can't!  Please don't send me BACK THERE!" 

Trinia screams, climbing up onto the cot in order to back away into the corner, at least as far as the manacle on her wrist would allow her to go.  Silas silently goes over to comfort her with a hug, glaring back over his shoulder at the Field Marshall.

 "It gets worse - tell them the rest." 

Sighing, the Field Marshall digs around on the papers on her desk, coming up with a copy of the Korvosan Gazette which she hands over to Dalen.

 "I have a friend at the Gazette who owed me a favor - this is an advance copy of tonight's edition." 

Flipping the gazette over to see the whole cover, Dalen reveals the words "KINGSLAYER CAPTURED!  CITY AWAITS JUSTICE FOR KING'S MURDER!"  as the title for the edition, with an artist's rendition of Trinia Sabor standing over a sleeping King Eodred, a dripping dagger clutched in her hand (quite the sensationalized picture, given Eodred was murdered with a slow poison absorbed through the skin, not stabbed with a poisoned dagger).

 "It seems that High Priest Reebs - or at least an "overzealous acolyte" as he will claim - leaked the confession to the Korvosan Gazette, as well as the fact that we've picked up not just Trinia Sabor, but also Adonis Kreed from his offices earlier today - he's down in the holding cells right now.  Given the chaos that King Eodred's death unleashed, I can only assume that news of his supposed murderers' capture will kick off another round of anarchy tonight after that edition of the gazette hits the streets.  I've asked the Gazette to consider waiting to hold off on releasing this until we have an actual verdict to report from the Arbiters, but was denied - "the City needs to know!" 

Kroft parrots bitterly, rolling her eyes.

 "So I'm expecting a rather large, rather angry mob out in front of the Citadel gates tonight.  I am not going to transfer Miss Sabor nor Mr. Kreed to Longacre or any other facility, just in case there's still a guardsman out there stupid enough to decide to take "justice" into their own hands.  Given Kreed seems to be only a minor member of the conspiracy, he should be safe enough down in the cells tonight, but as for Miss Sabor . . . well, you can see the Gazette's opinion of her.  And with Lamm dead, there's no one else for us to hold up in front of the public as the one responsible for King Eodred's death.  I'm afraid that the entire city is rapidly going to turn against Miss Sabor, regardless of the exact truth of her innocence or guilt." 

Kroft scowls and raps her gauntleted fist against her desk.

 "But regardless of my being bound to uphold the laws of this city, I will be DAMNED if I let some angry mob decide what justice should be!  Miss Sabor will be sleeping here in my office for the night, and I will be personally standing guard.  I've already called in all of the remaining guard for tonight as well - it'll have to be enough." 

Kroft sighs.

 "But I don't know how bad this is going to be tonight.  I'm expecting an angry mob at the gates, but after the riots on the night of King Eodred's death who knows what will happen.  I could really use your help tonight in keeping the city calm and *not* burning to the ground while all of my guardsmen are tied up here."
 

Godsdamnit.  It would seem that your already long day was going to get just that much longer.
Darius Vibrtrar
With a salute of a Hellknight, palm to his chest followed with a quick and curt bow, Turk showed his respect for the Feild Marshall before speaking.
 
"Field Marshall Kraft. I am Zandu Hellspire of the Godclaw.  You may call me Turk." 

He flicks the turquoise scarf hanging from his side with a moment of purpose, causing it to flare out to attention, showing his pride in his Varisean heritage.

 "Defense against an expected mob of a size even half of what we've come to expect from recent events will proof difficult, and perhaps even futile with our current fortifications and manpower. But if you were to order it, I would gladly stand against the tides of chaos and show the order of the nail what it means to be a Hellknight. Or.... 

Turk turns to the side, no longer looking directly at the field marshal, he looks to the painter, cuddled up on the cot. He scans her for any strong chaos auras. He continues to talk while watching her.

 Or. We can try to put down the riots and mobs before they get here, and call for some additional muscle to fortify the compound against the over zealous. There are people in this town who have laid down roots that Laam has tried to uproot. Those who would come to this Ladies aid to spite Laam. Those whose blades, hands, and boots are not clean. From spotters who can whisper about a curfew, to small pay offs to go to bed early instead of joining this sensational evening. This evening could go quite smoothly with... a Cerulean Solution. 

With that he turns back to look to the field Marshall.

 "With proper negotiations, and accommodations, the defense tonight could not only be a success. It could be little more than a nuisance. Sir." 
 
 Spoiler: ooc: 
 diplimacy!!!  (1d20+18)[ 37 ] 
May he be desperate enough to listen to the idea without having Turk killed!
 
Darvin
 "Pah, confession by torture? What, were they too lazy to get her to confess to the murder of Aroden while they were at it?"  Dalen scoffs,  "nonetheless, I anticipate the Arbiters will find this a convenient scapegoat and with the added pressure of  this  publication I find it hard to believe they'll come to any other verdict," 

Dalen looks about the room,  "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," 

He then turns to Kroft,  "I have some magic that can harmlessly incapacitate a dozen to two dozen townsfolk, but perhaps more useful would be a simple divination spell. It can pick up on information passing as rumor and hearsay through the town, such as the identities of anyone attempting to lead this mob. It could make apprehension relatively quick. But the spell can't determine anything that will happen in the future, so our timing window is narrow," 
Inspectre
 "It is nonetheless considered legally admissible evidence.  One of Domina's many contributions to our fair city's "improved and expediated legal code."
 
Kroft says with more than a hint of bitterness.

 "Nonetheless, the Arbiters are not complete fools - they are aware confessions for anything can be extracted, even for the absurd - such as the murder of a god.  If enough hard evidence can be provided to counter what Trinia claims to have done, and prove her own viewpoint false, it may be possible to convince them to ignore it as false testimony.  In fact if this was not a high crime of treason and thus immune to such a defense, I'm sure some lawyers would attempt to argue a case of temporary insanity, arguing for rehabilitation rather than punishment." 
 "Great, so I'd just be locked up for the rest of my life getting "help" in an asylum rather than tortured to death . . . I'm so ****ed." 

Trinia groans, sitting back into the corner with her knees drawn up to her chin, clearly trying to make herself as small as possible as she fights back tears.

 "I'm so sorry I made another problem for you all.  They were hurting me and I just wanted the pain to stop." 
 "It does feel like Fate itself wants you dead, Miss." 

Grau says, speaking up from the corner by the door he had taken up, prompting Silas to suddenly look up, a thoughtful twinkle in his eye.

 "Aye . . . it certainly feels like that.  I wonder if in a different world, under different circumstances, the outcome would be the same." 

Silas offers, clearly hinting (i.e. Secret Message via Bluff) at something that only each of you know - you have all come here from different worlds than this one, but each of them had Trinia Sabor die in them.  Now admittedly that might not be that unusual - Eodred has died in all of your worlds that you've seen too, and the general course of events have played out along similar lines - you kllling Lamm (eventually), Ileosa becoming chosen as Korvosa's official new ruler, etc.  But you had tried to help Trinia in those other worlds too, and she had inevitably died in some horrible manner in every one of those worlds.  Almost like, as here in this world, Fate itself is pushing back against your efforts to save her and force the outcome of her death for some bizarre cosmic reason.  And for those who had seen Haeluna's transformation and been subjected to her horrific mental assault, that chilling, thunderous voice mocking you from the darkness -  "You will fail.  You will  always  fail." 

Kroft glances at Silas for a moment with a raised eyebrow, and then simply dismisses whatever she was thinking with a shake of her head.

 "I'm only concerned about what's happening in this world, right here and now.  And I certainly would like to know where the Gazette got their information from - it seems a little too convenient for them to not only know the Arbiters are deliberating over a potential Kingslayer, but to have a description of Trinia good enough to sketch that relatively close facsimile." 
 "PLEASE don't call me that!" 

Trinia cries from over in the corner, prompting Ishani to reflexively place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, only to immediately jerk his hand away when she hisses in pain at his touch.

 "I b-b-believe in your innoc-c-c-ence, M-Miss S-S-Sabor." 

The cleric offers, clearly not knowing what else he can offer at the moment.

Then Turk gives his offer of aid from the Cerulean Society, and Kroft goes quiet for a long moment, clenching her hands into fists on her desk.

 "I swore when I took this position that I would *not* be like Field Marshall Jeggare, applying the Law subjectively and not just surrendering to corruption and convenience but welcoming it!  I have done  everything  in my power to rebuild the Korvosan Guard as the beacon of justice and even-handed application of the law that my fa . . . that *I* dreamed it could be.  I'm sure that your Masters at the Cerulean Society, "Turk", will be delighted to have a new "understanding" with me about how its members should be sentenced for their crimes, over the common riff-raff of the city.  And all it will cost me is my soul . . . damn you from bringing me this offer, Zandu Hellspire of the Godclaw." 

The strength and conviction in Kroft's face melts away as she slumps in her city, looking down at her hands, seeming less like the Field Marshall of Korvosan in that moment and more a weary and beaten-down young woman, not that much different from Trinia.

 "But I suppose it's only proper for a Hellknight to offer me something for that.  If my soul can purchase the safety of Korvosa's citizens for at least one more night from this recent madness, then it's a price I will gladly pay.  Go tell your Masters that if they help keep the rioting and looting to a minimum for the duration of this Kingsl - until Trinia's innocence is proven, then we can come to a new understanding." 
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.


 
 Originally Posted by Darvin 
  "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
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  "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.


 
 Originally Posted by razorfloss 
   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.


 
 Originally Posted by Stelio Kontos 
  "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," 

 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  "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 

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 

 (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 

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 
 (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
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
 "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 
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 
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 

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 
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 
Casting Guidance, then taking 10 on Diplomacy (using Guidance) and Sense Motive (20 and 22 respectively), as might be needed.
 
razorfloss
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  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 room Its 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
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  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
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
 “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 

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 

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
 
 Originally Posted by Darvin 
 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 

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 

 
 

 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 &amp; 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 

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 &amp; 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! 
(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 
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 ?
 
Darius Vibrtrar
Turk hears the alarms and the calls from outside the fortress as the building goes into lock down. There would be no way that he can get inside through normal methods or avenues. He thinks and considers his options.

He could stay the course. Take a guards position outside the gates and wait for any developments. This would be the calmest and surest bet. It was staying the course. But. Its chances of making a difference, were so low, it bordered on a surefire way to not help at all.

He could try to break in. There were several ways he had himself considered. But that wasn't going to end well. He would likely get shot by the guards on duty or the defenders that he had himself set up. This plan had low chance of success for low probability of impact.

He frowned. As he had discounted the first two ideas, the third was undesirable. The sewers. If there was indeed an exit, and those protecting Trina could find it. It was there that he needed to be to meet up with them. He turned on his heel and immediately went to the closest entrance to the sewers. He would start by seeking out the areas most likely to be able to access the citadel from below.
Darvin
Dalen sighs as he hears the commotion behind him. Trinia disappearing in a jailbreak could be a good or bad thing, but either way a massive headache for him. Either way, Kreed's lead would have to wait.

 "I swear, I can't turn my back for ten seconds without  something  happening. We should head back and assist as best we are able,"  he immediately turns around and speaks to the guards.

As he approaches, he flashes a smile,  "from the sounds of things, the Field Marshal is going to need my services a few hours earlier than expected. Sorry to bother you with the back-and-forth," 
 
 Spoiler: OOC 
Let's roll that diplomacy, on the  principle  of things:  (1d20+21)[ 36 ] 
 


After being let back inside, Dalen calmly walks towards the epicenter of the commotion, looking for any friendly face to fill him in on what is transpiring.
razorfloss
Jeqem raise an eyebrow at the commotion being raise and turns to look at Dalen  "This happen often? We literally just left"  and lets the uncomfortably diplomatic man do his work to let us back into the building. Upon reentering the place, he follows Dalen lead as he has no idea what's going on, but he keeps his head on a swivel to be prepared if they are ambushed.
Inspectre
 Aliani 

The gnome follows you silently out the door to his office after collecting his horn and hopping back up onto his stilts.  It seems that you’ve failed to sway Sissyphus’s mind here in regards to publishing his anti-Trinia screed . . . although perhaps not entirely – for as you reach the exit to the publishing floor, you hear the gnome blare out from his horn “Alright people, listen up!  We’ve got some corrections for tonight’s special issue, so I’m afraid we’re going to have to start over . . .”

Whether those “corrections” would actually end up being positive or negative for Trinia in the end, you can’t say yet, but perhaps the gnome is going to take you up on your offer of a tell-all on the “white whale” of Venster after all.  For now, however, there is nothing more for you to do here, and you have other stops to make before nightfall to help ensure the city doesn’t burn down.

From the investigations by other members of your party, you had learned that Jack was going to stage a little “demonstration” up in the Heights, almost directly at the foot of the Grand Mastaba upon which Castle Korvosa rests.  While it seems unlikely that demonstration was going to spiral out of control into violence, Jack was certainly someone not afraid to resort to that if someone tried to stop him.  And even though the guards were likely busy to be busy elsewhere tonight, that doesn’t mean innocent citizens couldn’t get caught up in whatever follows after Jack is done burning effigies and ranting at the walls of the castle.

Sure enough, you find the scarred elf and a group of people you recognize as other members of his cell setting up bonfires and soaking wood in oil in the middle of the broad boulevard leading up to the Grand Mastaba’s ramp, a much smaller group of guards looking on warily from a distance at the base of the ramp.  The elf gives you a jaunty wave from where he’s carefully placing a tin crown on top of a wicker humanoid-shaped “body”.

“Hey there, kid!  Come to help pitch in for our little camping trip?”

 Bellinda 

You duck inside the supply room, unfortunately having to slow a bit as you nearly trip over a crate of supplies – sounds like torches and lanterns rattling around inside, maybe? – as you dash into the room.  A step behind you, Trinia manages to dance to one side and keep running flat out as you steady yourself and pick up the crate.  The door behind you booms open as an invisible figure shoulder-barges through it, and you hurl the crate at the empty space of the doorway.  You hear a muffled curse as something dives through the doorway and impacts against the stack of crates that the loose one had tumbled down from.  And then you turn and keep running, twisting and ducking around a pair of empty figurines that would be used to hold and display suits of armor.  A pair of shuriken embed themselves in the chest of one of the figurines a moment after you pass, bladed tips that are not embedded in the wooden display dripping some sort of poison.  The strawberry-haired woman pushes herself back up to her feet with a grimace and another muttered curse as she continues the chase.

Reaching the door on the far side of the supply closet, Trinia flings the door open and you dash through after her a moment later, but not before pulling down a nearby rack of weapons to help clog up the doorway before you slam the door shut and continue running.  The narrow hallway that you’re in now is the access point out onto the walls, and thankfully no guards are there to block your way out – although you catch a glimpse of a patrol that had just come inside turn in puzzlement as you and Trinia run out onto the walls behind them.  Now out in the open air again, you see that night is falling across Korvosa, as the sun begins to dip below the sea out to the west.  To the north and east is the Jeggare River, assuming you can get up to the top of the outermost outer wall of the Citadel to start climbing down.  In between you and there, however, are several more patrols of guards, all of which are starting to converge on the keep with cries about an “intruder” (who you’ve just met), and now also cries of alarm that Trinia has escaped.

As you are surveying your situation to figure out the best route up onto the walls, a dark shadow swings down next to you – Blackjack.  The vigilante, realizing that time is of the essence, simply nods to you and Trinia and points towards the north-west corner of the walls.

“I have a small boat tied up against the base of the walls in the northwest corner!  There’s a rope there you can use to climb down to it!  I’ll try to keep the guards’ attention on me!”

And then after quickly reloading his hand crossbow, Blackjack fires a bolt up into the side of the keep’s tower, and swings away on a thin rope that was attached to the bolt.  As he goes he throws down some sort of incendiary that makes more of a bright flash of light and burst of fire than anything especially harmful, attracting the attention of several groups of guards who points and shout “It’s Blackjack!  Blackjack is the intruder!”

 
 Spoiler: The Final Stretch! 

 Due to the lead that you have on the intruder, you and Trinia have a +4 bonus to all rolls for this final leg of the challenge.  You have three obstacles that you must make checks against in order to successfully escape the keep. 
 Get to the Walls  – Stealth DC 25 or Acrobatics DC 20.  While the guards are rushing about attempting to find the intruder and/or Blackjack, you and Trinia have to sneak or possibly dash, duck, and dodge your way over to the walls.  Failure to do so will result in you taking arrow fire from the guards or possibly some more shuriken to the back from the real intruder.  Depending on how well Arin does at holding the intruder back and Dalen/Jeqem distract the guards, you and Trinia can possibly get an additional bonus to this roll beyond the +4 you already have.
 Scale the Walls  – Climb DC 20 or Endurance (Con check + anything Endurance related, such as the Endurance feat) DC 15.  Now at the walls, you have to actually get up to the topmost battlements, which requires either scaling up the inside of the walls/jumping up from stairway to stairway, or going the long way of running up all the stairs to the top – a daunting prospect given your legs are already starting to burn from the high-speed chase up to this point.
 Climb Down to the Boat  – Climb DC 15 or Acrobatics DC 10+ (The Higher The Better).  You can either climb down the rope that Blackjack has helpfully provided you – the slow way (which has risks of people catching up to you and cutting the rope/shooting you with more arrows) – or jump headlong off the walls and hope/aim for the water and avoid any rocks below as you slam down into the water – this is going to hurt, although Acrobatics will reduce the damage that you take as follows: Result &lt;10 – You land headfirst on a rock – take the full 10d6 falling damage (ouch!).  Result 10 – You hit the water – but unfortunately only a shallow part - damage reduced to 8d6. Result 15 – You manage at least a rudimentary dive into the water – damage reduced to 2d3 Non-lethal and 6d6 lethal.  Result 20 – Excellent dive down into the water – damage reduce to 2d3 Non-lethal and 3d6 lethal.  Result 25 or Higher – Perfect dive!  You negate the   entire amount   of falling damage.
 

 Arin 

As you close in on the keep from the walls, you catch sight of a blond-haired woman that can only be Trinia, accompanied by the halfling woman you had briefly met in Kroft’s office – Bellinda, you think her name was?  They don’t seem to be noticed by the guards just yet, although as you change direction to catch up with them you see a dark shadow swing over to join them – Blackjack.  The vigilante points at the northwest corner of the walls – where you know his boat and rope leading down to it are – and then swings off to distract the guards with some pyrotechnics.

Unfortunately, while the guards are still currently distracted, that doesn’t mean Trinia and Bellinda are out of danger.  They were running from something, and sure enough just after they set out again for the walls the door behind them bangs open and a strawberry-haired woman in a guard’s uniform, but with a jagged blade clenched in each hand that are definitely not standard guard issue, comes charging out after them – the intruder!

You move to intercept the intruder, managing to follow along the top of a battlement that leads down and intersects with the path that Trinia and Bellinda are using to make their way over to the walls.  You step out in front of the strawberry-haired woman just after they run past the intersection, and plant your feet, blade drawn.  You aren’t too sure about your chances in a fight with your new body and strange new powers, but it seems this is going to be the moment of truth.  The intruder slows to a halt as she sees you, smirking as she rakes her blades against each other, causing a cascade of sparks to erupt down the length of each blade as they make an eerie whispering screech.

  “You are in my way, little one.  Are you really sure that your life is worth this momentary distraction?”  

The intruder taunts, striding forward now with more confidence as she takes your measure, glancing away from you only once towards the fleeing backs of Trinia and Arin before granting you her full attention.  Stopping just outside the reach of your blade, the intruder waits a few more passing heartbeats, apparently to give you time to back down and step aside.  When that isn’t forthcoming, she gives a shrug and immediately leaps to the attack.

  “Too bad.  This city could use a few more brave fools.  Ah well.”  
 
 Spoiler: The Duel 

So, this fight is likely not going to go Arin’s way, but she can potentially make a good showing of herself before the intruder gets past her, depending on how well Arin does on the following three rolls (higher is better obviously):
 
 A melee attack (you may use Smite Evil here if you wish to boost the to-hit roll) – to see how well Arin manages to hold her own in swordplay against the assassin 
 A CMB check – to see how well Arin manages to keep her footing and keep the assassin from just skirting around her and running past/shoving her out of the way 
 A Will save – As the rhythmic scraping of the intruder’s blades against each other can have a hypnotic effect that distracts and Fascinates (as the spell/bardic ability – yes, this version works even in combat!) Arin 
 
 

 Dalen &amp; Jeqem 

Arriving back inside the gates with relatively little fuss – you had just walked out of them not a minute ago after all, and the guards there knew who you both were – you both look around to see that while the situation is chaotic, the guards are locking down the Citadel in a relatively orderly fashion.  As such, things that don’t belong here stand out relatively quickly to the two of you – like the two figures up on the walls near the top of the keep, running along to the walls – Trinia and Bellinda, you would have to guess.  And that dark shadow swinging away on a line to drop a pyrotechnic flash bomb to draw the guards’ attention to him would have to be Blackjack.  Which makes the two figures immediately behind Trinia and Bellinda having a sword fight atop the walls that strange newcomer to your group – Arin? – and the strawberry-haired intruder.   From all the way down here on the ground, however, it will be difficult to help either group with their respective problems.

 
 Spoiler: Help Wanted 

Down on the ground, you are currently about 100’ away from Arin &amp; the intruder, and 130’ away from Bellinda and Trinia.  Which I believe is long-range for most spells, although certainly there are still things you can do to help either group.  If you have spells with a long-enough range that you want to try those, cast away, but here are some potential skills-based ways to help.

 Do It Yourself! 
You somehow get up onto the walls immediately from your position down on the ground, either by scaling the walls or finding a nearby stairway to assist in your ascend up onto the walls.  This reduces the range to Arin/intruder down to 40’ and Trinia &amp; Bellinda to 70’.  Climb DC 20 or Perception DC 15 + Endurance DC 10 (as you run full tilt up the located stairway).

 Help Arin  - Each successful check grants an additional +2 bonus to Arin's rolls
Get the intruder! – Diplomacy DC 25 or Intimidate DC 15.  Rather than focus on Trinia, you order groups of guards up on the wall to go join Arin in engaging the intruder, keeping her busy and preventing her from continuing the chase (and giving Arin some much-needed relief).

 Help Trinia &amp; Bellinda  – Each successful check grants an additional +2 bonus to Bellinda/Trinia’s rolls
More chaos! – You keep the guards distracted by yelling about fake intruders and calling the attention of guards’ on the walls down to you pointlessly.  Bluff DC 20 or Intimidate DC 25 (Diplomacy in this case will take too long as your polite requests are brushed off by the guards now that you’re inside and “safe” and they have more important things to attend to).
 

 Turk 

As a member of Korvosa’s underground, while a trip through the sewers was never a pleasant prospect, generally so long as you stayed in the top levels, didn’t get lost, and didn’t run into any otyughs (without food to bribe them anyway), it was a decent way of moving about the city out-of-sight.  Unfortunately you weren’t as familiar with the sewers around the headquarters of the bloody city guard, you didn’t know how deep you’d have to go to find the tunnels leading to this mythical “secret escape tunnel” from Citadel Volyshenek, and you didn’t have any food to bribe otyughs with.  Still less risk than trying to break into the Citadel while the guards were on high alert for intruders, but definitely not going to be pleasant if anything goes wrong down there.

On the plus side, at least you did know of a nearby entrance down into the sewers – a locked feeding plug that the city guard sometimes used to lower crates of food down into the sewers during lean times to ensure that the otyughs didn’t starve . . . or more importantly, break out into the city streets to hunt.  Ducking into the nearby alleyway that held the plug, you see as expected that it’s currently locked – as could be expected when the guards were attempting to keep the immediate area locked down.

 
 Spoiler: Sewer Adventure! 

Okay, so here are three hurdles that Turk will need to circumvent in some way to get to where he would like to be in the sewers beneath Citadel Volyshenek.
 Get into the Sewers  – The plug – effectively a giant manhole cover that can be locked in place – is currently blocking the nearest route down into the sewers.  DC 25 Disable Device unlocks it – Turk may Take 20 on this check if so desired.  Alternatively, there is an open sewer grate that dumps out into the Jeggare River that has a loose grate that Turk is aware of nearby along the docks, but that will take a DC 15 Swim check to get safely over to.
 Navigate the Sewers  – DC 15 Dungeoneering or DC 20 Perception – Turk slowly works his way through the sewer tunnels in the direction of Citadel Volyshenek, managing to avoid getting lost down in the winding tunnels.
 Stay Safe  – DC 20 Stealth or DC 15 Handle Animal – Turk manages to avoid disturbing any large groups of rats, or placate them with a few crumbs of food enough that they don’t make a lot of noise attacking him/running away from him . . . noise which could draw the attention of other, much more dangerous predators (like an otyugh).
 
tonberryking
Arin has been through some unspeakable horrors, and literal sewer $#*!, so the condescending attitude of a master assassin with freako swords just irks her at best.

And from the way she holds Regal Thorn, twisting its blade so that it catches the light and sends it back in the assassin's face, Arin is not about to be deterred in her defenses.

She takes a step back and then a lunge forward, coming in from a low position and arcing the blade upward, aiming for the woman's hip.  It becomes obvious in an instant, however, the prior move of deflecting light wasn't just a cheap tactic used in a duel.

It was to hide that her sword blade was  glowing  as Arin moves just a bit faster and a bit more focused, going in for a smite.

 
 Spoiler: OOC/Rolls 

 (1d20+14)[ 30 ]  Smiiiiiiiiite~

 (1d8+8)[ 12 ] 
 
tonberryking
Ooops...

 
 Spoiler: Additional Rolls 


CMB-  (1d20+3)[ 5 ] 

Will save-  (1d20+8)[ 23 ] 
 
Darius Vibrtrar
As Turk approaches the lock he reaches into the shadows and pulls out a shadowy set of lockpicks. He takes his time to pop the lock open. [Take 20 for a 33 Disable Device.]

Turk descends into the sewer, while normally a paper pusher he was not afraid to get dirty. He begins to explore and make his way to where he thinks the underneath of the installation is.

 (1d20+6)[ 9 ]  k. Dungeoneering

Turk uses his fey connection to the city to conceal his tracks, he passes without trace as he stealthes through the sewers to avoid animals and worse.

 (1d20+10)[ 18 ]  stealth
Stelio Kontos
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  Aliani 

The gnome follows you silently out the door to his office after collecting his horn and hopping back up onto his stilts.  It seems that you’ve failed to sway Sissyphus’s mind here in regards to publishing his anti-Trinia screed . . . although perhaps not entirely – for as you reach the exit to the publishing floor, you hear the gnome blare out from his horn “Alright people, listen up!  We’ve got some corrections for tonight’s special issue, so I’m afraid we’re going to have to start over . . .”

Whether those “corrections” would actually end up being positive or negative for Trinia in the end, you can’t say yet, but perhaps the gnome is going to take you up on your offer of a tell-all on the “white whale” of Venster after all.  For now, however, there is nothing more for you to do here, and you have other stops to make before nightfall to help ensure the city doesn’t burn down.

From the investigations by other members of your party, you had learned that Jack was going to stage a little “demonstration” up in the Heights, almost directly at the foot of the Grand Mastaba upon which Castle Korvosa rests.  While it seems unlikely that demonstration was going to spiral out of control into violence, Jack was certainly someone not afraid to resort to that if someone tried to stop him.  And even though the guards were likely busy to be busy elsewhere tonight, that doesn’t mean innocent citizens couldn’t get caught up in whatever follows after Jack is done burning effigies and ranting at the walls of the castle.

Sure enough, you find the scarred elf and a group of people you recognize as other members of his cell setting up bonfires and soaking wood in oil in the middle of the broad boulevard leading up to the Grand Mastaba’s ramp, a much smaller group of guards looking on warily from a distance at the base of the ramp.  The elf gives you a jaunty wave from where he’s carefully placing a tin crown on top of a wicker humanoid-shaped “body”.

“Hey there, kid!  Come to help pitch in for our little camping trip?” 
 

Aliani returned the wave, walking over to Jack and the others.   "Only in spirit, I am afraid"  he said quietly, before pulling Jack in for a long hug and a whispered reproachment/encouragement.   "There's someone who needs my fullest attention.  I assume you have heard of the events at the damned Asmodean temple.  Do as you will here, but remember for whom we do what we must.  Don't go starting something that will put  innocent  people at risk, please.  Sometimes, it is better to be a hungry mouse than one caught in a trap." 

Stepping back, he gave Jack a wry smile.   "Try to keep things under control.  If you need to be bailed out, send word." 
DarkOne-Rob
 
 Spoiler: The Final Stretch! 
Due to the lead that you have on the intruder, you and Trinia have a +4 bonus to all rolls for this final leg of the challenge. You have three obstacles that you must make checks against in order to successfully escape the keep.

Get to the Walls – Stealth DC 25 or Acrobatics DC 20. While the guards are rushing about attempting to find the intruder and/or Blackjack, you and Trinia have to sneak or possibly dash, duck, and dodge your way over to the walls. Failure to do so will result in you taking arrow fire from the guards or possibly some more shuriken to the back from the real intruder. Depending on how well Arin does at holding the intruder back and Dalen/Jeqem distract the guards, you and Trinia can possibly get an additional bonus to this roll beyond the +4 you already have.
Scale the Walls – Climb DC 20 or Endurance (Con check + anything Endurance related, such as the Endurance feat) DC 15. Now at the walls, you have to actually get up to the topmost battlements, which requires either scaling up the inside of the walls/jumping up from stairway to stairway, or going the long way of running up all the stairs to the top – a daunting prospect given your legs are already starting to burn from the high-speed chase up to this point.
Climb Down to the Boat – Climb DC 15 or Acrobatics DC 10+ (The Higher The Better). You can either climb down the rope that Blackjack has helpfully provided you – the slow way (which has risks of people catching up to you and cutting the rope/shooting you with more arrows) – or jump headlong off the walls and hope/aim for the water and avoid any rocks below as you slam down into the water – this is going to hurt, although Acrobatics will reduce the damage that you take as follows: Result &lt;10 – You land headfirst on a rock – take the full 10d6 falling damage (ouch!). Result 10 – You hit the water – but unfortunately only a shallow part - damage reduced to 8d6. Result 15 – You manage at least a rudimentary dive into the water – damage reduced to 2d3 Non-lethal and 6d6 lethal. Result 20 – Excellent dive down into the water – damage reduce to 2d3 Non-lethal and 3d6 lethal. Result 25 or Higher – Perfect dive! You negate the entire amount of falling damage.
 

 
 Spoiler: 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).
 

      
    Bellinda Swiftfoot   
Female Lawful Good Halfling Bard (w/ 2 Archetypes),  Level  5,  Init  4,  HP  12/37,  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  None 
 
  
The pair of bards continue to flee, rushing to the walls, up them, and then back down again. Their approach and assent go smoothly, but Bellinda trips at the top and tumbles into the water with a painful (and dangerous) uncontrolled flop. When she comes up for air she finds Trinia calmly treading water towards Blackjack's boat and the little halfling woman exhaustedly dog-paddles her way there too. "  Oh...that hurt bad...  " she mutters as she climbs into the boat. "  I'm going to need some healing in a moment...  "

 
 Spoiler: Mechanics 
All rolls in Discord.

Get to the walls - success.
Scale the walls - success.
Climb down to the boat - Trinia takes no damage, Bellinda takes 8d6 damage -   25   rolled.

If we are still in a tight spot we won't have time to heal yet, so I will post for healing spells after the next DM post.
 
Darvin
His eyes moving quickly over the surrounding chaos, Dalen moves to collect and direct the soldiers, "the intruder is up on the walls, cut off their escape routes," Dalen confidently takes charge and directs some of the more disorganized guardsmen in a coordinated maneuver. As he does so, his ring briefly glows. A such of power reorganizes the spent magic in his mind, and every so often he glances towards the fugitives and is ready to give them cover if necessary.

 
 Spoiler: OOC 

Diplomacy:  (1d20+21)[ 29 ] 

Dalen uses the Pearl of Power in his new ring to recover Silent Image, which he won't use quite yet
 
razorfloss
Following Dalen and standing in awe of his sheer diplomatic ability he looks around to see if he can find the Intruder and wonders to himself if its Belinda the cause of such a racket. As he does this, he mouths a spell, and a quick flash appears before disappearing and grips his spear as if preparing for anything   You heard the man. Move Damit 
 
 Spoiler: Actions 

Cast Mage armor

Aid another to help Dalen(Not that he needs it)  (1d20)[ 7 ] 
 
Inspectre
 Arin 

For a moment your vision wavers, the eerie shower of sparks drawing your eyes hypnotically to the intruder’s blades as they rasp rhythmically together.  But this duel for survival was no place for a lapse in concentration, and with a stern reminder from your old instructors to watch your opponent’s body, not their weapon ringing in your ears you force your eyes away from the sparking weapons and back onto the woman.  Just in time as she abruptly lunges forward, sending the last wave of sparks arcing out at you in front of her blades as she commits to the attack.  You manage to block the first high swing but are forced back a step as you have to move your leg to dodge the low swing from her other blade that immediately follows the first.

You don’t have time to re-establish your stance either, as the intruder continues to unleash a barrage of attacks, one attack flowing into the next, which you only narrowly manage to parry or dodge by the slimmest of margins.  While you manage to avoid getting your head sawed off by those painful-looking saw-edged blades during this initial exchange, it Is made abundantly clear that you are far out of your league here and that any protracted fight is inevitably going to end with you dead.  So you are going to need to end this quickly if you want any hope of survival.

Fortunately, you are not completely alone here, as you hear Dalen’s voice shouting from far down below, directing the guards up on the walls to close in on the intruder and come to your aid.  For her part the intruder briefly relents in her assault, eyes glancing sideways and down at the tiny figure of the wizard with a faint “tsk” of irritation.  It’s not much of an opening, but it’s all you’ve got to work with as you stop falling back and switch to the offense, lunging forward in a desperate all-or-nothing attack.  As you move, you reflect the light from the last dying sparks left behind by the latest clash of your blades against each other into the intruder’s eyes, in a mirror of her attempt to hypnotize you with them a few moments before.  And then you strike, pushing holy energy into the edge of your blade almost by instinct as the faint glow of reflected sparks flares into a bright corona of dawn light.

Even with the suddenness of your counterattack, the intruder is fast, nearly managing to twist away from your slash at her hip – almost.  You feel the tip of your blade connect with something and the woman grunts as she continues to twist away, leaving the tip of your sword red with blood.  So you had managed to land a blow, although you hadn’t expected her to dodge so quickly – had that flicker of “distraction” she had shown at Dalen’s shouting been merely a feint to lure you into an attack!?

That thought flashes through your mind an instant before something flashes into your peripheral vision – the intruder’s leg as she finishes her sidestep of your lunge and brings her foot up and around into the side of your head.  Stars tumble about through the rest of your spinning vision as stumble and are twisted around by the impact – a second blow to your back sending you tumbling forward now to the edge of the narrow walkway you were having this duel on.  You go over the edge, but despite your chaotic vision of the world as you tumble off into the abyss, you manage to desperately flail a hand out and catch yourself on the edge, swinging down to thud painfully against the wall.  As your vision clears after a moment of hanging there by one hand, you look up to see the intruder leaning over you.  In a different voice than the one she had addressed you by at the start of your duel, she says something in a language that you don’t recognize.

  “Muirwhen.  Mana muirwhen dos.”  

The intruder declares, reaching one hand down to probe at the trickle of blood leaking out beneath the hem of the chainmail’s tunic at her right hip.  But while the intruder could easily slash down at your head or your fingers desperately clinging to the edge of the walkway, instead she merely gives you a jaunty little salute with her blades and then turns away, moving off to continue her chase of Trinia and Bellinda.  Of course, she didn’t really need to do anything to finish you at this point – gravity was likely to take care of you for her as your grip inexorably starts to weaken.  Rather a disappointing end to your new life, although you gave it your all against a foe that could have given even Sabrina pause, and you even managed to wound her before the end.

Or perhaps it won’t be the end after all, as the leading wave of guards urged on by Dalen reach the site of your duel in time to grab you and pull you up to safety.  Of course, stopping to help you up does keep the guards from pursuing the intruder immediately, as she races after Trinia and Bellinda to the high outer edge of the walls surrounding the keep.  You watch as a patrol of three guards coming down from the wall fares even more poorly than you did as the intruder summersaults past the first guard, slashes the second guard’s weapon arm before sweeping the longsword out of the man’s weakened grip with her other blade, and then avoids the third guard entirely by scampering up the side of the nearby flight of stairs that the guards were descending from to get behind the third one, kicking him in the back to send him tumbling down into the first guard attempting to run back up the stairs after her.

You watch as the intruder now races along the top of the outer wall towards Trinia and Bellinda, who have stopped near one corner of the wall and are looking down over the side of the wall at something in the water far below.  As the intruder continues to approach, Bellinda and Trinia climb up over the outermost crenellations and drop down out of sight, jumping off the wall.  The intruder is prevented from following them by a black shadow that swings up onto the wall directly behind her – Blackjack.  Despite the vigilante’s silent approach, the intruder whirls about at the last moment, parrying his sword strike with both of her swords – leaving her wide open a moment later as Blackjack produces from beneath his cloak with his off-hand his signature hand crossbow.  Already reloaded, the vigilante shoves the point of the weapon into the intruder’s abdomen and fires the small bolt loaded there point-blank into her stomach.  Staggering backward, the intruder tips over the side of the wall and falls off and down into the waters below, head-first – if not for her previously displayed acrobatic prowness you might be attempted to assume that fall was the death of her but it seems far more likely that you will see her again for a rematch some day.

Meanwhile, the guards now shift their attention to Blackjack, but as the guards close in on the vigilante, he reloads his handcrossbow and fires again into the stone at his feet, leaving a line attached to the bolt that let him swing down off the side of the wall and disappear into the falling darkness outside of the citadel’s walls.  Hopefully that is the last of people sneaking around in the guard citadel for the evening – now you just had an angry mob to deal with outside the gates.

 Turk 

Getting down into the sewers is easy enough for someone with your skills.  Unfortunately, without a pre-mapped path or really a map of any kind to follow once down below the city streets, it turns out navigating the sewers was much harder.  You think that you are going in the direction of Citadel Volyshenek, but it’s hard to tell given the sewers’ narrow corridors twist and branch off at irregular intervals.  Unlike up on the city streets, going in a straight line to your destination is completely impossible, and as you imagined destination continues to fail to materialize, you slowly come to accept that you are lost.  Worse than that, you aren’t entirely sure that you could find your way back to the still-open sewer grate, either.  Coming down here alone was a really bad idea, particularly when you have to duck into a nearby branch path and cram yourself into a wet, disgusting nook in the stonework to hide and allow an otyugh to shamble past, it thankfully failing to notice you.

Or at least, it did fail to notice you before you slip out of the crack in the stonework some distance behind it, only to startle a rat that was also re-emerging from its own hidey-hole, causing it to squeak in indignation.  The flurry of scraping movement and shuffling feet further down the hallway is enough to tell you that the otyugh had managed to hear *that*, and was turning around to come back and investigate.  Able to see in the dark while you can’t, it definitely manages to see you this time, and gives a low rumbling roar of hunger as it starts stomping back towards you – which is about the time you wisely decide to turn and also start running from it.  Thankfully, otyughs are as slow as they are stupid, so you eventually manage to lose it in a series of ducking into different branching pathways in rapid succession, but now you really are helplessly lost.

While you are considering your dwindling options for how to get out of this situation alive, things go from . . . potentially better *or* worse, depending on your next choice of words, as a bullseye lantern suddenly flares to life around you to spotlight you in the dark tunnel, its source somewhere out in the darkness ahead.  From that direction, a rough voice hisses out at you.

“Oi, topsider – you come down here looking for trouble?  Because you found it!”

That voice is immediately cut off by a softer voice, which steps out into the beam of light so that you can see it belongs to a middle-aged woman with streaks of grey running through her long brown hair, as well as that one of her hands is held tight to her chest, little more than a shriveled claw.

“Peace, Girrigz – he’s probably just lost.  You don’t belong down here, topsider, but from hearing that otyugh bellowing a little while ago I think you probably already know that.  My name is Erias - do you need help getting back up to the surface, Mister . . .?’

 Aliani 

To your surprise, Jack makes a few grunts of protest at your embrace, but does reluctantly slap an arm around your back rather than immediately shoving you away – seems like the scarred old elf was finally starting to warm up to you a little bit.  At your warning to keep things calm tonight, he just gives his typical dismissive chuckle though.

“Relax kid, we’re just making a statement here that our new “queen” can’t push us around anymore, just like Hae did earlier today with the Asmodeans.”

Jack says lightly, and you realize in a flash of insight that he  doesn’t know  – neither what happened to Haeluna, nor all the horrible things she did in pursuit of her goals.  For a moment a cold tendril of paranoia stabs into the back of your head that perhaps Haeluna was not the only one who abandoned Milani in favor of a darker god like Norberger . . . but then you squash that thought with the admission to yourself that Jack may be many things, but he’s about as subtle as a thrown brick to the head.  If he had allied himself with Haeluna, surely he wouldn’t be here now planning on just burning a few effigies in front of the castle.  You were probably going to have to set him straight on Haeluna at some point though, less he gets too emboldened by Haeluna’s new weapon that wouldn’t be making an encore performance.

“We’ll be on our way before the guard or any Hellknights arrive – unless Her High and Mighty-ness plans on coming down here to stop us herself, we should be just fine.  Nobody’s skull is getting cracked tonight.”

Jack says . . . and his ignorance of what is about to happen to the city tonight yet again is almost adorable.  Hopefully he and his friends here would be away before the streets got really bad tonight.  As for you, you needed to be on your own way, before Kroft tries to hang Trinia from the rafters or something.  As you turn to go, though, Jack clears his throat and makes a quiet offer.

“Unless you need somebody’s skull cracked, kid.  Guard still harassing you or something?”

Seems like if you need more hands to help hold the rioting crowds back, you’ve found them, although you can only imagine the earful Jack would give you if you asked him to actually *help* the guard keep the peace tonight.  Perhaps it was best to take these things one small step at a time.

 Bellinda 

With the intruder still chasing after you and the guards closing in from all directions, it was definitely time to get out of here.  You manage to avoid the patrols of guards as they converge on the keep, ducking out of sight around corners and behind stone stairways to allow several groups of guards to rush past before continuing your ascent.  Behind you, Arin does her best to keep the intruder at bay, although once up on the outermost wall circling the citadel’s keep, you see the strawberry-haired woman rushing after you again.  Dimly, you can hear Dalen far below calling out to the guards to focus on the intruder rather than you, which you are grateful for but find it unlikely that they will be able to stop her from catching up to you.

Reaching the back corner of the outermost wall as indicated by Blackjack, you and Trinia glance down to find the rowboat waiting for you in the shadow of the walls where the vigilante had said it would be . . . quite a long way down below.  There is no time to secure a rope and climb down . . . so you were going to have to jump.  Trinia shares a nervous look at you, looks down over the side of the wall again, and then clenches her hands in fists and nods.  With an agility and confidence that suggest she is used to moving above long falls – although perhaps not from this high up – Trinia swings her legs over the outermost crenellations of the wall, braces herself against them, and then pushes off, flinging herself out into the abyss.  She lands perfectly in the water, disappearing beneath the surface before bobbing back up a moment later and waving to you.

You attempt to follow suit, but your kick doesn’t take you as far away from the wall and the dark spot of water you had been aiming for turns out to be only a shadow over a more shallow spot beneath the surface of the water.  You feel the water break around you, and then its your turn to break as your left shoulder hits a boulder jutting out from the foundation of the citadel out of sight beneath the surface.  You twist and roll away into deeper water, eventually managing to struggle back up to the surface instead of sinking down into the watery abyss, but the shooting pain in your shoulder as you struggle to join Trinia over by the rowboat is not a good sign.  Trinia seems to realize that something is wrong as she helps you into the boat.

  “It’s alright, I think I can fix this with some of my magic!”  

Trinia reassures you, whispering several arcane spells over your injured shoulder as you untie the boat from its line mooring it to the side of the fortress and let the current start to take you out and away into deeper waters.  The pain in your shoulder fades away to nothing as the healing magic takes effect, and together you and Trinia manage to maneuver the rowboat over to an empty section of the docks some distance downstream from the citadel.  While you get a few odd looks from the fishermen also bringing their boats in for the evening, nobody really pays the two of you much attention as you hurry out of the boat and make you way onto the streets of Midland.  You’d need to hurry away from here and avoid going south and back towards Citadel Volyshenek, but there should be no further difficulties with getting Trinia to the chapel of Sarenrae up in the Heights.

(OOC:  Congratulations!  You have successfully rescued Trinia from her imprisonment.  You can assume a safe journey over to the sarenrae church despite the growing crowd of angry people on the street – nobody recognizes Trinia on the way there.  You can also assume that with her remaining spells, Trinia heals you back up to full.  Now you just need to actually name a few of the people at the Chapel of Sarenrae who Bellinda talks to in order to convince them to take Trinia in.  :-D )


 Dalen &amp; Jeqem 

At Dalen’s urgings, the guards focus their attention on the strawberry-haired intruder, who is currently dueling with Arin atop the walls, while Bellinda and Trinia (you assume) continue to flee towards the outermost wall.  While the guards are unable to stop the intruder, they do manage to save Arin after she is nearly kicked off of the walkway and left clinging to the edge of it by the intruder before she renews her chase.  Blackjack brings an end to the assassin’s rampage a few moments later after swinging down behind her and shooting her in the stomach with his hand crossbow, sending her tumbling backward off the wall and into the waters outside the citadel.  Trinia and Bellinda jump off the wall out of sight, followed shortly thereafter by Blackjack, leaving no intruders for the guard to deal with.  Unfortunately, the citadel remained in lockdown, preventing either of you from leaving to see if Trinia and Bellinda safely swam away or were lost to the vague dangers of the Jeggare River.  And eventually, a rather flustered Cressidia Kroft came marching over to see the two of you, a suspicious glare in her eyes.

 “Mr. Rittle . . . I am sure that if I ask, you will deny having anything to do with the absolute  fiasco  that has just occurred.  And since you and Jeqem here are the only members of your group currently present, I can’t ask anyone else.  But if you do happen to see her again before I do, please inform Miss Swiftfoot (Bellinda) that I am deeply disappointed in her.” 

The Field Marshall shakes her head and sighs.

 “I wish you all had just trusted the system, because now I have to go and explain to the Arbiters why the one accused of murdering King Eodred is no longer in my custody.  I can only hope that they will not over react to the news.” 
DarkOne-Rob
      
    Bellinda Swiftfoot   
Female Lawful Good Halfling Bard (w/ 2 Archetypes),  Level  5,  Init  4,  HP  12/37,  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  None 
 
  
Bellinda thanks Trinia for the healing with a brief, "  Thanks - that  really  hurt before your magic,  " as she maneuvers the little boat safely to the pier. Once they're out of immediate danger and headed towards the cathedral she explains, "  We're going to request sanctuary at the temple to Saranrae. The priests there won't let an innocent woman be killed, no matter what the masses say. Come on, and stick to the shadows as much as you can manage without looking weird...  "

For her part, the little halfling has no trouble moving almost invisibly, taking advantage of back alleys, poorly lit streets, and wooded parks as she leads the way silently. It's still several minutes before she's confident that they will make it unmolested, but when she arrives at the modest cathedral she leads Trinia to a back door - "  Service entrance,  " - and knocks loudly until an acolyte arrives.

"  We need to see a priest, right away,  " she says to the faithful, explaining little else but uncharacteristically forcing her way inside with the refugee. "  Is anyone here tonight or do I need to go get someone?  She  needs to be brought to a private room, one of the long-term apartments for victims of abuse. Can you do that for me?  " Bellinda asks after presenting her holy symbol to the fellow worshipper of the Dawnflower.

 
 Spoiler: OoC 
I'm obviously taking some liberties, but have no strong opinion on the acolyte's sex or if there is a priest present immediately. However, if none is at the cathedral when they arrive, Bellinda will see to Trinia's immediate safety and then go to the nearest home to speak with a priest tonight. She's sure that she will need a clerical sponsor to provide safe-haven for Trinia and to keep her presence at the church secret.

Only after Trinia is safely hidden away will Bellinda consider what she will be doing next to rejoin the party and address concerns about her illegally freeing a prisoner...I wouldn't be surprised if Bellinda needs to develop a good disguise for a while...

Do you need more from me, @ Inspectre ?
 
Darvin
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  “Mr. Rittle . . . I am sure that if I ask, you will deny having anything to do with the absolute  fiasco  that has just occurred.  And since you and Jeqem here are the only members of your group currently present, I can’t ask anyone else.  But if you do happen to see her again before I do, please inform Miss Swiftfoot (Bellinda) that I am deeply disappointed in her.”  
 

 "I assure you, Ms. Kroft, that I have plenty of choice words of my own and they are not nearly as restrained as yours,"  Dalen rolls his eyes just thinking about the comedy of errors he just witnessed. If you're going to do something so reckless, at least  do it right . That should have been a quiet fait accompli, not a colossal escapade with dozens of witnesses.


 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  “I wish you all had just trusted the system, because now I have to go and explain to the Arbiters why the one accused of murdering King Eodred is no longer in my custody.  I can only hope that they will not over react to the news.”  
 

 "I don't envy you the task. I highly suspect the Arbiters are in a mood to find a scapegoat, and you of all people shouldn't be it,"  

Dalen remains ready to assist in quelling the riotous mob forming outside.
Stelio Kontos
Aliani pursed his lips at Jack's mention of Haeluna.  "I'd like to speak to you about her. When the time is right.  You'll know when."  That cryptic promise would have to do, for now.

 "And no, I don't need any heads cracked" he smiled back.  "If I do, I'll be certain to call.  We all have our own specialties, after all."

"I look forward to hearing the results of your demonstration.  A message of unity and inspiration might resonate particularly well in these troubled times.  To speak of what is matters, but we must always have hope for the future, a vision for a better day.  Those who succumb to hatred" ( *like Haeluna* , he thought) are the enemies of hope." 
 "So, do what you must.  The larger the crowd you can gather, and the longer you can keep them here... that may serve to keep them safe." 
Darius Vibrtrar
Turk takes a moment to consider the auras of the trip and his initial stance would present he is hesitant to accept their offer of assistance. But upon second review of his current situation he reconsiders.

 "Thank you. You may call me Turk. I would appreciate a guide. I was hoping to meet up with some associates, but it seems either I got turned around, or they took a different route." 
razorfloss
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  “I wish you all had just trusted the system, because now I have to go and explain to the Arbiters why the one accused of murdering King Eodred is no longer in my custody.  I can only hope that they will not over react to the news.”  
 

Jeqem whistles  Huh Didn't think she had the balls to do it and on such short notice at that.   and turns towards Cressidia with complete honesty on his face  I can say with complete honesty that I had no idea what she was planning although if I knew I problay would have helped to be honest  he shrugs  but I didn't know and its rich saying to trust said system when said system got her tortured by ****ing Asmodeans!!!  As he says Asmodeans his voice raises, and his eyes and hair flare up a second before calming down. He sighs   but you are right we should have but the damage is done now we have to mitigate it as best we can. My suggestion blame it on the assassin and claim that it was by a group of people working to free her. It also has the benefit of being true  
tonberryking
For a goblin, Arin had almost no experience getting kicked in the head.  It occurs to her when her brain starts working again that she's an easy target at the height she's become, and maybe she should be better prepped in the future for other attempts.

 "Guards! You guys go make sure the doors aren't about to break down! I'll see if I can follow the prisoner!" 

Arin sheathes her sword with a huff. Ignoring the injuries she's sustained, she tries to haul it for where Trinia and Bellinda lept off the wall, hoping she may get a clue where they're headed...


 
 Spoiler: OOC/Rolls 

 (1d20+12)[ 32 ]  Acrobatics
 (1d20+1)[ 12 ]  Perception
 
Inspectre
 Bellinda 

You and Trinia carefully make your way to the cathedral of Sarenrae, a structure that is certainly more modest than the grand cathedrals of Pharasma, Asmodeus, and Abadar in the city, but certainly no less striking thanks to the white marble that makes up its walls, an exotic material in Korvosa.  Apparently, there is some sort of story to the cathedral’s construction involving an estranged but nonetheless wealthy member of House Jeggare, who footed the bill for the expensive stone after being cured of disease by the then-high priest of Sarenrae in the city.  While most in the church prefer a more subtle presence in the city, the structure shining in the reflected light of the sun’s last rays for today at the top of a gentle hill in the city’s gentrified Heights district is certainly a welcome sight as you both draw near.

Half a dozen blocks away, at the base of the Grand Mastaba (stone pyramid) that Castle Korvosa squats atop of, you notice a crowd gathering for some sort of fiery demonstration.  You think that you catch sight of Aliani in the crowd’s midst talking to them, although at this distance it’s hard to make out any details except that you think it is him as the figure is wearing the same color clothes as Aliani was earlier today.  Thankfully, no one in that crowd including the maybe-Aliani notice you or Trinia as you slip up to the back entrance of the cathedral and knock.

A minute later and the door creaks open, revealing the face of one of the newer acolytes, a half-elven man you’ve seen perhaps a half dozen times since becoming part of the church, what was his name?  . . . Elian?  Kellan?  Whatever his name was, having a drawn out conversation in the doorway was unquestionably courting further disaster tonight so you muscle your way through the door and flash your symbol of Sarenrae at him.  The acolyte’s startled argument dies on his lips as you explain that Trinia was a victim of abuse . . . which was certainly true enough, if not the whole truth.  Growing a bit pale, the young (hard to tell exactly how young given he was a half-elf) man bobs his head in agreement as he fully steps aside to permit you both entrance while side-stepping around to close the door behind you both.  He then shakes his head at your question regarding whether one of the clerics were present at the moment.

“I-I’m currently the only one on duty.”

Elian/Kellan explains, eying Trinia with a certain amount of curiosity now, but thankfully wise enough or well-trained enough not to actually voice any questions right now.

“Although, the Colonel is-“

“Here, yes.”

The old warrior finished for the acolyte as he stepped into view, pausing a moment to massage his right knee before coming to stand beside the youthful acolyte.

“I didn’t hear everything from the sanctuary, but am I to understand that someone is in trouble?”  Colonel Hector Yearth, retired paladin and prominent member of the Sarenrae faithful even if he had no official status in the Church’s hierarchy, asked in his characteristic quiet but firm voice.  After you quickly repeat your request, the retired colonel nods thoughtfully and looks intently at Trinia for several long moments, causing the girl to look nervously down at her hands after locking eyes with the retired warrior for only a moment.  Seemingly to reach a decision, the colonel clears his throat and nods in the direction of the door leading down to the church’s basement.

“Kellian, please take the young lady downstairs and through the discrete entrance to our apartments.  And please fetch her a change of clothes – her current attire appears to be rather damp.”

Colonel Hector orders, and Kellian the half-elf almost reflexively snaps to attention before directing Trinia to follow him to the cathedral’s modest basement, through which a series of tunnels allowed access to the crisis apartments on the next block without exposing those in need of them to view from the street.  The colonel waits until the two have departed from out of earshot before turning to you, appraising you with his piercing gaze now.

“You look like you might be in need of a change of clothes yourself, Bellinda.  I assume the two of you did not take an evening swim fully clothed for the fun of it.  I’m sure you know that we will not turn away anyone in need of Sarenrae’s protection and guidance.  However, it would help to know something about the nature of the trouble that she is in – can’t mend an injury you don’t know about, after all.”

The colonel thinks a moment more, and then gestures to another of the side doors leading elsewhere in the church.

“If you need a few minutes to catch your breath and collect your thoughts, we can discuss this further in the sacristy, after you’ve had a change of clothes and a drink to fortify your spirits.  Or . . . we can go see the Noon Sunfather in his office, if you feel this situation is dire enough to warrant his knowledge as well.”

 Dalen/Jeqem 

Field Marshall Kroft does flinch slightly at Jeqem’s vitriol against the system, but her gaze is steady as she locks eyes with him.

“I should hope you know by now that I share your disgust with the Asmodeans’ methods, but I am bound by law to take their results into consideration.  And unfortunately, this little stunt will lend credibility to their accusations in the minds of the arbiters, particularly in light of Lamm’s conspiracy and his own accusation against Miss Sabor.  For her sake, I hope the plan to keep her out of custody is better than the plan of whoever did just abscond with her.  Because unless I am very lucky in allaying the arbiters’ fears, I fear the full weight of Korvosa’s entire justice system is about to be brought to bear against her.”

“Field Marshall!  I think you’re going to want to see this!”

A guard up on the gatehouse called down, prompting the Field Marshall to stomp away to ascend up to the top of the ramparts with a muttered curse.  Following her for the moment as the citadel was still in lockdown and you had nowhere else to go for now, you ascend up to the walls to see several bright points of light flicking brightly against the blanket of evening gloom now settling over the city.  One of the brightest seems to be coming from the immediate vicinity of Castle Korvosa – prompting another quiet explicative from the Field Marshall.

“Damn it all – we don’t have the men to spare babysitting the queen tonight.  I just hope Sabrina doesn’t do anything rash . . .”

The group’s collective gaze then turns to your immediately vicinity, where a short distance further along the docks from Citadel Volyshenek a large crowd is starting to gather and light up torches.  You can’t hear clearly what is being shouted by the few ring leaders moving amongst the throng, but the chorus taken up by the crowd as it begins to march towards the citadel’s gates is clear enough – “GIVE US THE KINGSLAYER!  GIVE US THE KINGSLAYER!”

Apparently, Aliani had failed in his efforts to quash the story circulating in the evening edition of the Korvosa Gazette regarding Trinia’s alleged full participation in regicide.  Although the timing of this all does seem rather suspicious – an actual assassin infiltrates the citadel to presumably kidnap or otherwise silence Trinia Sabor, only to be foiled inadvertently by your own efforts to spirit her away.  But if that hadn’t happened, the attention of the guards and Field Marshall Kroft, Trinia’s self-designated protector, would surely have been firmly on the gates for the next little while.  And given the assassin had already been in the citadel, disguised as one of the very guardsmen, she couldn’t have also been out there riling up the populace for this distracting riot.  Which meant that some of the members of this latest conspiracy against Trinia Sabor were out there amongst the crowd right now, although it would be an interesting trick to identify and isolate them from the irate masses.

 Arin 

Head still ringing a bit from that kick it took, you manage to keep on your feet despite the passing bout of dizziness and make your way up to the top of the ramparts from where Trinia and her rescuer (Bellinda) had jumped.  Like the guards, you didn’t see any sight of figures lying smashed on the rocks at the base of the citadel, nor desperately swimming for the shore.  There is that one little fishing boat off to the side, with two people in it rowing towards the docks, that does catch your eye however – along with several of the guardsmen who point it out to each other with muttered curses.  While the guard probably did have a few boats of their own moored somewhere near here, it would be far too late to deploy them in a chase – if that is Trinia and Bellinda on that boat, then they are safe from pursuit with the guard needed here to man the citadel.  As cries of alarm go up from the front of the citadel, most of the guards shift away to go take up defensive positions on the ramparts on that side of the citadel, giving you a sense of just how undermanned the city guard were at present.  As you are about to also turn away from the wall, a quiet whistle directs your attention down to a dark shadow clinging to the walls a dozen feet below your perch.

“I don’t fancy a swim in the dark with the devilfish and reefclaws that like to hunt once the sun is down.”

Blackjack whispers up to you, and then nods in the direction of the rowboat.

“Miss Sabor should be safely away by now.  Thank you for your aid against that assassin – I’m not sure who she was or who sent her, but I certainly would like to find that out!  Not a cheap thug-for-hire, that one . . . although with any luck she is now feeding the aforementioned reefclaws their supper.  If you or your companions require any further aid from me in keeping Miss Sabor out of the vengeful hands of Korvosa’s deluded arbiters, please don’t hesitate to leave a message in the wall across the street from Pestico’s Dolls and Figurines Shoppe.  I will be in touch.”

The famous vigilante offers, and then swings down on a new line he had anchored into the wall, moving down towards the back of the fortress, and the small mooring where the guard kept their own rowboats to patrol the river with.  You suspect that they would find one of them missing come morning.

For now, however, it seems that you would have a new problem to deal with, judging from the flickering points of light gathering along the docks just down from Citadel Volyshenek.  The riotous crowd that Field Marshall Kroft had been fearing was gathering now, and you could only just make out one thing that most of them were chanting loudly in unison as they began their march towards the citadel – “BRING US THE KINGSLAYER!”  Apparently, they hadn’t gotten the memo yet that their kingslayer was now in a different castle.

 Aliani 

Jack gives a bit of a smirk at your parting hope, but it seems more of a sad, ironic one for once rather than mocking.

“Kid, no one is ever safe – world’s too nasty of a place for that.  But I’ll try to keep anyone from getting their guts spilled all over the cobblestones tonight.  Can’t promise no broken noses though if some guardsmen show up.”

Jack glances back over his shoulder and spits a curse in elven as someone trips and nearly knocks over the wicker effigy of Queen Ileosa that his people are setting up, and waves you a terse farewell before going over to yell at them.  As you start walking away, they manage to get the effigy fully upright, and set it alight, filling the courtyard in front of the Grand Mastaba’s steps with flickering light.  As you make it fully out of sight, you can hear Jack starting to lead the group in a chant – “DOWN WITH THE WHORE QUEEN!  DOWN WITH THE WHORE QUEEN!”

Preoccupied with worries over everyone’s safety, you fail to notice the shadowy figure standing at the mouth of the alleyway ahead until he steps out fully into the faint moonlight, nearly directly in your path.  You startle back, hand reluctantly going to the handle of the Morningstar at your belt, but pause as you see the man is armed only with a sheaf of pamphlets.

“Hey friend, I see you are interested in speaking out against the corruption eating at the foundations of our fair city.  It’s a shame what happened to our benevolent king, but have you heard the latest?  Not only have the nobles chosen to support Eodred’s bedwarmer as our new monarch, but they don’t even care that the Kingslayer who actually did the deed is going to go free!  The city guard captured her today, and there’s already talk of letting her go free instead of giving her the punishment mandated since this city’s founding for traitors and kingslayers!  Here, read all about it in this evening’s edition.  If you want to do something about this travesty, some friends of mine are meeting up on the docks later to go show the city guard that the people of Korvosa demand justice for Eodred’s death!”

The man thrusts a pamphlet at you, and then stalks off down the street, presumably in search of more dissidents to recruit.  Smoothing the pamphlet out, your momentary disappointment in Sissyphus fades as you notice that this is not the Korvosan Gazette after all . . . this is the evening edition of the Old Korvosan Star.  And yet, as you quickly scan down the page, while the words are phrased somewhat differently (and admittedly with much less of a slant against Queen Ileosa in particular), it’s basically the same details as you got a glimpse of in Sissyphus’s office.  Straight down to the ridiculous character drawing of Trinia looming over a sleeping Eodred with a poison-dripping dagger!

If nothing else, the same “artist rendition” of Eodred’s murder shouldn’t be appearing in two competing papers for the same evening edition.  Unless, of course, Sissyphus’s secret informant wasn’t an exclusive informant.  Unfortunately, the Old Korvosan Star’s offices were predictably in Old Korvosa itself, and with chaos about to erupt across the city all over again with the onset of night you doubted it would be very safe to go there and question them about their “own” special informant.  Someone was going to quite a lot of trouble to push Trinia forward into the public’s perception as King Eodred’s sole killer, despite Lamm’s entire conspiracy built around his murder.  But why?  You needed Dalen to figure this out.


 Turk 

Erias nods sagely at your explanation for your presence down here, and turns to address one of the two figures standing behind the bullseye lantern, whom you can’t make out in the gloom beyond the beam’s narrow path.

“We haven’t seen any other topsiders down here recently, but if we do encounter any later, we will inform them that you got lost and had to be escorted back up topside.  Wilhelm, if you don’t mind, can you please escort Mister Turk to the nearest exit?”

The bullseye lantern shifts as whoever was holding it hands it over to the other figure, and steps forward into the light to join Erias, revealing a reedy man with a thin moustache and wispy beard, who bobs his head respectfully at Erias before waving at you, beckoning you to follow him.

“Well come on then, Mister Turk Topsider.  I’ll get you back to sunlight and safety, quick as you like.”

Wilhelm pauses a moment besides the large imposing shadow of a man holding the bullseye lantern, pulling something out of his pocket and holding it up inside the lantern’s open grate . . . a candle?  Holding the candle carefully in front of him, one hand clasped protectively around the flame, Wilhelm starts heading back the way they had come, leading you on a course roughly parallel to your own . . . although with all the twists and turns down here in the city’s sewer system, you could be going straight on the exact same way you had been going before running into this trio for all you knew.

As you pass the shadowy giant holding the bullseye lantern – presumably Girrigz – the figure hisses down into your ear, “You topsiders should stick to your “sunlight and safety”.  It isn’t safe down here – for you.”

Not so veiled threat delivered, Girrigz lets you pass without further incident, allowing you to follow Wilhelm off into the winding dark tunnels.  Despite everything seeming like the same foul-smelling same stone passage as the next one, Wilhelm seemed to have an idea of exactly where he was going, although he occasionally would pause at an intersection, muttering thoughtfully to himself.  He seemed to have less of an idea of precisely where the sewers lined up with city streets and more going by his own mental map of the place, using monikers such as “that tunnel where I found that bag of sweets” and “that place where I got nearly got my foot bit off by an otyugh”.

Eventually though, he does lead you to a small drainage grate through which runoff from the city’s cobblestone streets could pass into the sewers – and the sight of the night sky beyond the rusted metal bars was a very sore sight indeed.

“Alright, here we are.  Hold this candle for a minute, and I’ll get the grate twisted loose so you can shimmy up through.  Might be a bit of a tight fit for you, but hopefully you’ll manage.”

Handing the candle off to you reluctantly as if passing off a precious bit of loot, Wilhelm then sets to struggling the grate loose from its moorings and pushing it aside up onto the street.  Pausing in his work for a moment, he looks down at you, wispy beard dangling down in front of his face as he hangs off the wall to work on the grate.

“Say, topsider . . . we’re a bit isolated from the city’s rumblings down here, but Erias has said that the city is going through a hard time right now.  Land of plenty and all, I can’t imagine what you lot would consider to be a hard time, but . . . do you think we’re through it now, on the up and up, or are we teetering right on the edge of the pit here?”

Returning to his work, Wilhelm manages to finish getting the grate off, accepting his candle back with a nod of thanks and nodding at the open drain.

“Right you are then, up you go.  I’ll close up the drain behind you – just don’t get stuck, yeah?  Lots of things down here that would love to nibble at a pair of dangling legs, just kicking around from the ceiling.  Plus you’d just look ridiculous!”

Thankfully, you manage to slip through the narrow grate without getting stuck, but it is certainly a tight fit for someone with a thicker frame than the thin wisp of someone like Wilhelm.  The drainage grate slides back into place a few moments later, and the candlelight down below dips a few times in a sort of odd salute before disappearing back into the gloom of the sewer tunnels.  What an odd fellow – but at least you were breathing fresh air again.  And only a few blocks down from Citadel Volyshenek too, as you start reorienting yourself to city streets.

Looking around, a few blocks away you can see trouble starting to form, however, as a crowd of angry people is starting to lit torches and march in the direction of the city guard stronghold, a chant of “GIVE US THE KINGSLAYER!” starting up at the urging of several rabblerousers in the crowd.
Stelio Kontos
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
 “Hey friend, I see you are interested in speaking out against the corruption eating at the foundations of our fair city.  It’s a shame what happened to our benevolent king, but have you heard the latest?  Not only have the nobles chosen to support Eodred’s bedwarmer as our new monarch, but they don’t even care that the Kingslayer who actually did the deed is going to go free!  The city guard captured her today, and there’s already talk of letting her go free instead of giving her the punishment mandated since this city’s founding for traitors and kingslayers!  Here, read all about it in this evening’s edition.  If you want to do something about this travesty, some friends of mine are meeting up on the docks later to go show the city guard that the people of Korvosa demand justice for Eodred’s death!”

The man thrusts a pamphlet at you, and then stalks off down the street, presumably in search of more dissidents to recruit.  Smoothing the pamphlet out, your momentary disappointment in Sissyphus fades as you notice that this is not the Korvosan Gazette after all . . . this is the evening edition of the Old Korvosan Star.  And yet, as you quickly scan down the page, while the words are phrased somewhat differently (and admittedly with much less of a slant against Queen Ileosa in particular), it’s basically the same details as you got a glimpse of in Sissyphus’s office.  Straight down to the ridiculous character drawing of Trinia looming over a sleeping Eodred with a poison-dripping dagger! 
 

Aliani eyed the paper suspiciously for a moment, digesting the nature of the 'information' (if it could be called that; it was certainly information, but about what... he hadn't gotten nearly that far yet).  For the moment, it was going to have to do to size this one up.  What was  his  angle?  The suspicion faded to a warm smile.

 "Hey, brother, may I have a couple dozen of those?  I believe I know some people who might be very interested in reading this!  And the art... it's really quite detailed; I might even want to commission a work or two from them.  What's your name, friend?  I'd love to talk to you about what's going on in this city, if you're interested."

"I don't think they've had a proper trial yet though, have they?  Did I miss that part?" 
 
 Spoiler: OOC 
Sense motive, perchance?

If possible, take 10 (for 22).  If not possible,  (1d20+12)[ 26 ] 
 


Whatever the result of that conversation was, his next step would be to reunite with the rest.  It was clear that he'd apparently missed  something  while about the town on this fool's errand.
Darius Vibrtrar
  Turk 

Erias nods sagely at your explanation for your presence down here, and turns to address one of the two figures standing behind the bullseye lantern, whom you can’t make out in the gloom beyond the beam’s narrow path.

“We haven’t seen any other topsiders down here recently, but if we do encounter any later, we will inform them that you got lost and had to be escorted back up topside.  Wilhelm, if you don’t mind, can you please escort Mister Turk to the nearest exit?”

The bullseye lantern shifts as whoever was holding it hands it over to the other figure, and steps forward into the light to join Erias, revealing a reedy man with a thin moustache and wispy beard, who bobs his head respectfully at Erias before waving at you, beckoning you to follow him.

“Well come on then, Mister Turk Topsider.  I’ll get you back to sunlight and safety, quick as you like.”

Wilhelm pauses a moment besides the large imposing shadow of a man holding the bullseye lantern, pulling something out of his pocket and holding it up inside the lantern’s open grate . . . a candle?  Holding the candle carefully in front of him, one hand clasped protectively around the flame, Wilhelm starts heading back the way they had come, leading you on a course roughly parallel to your own . . . although with all the twists and turns down here in the city’s sewer system, you could be going straight on the exact same way you had been going before running into this trio for all you knew.

As you pass the shadowy giant holding the bullseye lantern – presumably Girrigz – the figure hisses down into your ear, “You topsiders should stick to your “sunlight and safety”.  It isn’t safe down here – for you.”

Not so veiled threat delivered, Girrigz lets you pass without further incident, allowing you to follow Wilhelm off into the winding dark tunnels.  Despite everything seeming like the same foul-smelling same stone passage as the next one, Wilhelm seemed to have an idea of exactly where he was going, although he occasionally would pause at an intersection, muttering thoughtfully to himself.  He seemed to have less of an idea of precisely where the sewers lined up with city streets and more going by his own mental map of the place, using monikers such as “that tunnel where I found that bag of sweets” and “that place where I got nearly got my foot bit off by an otyugh”.

Eventually though, he does lead you to a small drainage grate through which runoff from the city’s cobblestone streets could pass into the sewers – and the sight of the night sky beyond the rusted metal bars was a very sore sight indeed.

“Alright, here we are.  Hold this candle for a minute, and I’ll get the grate twisted loose so you can shimmy up through.  Might be a bit of a tight fit for you, but hopefully you’ll manage.”

Handing the candle off to you reluctantly as if passing off a precious bit of loot, Wilhelm then sets to struggling the grate loose from its moorings and pushing it aside up onto the street.  Pausing in his work for a moment, he looks down at you, wispy beard dangling down in front of his face as he hangs off the wall to work on the grate.

“Say, topsider . . . we’re a bit isolated from the city’s rumblings down here, but Erias has said that the city is going through a hard time right now.  Land of plenty and all, I can’t imagine what you lot would consider to be a hard time, but . . . do you think we’re through it now, on the up and up, or are we teetering right on the edge of the pit here?”

Returning to his work, Wilhelm manages to finish getting the grate off, accepting his candle back with a nod of thanks and nodding at the open drain.

“Right you are then, up you go.  I’ll close up the drain behind you – just don’t get stuck, yeah?  Lots of things down here that would love to nibble at a pair of dangling legs, just kicking around from the ceiling.  Plus you’d just look ridiculous!”

Thankfully, you manage to slip through the narrow grate without getting stuck, but it is certainly a tight fit for someone with a thicker frame than the thin wisp of someone like Wilhelm.  The drainage grate slides back into place a few moments later, and the candlelight down below dips a few times in a sort of odd salute before disappearing back into the gloom of the sewer tunnels.  What an odd fellow – but at least you were breathing fresh air again.  And only a few blocks down from Citadel Volyshenek too, as you start reorienting yourself to city streets.

Looking around, a few blocks away you can see trouble starting to form, however, as a crowd of angry people is starting to lit torches and march in the direction of the city guard stronghold, a chant of “GIVE US THE KINGSLAYER!” starting up at the urging of several rabblerousers in the crowd. 


Turk ensures to try to project a sense of humility as he is being helped by these 'underfolk'  (1d20+18)[ 30 ]  Diplomacy?

 "Oh I believe you my friend, The time I've spent down here has been eye opening and harrowing" 

Turk follows Wilhelm with tripidation and concern, hoping another beast from below would not come up on them, for his guide did not look sturdy enough to survive such an attack. As they came to the exit and wilhelm looked for an update Turk seemed to consider things.

 "With the death of the king.... the concern over his death, and the transfer of power subject to question, I am afraid we are looking forward to darker times. Stay safe my friend. Blood will mix in the sewers soon." 

Turk starts looking through the crowd for any recognizable faces. Fishguts Jim, Jack the militant anarchist, Fishmonger Vigo, Sid “Lavender-hands” Stonebrow, Anton Bellavue. As he watches for them he runs a hand over his front as he casts Prestidigitation, cleaning the muck and vile filth from his body from the sewer.  (1d20+8)[ 20 ]  Perception
DarkOne-Rob
 
 Originally Posted by Inspectre 
  Bellinda 

“You look like you might be in need of a change of clothes yourself, Bellinda.  I assume the two of you did not take an evening swim fully clothed for the fun of it.  I’m sure you know that we will not turn away anyone in need of Sarenrae’s protection and guidance.  However, it would help to know something about the nature of the trouble that she is in – can’t mend an injury you don’t know about, after all.”

The colonel thinks a moment more, and then gestures to another of the side doors leading elsewhere in the church.

“If you need a few minutes to catch your breath and collect your thoughts, we can discuss this further in the sacristy, after you’ve had a change of clothes and a drink to fortify your spirits.  Or . . . we can go see the Noon Sunfather in his office, if you feel this situation is dire enough to warrant his knowledge as well.” 
 

"  Thank you, sir. I will be back in a moment and explain everything, of course...and I do think the Noon Sunfather should be informed,  " answers Bellinda before taking advantage of the opportunity to recover some decorum and come down from the excitement of the hastily done escape. Trinia was safe - for the moment - and she could breath for a moment.

 

Returning in fresh, dry clothing and having seen to the care of her equipment, the halfling woman returns to explain things, hopeful that she will only have to explain it once. Regardless, she takes the time to share the details that were most relevant and urgent. "  Trinia may have committed crimes, but she is not the murderer of the late King. She was tortured to force a 'confession' and made into a scapegoat by the nobility. It's both unjust and unmerciful.

Kroft knows all this but feels helpless to do anything about it, so I brought Trinia here...and in the process likely became a bit of a fugitive myself. For now, though, Trinia needs to be kept safe and secret until something can be worked out. I'm prepared to try and make amends, but will need to see the others before I try too much,  " she summarizes. "  What more do you need to know? Can we give Trinia a safe place to stay until this is cleared up? Or do we need to get her out of the city?  "