It has only been one minute since the fireball exploded and less lively folks are just beginning to react. A fire alarm is being sounded some distance away. After ensuring that their gear is safe and the remaining assassin is disarmed and tied up, most of the group joins the bucket brigade to try to put out the fire. Morty is able to use Shadow Magic to help out in the early stages, reducing the size of the fire and allowing the rest to be put out quickly. Constables show up to find out what happened.
GM: What is the group going to tell them?
TYRA: Tyra will let Barnas speak but she's in favor of being honest.
TYRA: When the group gets a moment alone Tyra speaks up, "Since it appears Loric hired those assassins, how soon until he and the others arrive? I guess the fact that he hired assassins suggests that they aren't around the corner but I don't know if I'd risk it since they will report back shortly that they failed to take us out. Did one of you mention there's a way to hide from detection with magic? If so, it seems we should see about mastering that magic so we can truly hide from Loric and his thugs."
SYL (GM): Any chance we will get to question the would-be assassin before constables arrive?
SYL TECH: Deliver Interesting Speech 18% [rolled 81 (Partial Success)]
SYL: Will explain to the constables that we recently arrived after rescuing Maila and defeating the Blood Scourge (pause for applause?) She will go on to explain that we currently resting up while looking for new work and were viciously attacked in our sleep by persons unknown but we were able to defend ourselves. We can show the barred doors, destroyed room and (very) dead attackers as evidence. Before she mentions the one attacker left alive she will try to judge the constable's character - is he working with attackers or possibly paid to look other way??
SYL TECH: Character Judgement 23% [rolled 84 (Partial Success)]
SYL: After attempting her judgment, she will then show the captured attacker and turn him over and ask the constable if one of us could be present during the questioning and offer her skills at Detecting Lies (part of Drow Spells)
SYL TECH: Persuasion 20% [rolled 68 (Failure)]
MORTY: "My gut instinct is that Loric basically put out a bounty on our heads, and didn't personally send this team against us. If they were here on Fangora they would likely have come after us themselves, but if they spread word through an underworld communication network that they would pay well for information on our whereabouts, and even more for some of our corpses, it would fit the situation. Now this also means that if this team had the ability to send said information on our whereabouts, Loric may already be on his way...
MORTY: I do not have access to the Circle of Protection vs Detection, did someone else get it from a 'mage guild' they tithe to? Unfortunately it may take a little time to master it to the point of protecting a group our size, especially for hours at a time. I do have an Undetectability spell to cast on people if we can figure out what type of spell he's using to track us, it only affects one 'sense' at a time, and only for 30 minutes given my rank, but it might be a stopgap measure. He was a mind mage, right? Telepathy was the spell he used to find us last time...
Syl steps up and speaks to the constables about the attack, being truthful about what happened. She points out the bars on the doors to both her room and KC's room to show that this was an attack on the entire group. The lead constable carefully inspects everything and takes the metal bars with him. He also takes custody of the surviving assassin. The group had attempted to question him prior to the arrival of the constables but the man was closed-mouth and said nothing. When the constable questions him, he remains silent.
GM: Everyone can attempt an Insight roll. You want to roll low.
SYL TECH: Insight - 7 [rolled 58]
MORTY TECH: Insight 20- [rolled 84]
KC: insight roll of [rolled 4] need 10 or less
BARNAS: Insight - 5 [rolled 47]
TYRA: Insight 3 [rolled 76]
MORTY (GM): I'd like to suggest that if Shaarilla has not used her Flash of Insight for October yet that she may be allowed to do so since it's still October for another 14 hours ;)
MORTY (GM): Morty's overall level should currently be 3, apparently. I don't recall if I missed this when buying recent skill ranks in Mechanician or SK spells, but there you are. I would like to buy GK spells to 4, but I am 322 XP short, is this okay? I have also updated my spells in memory on my character sheet, but in case you prefer it here they are: GGK - Spell Store, IGK - Sphere of Silence, IGK - Illusion, IGK - Stinking Cloud, IGK - Undetectability, ISK - Phantasmal Force, ISK - Shadow Magic, ISK - Mass Invisibility, ISK - Illusionary Wall.
GM: I updated his spells and updated his overall level. I have no issue with Morty going into the whole by 322 exp to buy rank 4.
KC: (gm) spent exp on rank 1 find traps, rank 1 remove traps, rank 1 gem and jewelry appraisal(Syli can focus on astrogation with her exp and I'll take over this skill.... it suits my high perception) . Also raised SK spells to rank 3 and spell store to rank 2.. (man with magic exp really is sucked up quickly by those skills.
BARNAS: While Barnas would have been more then happy to talk to the constables he really didn't know that much first hand. He woke up on fire, by the time he put himself out and gather his stuff and his wits it was over. Because of this he is more then happy to let Syl talk. He wanted to know what happened as much as the constable did.
BARNAS: He is banking his exp to get fourth level cleric spells.
BARNAS: Given the attack he will pray for his Max Healing list of spells. Once he has them he will put them to use.
KC: After things settle down and we can have some privacy for the group either in the inn or back at the Sprite he speaks up.
KC: "I have been thinking for a bit about what happened. A few things come to mind. One, why did the attackers both up stairs and down stairs mention Loric. Any assassins would of just did there business without outing there employerr or contractor, whichever it may be. So Loric must wanted us to know he is after us and can still reach us even away from Spelljammer."
KC: "Two, I am sure most of us assume that Loric is after the key that Sharilla has around her neck. I think that we should not have it so readily access able for some one to just sneak in and grab; than dash off with it or knock her unconscious in a fight than just grab it and run. I think we may want to hide it much better somewhere. "
KC: "Three, I also think that he is trying to scare us off from going afler the next key or keys as Spelljammer wanted us to. In fact I think we need to find out more information about Spelljammers history and find a way to protect us from him. We need to know if it is a bounty or if he use a larger network to pull this off."
MARTIN: I agree that the name drop seems just a little too convenient. On the other hand, how would anyone know that Loric was after us without Loric telling them?
MARTIN: Also, from the comment, it appeared that they would be reporting back to Loric on their success (or lack thereof). It would probably be prudent to assume that Loric is actively trying to get rid of us / dissuade us from looking for the keys. We can certainly expect him or his minions to show up again.
KC: I could go look into seeing if there is a bounty listed. I could change my looks, then go out to find out. Where would I go to look into a bounty anyways?
GM: Streetwise would be the most appropriate skill to learn this type of information.
TYRA: "That is curious as to why they mentioned Loric. Maybe it was to scare us into taking some action that would lead to a trap then? It is a good suggestion that we should conceal the key. Keep it secret. Keep it safe. It would be nice to know more about Spelljammer's history to see if that helps us any. We'll need more magic to succeed in getting the Amber key."
After the attempt, the group retreats to the Star Sprite and sets up watches to ensure that at least two people are on watch at all times. The rest of the night passes uneventfully. The group wakes up with the assassination attempt weighing heavily on their minds, wondering if there will be a second attempt and what they can do to better prepare themselves.
GM: My assumption is that Barnas used the rest of his healing on both himself (he is the worst off) and Morty. In the morning, he uses it again on himself (Healing Charm) Shaarilla and Tyra. Syl still needs some healing but can wait until the next day.
Almost forgotten is the group's attempt to recover the piece of the Crystal Wand for Horatio Knots at the behest of Malia, whom the group rescued from the scro ship, Blood Scourge. But, as the group is eating breakfast, talk turns back to that topic and how to recover the piece, which seems to be somewhere under the tobacco shop of the half-orc, Rendo Black Nose. Martin's scrying from the previous day indicated some darkened rooms in the basement of the shop but breaking and entering does not appeal to some members of the group even if Rendo is a somewhat unpleasant person and employs orcs as guards.
GM: Let me know how you want to proceed. If you are running out of ideas, go ahead and send an Insight roll. In this case, you want to roll high and add your Insight.
TYRA (OOC): I don't have any particular ideas so we'll see if she gets lucky with the insight roll. Insight 3- [rolled 83]
MORTY (OOC): I think this means you actually have a partial success since he asked for high. My insight roll is 20- [rolled 51]
BARNAS: Insight roll -5 [rolled 48 (Failure)]
KC: insight roll of [rolled 40 (Failure)].
SYL (GM): Is this in addition to the Insight rolls we sent over the last few days? And which of the rolls are we going to address with Sharilla's Flash of Insight (both would be nice :).
SYL TECH Insight (SYL): [rolled 87]
SYL: One thought is to visit the constables and ask if they found anything from the failed assassin. Possibly ask the constable his opinion of Black Nose?? She is CN so has no problem breaking in but knows others in the group are a bit more law-abiding, If we can prove Black Nose is doing something nefarious they would have no problems breaking in?? She will also visit her Dark Magic Guild and ask the Master(s) there to ask if they have any recommendations as to a way forward (COP??) . She could probably get in with a combination of Invis/Shadow-Walking/Walking Unseen but doesn't want to go by herself...
MORTY: "I have an idea that may help us get some more information on the tobacco shop's hidden rooms, with or without Syl attempting a stealth mission. Remember, Tyra, what we're looking for here is confirmation that 1) they are involved in nefarious dealings, 2) they possess the Crystal Wand and are hiding it from Horatio Knots, or 3) there is a way into some tunnels of some kind below the shop. Confirmation of any of these theories gives us more insight in how to proceed, right? I give you my word that I will not simply pick up the wand and take it from the shop without knowing that you would approve.
TYRA: Tyra nods to this point. "It does seem likely that he's hiding something isn't fully above board. I'm okay proceeding trying to find something to confirm our suspicions."
MORTY: "My idea is similar to Syl's, actually, and we might want to work in concert, but with my magic I can make someone's presence completely undetectable to them, silent, invisible, even unsmellable and undetectable using Detect Magic, for forty minutes. It has drawbacks, if I make you silent you can not make a noise directly even if you want to, and therefore could not cast any spells that had a verbal component, even to release a stored spell, etc. The other drawback of this tactic is that you can't open doors without giving away your presence, and that's where the rest of my illusions come into play. I also can't make you invisible to Detect Invisibility, but anything short of that... I was thinking of creating a Phantasmal Force illusion of some bugs, something the size of a large roach, maybe a known tobacco-eating weevil, and have it moving around under my control while in the shop. These bugs could move around, even be seen as 'eating' tobacco leaves and then going back into hiding, give them reason to be concerned enough to chase them and try to get rid of them or kill them. I could then move these bugs under whatever door we want opened, and get them to open the door FOR us. This would allow the wizard eye to move into the room, and I could even convince them to bring lights into the room if the bug is difficult to detect with infravision (impossible, even ;) Many bugs are not any warmer than their surroundings, being largely cold-blooded, which would make it believeable. I could make it make quiet skittering and munching sounds as well, enhancing the illusion. If it fails to get their attention we can even have one of us enter the shop and 'discover' it, saying something about the tobacco weevil and fleeing the shop.
MORTY: "What do you think? Can we use this? I'd love to have a Spell Store contingency plan for if something goes sideways but I have a feeling my spell energy is going to become a seriously limiting factor quickly. I expect that I can cast the 5 spells in question, starting with the hardest one first and then resting to get my energy back if I fail, until I succeed. ((Each of the other four spells is GK, so with 7 attempts and the easier cast chances involved I should be able to get them all off, Undetectability is by far the hardest one to cast after Phantasmal Force)).
LANI: "I am definitely against breaking and entering into the tobacco shop but I like the idea of using Wizard Eye again in conjunction with an illusionary bug that crawls under the door of a closed room as it is being chased by orcs. I'm not clear on how it would work though. Morty, is it something you can cast from outside the shop and then somehow have the bugs appear in the shop, ideally in the basement when orcs are there, and have them move around or would you need to be in the shop for it to work?"
LANI: "Another, slightly longer term solution, is that we simply keep trying Wizard Eye a few times a day with the hope that one of these times one or more of the closed doors will be open and Martin can get a look inside.
GM: Syl and Tyra both had partial success so no brilliant insights but a couple of so-so ideas. One is to impersonate a city official and conduct an inspection of the shoppe including the basement areas. The other is along the same lines but pretend to be someone planning to buy a significant amount of tobacco but asks for a tour of the shoppe before buying to see how Rendo stores and preserves his tobacco. Both ideas would likely require some sort of illusion from Morty to mask/change the appearance of the person doing the impersonation.
GM: I will send the next turn with the assumption that Martin will randomly conduct Wizard Eye surveillance 2-3 times a day over the next few days to see if he can get lucky and see into some of the closed areas of the tobacco shoppe.
Here are some random party Luck rolls.
1. [rolled 46 vs. LUCK 18, 3x roll]
2. [rolled 63 vs. LUCK 18, 4x roll]
3. [rolled 75 vs. LUCK 18, 5x roll]
4. [rolled 88 vs. LUCK 18, 5x roll]
5. [rolled 11 vs. LUCK 18, 1x roll]
MORTY: I would need to be in the shop, in whatever room I want the bugs to appear in, I have to maintain line of sight, but like I said there's virtually no chance they could find me without running into me, and I can't even make any noise dodging around their blundering around. I could climb up on the counter or on a stack of crates to stay out of their way, and as long as I don't shove something over and let it fall there's no sound at all. It's not breaking and entering if I'm not breaking anything, and it's not theft if I'm not stealing. At most I am spying a bit, I have no idea what the laws on this planetoid are regarding spying or trespassing into an area of the shop that's not for the public, but I have no reason to believe they are that comprehensive. Martin himself is spying just as much into the non-public areas of the shop... I am not willing to just sit idly by for several days while Martin tries to get lucky, why not let my try this during one of his casting attempts? If I fail my Phantasmal Force several times he'll get several chances without the assistance of my bugs anyway.
MORTY (GM): The impersonation ideas are very fraught with dangers with the very limited info we have. I also would not be able to easily change your voice to match the target. I'd also still have to maintain line of sight, which would mean going into the shop with whatever illusions we came up with anyway.
TYRA: "What if we learn more about the city officials to find out what would trigger an inspection? Then someone then reports an issue to the city that would require a legitimate inspection. We could then do the wizard eye as they inspect. Though I think the undetectable invisibility approach is really clever and is likely our best fallback plan, I'm worried about the slim chance of getting caught inside. I'd like to try some less risky approaches first."
GM: Keith I want to make sure I understand what you have planned. You would start out by casting a Phantasmal Force of the tobacco-eating bugs. Then you would cast Invisibility on yourself, followed by Undetectability (to Detect Magic) and finally a Silence spell (since you could not cast any more spells after you cast the Silence spell). Then you and your illusionary bugs would enter the shoppe (presumably you would work with Syl or someone to open the door long enough for you to get through).
GM: How would you plan to get past the curtain into the back room?
GM: Going down the stairs should be easy enough because even if the stairs are creaky, the Silence spell keep them silent.
GM: Once you got downstairs, you would need to make the bugs visible to someone who knew that they were a potential threat to the tobacco. The orcs may or may not be aware so you may end having to wait for Rendo to come down.
GM: Is that the gist of it? If so, everyone with Plant & Herb Lore (or Everything Lore) can make a roll to see if they know of the ideal bug for Morty to create the illusion of.
GM: I'm sure you are aware that this sequence of spells will require a total of 5 spell points and your cast chances are 38%, 56%, 26% and 61% respectively. Go ahead and send me some rolls and we can see how many days it takes before you successfully cast all four. In the meantime, I will also assume that Martin will be spying with his Wizard Eye spell.
SHAARILLA: This sounds like a good use for Shaarilla’s want of spell storing. It might take days to get all the spells loaded, but once loaded they could be cast reliably.
MARTIN: This is a really good idea – we can do all the casting in private instead of standing outside Rendo’s shop every day trying to cast spells and drawing a lot of unwanted attention.
GM: Yes, that definitely makes it easier. Morty can put an Invisibility, Undetectability (Detect Magic) and Silence in the Spell Wand and then, when he is ready, he casts a Phantasmal Force and then Shaarilla uses the wand to cast the other spells on him. Option two is that Morty puts all of the spells in the spell wand but then it is Shaarilla who is casting the Phantasmal Force and thus would need to be the one to go. Option three is similar to option two except that Shaarilla loans the wand to Morty, he attunes to it (5 days) and then puts all of the spells in the wand and goes himself.
MORTY: I was under the impression that the spells could only be cast into the wand by the attuned wielder, but others could use them using the command word.� If indeed I can put my spells into it, it definitely presents a much much more reliable way to get this done, especially since I can cast them the day before and have more spell points for the infiltration.
GM: I had to read the description again but you are correct. Only the attuned user can put spells into the spell wand. So we are back to either option 1 (cast the spells at the time) or option 3 (borrow the Spell Wand from Shaarilla and attune to it).
GM: If you choose option one, go ahead and send a few days worth of rolls (or I can make them for you if you prefer). Just send 7 rolls for day 1, 7 rolls for day 2, etc. and I will apply them to Phantasmal Force, Invisibility, Undetectability (Detect Magic) and Silence in that order.
GM: If you choose option 3, send me an attunement roll for the Spell Wand (assuming Shaarilla has no problem loaning it to Morty).
MORTY (GM): I am hoping I can do this more than once a day. Can I not rest to get back my 2 spell points back sooner than 24 hours? I know in some systems it's like for every hour AFTER the first 4 hours of rest you get back 1/4 of your spell points, I know you meant to set up a rule like this but you haven't yet? I guess if this is the way it's going to be I will have to ask to borrow the wand and try to attune to it, this is definitely going to take several days to set up. I just hate giving Loric that many days to find us or send more thugs after us in the middle of the night.
MORTY TECH: Attunement to the wand 75- [rolled 17]. I hate denying Shaarilla the use of her wand for 10+ days for me to attune, use, and her re-attune it, but this is exactly the sort of 'abuse' that the attunement time was intended to prevent.
Phantasmal Force attempt #1: [rolled 89 vs cast chance of 38 - Failed Cast Chance!]
Phantasmal Force attempt #2: [rolled 79 vs cast chance of 38 - Failed Cast Chance!]
Phantasmal Force attempt #3: [rolled 71 vs cast chance of 38 - Failed Cast Chance!]
Phantasmal Force attempt #4: [rolled 41 vs cast chance of 38 - Failed Cast Chance!]
Phantasmal Force attempt #5: [rolled 52 vs cast chance of 38 - Failed Cast Chance!]
Once Phantasmal Force is successful:
Undetectability: [rolled 1 vs cast chance of 26 - Grievous Success!!!], [rolled 13 vs cast chance of 26 - Successful Cast Chance!], [rolled 15 vs cast chance of 26 - Successful Cast Chance!], [rolled 30 vs cast chance of 26 - Failed Cast Chance!], [rolled 39 vs cast chance of 26 - Failed Cast Chance!]
Invisibility: [rolled 61 vs cast chance of 56 - Failed Cast Chance!], [rolled 34 vs cast chance of 56 - Successful Cast Chance!]
Silence: [rolled 28 vs cast chance of 61 - Successful Cast Chance!], [rolled 37 vs cast chance of 61 - Successful Cast Chance!]
MORTY (GM): I'll stop there and hope I got lucky or you decide on a partial rest rule.
Morty, Martin, Syl and Tyra head into town to attempt their first infiltration while the rest of the group remains at the Star Sprite. Both groups are very alert and wary of anything out of the ordinary that might signal some sort of attack by Loric and his Brute Force gang. Morty also borrows Shaarilla's wand just in case his attempts fail.
Tyra, Martin, Syl and Morty find what they hope is a secure location within a couple minutes walk of the tobacco shoppe and Morty attempts to cast Phantasmal Force. After three failed attempts however, the group is forced to call it as even if the fourth attempt is successful, he will not have enough spell energy for the remaining spells.
The following day, the four return but, just as Morty is about to begin his attempts, a patrol of four city guardsmen comes into view and Morty waits for them to pass. However, one of them sees the group and comes over and asks what they are doing "skulking in an alley." They order the group to move on. The four do so and find another location that is about a three minute walk from the shoppe and try again. Morty succeeds with his first attempt (with the help of his Spell Pool). He then follows it with a grievous success on his Undetectability. He fails his first attempt with Invisibility but succeeds on his second try. He also succeeds on his first attempt at Silence.
With the casting of the final spell, Tyra, Martin and Syl head towards the tobacco shoppe. Morty follows behind, unseen and unheard. Their preference is to not enter as Rendo has seen them before and may not want them in his shoppe. But again, luck is with the group and someone else approaches the shoppe just as the group arrives. Unseen and unheard by either Tyra, Martin or Syl, Morty moves over to them and follows close on their heals into the tobacco shoppe. Tyra, Martin and Syl head into the back alley where Martin can cast his Wizard Eye and spy on the basement of the shoppe. He succeeds on his first attempt (with the help of his Spell Pool).
Rendo is not immediately visible. An orc stands behind the counter. The patrons seem ready enough to deal with the orc, who is more civilized than most of his kind. Morty moves over to the curtain and awaits his chance. He can see beyond the curtain through spaces on either side where the curtain does not entirely block vision and the room beyond seems to be empty. When the orc is not looking towards the curtain, Morty twitches it aside and scoots into the back room. He makes for the stairs and heads down.
The first thing he does is check the three doors that Martin could not previously see through. The first two are closed and locked but the third is open and two orcs are working inside. It is a storeroom for tobacco. Morty has still not seen Rendo.
Morty has the "tobacco bugs" appear and crawl into the room where the orcs are working. The are spotted almost immediately and Morty has them run out and down the hall to another door. The orcs chase them but the bugs run under the crack in the bottom of the door. One of the orcs rushes back to the other room, grabs the keys from the lock and then comes back and opens the door. Inside is another tobacco storeroom. Morty has the bugs run around a bit and then out of the room and under the final door. The orcs run out after them. One of them closes and locks the door and then both look at the final door but make no move to unlock it. They talk amongst themselves for a bit and then one remains while the other takes the keys and returns to the first tobacco storeroom and continues to work.
GM: Let me know what Morty is going to do. My assumption is that Martin sees much of what transpires but his Wizard Eye is close to ending. Neither Morty nor Martin have seen anything incriminating thus far. |