Ratpack – Session 13

[Exploration gets held up but a deal (or two) is made.]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened February 10, 2020.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will contain a lot of spoilers.]


Player Characters
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 2nd level Summoner (Synthesist)
Roscuro – male ratfolk 2nd level Monk
Zitch Grimreaper – male 2nd level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Winston – male 2nd level Gunslinger

NPCd
Marativy – female ratfolk 2nd level Ninja


Day 8 Resumes
Realizing that whoever was inside the Irespan pylon The Crow was now aware of their presence, the Ratpack carefully advanced up the corkscrew stairs.  The stairs went up hundreds of steps until they eventually ended at a 20’ by 20‘ landing.  A passage to the right opens to another room where light is seen.

Roscuro quietly snuck to the entrance of the next room, staying in the hall to avoid being seen.  At some point in the past this room had been a dining room.  There is broken furniture at the dark end of the room, to the right.  To the left is a sturdy table turned on its side with a lit lantern attached to it.  Peering over the edge of the table/barricade were two human women, armed with crossbows.  They were alert, but had not noticed Roscuro yet.  Roscuro eased back from the doorway, turned back to the other members of his team, and used hand signals to indicate what he saw and to signal the group should move forward quietly.  Zitch was the only one to notice the handsignals, but was able to interpret them correctly and relayed the information to the others.

[Pathfinder uses the Bluff skill for sending messages this way and Sense Motive to interpret the messages.  Roscuro is excellent about intercepting secret messages sent this way due to his Canter trait, but is absolutely awful at sending messages as Bluff is not a class skill for Monks and I missed needing to have bluff to send messages when I made him, so my Bluff bonus is only +1.  Luckily Zitch and Marativy also have high Sense Motive rolls and can interpret what Roscuro means…with some effort.]

Zitch and Winston crept forward to where Roscuro was.  Templeton remained back at the stairs as he was too noisy to risk sneaking up [low Stealth bonus as it is not a class skill for summoners].  Once the Ratpack was ready to attack, Roscuro threw a tanglefoot bag at the far crossbowwoman and Winston shot the lantern.  The tanglefoot bag bound the far crossbowwoman to the table barricade.  The shot from Winston’s musket broke the lantern and splattered the oil on the turned over table…where it then lit.  So much for attempting to take out their light source.

The Ratpack pressed the attack, but a wererat rogue joined the fight as a defender.  After several rounds of intense fighting, the two human crossbowwomen were dead and the Ratpack was facing off against the wererat rogue.  Unfortunately, the Ratpack had only one silver weapon [a small dagger] and no magical weapons, so they were barely injuring the wererat who was inflicting near fatal wounds on the ratfolk every time she attacked.

Seeing that two or more members of the Ratpack could die before they wore down the wererat rogue, Roscuro attempted to initiate negotiations, asking her how much would it cost to get her to just leave.  He then held off attacking again to see what her reaction would be.  Her response was that this was her home and the ratfolk should leave – but she also held off attacking again.  Roscuro explained the Ratpack was just looking for a particular piece of metal and then they would leave.  Suspicious, but not wanting to get stabbed by the silver dagger again, the wererat rogue agreed to stop hostilities and ask her boss.  Roscuro introduces himself and the Ratpack and the wererat tells them her name is Sasha.  Sasha pulled out a small white statuette of a rat and activated it, giving it a whispered message.  The statuette then ran out of the room to deliver the message.

While waiting, Zitch healed those who were injured.  Some time after that, three more women arrived, two human and one another wererat.  All three were wearing colors that identified them as Tower Girls.  The wererat introduced herself as Jade and said she was the leader.  The Ratpack remembered that the leader of the Tower Girls was named Ayala and suspected that Jade was a cover name.  The Ratpack gave no indication they knew her real name to avoid looking like threats.

Roscuro explained to Jade that the Ratpack was looking for a particular piece of metal and they knew it was in the pylon but not where.  The Ratpack had expected the pylon to be empty and didn’t know anyone was living in it, which is why they did not announce themselves when they arrived.  Jade asked what the metal was worth and Roscuro deferred, stating they already had a contract for it.  This intrigued Jade.  She asked if the ratfolk had a way to sell antiquities for coin.  Roscuro allowed that they did.  Jade invited the Ratpack further into the structure to negotiate further.

Jade and her group led the Ratpack down to a lower level inside the pylon to a common room on a lower floor.  There she and Roscuro negotiated two deals.  The Tower Girls were looking for a new base of operations so they could re-establish themselves.  The pylon was only a temporary place and was not conducive to “operations”.  If the Ratpack would scout out a new location for the Tower Girls to claim, she would grant open access to The Crow for the Ratpack to search.  Thinking of the abandoned siege castle outside of town, Roscuro asked if the new location had to be in the city.  He then talked up the siege castle, which was only two hours outside of Magnimar, on land, and had plenty of space.  Jade was interested, but needed to send two agents to check it out first.  If they reported back favorably, the Ratpack would be allowed to search for the thing they needed.  They shook hands on the deal.

Jade then asked about the Ratpack’s ability to sell antiquities.  The Tower Girls had found old stuff in the pylon since moving in but had no way to sell any of it safely or at good value.  Without naming names, Roscuro explained the Ratpack had a deal with a buyer to purchase antiquities they found at reasonable prices and paid in coin.  The two negotiated a deal where the Tower Girls would supply items they found for sale to the Ratpack and split the proceeds 50/50.  Additionally, once the Ratpack started searching areas the Tower Girls had not, anything found would be split 70/30, favoring the Ratpack.  Roscuro found these terms very favorable and agreed to them without too much fuss.  He suspected that the Tower Girls were hurting for money based on the very favorable deals being offered, but considered having the Tower Girls as friends would be handy at some point.  Roscuro and Jade shook hands on this deal.

Jade supplied a set of Thassilonian jewelry for a test sell and arrangements were made for the Ratpack to meet the two agents the next day to go look at the siege castle.  The Ratpack left, making their way back to their rented boat and back to he Magnimar docks.  In Magnimar they spent some time verifying they were not being followed and then went to Frederick’s.  Frederick was pleased to see them and asked if they had started following the lead they had mentioned.  Roscuro smiled and placed the jewelry box on the counter.  Frederick smiled and said he could offer a fair price for it.  Roscuro then asked, “But what about for the contents?”  Roscuro opened the jewelry box, showing Frederick the gold Thassilonian jewelry set inside.  Frederick’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.  After he came back to himself he offered 900 gold for the set and Roscuro accepted.  Frederick told the ratfolk the money would be in their back account by the end of the day.  Business done, Frederick and the ratfolk chit-chatted a bit before saying their goodbyes.


Day 9
Morning
Roscuro started showing signs of illness when he woke up [the filth fever he contracted the previous day – apparently the incubation time is 1d3 days, not 3 days like I thought].  Winston got Roscuro some healing herbs and provided some healing [granting Roscuro a bonus on his first Fortitude Save to resist the disease].  Roscuro quickly felt better and promised to not over-exert himself for the rest of the day.  Winston then went and spent the rest of the day crafting silver and cold iron shot for his musket.

Roscuro, Zitch, and Templeton met up with Jade’s two agents and they took a carriage ride to the siege castle.  At first the two Tower Girls were dismayed at the condition of the castle, but once inside they could see that the remaining structure was solid.  Roscuro explained that the third floor had some dangerous undead on it, but they were behind a locked door and would stay there unless disturbed.

After spending a couple hours looking over the ruins, the Tower Girls were satisfied and the group rode back to Magnimar.  Roscuro had the carriage stop by the bank to pick up the Tower Girls’ share of the sale, providing the two agents with 90 platinum coins for easy carrying.  The group then went their separate ways.

End of Session


Rat Whispers
[This write-up is behind due to my need to do my taxes for the year before the cost of the tax preparation software went up.  I hope to have next week’s blog entry up Tuesday morning.]

[The sudden negotiations with the Tower Girls was a bit unexpected.  I was looking at the combat after the wererat had taken Roscuro to 3 hit points or less twice and how little damage we had done to her due to her DR.  I was fairly certain we would win, but probably half our party or more would have gone down and possibly died as a result of the fight.  Quite the Pyrrhic Victory if we took that route.  I was pleased that the wererat did not want to fight to the death, but I was gambling on the Other GM’s willingness to stop a fight and not kill PCs that weren’t being stupid or foolish.  I’m happy with how that played out.]

[Selling antiquities that the Tower Girls supply us was a welcome deal and helped make us more valuable to them than revenge.  The percentages Jade offered were much better than what we were willing to accept to make the deal.  It’s why I think they are really hurting for a solid revenue stream.  Once they are back up to strength they might want to renegotiate, but I hope to have cleared out The Crow by then and have moved on to the next book in the adventure path.  We’ll see.]

[Finally, Templeton, Roscuro, and Zitch leveled, so they will be Level 3 next session.]


Ratpack
Session 01
…
Session 10
Session 11
Session 12


Session 14

Ratpack – Session 12

[Exposition is given and the quest…more or less starts.  But first, some shopping.]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 27, 2020.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will contain a lot of spoilers.]


Player Characters
Marativy – female ratfolk 2nd level Ninja
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 2nd level Summoner (Synthesist)
Roscuro – male ratfolk 2nd level Monk
Zitch Grimreaper – male 2nd level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Winston – male 2nd level Gunslinger


Day 7
Morning
The Ratpack met at the Blue Rodent and ate breakfast together.  Fully rested and fed [and in two cases, leveled], they walked back to the Pathfinder Society lodge.  There they met with Sheila again to learn more about the red metal shard.  The shard was a piece of the “Shattered Star.”  When reassembled, the pieces become the Sihedron, a defensive magic item created by Emperor Xin, the founder of the Thessalonian Empire 10,000 years ago.  The Sihedron was broken when the Rune Lords rose up and took over the Thessalonian Empire, each keeping a shard.  In the intervening time, the shards went missing…until now.  The shards are considered major artifacts, granting power to the wielder and each providing guidance to the location of the next piece in a chain that eventually circles back.

Sheila strongly suggests that the Ratpack track down the remaining shards.  Rune Lords have reappeared in other places recently [see the Rise of the Rune Lords Adventure Path] and locating the Shattered Star would be a good defense against the Rune Lords if more re-appear.  Roscuro asked what support the Pathfinder Society would provide for this quest and the answer was “not much.”  Being Pathfinders ourselves, we could ask for help, but other society members were not required to assist us.  Additionally, there was no financial support either, nor would doing this help our standing inside the society as we needed to keep this quiet.  She did offer to research what Ioun stones fit each shard so the curses on them could be broken.  The Ratpack was feeling underwhelmed by the Society’s “support.”

Sheila also explained how to track down the next shard.  She had Marativy hold the red metal shard and concentrate on the location of the next shard.  After a moment of concentration, Marativy had vision of one of the Irespan pylons, The Crow, and the known entrance to it.  Consulting a map, the Ratpack decided they would need to rent a boat to go out and get it.

Having learned all they could, the Ratpack left the lodge.  They split up to get various supplies and run errands.  Roscuro and Zitch discussed looking for a handy haversack [a magic backpack that weighs 5 pounds no matter how much gear is in it].  They each have half the gold necessary and both agree keeping encumbrance down so the group won’t be slowed is important.  [Especially as the ratfolk movement rate is only 20 feet.]  Marativy decided to go with Zitch and Roscuro.  Templeton and Winston had separate errands to run and went their own way.

Not being local to Magnimar nor knowing where items such as handy haversacks might be located, Roscuro, Zitch, and Marativy headed over to Frederick’s shop in the Naos District to ask his advice.  Frederick was in and finishing up with a customer, so the ratfolk waited and looked around the shop some.  Frederick sells antiques to the wealthy and the shop had some nice wares, even though they were not what the ratfolk were looking for.

When Frederick finished with his previous customer, he came over and greeted the ratfolk.  Roscuro explained he and Zitch were looking for a place that sold magic items, but were new to the city and did not know where we might find such a place.  As Frederick was someone they knew and did business with, they were hoping he might have some suggestions.  This drew Frederick’s interest and he asked what the group was up to.  Roscuro explained that the Ratpack was going to investigate a nearby site that was recently uncovered and wanted a handy haversack to ease the expedition.  They had a lead but were uncertain what might be discovered at the site.

Frederick’s instincts kicked in and he asked if he might make a deal similar to the one he made with the Ratpack over things found in the siege castle.  Roscuro said he was interested, but there was a complicating factor – he pulled out his Pathfinder Society wayfarer by way of silent explanation.  Frederick’s eyebrows rose, but he nodded and suggested that the contract be amended to say he would have the right of first refusal [the option to make an offer or pass before anyone else saw it] on anything not already spoken for by the Pathfinder Society.  Roscuro looked to Zitch and Marativy for confirmation and they nodded.  Roscuro agreed to those terms and he and Frederick shook hands on it.

Frederick then drew up a letter of credit and recommended a shop named Tinctures and Tonics down the street.  The name of the shop was not as descriptive as it used to be, he explained.  They started out selling alchemical products, but branched out into wondrous items as the business grew.  Once the ink dried on the letter of credit, he handed it to Roscuro – it was for the amount of a handy haversack.  Apparently, Frederick was very pleased with how things worked out with the siege castle!  The ratfolk thanked Frederick and left the shop.

On the way over to Tinctures and Tonics, Roscuro asked Zitch if he was still interested in going half in on a second handy haversack if one was available.  Roscuro was willing to go half in for one for Zitch, that way both Roscuro and Zitch would have one.  Zitch was willing.

At Tinctures and Tonics, the ratfolk talked with a rather refined half-orc named Vof Glukron.  Vof was a co-owner of the shop and ran the shop side of the business, his partner handling “creations and acquisitions.”  Roscuro explained that they were looking to purchase two handy haversacks, if the shop had them in stock.  Vof went into the back to check and came out with two of them.  Roscuro used the letter of credit from Frederick to pay for one [Vof apparently knew Frederick, so there was no issue with the letter of credit] and then he and Zitch put down gold coin for the second.  The trio then looked around at the merchandise in the shop and also purchased 6 basic potions of cure light wounds [two per player].

After purchasing the handy haversacks and potions, the trio went over to an armorer’s shop to sell off the surplus weapons and armor they had recently acquired [from the toughs and Tower Girl they fought in the previous session].  Marativy upgraded her leather armor to a chainmail shirt.

At the end of the day, the Ratpack met up again at The Blue Rodent to discuss last minute plans.  Templeton was particularly leery of getting trapped out at The Crow by someone stealing they rented boat and wanted to get barrels to take as makeshift boats.  Roscuro countered by suggesting that the group get a barrel of potable water.  If something happened to the boat, they could dump out the water and use the barrel, but in the meantime they would have plenty of water and draw no undue attention.  Templeton agreed to this plan.  Winston, Zitch, and Marativy also used the trip to get the water barrel to resupply with trail rations as they were all out.


Day 8
Morning
The Ratpack rented a boat in the Beacon’s Point district and loaded it up with their barrel of water.  They rowed out to The Crow, one of the two furthest out pylons of the Irespan.  On the side of the pylon away from the city they found an opening that matched Marativy’s vision and rowed in.  Inside was a mostly flooded chamber with stairs climbing out of the water on the back end.  The ceiling was very high [the official description is “up into the darkness” so I don’t have a distance, but I bet they were not expecting ratfolk with 60 feet of darkvision].

In the back of the chamber was an alcove that countless generations of rich young people had used to get away from their parents and party.  The back wall of the alcove was recently broken open, exposing a short passage to another room inside the pylon.

Room 2 was rectangular and had three items of not: a door to the left, an alcove on the far wall, and stairs going up on the right.  The alcove had trash.  The door to the left opened on another room [Room 3], which was clearly being used as a privy.  Roscuro checked for secret doors but found none.  [He did contract Filth Fever, but the onset is 3 days, so he won’t realize this for another day or two.]  After searching Room 3, Roscuro cleaned his feet in the bay water in Room 1 [so he wouldn’t smell the privy all day or leave tracks].

The stairs up curved to the right and opened in a room being used for storage.  By whom the ratfolk still had no idea.  The crates appeared to have been in this room for a while as the ungol dust traps in them failed to activate and the ungol dust had gone ineffective.  The only way out of this room was another set of stairs in the far corner.  Those stairs turned left twice, making a U-shape, and opened to Room 5.

Room 5 was quite large and the walls were covered in murals of Thassilonian pilgrims and giants marching across the Irespan, back when it was whole [so thousands of years ago].  There are votive candle holders spaced along the walls and on the double-row of columns supporting the ceiling.  A set of wide stairs can just be glimpsed on the back wall, through the pillars.

Marativy drank a potion of invisibility and then snuck across the room to go investigate the stairs.  Roscuro quietly followed [he has the second highest stealth bonus and I rolled a natural 20 on the roll] while the rest stayed at the door.  As Marativy approached the stairs [with Roscuro about halfway across the room, amongst the pillars], she heard a surprised squeak and spotted a dire rat bolt for the stairs [not away from her invisible self, but towards the stairs - we also questioned how a dire rat made a perception roll in the upper 30s].  Roscuro saw the dire rat as it made it to the steps and threw a tanglefoot bag at it.  He hit the dire rat with the bag, but it was only slowed [it made its save].

This triggered a short combat as the Ratpack attempted to stop the dire rat from escaping.  Despite hitting it a couple of times [for a total of 4 points of damage], the dire rat still had twice the movement of the ratfolk [despite being the same size class as the ratfolk, Small, dire rats are apparently world-class sprinters] and escaped up the stairs.  Roscuro called off the pursuit.

The ratfolk regrouped and resumed exploring, moving up the stairs with stealth.

End of Session


Rat Whispers
[So the main quest of the Adventure Path has arrived and the PCs are not exactly revved to go.  The Pathfinder Society seems to be making assumptions.  If it weren’t for Frederick, we might have gone off and done something else.  This is an issue with a lot of published adventures – they assume the PCs will take up the adventure because of course they will.  It never seems to occur to the authors that maybe some characters need better motivation than that.  I saw this a lot in Living Greyhawk and I imagine it continues in Living Forgotten Realms (or whatever the RPGA is up to now).]

[This was a difficult blog entry to write.  Not due to content, it was just difficult to get myself to write it.  There was always something “more interesting” distracting me and mostly it was web surfing.  I’m glad to have finished it.  That said, there will be a delay before Session 13 gets written as we haven’t played it yet.  We had scheduling issues this week but should be good for next week.]

[Incidentally, the blog’s 10-year anniversary is coming up in March.  Haven’t decided what I’m going to do to observe its passing that yet.]


Ratpack
Session 01
...
Session 10
Session 11


Session 13