[Moonday, 10 Arodus 4708
A.R. continued]
Secure in The Reckoner’s safehouse,
the Harrowed Heroes plan long into the night.
[Toilday, 11 Arodus 4708
A.R.]
The ringing of handbells
in the street outside wakens everyone at dawn.
Goldcape sneaks out, invisibly, to see what all the clanging is about
and learns it’s a horse-drawn cart to collect the bodies of those killed overnight
by the terrible blood magic curse still striking down victims across the
city! Sadly, Mifeg—the homeless woman
the group had some contact with months ago—is one of the deceased. Goldcape returns to fill the others in on
what she’s seen. But although bodies may
continue to accumulate as long as Ileosa lives, the group agree to plan their
strike on Castle Korvosa carefully instead of acting rashly.
Goldcape decides to walk
to Old Korvosa to check on Sergeant Clenkins and the other members of the rebel
cell she organised there. The vanara is
recognised by friendly House Arkona soldiers at the bridge and waved
across. Although the perpetual gloom of
the nearby Black Tower puts a damper on things, she’s surprised to see how much
the city’s most notorious slums have improved in recent weeks! Rubbish has been hauled away, no gangs roam
the street, and there’s even early signs of new construction. But curiously, her rebel cell is nowhere to
be found. There’s no sign of violence or
disorder in the abandoned building, but it looks like everything other than
Goldcape’s personal gear has been packed up and moved out.
She decides to learn the
rebels’ fate by directly asking the most important man in Old Korvosa: Glorio
Arkona himself! In Arkona Palace, after
having her identity confirmed through a quiz from Glorio’s majordomo (apparently shapechanging
assassins are a risk), Goldcape is immediately brought to meet the artistocrat
in a well-appointed salon. Glorio is
welcoming and flattering, and explains that Sergeant Clenkins and his troops
found it “unnecessary” to maintain their protection of the Black Tower after
the forces of House Arkona arrived.
Instead, Glorio explains, they’ve joined the siege of Castle
Korvosa. Along with refreshments and a
gift of platinum coins, Glorio hints that, should he become leader of post-war
Korvosa, he would offer her a major position of responsibility: Commandant of
the Sable Company Marines!
After leaving the palace,
Goldcape realises she’s near Vencarlo Orisini’s old fencing academy and decides
to pay a visit to her mentor. The two
speak carefully in case spies for the Queen are listening in, but Goldcape
subtly confirms that the mission to Scarwall was a success while Vencarlo talks
about rebuilding the academy with the aid of a wealthy student. He welcomes Goldcape to stop by for lessons
anytime. Goldcape says her farewells and
makes it back to The Reckoner’s safehouse in the early afternoon.
Meanwhile, Protosilaus
and The Reckoner haven’t been sitting idle!
Leaving Lorien and Yraelzin behind, the two walk to a particular
alleyway not far from the safehouse to meet with one of The Reckoner’s
informants. In this case, that informant
is Xoza, a dandasuka in the employ of House Arkona who is magically-bound to
spy for The Reckoner! Xoza reports
progress on the three tasks assigned to him by The Reckoner before the Harrowed
Heroes left the city for Scarwall.
First, Xoza reports a (not-so-stunning) revelation: the vigilante
Trifaccia was an efreeti agent of The Queen!
Given that Grau Soldado took care of that problem some time ago, the
information is now of little value.
Second, Xoza was charged with learning what House Arkona was planning,
and again the little spy has information that may be too late to be of much
value: the aristocratic family has entered into an alliance with the queen of
the xill from the Black Tower. In
exchange for military support, House Arkona lets the xill implant their spawn
in the bodies of captured Ileosan loyalists!
Third, Xoza says his third task (to find out Glorio Arkona’s weaknesses)
faltered due to the man’s security and that, as far as he knows, Glorio is just
a human. But The Reckoner gets a hunch
that Xoza has doubts about that, and presses him to reveal not just what he knows,
but what he suspects: that Glorio is a rakshasa! Xoza doesn’t seem able to articulate exactly
what that means or what the differences are between different kinds of
rakshasa, but insists the only weakness of a “true rakshasa” is a blessed crossbow bolt. The Reckoner asks
Xoza to next look into finding information about the Queen and her new
seneschal, the bloodmage Togomor.
But as Protosilaus and The Reckoner leave the alleyway, they hear angry
shouting nearby to the south. It seems
that the rebel forces loyal to Kroft (the “New Korvosan Guard”) and the forces
loyal to Glorio Arkona (his enlarged “Palace Guards”) are pushing, shoving, and
yelling. And watching ominously, just
behind the Arkonan side, are a contingent of the four-armed, flame-red insect-like
xill, surely ready to intervene with lethal force at the least invitation! The Reckoner pulls the leaders of the two
sides away from each other and learns that they’re arguing about a boundary
dispute stemming from an ambiguously-drawn map.
He’s able to calm the situation enough that the leader of the Arkonan
forces agrees to return to the palace and verify the map with the majordomo. On the walk back to the safehouse, The
Reckoner says that immediately after taking out Ileosa, they should go after
Glorio Arkona! Protosilaus grins
disturbingly at the notion, and The Reckoner continues by explaining that they
can’t give the man any chance to seize power, and that allowing the xill to
implant their eggs in captured loyalists is surely a sign he’s evil. Protosilaus shrugs and replies, “or just
pragmatic.”
Once everyone is back
together, they plan their next steps: Yraelzin and Goldcape will visit Jeggare
Library to check the castle blueprints (stashed there long ago by Goldcape)
against the maps provided by Sabina to see if the latter are indeed accurate;
meanwhile, Protosilaus and The Reckoner will do some long-range reconnaissance
on the castle to determine if their current plan for entry is viable.
The research part of the plan goes off without a hitch, as the
blueprints are exactly where Goldcape left them (in the “Fungi of the Mwangi
Expanse” shelf) and, after an afternoon’s comparison, seem to support Sabina’s
veracity. On the way back from the
library, Yraelzin and Goldcape run into a strike organised by the city’s
dockworkers. Seizing on a rare
opportunity provided by the rebellion (trade unionism is illegal in Korvosa),
the dockworkers are threatening to stop unloading grain shipments for the
rebels unless they’re guaranteed bargaining rights in whatever regime follows
Ileosa’s! Goldcape tries to explain to
the strike’s apparent leader just how important the grain shipments are, but
has no luck, even when she name-drops The Reckoner (it seems like Blackjack is
the “people’s champion” to this particular dockworker). Eventually, Goldcape sends a message to the
rebels camped around Castle Korvosa about the situation, and their commander,
Sir Gyrad Tolgrith, comes himself!
Tolgrith’s reputation precedes him, and, after Goldcape explains the
situation, he’s able to give the needed assurances to get the ships unloaded. Interestingly, the well-respected leader
pointedly refused to answer Goldcape’s question about which of the three rebel
faction leaders he supports.
The surveillance part of
the plan also provides valuable intelligence.
Protosilaus conjures a magical invisible flying eye that he can somehow
see through, and sends it on multiple journeys in and around the castle. The witch-doctor learns that the group’s
originally-planned incursion site (a salon on the fourth floor) is the barracks
for a contingent of Red Mantis assassins—one of whom spots the eye and sounds
the alarm so another can dispel it! But
Protosilaus always has another spell, and is able to conjure more eyes to
continue the reconnaissance. He’s unable
to see into the throne room or the queen’s bedroom due to the stained-glass
windows, but is able to discern the shape of
. . . something . . . in the latter.
A look into the armory and Sabina’s room doesn’t provide confirmation
that there really are secret doors as Sabina said, but the sight of a corpulent
imp raiding the kitchen and barbed monsters in the mess hall support her story
about Ileosa consorting with devils.
Still, the crucial
question remains: has Sabina provided the group with everything they need for a
surgical assault or instead simply set the bait for an irresistible trap?
----------------------------------------------
GM Commentary
I liked the idea that sanitation and safety in Old Korvosa was much improved under Glorio's control. I wanted each of the three potential leaders to have positives associated with them, and (apart from being charming and generous) Glorio was good at keeping order. Yes, he's an evil rakhasa, but he "keeps the trains running on time" as the phrase goes.
In regards to Xoza, I think I've talked before that it's hard as the GM to decide how much to have a spy reveal; it has to be enough for the players to feel like their efforts are being rewarded, but not so much that it undermines the campaign. Here, it worked pretty well because I was able to draw links to a couple of subtle story elements that the PCs might not otherwise have put together.
Sir Tolgrith appears in Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale, one of the best 3.5-era Pathfinder modules. Since Bloodsworn Vale is an area under Korvosan control, I thought it made sense to have him make a cameo.
I always find it a bit uncomfortable as the GM to handle reconnaisance like magical scrying eyes, gaseous form, etc., where the PCs aren't interacting with the rooms directly. The issue is that if I go through the full room description it takes ages and they're not going to do anything apart from moving on to the next room to see what's there--so it's a huge exposition dump. But, it can also be hard to concisely summarise flavour text in the moment.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment