The Crimson Echo Season Four

[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

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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!

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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 <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

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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 & 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

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Down on the ground, you are currently about 100’ away from Arin & 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 & 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 & 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!

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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

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(1d20+14)[30] Smiiiiiiiiite~

(1d8+8)[12]

[tonberryking]

Ooops...

Spoiler: Additional Rolls

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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]

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!

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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 <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

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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

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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

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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

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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 & 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

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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?