Alternate narrated song
Johan threaded his way through closed market stalls and the occasional late-night merchant before finding himself in front of a tavern. Despite himself, he smiled as he stepped through the threshold under the wood sign that read Elfsong Tavern.
He had heard the stories of the tavern, and suspected the echoes of those stories had taken advantage of his distracted mind to guide his feet towards the establishment. The lilting sound of the unseen ghost wafted through the air, like an intoxicating perfume; It was unexpectedly empty inside, with just a handful of patrons at tables that could seat twoscore more. Apparently the songs of the dead that provided the tavern's namesake were offputting to actually hear.
Johan smiled, unconsciously rubbing the scar that encircled one finger, and listened for a while.
The candles had burned far lower when he stood again, although the witching hour was still some ways off. He strode to the bar, catching the attention of the half-elf bartender. She strode over, and racking his mind Johan finally said "Lady...Elana?"
She smiled, and with a little chuckle shook her head. "Elandara. What will it be, traveler?"
Johan scanned the menu carved into the bar, before one item caught his eye. A plan that had been formulating in drips and drabs in his mind suddenly came into sharp focus. "I'd like to rent one of the rooms upstairs, for, eh, four candles," eyeing the engraved message on the bartop that read
Meeting Room - 1 candle for 1 gold
Loiterers after the last candle has burnt down will be thrown out.
Candles good for about an hour.
She nodded, pulling a quartet of thin beeswax taper candles from a wooden box below the counter, and lighting one from the torch sconce on the wall. She passed him a thin silver key, and nodded towards the upstairs room as he passed her the coins in payment.
"Room is the one on the left at the end of the corridor. Will there be anything else?"
He nodded as something his father had mentioned once floated to the surface. "Are you carrying any coin for House Riopel of Thay?" he muttered. She nodded with a little smile, but he just nodded and returned the smile despite himself.
The ghostsong must be getting to my mind too. He shook his head as he made his way to the meeting room. He lit the lantern on the small room's equally-small table; His darkvision meant it was a waste of good lamp oil, but he'd rather someone saw the light and didn't barge in before his hours were up.
I have to find that bastard earlier; He knew me, recognized me, and if word gets back to the rest of house Riopel, father will send every damn vryloka hunter coin can buy to bring my head back in a sack.
He clicked open the tiny window, careful to oil it with a drip from the lantern so it merely whispered open. Catching sight of the thin sliver of moon overhead, Johan grinned, no humor in this sharp-toothed smile.
Gods be damned, wherever they are: It's about time for a hunt.
He slid through the window and onto the roof, before making his way to an adjacent alley, and melting into the city to find his quarry.
OOC: Alright, Johan's going to try and track down the little smarmy guy from earlier. Going to do a Streetwise and Perception, but let me know if there's a different check that would be appropriate to find the debt collector guy:
Streetwise (+17): Rolled 17, so 34.
Perception (+11): Rolled a 3, so 14.
Stealth while doing so (+12): Rolled an 11, so 23.
Friday, February 5, 2016
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Johan is able to locate the dark underbelly of Baldur's Gate in short order. He learns that the man is a known associate of the Waldorf Syndicate and often hangs out at one of their gambling houses and brothels. It is housed in one of the tunnels beneath the former temple.
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you want to go, and if so, what you want ask/query him about and give me a diplomacy for the new situation down there.
Knowing his capabilities of persuasion, Johan sorts through the leads he gathered with a few greased palms and veiled threats and settles on exploring one of the Waldorf's brothels first. It'd been decades since he'd experienced any sort of physical intimacy, and nearly as long since he'd lost the ability to do so at all.
ReplyDeleteEntering the brothel and easing past the bouncer and the men and women loitering around the lounge, Johan asks a man dressed in little more then a handful of leather scraps and is led to the madame of the establishment. The gnome is unexpected, but she seems at least open to hearing his questions.
Diplomacy (+16): Rolled a 10, so 26.
And since he's about to try and feed her a line of bullshit, a Bluff check too:
Bluff (+26): Rolled a 19, so 35. Woo!
"I've heard there is a gentleman from the Waldorf Syndicate here, under the name of Artur (Or whatever his name is). His boss Illoran wants to have a word with him." Johan's expression is pleasantly neutral, but his tone at the end indicates he was sent from "Boss Illoran" to check up on this Artur.
The gnome scowled, though didn't seem particularly worried. "Yeah, he's here over there in the shadowed part." She said nodding toward the back. As Johan follows her guesture he notices that the man from earlier is sitting in a dark booth across from a very dark and shadowy form.
ReplyDelete(I better not be able to hear any more sibilant pronunciation right now...)
ReplyDeleteJohan looked into the dark booth, his darkvision making the shadows pop into clarity as he made out the shapes in the booth.
Perception (+11): Rolled 7, so 18.
And he's also going to see what he can guess from their behavior as to possibly what they had been doing or saying before he arrived:
Insight (+6): Rolled 12, so 18.
As Johan stares into the darkness a voice speaks out.
ReplyDelete"Ssssoo, ssssoo, sssooo... Johan hazzz come to make good on a promissse."
Dammit. Also, just to clarify since Johan has darkvision, he's seeing a literal smokecloud, right? Or is it a human/humanoid figure he can make out cleanly?
ReplyDelete"Dammit..." he muttered. Johan sighed internally, before saying more loudly "I'll attend to our agreement in a moment, but first I need to have a few kindly words with your 'friend' over there."
He shoots Artur a glance and a grinning smile that's just a bit too wide and utterly devoid of warmth. "You won't mind if I but in, right Artur? I meant to ask you what you found so amusing when you bumbled into the ship earlier."
Artur grinned, waving his hang toward the empty seat. As you draw closer you find that the shadow seems to be swirling and shifting, wrapping the vaguely humanoid shape in layers of darkness.
ReplyDelete"Sssso, Johan..." The voice interjected before Artur could respond. "Sssince you are ssso ssserindipitousssly ssssearching for anssswers might you sssearch your ssssoul and ssseason me with the sssucculenss of information that I asssked for earlier?"
Narrowing his eyes, Johan leans in towards the hissing spirit, and enunciating clearly says "Sssssuck. Eggssss." Holding the stare for another moment, he turns back to Artur, the false smile returning in an instant.
ReplyDelete"So now, friend, I apologize for the interruption. How about we take this conversation elsewhere?"
Artur looked a bit surprised at Johan's response. "Well, frankly, I'm flattered at your interest. But you're really not my type." He lifted his drink. "as for interruption... You are actually the one who interrupted us." He said waving his hand dismissively.
ReplyDeleteJohan rolls his eyes, sighing and muttering "Nobody can claim I didn't try to be polite."
ReplyDeleteReaching forward, still ignoring the shadow figure, Johan grabs Artur and effortlessly yanks him to his feet, his vampiric strength reducing Artur to the weight of a child.
Vampiric Slam, an option I have instead of Melee Basic attack: (+8 vs Reflex): Rolled 10, so 18. I'm choosing to do no damage to Artur, but just yank him roughly to his feet. If it's possible to spill his drink, Johan spills his drink in the process.
And then he tries to scare the rest of the drink out of him:
Intimidate (+16): Rolled 6, so 22.
Pulling him close and the grin now revealing fangs uncomfortably close to Artur's neck, Johan growls "Now, back to earlier, why do you recognize me?"
When in doubt, escalate!
Artur easily sidesteps your grab.
ReplyDelete"Johan, you aren't surrounded by your buddies so I'm not afraid of you." He said while shaking his jacket.
The shape in the shadows stood until its the top of its shadow brushed the ceiling.
"Sssso ssssilly Johan. You shhhhould have shhhown better mannersss to your friendssss."
Chuckling as he looks up, Johan replies "You think we're friends? I'm flattered."
ReplyDeleteHe turns around to Artur, whipping out a dagger to nick his arm and draw a bead of blood.
Melee Basic Attack, +8 vs AC, rolled 17 so 25. I'll just do the minimum of 1 damage, enough so he can see he's visibly been cut.
And now some lying: Bluff (+26): Rolled 2, so 28.
In a lighthearted tone, Johan says "You might want to make your last amends before the poison hits your heart. Or, if you want to speak about renegotiating the terms, I'll be waiting at the Elfsong Tavern. I do hope to see you again, dear Artur, so we can put all this mess behind us and I can happily give you both the antidote and a mug of ale."
And with that, since I've roughed up and now attacked a Syndicate member in the middle of a Syndicate brothel, Johan wants to get away from the multiple scores of nearby angry people. He's going to use his Gaseous Form (I get Fly 8, Insubstantial, and Phasing) and GTFO of the brothel and back to my rented room in the tavern.
Also, here's my check for them to not see which way the cloud of vampire gas went:
Stealth(+12, +10 from Gaseous Form): Rolled a 6, so 28.
don't be so hasty, they both get their responses before you get to turn all vampirey. I'll send them tonight, but you're in the middle of a dark brothel taking to a shadow in the darkness... You did know it wasn't going to be that easy, right?
ReplyDeleteOh goodness yes. Johan is a "Leap before you look" person who does not excel in long-term planning.
ReplyDeleteIf things start to go southwards more than they already have, he'll try to escape with the gaseous form if he's in a tight space like this, but otherwise if he's outdoors he'll try to shit into a bat to flee.
ooh I get that! I approve of you playing your character, but I'm still shocked that you can handle it and not be completely pissed at Johan. My jaw actually dropped when I read the post. A bit like, "Johan, are you fricking kidding me?" Good thing non of the other characters are around to question you!
ReplyDeleteSo, there were so many ways to go with this, but only a few that didn't end up with Johan dead... naturally, I think we'd all prefer to keep our PC's alive past the second week! So, fair warning everyone, you are not powerful enough to go head first into a stronghold of the enemy and face an unknown creature wrapped shadow and dare to threaten them! Still, I applaud you for playing your deathwish filled character Austin!
ReplyDeleteHaving easily sidestep Johan's grab Arturo turns his own blade up and then swings the hilt against Johan's temple.
knockout
Roll(1d20)+17:
17,+17
Total:34 (ouch)
On a hit the creature is knocked unconscious.
Damage:
Roll(2d6)+13:
4,6,+13
Total:23
Johan's body thumps to the floor.
"You stupid..." he says kicking the shape. "Piece..." Kicking the body again. "of shit." He says kicking it and knocking the body onto its back. "You vampires all think you're the most talented and the most impressive." He said giving the body another swift kick.
The shadow quickly moves closer
"Now, don't be too hasssty Artur. He might be a boneheaded vampire, but onssse he comes to he might just realizzze that we are likely his only friendsss. He alssooo probably didn't realize that this compound izzz lit by candlezzz dipped in holy water and that almost every other symbol around the room is a holy sssymbol. Oh well." The voice said almost pitiful.
"We wont kill him yet, just carve a reminder into forehead."
Artur grins and bends down, carving the holy symbol of bahamut into the pale skin of Johan.
Johan comes to about an hour later, his ribs aching, and his head ablaze with pain. A note is pinned to his chest in an elegant script:
First warning Prince Vryloka.
Ha, yeah, Johan certainly didn't suspect rogues would have a holy and sanctified brothel. Burning a healing surge, taking me to 62 current hp and 1 surge remaining. Presuming here that Johan was dragged back to the Elfsong?
ReplyDeleteJohan groans, sitting upright and feeling his hands clench in anger at his carelessness. The burning mark on his forehead burns his fingers like a hot cinder when his fingers brush it, and he curses again. Long having lost the reflex to look for a mirror, instead he closes his eyes, and concentrates the surges of stolen blood in his veins.
The blood lends heat to his cheeks as bruised bones knit and mend, and the raw, throbbing cut on his head mends. He runs a finger over it, the still-tender flesh not feeling like fire this time. Hoping it's not going to leave a scar, Johan nevertheless tugs his wide-brimmed had to cover the spot with his crimson bangs.
He pulls the note off, reading it before sighing in frustration, muttering a litany of curses under his breath as he shreds the note into tiny shreds of parchment. Sitting back, he attempts to get as much sleep (or meditation) as he can before the appointed meeting time at the Lady Narath the next morning.
The last sentence is contingent on Johan not being locked in an itty-bitty cell, of course.