Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 61 [RPG]

[Starday, 25 Erastus 4708 A.R.]

It’s barely an hour after midnight when, having narrowly escaped a nightime attack by strange extradimensional predators known as xill, Anorak races into the slums of Old Korvosa.  Panting with exertion, he finds an alley to hide in and waits to see if there are any sounds of pursuit.  Hearing none, he cautiously returns to his workshop to find his assailants have gone but that the place is in shambles.  After ensuring that the dandasuka is still bound tightly in a chest, the dwarf takes the box that Mortimont gave him and heads for the safety of Goldcape’s new resistance base.  Goldcape opens the door with a rapier levelled at Anorak’s throat, but Anorak’s fresh wounds lend proof to his words that he was just attacked by “monstrosities from another plane”.  Goldcape lets him enter, and wakes up Mishimia, the self-proclaimed “Acolyte of Razmir” to help tend to Anorak’s wounds.  Goldcape’s magic seems to do all of the real healing work, however.  She reluctantly agrees to let the dwarf stay the night, little realising that in the morning, he’ll ask to stay for the next four days!

Across town, Ralph Blackfeather slips out of his own safehouse in North Point.  He signals for Majenko, the house drake who swore service for a year, and asks him to look out for the city’s mysterious new vigilante, Trifaccia.  Afterwards, Ralph visits The Bookmaker and learns that Costa has completed his task as promised: the magical contract is ready for signing.  Soon after, Ralph changes into The Reckoner in a secluded alleyway, uses a wand to turn himself invisible, and heads towards the single bridge still spanning the channel that separates Old Korvosa from the rest of the city.  The Reckoner spots the moving blurs that indicate imp devils are about, and as he’s unsure whether they can also see invisible creatures, he asks Plate to teleport him across.  Plate reiterates his views that instead of all this dithering, they should just go attack the Queen, but he does as The Reckoner asks.

The Reckoner heads over to Anorak’s workshop, picks the lock to get inside when no one answers, and seems unconcerned by the destruction and heavy sprays of blood throughout.  He shows the dandasuka, who gives its name as “Xoza”, the contract and the two negotiate a price of ten gold pieces a month for the shameless creature to spy on its former master.  Xoza rushes to the palace to report to Glorio Arkona’s majordomo that nothing of interest happened the previous night, and then returns to tell The Reckoner that there was a big battle in the workshop but that the dwarf ran away surprisingly fast on his little stumpy legs.  Xoza agrees to keep learning what he can about Glorio’s plans for The Reckoner and his allies.

Later, on the way to Goldcape’s resistance base, the masked vigilante notices at least a couple of the houses in the area have stylised “B”s written in tar on their doors.  Although one old woman slams a door in his face, another resident explains that it means “Blackjack is back, and I’m on his side!”  When The Reckoner arrives at Goldcape’s new residence, she explains what apparently happened at Anorak’s workshop overnight.  He asks for her help in gathering clues about Trifaccia.  While they’re talking, Anorak is in an adjacent room performing some sort of intense magical ritual and is reluctant to be interrupted, but acknowledges the news about Xoza signing the contract—something they now share with Goldcape.

Leaving Anorak to his ritual, Goldcape and The Reckoner talk about the best way to get across to the main section of the city.  They decide to fly on Rocky’s back to Trail’s End, where the predominantly Varisian population has been friendly towards them since they provided assistance in the blood veil crisis.  There, the two leave Rocky in good hands and disguise themselves as ordinary Korvosans before crossing the bridge into the city without incident.  Goldcape stops at the Bank of Abadar to obtain one of the newly minted coins and shows it to Ralph, explaining that they now know exactly what the Queen’s crown looks like.  Plate is excited to see it, and proposes a dazzling array of ideas involving smashing, swiping, sundering, or otherwise getting it off of Ileosa’s head so they can win a fair fight against her and depose her and then make The Reckoner King of Korvosa!  Ralph appreciates the enthusiasm, but has to tamp down Plate’s confidence in their abilities for now.  The two warriors split up briefly, as Goldcape makes some purchases at Hedge Wizardry and Ralph tries but fails to find anything new on Trifaccia.  It seems like the new vigilante has appeared for a few days, and gossip on the street hasn’t added anything credible since then.

When the two reunite, Ralph proposes a bold plan.  He tells Goldcape that they need to do something visible to assure Kroft they weren’t captured and turned during the raid on Deathhead Vault.  Ralph suggests a frontal attack to wipe out the entire Gray Maiden contingent guarding one of the bridges into the city would surely suffice.  Goldcape agrees and sneaks out of the city with Ralph to fetch Rocky.  Ralph pulls on the fearsome raiment of The Reckoner while Goldcape checks Rocky’s barding for the upcoming battle.  Turning them all invisible with a wand, the three get into position on the Trail’s End side of North Bridge and then attack!  The Reckoner’s sudden appearance from nowhere terrifies hardened Gray Maidens and innocent bystanders alike, while Goldcape uses ice magic on her foes.  The Reckoner has a brief argument with Plate over whether the sapient armor should cast strength-enhancing magic, but the fight goes so well and so quickly that in the end, it doesn’t matter.  Eight Gray Maidens are slain within thirty seconds, and none of the victors are even scratched!  One of the Gray Maidens did manage to ring an alarm bell for reinforcements, so Goldcape and The Reckoner decide to split up and get back into hiding.

Back in disguise, Ralph makes his way to the Grand Cathedral of Pharasma—the largest building in the Gray District.  Intent on speaking with Bishop d’Bear, he turns himself invisible and tries to sneak in the fortress-like structure, only to be covered in sparkling glitter at the entryway!  Retreating quickly, Ralph hires a messenger to deliver a scroll that’s to be personally delivered to the Bishop: “I believe I’ve demonstrated my loyalty, it would be good if you and our associates get back in contact.”

When Goldcape returns on Rocky to the safehouse, she tells Anorak what just happened on the bridge.  The dwarf is irked that he missed out on the excitement.

[Sunday, 26 Erastus 4708 A.R.]

Shortly after three bells in the morning, the warm night air in Goldcape’s base is disturbed by a faint shimmering.  Appearing out of thin air over the course of a few seconds, what can only be described as monsters with insect-like mandibles and four arms ending in claws take shape.  The xill have returned for the box, and the gods have mercy on anyone who stands in their way!

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GM Commentary

I was glad Goldcape went to the bank to get one of the new coins, as it was a great chance to show off the actual Korvosan coin that Paizo had minted.  They make great souvenirs from the campaign.

With everything going on, I often forgot to role-play The Reckoner's intelligent armor, Plate, but in this session at least, I remembered and had a lot of fun with it.

At this stage in the campaign, the PCs are tough enough that even a couple of them can devastate several ordinary Gray Maidens without suffering a scratch.