A Series of Unfortunate Events

The entrip group was able to wreak a lot more havoc in the lawful good village of Mitra. We were able to get the Dwarfs and the musical performers kicked out of town. And burned the mage tower!

Here we get to the top of the mage tower and kill a crazy magic user

Day 4 (Monday):

• Mama Guiseppe’s Beef Monday Meal.
• Party travels that day back to Aldencross and then meets and parties with the dwarven engineers at The Lord’s Dalliance Inn.  Party discovers from Barnabus Eisenbach that he has a copy of a map of Balentyne, which the party summarily gains access to and copies.
• The party, also determined to frame the dwarves for wrongdoing, retrieves the slain Cpt. Varnin’s shield (that has his family crest on it).

Day 5 (Tuesday):

• Count Doome, the “wandering oracle of Mitra,” goes to Balentyne and seeks an audience with Father Donnigan.  Count Doome is escorted to the Choir Hall (Church) of Mitra in Balentyne, but Father Donnigan is out.  Count Doome meets a couple Mitran acolytes and learns that church services are held for the soldiery on Friday mornings.  As he is being escorted out he learns where the Great Hall is on the second level that Ye Merrie Men are supposed to perform the next day.
• Roderic gathers information as to where Cpt. Mott lives in Aldencross and visits his front step.  Mott seems like a surly man, and does not actually detect good.  The Lady Kaitlyn Mott moves up behind her husband and mentions that it was a heroic thing indeed that Cpt. Edderly was saved.
• The party successfully frames the dwarven engineers for thievery, and because they planted the shield in Barnabus’ room, the dwarves are later locked up in Balentyne.

Day 6 (Wednesday):

• Ye Merrie Men perform “The Fall of Amberlyn” at Balentyne this afternoon/evening.
• That evening, while Balentyne’s forces are mostly gathered in the Great Hall watching the performance, the Nessian Knot scoundrels use the passage from the Inn, gaining access to the tower.  The party traverses upwards through the tower and makes battle with Mad Martin Renaud and his messenger ravens.  The party ultimately slaughters the madman and his birds.  The party lights fire to the Rookery and also burns a huge store of arrows on a lower level.
• Flick sweet talks one of Ye Merry (Wo)Men into sharing the evening with him, and thus the Half-Gnome race begins in the lands of Talingarde…

Day 7 (Thursday):

• Dwarven Engineers are banished from the lands and all civilians, except those who have specifically worked there and are known, have been barred from accessing Balentyne.
• Party drafts and has a letter talking of danger to Cpt. Eddarly delivered to Lady Mott.  It tells her to meet near the apothecary later that evening.  Brudin hides in the shadows to observe, while Count Doome is about to meet with Lady Mott.  They await what transpires next.

Way of the Wicked (Book One) – Aldencross & Balentyne Timeline/Notes

Prior to Aldencross/Balentyne

Party meets with Sakkarot Fireaxe, the bugbear chieftain.  He tells them, as they are about to depart to Aldencross, that he will need two (2) weeks to rally his army.  Once that is done, he will be able to hold his horde together for another two (2) weeks.  “You have one month to infiltrate and destroy Balentyne.”  He provides the PCs a single carefully wrapped signal rocket.  “In two weeks, I will be poised to strike.  I will move my horde to the valley just north of Balentyne.  There we will wait for your signal.  Fire this rocket into the air.  Within the hour, we will attack.  Make sure that the way is ready.”

Day 1 (Friday):

• Party arrives in Aldencross.
• Gather at the Lord’s Dalliance Inn, posing as a retinue of a lady-in-waiting (Doome); her/his old lady attendant (Flick); and their three guards (Dilsad; Roderik; Brudin).  Aridas is not with the party that day.
• Party gathers intelligence (i.e., rumors) and stays the evening in the Inn, although Aridas is not with them.
• Brudin notes a noise outside his room.  He and some of the other party members investigate and discover the Innkeeper, Bellarm Barhold, descending to his basement, grabbing a box of wine, and then exiting from a (very) secret door leading to a tunnel that the party surmises leads to the Watchtower Balentyne.
• Bellarm soon hears the trailing Brudin, stops his passage through the tunnel, and then returns back to the Inn.  He does not discovery any of the PCs.  The party retires for the remainder of the night.

Day 2 (Saturday)

• Aridas rejoins the party, but now Brudin has gone missing.
• PCs are able to purchase magic and other items.  Unfortunately, the Mask of Stony Demeanor that Count Doome was looking for wasn’t actually available.  So, another week before one might be found in town.
• The party meets Cpt. Zacharias “Zack” Eddarly while at the Lord’s Dalliance Inn.  Roderick, with his purchase of spirits and commiseration with the soldiers of his lamentable job as a guard for the ladies, gets in good with the soldiers there.  Cpt. Eddarly then begs his leave and heads out. However, Aridas (as a young lady) and Count Doome (as the lady-in-waiting) follow Cpt. Eddarly, giggling and displaying their interest in the handsome man, who stops to speak to them.  It is at that point that Cpt. Eddarly notes the “thug” (a changed Dilsad) lurking around the corner of a building.  When he cannot free himself of the “ladies” by urging them to return to the Inn and tell the soldiers there of the sighted thug, he is then coaxed into the alleyway by a (yet again) changed Dilsad who says he noted the thug in the area.
• Dilsad lures Cpt. Eddarly down a small path between buildings and attacks him, brutally injuring him.  At that point, two townspeople are passing and note things are odd, at which point Aridas color sprays them.  Unfortunately, one displays incredible resilience and then starts screaming his head off, yelling for help.  Aridas determines the best means of addressing the situation is to shoot the remaining civilian, which she does.
• Too late.  Two soldiers run towards the alleyway, at which point Aridas has transformed into the guise of a male soldier herself.  Aridas tries to convince the soldiers to not worry about things.  Dilsad and Flick’s traveling forms they’ve been using are compromised and they escape the scene, as does Aridas.  Roderik has arrived, and after slinging Cpt. Eddarly over his soldier meets a cluster of soldiers, townsfolk, and Count Doome (now appearing as a wandering cleric of Mitra) back in the alleyway.  Count Doome then channels positive energy and heals the severely injured Cpt. Eddarly, as well as the other soldier who was gravely injured.  Both are saved by the ministrations of Count Doome.
• Roderik and Count Doome return to the Inn with the soldiers.  Roderik is told that all of his traveling companions are wanted for questioning, but he is clearly not one of the evildoers or suspects.  He and Count Doome also hear that there will likely be much stronger scrutiny/searches of newcomers to Aldencross, and that the garrison may be dispatching “truth gatherers” to the town, whatever that means.
• Aridas, Dilsad and Flick gather at another, much more common flaphouse in Aldencross.  Aridas tries to convince a visitor that dwarves were likely behind the reported attacks, saying that dwarves really can’t be trusted.  The visitor doesn’t really know what to say.
•  Although Brudin is absent, the other five members of the Nessian Knot (the party) gather together later that evening and set out to find Captain Ryan Varning and his troop of “rangers,” who the party learns tend to camp at Freeman’s Rock.  That site is about 1 day’s foot travel (and ½ a day by horse).

Day 3 (Sunday)

• Dilsad, Doome, Roderik, Aridas and Flick bumble their way through the dark wilderness for about ten hours, since none of them have a very good Survival ability.  Thank Asmodeus for decent Knowledge Local checks!  As the party is arriving through the undergrowth that rings Freeman’s Rock, they stumble into the opening and engage in battle with Cpt. Varning, a Mitran Inquisitor (Black Powder), and six soldiers.
• Many arrows are loosed in Dilsad’s direction, but because of errant winds surely sent by Asmodeus, not even his many mirror images are destroyed in the initial wave.  However, Flick, as he performs an inspiring song for his Nessian Knot comrades, is targeted and laid low by the lance-wielding Cpt. Varning.  He is nearly dead from the severe blow from the lance, and thanks Asmodeus that the “good” Cpt. Varning did not strike a second blow as he passed, instead displaying mercy to a felled foe.
• Roderik ultimately charges and joins Cpt. Eddarly in battle, while Dilsad, Aridas and Count Doome engage the inquisitor and the other soldiers.
• Cpt. Eddarly, as well as all of his rangers except two, are slain.  As two are sure to escape on horseback, Brudin appears and engages them long enough for (the DM decides) his party members to join and kill them.  None of this contingent of Talingarde troops have escaped.

A Situation of Two Evils

Flick was trying to be helpful, but it backfired. One of his party was trying to kill another guard and not having too much luck with it. So Flick attempted to cast some spells that would charm the person, which didn't work.

Then he went into hiding outside the town with his other compatriots that had to be on the run.

Finally after spending the night in the forest the following day we investigated an encampment of soldiers from the town. We fought and killed them, but then Flick did receive an almost mortal blow.

Flick after javelin through the chest

The beginning of our encounter in the forest.

Flick turned level 4 in this session and received 1304 gold.

In prep for this coming Thur night's session, Brudin (who was in NPC mode last session), rejoins with the party and lets you know that while his Nessian Knot compatriots were killing/saving Cpt. Eddarly he was doing some extra snooping and learned that the contingent of dwarven engineers led by Barnabus Eisenbauch that are making repairs on Balentyne have been directed to stay for the time being at the Lord's Dalliance Inn when they are not working.  Brudin also learned that apparently due to much lobbying by/on behalf of the Balentyne soldiery, Ye Merrie Men will actually be allowed to perform "The Fall of Amberlyn," a play, inside Balentyne, as originally planned.  Many of the leadership and common soldiers, in addition to others, are expected to attend.  It is rumored that precautions will be taken to ensure that the contingent of performers are of "pure mind" and "pure heart," whatever that means, and that any visitor(s) to Balentyne are subject to much more scrutiny due to the recent attempted murder of Cpt. Eddarly.  Ye Merrie Men are supposed to be arriving in town in the next couple of days.

It is currently early morning on Day 3 (Sunday) when you are all reunited after slaying Cpt. Varning and his "rangers."

As a reminder, Sakarott Fireaxe's army will not be ready, at the earliest, until Day 14 (Thursday) to attack.  One other hint -- compromising Balentyne's defenses may include activities beyond only dispatching primary military command and support.  This is not a commentary on prior actions, but only a hint.

The following applies for the Wicked campaign (subject to change later):

* From what I can tell, crafting magic of any type is going to be very difficult for you guys.  Because you're wanted.  Because you're on time-sensitive missions.  Think very carefully before you take any Crafting feat.  Especially because...

* No crafting of magic items not found in Paizo books (that were published before May 1, 2014).  For example, you can't make a Hat of Giant Strength (since only Belts of Giant Strength are listed).  The slotted items are meant to be restrictive, I think, so that's what we are going with.  And I think BroChris even researched this before in some other context and that's consistent with what he found?  If not, that's still the house rule.

* Considering we have 6 powerful PCs when the table is full (and admittedly, that's rare), no Leadership feat.  We don't need a cohort and/or followers adding to your toughness and also taking up more time at the table.

*  At 4th level, your current levels, Detect Evil will not detect any of you EXCEPT Roderick, the Anti-Paladin.  He would detect as moderate evil (similar to cleric or paladin as listed in the Detect spells).

* Nothing can be used for the PCs out of the Advanced Class Guide or out of any Paizo product that was published after May 1, 2014 (when we were decided on starting this campaign).  No third party publisher's materials may be used except out of the Wicked campaign setting.  Scott, sorry, I made a mistake allowing access to Loki's Gift spell as I don't think that comes from a Paizo published material, right?  Same goes for anyone I mistakenly allowed to tap non-Paizo products.  If this would result in what you consider a major impact on your build, we can talk.

Aldencross, a base small town and where you're at right now staying at the Inn, has the following:

  * Any establishment/person in town could only pay up to 7500 gp to buy an item that the party is selling. 

  * 75% chance to find magic items of 1400 gp value or less without much effort (e.g., Muleback Cords; +1 Cloak of Resistance).  The percentile rolls are made on a weekly basis for each different type of item.  We can do this at the table.

  * 80% chance to find masterwork or standard weapons or armor of between 1001 and 2000 gp value (e.g., masterwork full plate).  The percentile rolls are made on a weekly basis for each different type of item.  Simple weapons and standard armor, whether regular or masterwork, are always available and martial and exotic weapons, whether regular or masterwork, are available within 1d100 hours from time of order/payment.  We will do percentile/d100 rolling at the table.

  * Your research the first night and the following day in Aldencross also discovers that the following items are available at the moment for purchase (there may be other items available that we can talk about if you like/request):

  - One Mithral Breastplate (4200 gp)

  - One +1 Ring of Protection (2000 gp)

  - One +2 Cloak of Resistance (4000 gp)

  - One Masterwork Blunderbuss (2300 gp)

  - One +1 Amulet of Natural Armor (2000 gp)

1)  A Pack of Dwarvers under Barnabus is Fixing the Watchtower

2) There is a Secret Passage to the Basement of the Watchtower in the Lord's Dalliance

3) Tachytus has something unnatural from the north in his tower

4) Catelyn Mott is quite a looker, how did Captain Franz Mott bag her?

5) The Merry Men under William Marcus Mellow are heading to town.   

6) Something about the Choir Hall

7) Zac Edderly is unmarried...