The City's Secrets - Skyfire S2E2
What do you guys think of your bounties?
Jake/BIlge:I think hard work pays off. I think some some of the bounties are a little, inflated. Whereas some of them are a little more well earned. That's just my take on it though. That's
Hayden/Shou:You're just upset that once someone got a bigger bounty than you. Who was it? Cheyenne?
Jake/BIlge:Is that the is that the right name?
Chris/GM:You were upset. Let's see.
Brad/Yasper:The captain has a ginormous bounty, and then there was somebody else that had a bigger bounty than that.
Hayden/Shou:Cyan. Yeah. You were Cyan has almost double your bounty.
Jake/BIlge:Yeah. And I don't know why. That's that's the that's the thing that gets to me the most probably. I've definitely killed more people. Definitely.
Brad/Yasper:Jasper's done, like, almost nothing to get his bounty doubled, so now he's, like, very paranoid that things from the past may be rearing their head.
Jake/BIlge:Oh. Most assuredly.
Brad/Yasper:Foreshadowing.
Brad/Yasper:Or bluff check to look interesting.
Chris/GM:Casper is just a person for coming from a happy family with, no no real trauma. This is their trauma. Joining this pirate group is the trauma of their backstory.
Brad/Yasper:Why do you adventure? Well, my father stopped paying for college after 18th year.
Chris/GM:Then I had to earn my trust fund.
Jake/BIlge:I got an idea. It's it's a get rich quick kind of thing. We take turns turning each other in and then breaking each other out. Who's gonna go first? We'll roll for it.
Hayden/Shou:That's what I as far as it goes.
Brad/Yasper:That's what I said. If the crew just turned themselves in, we would bankrupt this local economy. Like, the sheer amount of gold that got flooded into the streets.
Chris/GM:Let me just write that down for chapter 3. Everyone gets kidnapped and taken by the government.
Hayden/Shou:What did peachy ever do?
Chris/GM:Peachy's listed as the crew mascot.
Hayden/Shou:It's kinda dark.
Chris/GM:We look onto the glorious flowery architecture of the University of Serenity, where we see a young Tengue teacher with these blue feathers and these large glasses run into a faculty meeting, holding up a piece of paper. I think I think I think one of our students have a bounty. He slams this piece of paper on the table where an image of a kitsune with a magical arm steps forward. We see an office with an older orc sitting at a desk, sound of machinery and tools echoing throughout the hallway. He leans back into his chair, putting his heavy boots onto his desk, cutting open a cigar and holding a piece of paper.
Chris/GM:I finally found you. The fist of the Lakota army sits on the right of 1 of the kings, holding pieces of paper in front of them, checking off on the new bounties and crimes that have been committed over the last few weeks. 1 of bouncy strikes him a so key picture on a bouncy. You see the fist a knoll with a giant serrated sword on his back, shake his head and rip the bounty up in front of his council. We enter a tavern, and we see a handful of people sitting around the table.
Chris/GM:2 of them take particular interest in a list of bounty sitting at the table. 1 of them looks to another. What do you think of this, shadows chimera crew? Think we can take them? Other, no, kind of goes through the paperwork.
Chris/GM:Easy. Let's go see if we can catch them. And these 2 no stand up, grabbing all sorts of equipment. 1 of them having this heavy armor and this large single thing ax and a heavy cross. But it seems to have a repeating chamber.
Chris/GM:The other one picking up a ornate crystal ball, also wearing bits and pieces of leather. And both of them seem to be decked out in these red accents and with all different sort of ornaments, including their buttons and their cuffs, a large coin purse on their belt. But none of that really bothers our crew as they sit in a tavern, getting ready to figure out what they're planning to do today. Seeing these bounties on their own, they have other goals and other things to worry about than pesky bounty hunters or anyone who may find these particular papers of any interest.
Hayden/Shou:Hi. My name is Hayden, and I'm playing the Clockwork Kitsune Magus Shuu.
Jake/BIlge:Hello there. My name is Jay, and I play Bilge, your favorite 3rd level, Yosoki Ranger.
Brad/Yasper:Hi there. I'm Brad, and I play Yas Baclieg, a level 3 orc that straddles the line between the gunslinger and medic. What was supposed to be a routine visit to Shadow Bay felt like anything but to me. It had been some time since I'd been in this area and for good reason. My past, well, it stayed in my pocket more than I cared to admit, but the sale of the lightning bottles went off just fine.
Brad/Yasper:And as we were tied to a bar for some much needed respite, Rowan had a favor for us to find someone he was looking for. And I can't help but worry about the fate of that person if we find them. But that was overshadowed when our new crewmate brought in some papers. Though badly drawn, they conveyed quite the message. We were worth a lot of money to someone, dead or alive.
Chris/GM:What is your plan today as you sit through the table? Ember sits down, thinks about taking in another cigarette as you guys finish your meal.
Jake/BIlge:Bilge looks over to Amber.
Brad/Yasper:This is where we part ways. I've got some errands.
Chris/GM:I thought I thought I'm supposed to shadow you. You. What? What?
Brad/Yasper:Look. What do you expect of me?
Chris/GM:I'm new. I don't I don't expect much of anything.
Brad/Yasper:Perhaps, Jasper would look after you.
Brad/Yasper:Jasper is looking down at his salad, picking out the walnuts. Yeah sure whatever you said. Not paying attention at all.
Hayden/Shou:Well I know I won't be the one looking after you unless you want to come to a brothel. I'll be off everyone. And Shuu just kind of kicks in the chair, throws their cloak on, and heads towards the door. Hi.
Brad/Yasper:You know actually the walnuts aren't that bad. Where'd everybody go?
Chris/GM:They they just they just left.
Brad/Yasper:Oh. Oh. Oh. Well, I guess you could hang out with me. I I don't have a lot planned.
Brad/Yasper:I thought I might swing by the market.
Chris/GM:Yeah. Yes. You you advertised that. You said you were going
Jake/BIlge:to,
Chris/GM:oh, okay. To to to the market.
Brad/Yasper:Excellent. Excellent. We'll make a day of it.
Chris/GM:A whole day at the market?
Brad/Yasper:Well, if there's something you wanna do, look around.
Chris/GM:I get a choice. Alright. Let's let's go.
Brad/Yasper:Excellent. And the asper kinda like stands up and like brushes off any stray salad bits and it's like after you. Wait. Yeah. Yeah.
Brad/Yasper:No. You've never been here before. I'll lead the way. Yes.
Chris/GM:Gasper leads the way to the marketplace, which is right next to the docks. And you go through a set of gates which are open. We see the sun beating down pretty heavily. We are we are coming up to the summer solstice in about 7 days now. You're at the heat of the day, so you guys start to feel a little sweaty because of the humidity, and you're right at a bunch of stalls.
Chris/GM:And right now, the primary import is fish and all sorts of fashion. Due to the upcoming festival, a lot of people are trying to get their food purchases set as well as picking out their outfits. So you find a lot of different boosts that feature fashion from all over the world, whether it's like the desert silks of Calypso or some of the heavier clothing of Kindra. Ember isn't really interested in the clothes or the fashion, but something does catch her attention. As she finds a booth selling different sorts of cups, Very interested in ceramic make of some of the pottery here.
Brad/Yasper:And but did you see something that catches your eye?
Chris/GM:You know, when I was working at that tavern, I kept some of the ceramics that were there. A couple cups, a clay bowl. And I was always fascinated by some of their imperfections. But they were so imperfect that they weren't of use to use for use for daily clients or anything like that. I think it'd be interesting to try to make pottery.
Chris/GM:I don't I don't really understand the process. It was always imported in. Do you think we can put a kiln on the ship?
Brad/Yasper:Yeah. Possibly. And but it's, it's not an easy transition from your old life, is it? You
Chris/GM:know, I'm not really sure why I jumped on the ship anyway. You know, part of me just wants to own my own restaurant. I, I can't cook for the life of me though.
Brad/Yasper:Can't say I was particularly blessed with that set of skills myself. I just, as someone who has transitioned away from his old life before, I if you ever need to talk about it, I've I've been there. So many of the cultures we meet play such an importance on cast. You know, what your family did and will do. Breaking away from that can mean losing a large part of your identity.
Brad/Yasper:You don't need to talk. I've I've been there.
Chris/GM:I I I guess so. Did you do you hear that? And she seems to hear something and starts drifting off to a more residential area next to the marketplace. And as you listen closely, you can hear the sound of a piano being played.
Brad/Yasper:Why, I do believe I do. And Jasper follows.
Chris/GM:Piano playing is very simple. It actually sounds like someone is just warming up with certain scales and arpeggios. Just very, very technical. But Amber seems to be drawn towards it as she finds herself in a residential area. On this particular street, there is a set of cobblestones, so there is a fair amount of weeds growing out of the ground.
Chris/GM:We see a few trees, and most of the residential houses are empty as it is in the middle of the workday. We know anything about Lakodia is that they they like to work. This piano sound gets louder and louder, and so we begin to hear a haunting tune set in a minor key. The notes ring familiar to Jasper.
Brad/Yasper:Do I recognize it? Do I need to make a performance check?
Chris/GM:You can make me a society check.
Brad/Yasper:Society? So I add a 1 to that dice roll, which makes it a 2.
Chris/GM:There's no critical fail penalty to to this. You just don't recognize it. It becomes apparent Amber is, like, approaching a house where the sound is perceived to be coming from. A gnoll woman with a large spear on her back, approaching a residential house, could be perceived very interestingly. We'll we'll phrase it that way.
Chris/GM:As Amber approaches the store, the music stops suddenly. Amber pipes up. Do do you have a a piano here? Do do you think do you think I can I could play? And Jasper can give me a perception check.
Brad/Yasper:Alright, 21.
Chris/GM:As this older, gnoll woman approaches the door to talk to Ember, Jesper feels a slight vibration in the ground.
Brad/Yasper:Oh. Oh, goodness.
Chris/GM:Can I help you? Oh, my my name is Ember. I I used to play piano. I just was you feel the rumbling a little more intensely.
Brad/Yasper:Embadid, do you feel that? And, like, Jasper starts looking around.
Chris/GM:Yes. Yes. I used to play. I just just let me let me let me play one one song. We see this weird 12 foot monstrosity running down the street with these elongated limbs and multiple heads appearing all across the top of this figure's body.
Chris/GM:It runs runs out holding these 2 large pieces of wood. It looks like he uprooted a couple of smaller trees or picked up the very large tree branches. And as it does this, it plams into a house maybe about 60 feet away from it, destroying the side of the wall, freaking out. Of note, this creature, whatever this creature is, now it's this grayish skin, but we see a whole bunch of incisions and stitches being placed in various spots.
Brad/Yasper:Impa, get behind me.
Chris/GM:Go ahead and roll me initiative perception, please.
Brad/Yasper:21.
Chris/GM:Of note, Amber rolled in that one. This large hulking figure that crashed into the house right across the street regains its composure. And in a rampage, begins to run down the street to the next building, passing by Jasper pretty quickly. It does not notice you at the moment. Seems just to be running wildly carrying these 2 tree branches.
Chris/GM:As it does this, it's going to take 2 actions to move. This creature has multiple heads, and sometimes you can see that the body is not working in tandem with each other. But this figure is about 15 feet away from you, Jasper. What would you like to do?
Brad/Yasper:So, like, the minute Jasper felt threatened that there was a gun in his hand, He was expecting this thing to run at him, and now he sees it's about to go by. He'd like to make a maybe, like, a medicine check to see if there's something wrong. Medicine's fine. Yeah. A 13.
Chris/GM:13? Can't really tell. It definitely was heavily experimented on. Most things are not naturally 2 headed, but it just doesn't ring any sort of bell.
Brad/Yasper:Given that, we're all wanted and Jasper is not the kind of guy to really, like, murder first, and this thing is not going after him and Ember. I think I'm just gonna let it go by.
Chris/GM:This creature goes again, but it's not the left half of the body that seems to be controlling it. It's now the right side of the body as it gets up from crashing into the wall and takes this large tree trunk and smashes this window. We see bits and pieces of glass and wood fly into the grand piano that is inside. Amber does not have the same apathy to the situation as you do as Amber is is gonna take one action to draw her dancer's spear, another action to step forward, and is going to attempt a trip attack. Hitting a 20 on the die, she is able to cause this creature to go prone, gaining her panache.
Chris/GM:Yasper? What what now?
Brad/Yasper:Well, young lady, you have tripped the beast and grabbed it by the tail. I suggest you figure it out.
Chris/GM:The right side of the body forces the body to stand up, and holding this large trunk is going to swing it at ember, which will hit 23 to hit. Ember is knocked back a little bit, able to withhold the hit, but she sees large splinters entering her shoulder arm and even piercing her leather armor. Yes, sir. It's your turn.
Brad/Yasper:What I declare, madam, you have turned apathy into anger. Get your hands off my crewmate. Mister Flint will bark. The Asper shoots once, nailing the shoulder of this beast for 6 damage. Reloads fast, but they're just a little unsettled by, like, how quickly this came out of nowhere, and the second bullet whizzes by.
Chris/GM:The other half of the creature now hearing the loud sound of the gunshot, whirls its tree trunk again towards amber who is the closest target. Well, hit again. This creature swings the trunk into amber, and she hits the stone wall of the building right next to her, causing her to briefly split out a few speckles of blood. It is her turn. She does have panache, so easing an unbalancing finisher will roll to attack, will hit, and this scratches the creature off balance.
Chris/GM:She's able to swing with the spear and follow-up with a quick kick. This causes this person to fall to the side. This creature is flat footed to the end of ember's next turn. With the second action, she will trip the target using her assurance causing it to go onto the floor, and her third action is going to be to take a step back. I don't what's what's going on, Jasper?
Brad/Yasper:I don't know, but we are in combat. See you to the end or we're running. Don't worry, you've got the doctor with you.
Chris/GM:So she managed to do 17 points of damage with that strike. That's pretty good. As Jesper and Ember have this brief dialogue, the mother screams, and she takes her child and runs out the door yelling, guards. Guards. Guards.
Chris/GM:It happened again. This creature now on the floor is gonna take one action to stand up and is going to use a second action to get in the face of both Gasper and Ember. Gasper, it is your turn.
Brad/Yasper:Oh, that that is far that is far too close, madam. Yes, sir. He's gonna take a 5 foot back. He's gonna reload, and he sees that Ember is is okay is okay for the moment. It's fine.
Brad/Yasper:So we'll shoot. And as Jasper falls back, he, like, puts a hand on Amber's shoulder, you got this, and, like, shoots behind him for 7 damage.
Chris/GM:You are 10 feet away from this creature, and you are
Brad/Yasper:Oh, no.
Chris/GM:Shooting these bullets. We are lucky it does not seem to have an attack of opportunity reaction, but it does have reach as it brings down this trunk right onto you. Now of note, this creature is flat footed. Did you, Brit, by chance?
Brad/Yasper:No.
Chris/GM:1729 to hit. Pardon? 29 to hit.
Brad/Yasper:Not not a crit. Put it real close.
Chris/GM:You will take 16 damage from this tree trunk as you get slammed onto the ground much like a Mario and a Goomba. Ember goes to swing again, attempting another finisher. Will hit and trip. So Ember is kinda freaking out, and she is undisciplined in her fighting style. But, surprisingly, she has a pretty good instinct of where to hit to cause as much spear causing it the creature to go onto one knee and then kicking this creature in the face causing it to fall over.
Chris/GM:As this happens, you can hear the sounds of 2 guards beginning to approach. Ember looks over. What do we do?
Brad/Yasper:A wise man once told me sometimes you gotta know when to hold him and know when to fold him. It is time to leave, young lady.
Chris/GM:He's gonna take her 3rd action and run. Ember takes off away from the guards. This creature, Peron, will stand up, and he hassper. The asper is still standing there. We'll hit with a 23.
Brad/Yasper:Yes. Did I go?
Chris/GM:He has 2 turns. Oh. But he he he gets 2 turns with 2 actions. He's
Brad/Yasper:cheating. Got it.
Chris/GM:Yeah. You're gonna take another 14 damage. And, Jesper, you are up.
Brad/Yasper:Jesper is gonna take 2 move actions to follow ember, pass ember, and then he's gonna pull out a little bottle of, little smelling salts because this bell just got rung pretty hard. And I'm gonna attempt to battle medicine on myself. A little bit of risky surgery. Oh my fucking god.
Hayden/Shou:Make eyes.
Brad/Yasper:Jasper is, like, staggering and, like, the smelling salts do almost nothing. In fact, they almost make him pass out as he gets 2 points of healing back.
Chris/GM:That's rough. So this creature watches Jasper run away and will instead focus on ember who's running away and suddenly getting attacked by this large creature. He's going to attempt to strike at it and trip it. That will be a net twenty. Will will crit for 20 damage, finally blooding this creature, and will use a trip attack to cause it to fall.
Chris/GM:He will run past Jasper, putting Jasper the closest target to the creature. From the distance, 2 guards appear holding long bows. 1 will hit doing a small amount of damage, but now this creature has another arrow in the knee. But it won't stop her from chasing after Ember and Jasper. And Jasper is now the closest target to it, and it will roll to, oh, you're so lucky.
Chris/GM:It had to take an action to stand up and an action to run to Jasper. So it has spent its 2 actions on this turn. Jasper, you are up.
Brad/Yasper:God's above. Nothing ever goes to plan. With the thing breathing down his neck, Jasper reloads and shoots point blank range for 7 damage, and then is gonna run.
Chris/GM:And describe the kill.
Brad/Yasper:Oh, that is awesome. As it's, like, running up, I've just had about enough of this, reloads and, like, puts it under the thing's left chin, pulls the trigger, and is like, oh, wait. It's got 2 oh, never mind. It worked.
Chris/GM:The guards catch up to the monstrosity as Jasper's running away because, wait, we need to ask you some questions. As Jasper and Ember early as Ember runs away.
Brad/Yasper:I'll head down to the station later.
Chris/GM:Yasper and Ember run about 4 blocks or so, get into a small alleyway, and catch the breath. Ember takes off part of her shirt underneath her leather armor to reveal a pretty bloody spot of fur around her stomach area. Maybe I'll stay here and you guys can just go on your merry adventures. Or maybe this was my my fault this time. What what was that?
Brad/Yasper:This town is full of oddities and monstrosities. Here. Come here. Let me look at that. I will attempt a risky surgery on her.
Chris/GM:28. K. The lowest level 1?
Brad/Yasper:Yeah.
Chris/GM:Yeah. That'll be 48 plus damage.
Brad/Yasper:Alright. So negative 5 first off the bat. Thank god. Alright. So I heal her for 3 damage.
Brad/Yasper:Listen, that would be enough to get you sewn up, if we need to go back to the ship.
Chris/GM:Taking taking deep breaths. Like, what what do you mean monstrosities?
Brad/Yasper:Well, I don't know what else you would call that thing. And it had 2 heads, swung wood, and could barely control its movement, but it seemed to have a penchant for hitting me.
Chris/GM:Just I mean, I'm ready to go back to the ship.
Brad/Yasper:My young friend, I am in complete agreement. The 2 of them begin limping away.
Chris/GM:Bilge, you left the tavern pretty quickly with along with Shu. Where are you going?
Jake/BIlge:Bilge leaves the tavern and his allies behind. He's set in his way to find this midnight mirage, and in doing so, he passes up a fair amount of local spots, the everyday people, the townsfolk. He had straight through the alleyways into the shadows, going down into the city's underbelly. He's gonna sniff out the good rumors, see if he can get a lead.
Chris/GM:Go ahead and give me a gather information check. I'll give you a plus 2 circumstance bonus due to the nature of how you're searching.
Jake/BIlge:That will be a 25.
Chris/GM:There are a bunch of different things that you hear. You see a Tengu and a cloak sitting in the corner of of a of a tavern going, what in the alliteration are you talking about? Midnight Mirage? I would know something like that. Can't be in this town.
Chris/GM:A goblin folk sits on the other side of the bar. You don't know who the Midnight Mirage is? I know who the Midnight Mirage is. Isn't he staying at that local area over there? It's like that that house right outside the city.
Chris/GM:Yeah. You know the one the one with the, the weird bluestone chimney thing. And seeing ask around hitting a known mercenary spot for nefarious deeds. Midnight Mirage. Yeah.
Chris/GM:I heard he, like, burned down a tavern in Talisman. He's a bit of an arsonist. If you want to know more about that, I guess, look for the suppliers of fire routes to see see what's there. Heading around to even a different area, you arrive at a restaurant run by a known mafiasque type gnoll. What's it worth it to you?
Chris/GM:What do you wanna know as you start greasing some palms and and doing other tasks to gather information? Don't know much about the Midnight Mirage, but I know I wanna hire him for something. Check out some of the, safe houses outside. Several of them have certain signs, colored doors or, specific symbols and stuff like that. You can find one of those places, you let me know, and you send them to me.
Chris/GM:I I might have a job for such a person like the Midnight Mirage.
Brad/Yasper:Sure.
Chris/GM:And the last thing you hear is a strix. They see a strix perched up on one of the taverns outside. I hear you've been asking around for the the minute Mirage. Doesn't exist. No one's here.
Chris/GM:Don't know what to tell you. And he hovers off.
Jake/BIlge:So it would seem to Bilge that the last guy is lying. Gotta be. It's common protocol in Bill just line of work that if, you gather some info and you ask around, you make ripples. Somebody's always listening. There's a good chance the Midnight Mirage already knows I'm looking for them and send somebody to deter me.
Brad/Yasper:Not gonna happen.
Jake/BIlge:They'll just gonna check out the fire route lead first. And then from there, if it adds up, they'll check on the outskirts of town. Because 2 of those rumors pointed towards safe houses.
Chris/GM:Fire root is gunpowder effectively. So you go to an alchemist shop that is selling the fire root. It's in a very specific case that is separated from all the other ingredients, and there's only about a barrel of this left. However, when you look on the ground, you can tell that there were spaces for multiple barrels at one point in time, and this is all that is left.
Jake/BIlge:Getting the attention of the shopkeeper bilge rings the little bell.
Chris/GM:Yes. Yes. Hello? You looking for something?
Brad/Yasper:But I sure am. Seems you had a big order recently. Couple of barrels.
Chris/GM:Yeah. We've had a lot of, clients lately coming in, all buying the maximum amount of fire rate that I'm allowed to sell to 1 person. See, I'm not allowed to sell more than, a barrel person because, you know, it's a legality thing. Sure. But, we just had a lot of people wanting to purchase it.
Brad/Yasper:Gotta respect the rules. Can only settle so much. How about names though? Any rules against that? For looking for a friend of mine?
Chris/GM:I
Brad/Yasper:know he shops here.
Chris/GM:I I I don't like, a lot of people who I I I don't I don't normally ask for names, but I can, remember a a couple faces. What what's it to you?
Brad/Yasper:Oh, it means a lot to me.
Chris/GM:Can you describe who you're looking for? Maybe I can see if I remember that face.
Jake/BIlge:Would Bilge have any knowledge as to what the Midnight Mirage looks like?
Chris/GM:I I don't think so. We do know that he's from Talisman, so is he either Yasoki or Tengu? Probably.
Brad/Yasper:There's a good chance I'm looking for a Yasoki or a Tengu. Goes by the name Midnight Mirage.
Chris/GM:Name doesn't ring a bell. The alliteration's interesting. There there was a white feathered Tengu a couple days ago, purchased purchased a barrel. I think he was the first first customer in the string of customers I began to receive over the last couple days. I don't know I don't know much about him, but very distinct white white feathers.
Brad/Yasper:Well, thank you. This will most assuredly help.
Chris/GM:You got it.
Brad/Yasper:You have a nice day.
Chris/GM:Can I interest you in some potions?
Jake/BIlge:Build reaches back, kinda gives his backpack a little pat on the side where he normally keeps an extra potion or 2 just to make sure it's there.
Brad/Yasper:Think I'm alright for now.
Chris/GM:We have some strong coffee.
Jake/BIlge:Gonna perceive intentions.
Chris/GM:Perception, please.
Jake/BIlge:Bill just likes coffee, but he's asking about somebody, and that just seems a little little sketch. That's in that one for a total of 9.
Chris/GM:I'm pretty sure she's trying to sell you drugs.
Brad/Yasper:May as well.
Chris/GM:There are actually a coffee drug in the game. Let me let me find it real quick. Blood eye coffee. Five silver pieces of the unit. A strong blend including several spices.
Chris/GM:Blood eye coffee is a favorite morning drink along the inner sea region. The maximum addiction stage of blood eye coffee never progresses beyond stage 1. However, if you drink it, you get a plus one item bonus to AC and saves to which you are taking penalties caused by fatigue. So you can drink it and negate fatigue for 10 minutes. If you get to stage 2, you're stupefied for 1 hour.
Chris/GM:And if you get to stage 3, you cannot recover from fatigue for one day.
Jake/BIlge:Any chance this comes in a to go cup? Or do I just gotta No. It's
Chris/GM:it's just it's just like it's not made.
Jake/BIlge:Oh, okay. I gotta that's perfect. That's perfect. I flipped the 5 silver onto the counter.
Brad/Yasper:Thank you.
Jake/BIlge:And 2 of the rumors pointed towards safe houses just outside the city. So he is going to do a little reconnaissance on the one that was first described to them as having the shiny blue top.
Chris/GM:Yeah. The the blue chimney.
Jake/BIlge:Blue chimney.
Chris/GM:I enrolled me a survival check. I think this allows you to track prey. I think you qualify enough to to pick up a track pay action if you wanna just track them. So So they give you a plus 2 to this this, survival check.
Jake/BIlge:Yeah. That sounds excellent. 17.
Chris/GM:You find the bluestone chimney house. This house is mostly made out of gray stone and wood, but the chimney is a signifier. And you kinda remember a little bit about the talk about certain markers that these houses have to signify where they are from. You notice that there are several houses that have similar markers. Maybe one door is blue or one window pane is a slightly different tense or maybe there's a a weird marking in some places.
Chris/GM:You find a safe house. It's 2 rooms, 1 bedroom, 1 living room. Only a single floor, and there is a fireplace built in. All the curtains are drawn back. The door is closed, and there's definitely movements movement inside the the room.
Jake/BIlge:Bill just only trying to ascertain that the individual inside is the white feathered Tengu at this time.
Chris/GM:Go ahead and roll me a stealth check. So you're basically you're trying to get into a way where you can see past the curtain without actually revealing you're there. So you're really aiming to be silent, not necessarily unseen.
Jake/BIlge:That or even if Bilge can spot a loose feather, near the house or something like that? Just another clue.
Chris/GM:No. The 8 as you circle, there's probably not anything out out and about that's obvious.
Jake/BIlge:Okay. For a stealth role, I have a 22.
Chris/GM:Pretty good. You take a look inside a nearby window. This leads into a bedroom. He's not currently in the bedroom itself, but you see that there is, like, a wash basin inside, and there is a couple of feathers at the bottom of the washbasin, a white bird feather.
Jake/BIlge:Bilch is going to withdraw and report back to Rowan that he may have a leak. If what Rowan knows adds up with what Bilge knows, this is the house they're going to visit.
Hayden/Shou:You? Yes.
Chris/GM:You mentioned you were going to go visit a brothel. Is that the plan right away?
Hayden/Shou:Shu will go looking for, you know, a pleasure house, a brothel, a bar, somewhere to hang out, kind of mumbling to themselves. You know, these guys always want to work. Never anything fun. Let's see. This place closed.
Hayden/Shou:This place is also closed. Oh, what time is it? And they they kind of, like, look up at the sky, look where the sun is. Oh, everyone's still working. Oh, yes.
Hayden/Shou:Hellion wanted that thing. Shu will look around for a shop. Knowing what Roman said about this potion that they wanted, they'll try to find a shop that matches that description.
Chris/GM:You're roaming a crafting chick.
Hayden/Shou:Okay. That will be a 23.
Chris/GM:The descriptor that Roland gave wasn't very detailed, and Roland wasn't even really sure what the potion did. All was was the icon color as well as a couple of ingredients. But as you begin to explore, there are, like, 4 or 5 different potions where what what it could be without any direct understanding of what Helion specifically wanted. Unfortunately, probably not going to to find much. But if you wanna buy, like, a, you know, a potion that turns you green or something.
Chris/GM:We have that here.
Hayden/Shou:Looking around at the potions, shops, and thinking about what might be there, Shu decides that it might be worth, how long would it take to trek back to the ship to to get these?
Chris/GM:So it took you about 2 hours just to kinda go window shopping. Right? So you if you go out and back, you're probably not gonna ride back in town at the end of the business day. Most places are gonna close-up shop. Yeah.
Chris/GM:Those could be a tomorrow job.
Hayden/Shou:Yeah. So knowing that, she will look around for probably the most popular place in, like, the market district that they can find, like, place that they see a lot of people going in and out of, somewhere to, like, sit around and hang out.
Chris/GM:There is a restaurant. It seems to be more of a dive bar, yet the smell of fried fish coming from it. It is called the fish king. Has a picture of a fish on a skewer in the front. A lot of people are picking up food and leaving, but there's a fair amount people staying, mostly fishermen and sailors as they're coming off their workday.
Chris/GM:Fishermen tend to work earlier than lot of the other people in the city, so they get off a little earlier.
Hayden/Shou:On the streets here, is there like a plaza, like, some place to, like, sit outside the bar?
Chris/GM:This is weird more near the marketplace, so you will find a plaza that has, like, a bunch of tables out for people coming nearby restaurants. They have a small park, benches, and stuff. As far as, like, city square plaza type feel, I'm not quite sure we're quite at that, but definitely, like, parks and stuff that you can probably set up.
Hayden/Shou:Shu will go to the bar itself and kind of browse for what drinks they might serve here. It is pretty early in the day still but she's on vacation so they're gonna start drinking. They look for things like rice wine and stuff like that, liquors and wines.
Chris/GM:So there's a couple of things that is here beyond the normal alcohol. They sell a lot of distilled honey drinks as well as distilled fruit drinks on top of rice wine. They have a couple of baby expensive alcohol. There's one called blood sap, which is a vivid syrup that they put into a cocktail of some sort. Beyond that, mostly rice wine and regular wine and mead.
Hayden/Shou:She will order a fruity drink with the blood sap, and I'm assuming that's a relatively expensive purchase. After doing that they're going to ask the bartender as they're making the drink. So have you heard of any interesting things around the city lately? I just got in and wanna know what there is to do around town.
Chris/GM:Well, most people just kinda come in and use this as a place to stay while they take a boat somewhere else, like to Glu Port or Serenity or or even some of the further places. We get a lot of travelers here. When they come here, most of them check out. There is a temple here. People go there and visit that, almost like a museum experience if you ask me.
Chris/GM:But, there is that. There is, lots of restaurants, a lot of bath houses that, people people go to. But I don't know if any of these places here are designed to do for more than a day. I heard that there's a zoo on the outskirts that recently opened up about, I don't know, a month ago. I haven't visited yet.
Chris/GM:I don't really get a day off to take a full vacation, but you can check that out. Lots of different monstrosities there. They say that one of the creatures actually got out earlier today. It was a weird monstrosity on the street.
Hayden/Shou:Sounds like it would be, very safe there. We're not looking to die by monstrosity today so maybe something else. Oh, and, mind if I pick your brain for a second? Have you heard? I'm looking for this, person.
Hayden/Shou:They they call them Midnight Mirage. Ever heard of him?
Chris/GM:Don't don't know much about that name. I gotta be honest.
Hayden/Shou:I might be in the wrong type of bar to ask about it. That's okay. I mean,
Chris/GM:you know, a lot of lot of news from other places. But, I don't I don't know about this one. He like a hero or something like that?
Hayden/Shou:Too sure. Came from Talisman apparently. One of my friends is looking for him but it's okay. Now you mentioned, a temple. Do you know what it's to?
Hayden/Shou:Is it, one of the paths or what exactly? Nature?
Chris/GM:The temple at the jade mist is just kind of a kind of a school. I guess, a specialized school.
Hayden/Shou:Like serenity?
Chris/GM:No. No. It's more of, like, finding like, a lot of meditation. I see a lot of people outside practicing, like, meditative stances and poses and, certain martial arts. Supposedly, they have, like, classes on learning about one true self or something like that.
Chris/GM:But a lot of people call on them to help with nature. If you need a rain, they're the people to go to.
Hayden/Shou:Hearing this, you know, like, sounds like a little bit of magic going on there. And hearing the martial arts she will definitely kind of perk up their ears, finish the rest of their drink, put the gold on the table and turn away from the bartender and start walking out and saying Thanks for the info. I'm going to go check out the temple and see those martial arts and meditative masters over there. Check out what they're doing. Have a nice day.
Chris/GM:He nods. Go ahead and roll me a fortitude save.
Hayden/Shou:Oh, boy. That's a 22. That's not bad.
Chris/GM:You are at stage 1. You are considered drained 1, but you have a plus one item bonus to weapon and unarmed attack rules, acrobatic checks, and athletic checks.
Hayden/Shou:Let's go. Alright. Alright.
Chris/GM:You begin to head to the temple, and you begin to leave this marketplace where you're looking for these chemical ingredients. You realize that you start getting a little tired and fatigued and a little bit drunk, but you're able to kinda push through it a little bit. You're actually lighter on your feet though, which kinda strikes you as a little odd. After you pass by the next set of gate, you enter that, I don't want to call it a red light district. I think that has a negative connotation to it, but you pass by these brothels that are beginning to open up and you hear someone shouting at a place called the Garden of Earthly Delight.
Hayden/Shou:What do I hear them shouting about?
Chris/GM:We are not open. You can come back later. Go sit out in the alleyway or something. We'll be open in an hour, But but don't you open now? No.
Chris/GM:1 hour. And you hear the sounds of a little bit of a scuffle.
Hayden/Shou:She's gonna walk right over real quickly to this and just kinda look around the corner or look look into the doorway wherever they're standing and and see what's going on.
Chris/GM:You see Cyan, this human with this weird tint to his skin standing there in this, very, very simple, almost like a martial arts outfit. He is slightly inebriated, and he is just there. And this woman's trying to push him out the door, and he's he's not fighting back, but he's not really he's resisting, I guess.
Hayden/Shou:She will whistle, one of those really harsh whistles, and say, cyan, what are you doing bothering these people?
Chris/GM:I was here last time. I wanted to to come back. And as this happens, you see this strict worker yell for someone in the back, and a very large knoll comes forward and begins to push Cyan out the door.
Hayden/Shou:She will drag Cyan back as well just like helping the the gnoll.
Chris/GM:So he he resists a little bit. So go ahead and roll me an athletic check. Oh. Oh, god. You gotta get a plus one from from being drunk.
Hayden/Shou:Oh, yeah. Let me add that plus one real quick. Oh, I needed it. It's a 21. That's not too great.
Chris/GM:Alright. You're able to grab them and slowly pull them out. But this knoll, it's it's not an easy task. Right? He he's resisting just enough where this isn't you know, this takes, like, a good 30 seconds.
Chris/GM:This null gets frustrated. This null comes up, takes a fist, and tries to punch Cyan right in the face and will create for some reason, which will put Cyan on the floor. And Cyan gets up and he sobers up real quick and he starts putting his hands up in like a martial arts stance like you want a piece of this
Hayden/Shou:You will will put themselves between the 2 of them, holding the 2 arms out as as, like, you know, 1 on 1, the gnoll's chest, 1 on Cyan's chest, and say, enough of this, Cyan. Leave, and you stop hitting him. Oh, no. It's only a 13. I'm trying to persuade drunk people to do things.
Hayden/Shou:This is terrible.
Chris/GM:Cyan gets into a shouting mode. You you get out of my way. This guy hit me, and I demand recompense. Re re re re repentance or something. I demand it.
Chris/GM:And this gnoll looks out, starts waving over some guards. As cyan will attempt to sidestep shoe and throw punch. I will allow she to intervene without any action economy though.
Hayden/Shou:Yeah. Can I try to just pick cyan up? Like, just he's a pretty how tall is I am?
Chris/GM:6 foot, like, 2 or something like that.
Hayden/Shou:But out the same height.
Chris/GM:Yeah, he he's like the
Hayden/Shou:big boy.
Chris/GM:She was muscular, but science like he's built heavy. He's a strong guy. He's very strong. He actually probably, like, strength wise, can out strength, you know, everyone on the ship. He's a he's a monk he's built.
Jake/BIlge:Big he's a big boy. Yeah.
Chris/GM:So, yeah, you can definitely try, but
Hayden/Shou:Yeah. We'll try to grab,
Chris/GM:we'll try to grab Cyan. A 22. You managed to grapple him, and you can start pulling him out.
Hayden/Shou:Yeah, I start pulling it. I'm like, cyan, you do not want to get arrested right now.
Chris/GM:1 of the guards looks towards Shu and Cyan, and the other one looks towards the knoll. This this disagreement. Hey, didn't we receive some paperwork? Hey, stop.
Hayden/Shou:Shu turns to cyan, grabs his face with 2 metallic hands, and just puts his face right in front of Shu's eye to eye and says, Cyan, if you do not run with me, I'm going to leave you and let them collect that 6,000 gold bounty. Do you understand me?
Chris/GM:What what bounty? I don't have a bounty. You have a bounty. I don't have a bounty.
Hayden/Shou:Shu will head butt cyan.
Chris/GM:Go and give me intimidation or diplomacy or something.
Hayden/Shou:I'm gonna go with intimidation. That is a 22. She will headbutt Cyan and say, wake up. You have a 6,000 some odd gold bounty. We need to go.
Chris/GM:That's enough for him to snap out of it, and, he will look towards you, and he will cast a long strider on you.
Hayden/Shou:Okay. She will also cast invisibility on themselves as they point towards, like, towards the street and then just disappear. And then you could hear footsteps running towards the alleyway.
Chris/GM:Alright. And Diane runs a different direction. We will fade to black there.
Hayden/Shou:Oh, yes. I am. You guys got cool quests, and I'm dealing with a drunk dude.
Jake/BIlge:Well, it always works out when one drunk guy helps another drunk guy walk.
Brad/Yasper:Yeah. You gotta deal with a drunk guy. I got my ass beat by an ettin'.
Hayden/Shou:That's true.
Brad/Yasper:We are not the same.
Chris/GM:It wasn't Etzen with a weak tag to it. I dropped all its stats by 2.
Brad/Yasper:It almost dropped me.
Chris/GM:Ember did okay. I feel like bloods or bloodslingers gunslingers don't do, as much damage as I feel like they should. Almost any other class for a while. Like like, their crits feel really good, but their normal attacks don't. I don't know if that's just, like, my perception of it, but
Brad/Yasper:No. I I you're a crit fisher. You're always trying to hit hit crits.
Hayden/Shou:I really put It's the fatal tag.
Chris/GM:I really pushed Early put you with Amber because she can flat foot people. I was like, we're gonna get we're gonna get Yasper crit this fight.
Brad/Yasper:Unless she, like, has an ability that makes Brad not roll like dick, though.
Jake/BIlge:Well, your problem was trying to kill it. Everybody you've crit so far is like you kinda didn't want them to die.
Brad/Yasper:I didn't. I was like, oh, it's gonna run right by and do some shenanigans. Like, we'll just go down this other alley. It's fine.
Chris/GM:Do you think we can put a kiln on the ship?
Brad/Yasper:Yeah. Possibly. And then, like, we smash cut to, like, a a montage of, like, ghost type scenes, you know, where, like, we're forming the the pottery.
Jake/BIlge:What have I done?
Brad/Yasper:Bill just goes in the corner watching because he died.
Jake/BIlge:Oh, that's that's terrible.
Chris/GM:The notes ring familiar to Jasper.
Brad/Yasper:Do I recognize it? Do I need to make a performance check?
Chris/GM:You can make me a society check.
Brad/Yasper:Society? I mean, I'll roll it. I don't think I'm gonna make it. Look. So I add a one to that dice roll, which makes it a 2.
Chris/GM:I'm not I'm there's no critical fail penalty to to this. You just don't recognize it.
Brad/Yasper:Or Ah, yes. Just kid rock. Cowboy.
Chris/GM:Of note, Amber rolled in that one.
Brad/Yasper:That's the time for it.
Chris/GM:Onto the ground much like a Mario and a Goomba. This will take us to I I don't know why that was my descriptor. I haven't even seen the Mario movie. They it's not even in my zeitgeist, but, you know, here we are.
Brad/Yasper:We need to date the episode. I'll head down to the station later. I need to make a bluff check for that because I'm definitely not gonna do that.
Chris/GM:I don't think they believe you.
Brad/Yasper:Okay. Good.
Chris/GM:Okay. Good. They don't believe me. You. Yes.
Chris/GM:You mentioned you were going to go visit a brothel. Is that the plan right away? Can I find
Hayden/Shou:Yeah? I actually was thinking, she would probably go to one of the brothels and notice that it's still working hours. It's probably not open.
Jake/BIlge:Those are the best hours.
Hayden/Shou:Have a nice day.
Chris/GM:He nods. This is this is an expensive drink. Now go ahead and take off a gold piece.
Hayden/Shou:Yeah. Jeez.
Chris/GM:I knew
Hayden/Shou:it was gonna be expensive like that.
Chris/GM:I think, like
Hayden/Shou:There's one of my 2 gold pieces.
Chris/GM:Well, you spent a lot of your your money.
Hayden/Shou:You did. Yeah.
Jake/BIlge:The coffee was a better deal by far.
Chris/GM:You hear someone shouting at a place called the Garden of Earthly Delights. What do I
Hayden/Shou:hear them shouting about? Or is it like is it is it that type of shouting?
Chris/GM:It might be too early for that.
Hayden/Shou:It'd be harder, daddy. That's that's what I hear in the window. Oh,
Jake/BIlge:no. Someone needs help.
Hayden/Shou:Someone needs help.
Chris/GM:Kinja Journey Skyfire is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo. For more information about Paizo Inc. And Paizo products, visit paizo.com. Kintur Journey Skyfire is copyright by Skolztal Entertainment LLC 2024.