Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 20

[Day 47 and 48 – The Ratpack questions a snitch and takes a meeting, agreeing to a favor.]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 24, 2021.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Via Roll20

Marativy – female ratfolk 6th level Ninja

Roscuro – male ratfolk 6th level Monk

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 6th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Swamprover – female grippli 5th level Wizard

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 6th level Summoner (Synthesist)

Winston – male ratfolk 6th level Gunslinger

Autumn

Day 47

~10:00 PM

In Naos District, Zitch and Templeton questioned the person they had flown off with.  The human’s name was Leon and he claimed to be a freelance opportunist.

In the meantime, Marativy used her shard of the Shattered Star to get the general location of the shard Templeton carried [and therefore Templeton’s general location].  She recognized the park in Naos they were in and she led Roscuro, Swamprover, and Winston there.

When they arrived, Templeton and Zitch were still questioning Leon, but were running out of questions to ask.  After Templeton briefly updated on what he and Zitch had learned from Leon, Marativy asked Leon if he’d worked with the Night Scales.  Leon let on that he had worked with them in the past and needed the Ratpack’s protection or help getting out of town safely.

Winston and Swamprover immediately agreed to get Leon out of Magnimar.  Roscuro felt he could not guarantee Leon’s safety and wasn’t certain he wanted to, so walked a short distance away.  Marativy recognized that Roscuro’s lawful beliefs was keeping him from making a promise he was not willing or able to keep and explained this when the other Ratfolk looked askance to Roscuro stepping away.

Leon eventually felt confident enough to tell Winston and Swamprover that he had done work as a lookout and some other minor crimes for the Night Scales.  They believe him and agree to get him passage to Kaer Maga.  [I think Leon gave some better information than this, but I don’t have it in my notes.  Either that or the players are just soft touches.]  Marativy stated that she could arrange transportation to Kaer Maga for Leon with the Washside Wringers.  Leon claimed he had meeting to make that would put money in his pocket that he would need when arriving in Kaer Maga  For reasons that are hard to explain, the Ratpack let him go after all agreed to meet at the Torpor Cantina in Lowcleft in four hours.  Roscuro, Winston, Templeton, Zitch, and Swamprover headed directly to the tavern to wait.

Marativy went to a contact she knew with the Washside Wringers, a Sczarni smuggling group.  The best deal she could get for Leon was 200 gp on a boat leaving just before dawn.  She agreed and paid for the passage.  She then went over to the Torpor Cantina to wait with the rest of the Ratpack.

Day 48

~2:00 AM

Leon actually showed up at the Torpor Cantina!  Marativy explained the deal she arranged for him.  The river boat would leave a dock in Ordellia shortly.  Roscuro asked if Leon needed someone to hold his hand until then.  [This caught the Other GM off guard for a moment, but we all agreed it was a very Roscuro thing to say.  Roscuro can be a bit cranky at times.]  Leon retorted that Roscuro needed to learn to get along with people better.  “If I had a gold piece for every time someone told me that I wouldn’t need to be here,” Roscuro replied.  Leon silently handed a gold piece over to Roscuro by way of a reply.  He turned to Winston and Swamprover and asked stated he would like an escort to the boat so nothing would happen to him along the way.

The Ratpack escorted Leon over to Ordellia and put him on the boat.  They stayed until the boat pulled away from the dock to verify the boat itself was not attacked before it left.  Once the boat was out on the river and almost lost to sight, Leon used some magic to send Marativy a note.  The note stated that Leon had worked the job to kidnap Frederick, scouting out Frederick’s warehouse.  As a result, he learned more of the plan than he was supposed to.  He provided an address in Ordellia at the end of the note.  By the time Marativy finished reading the note, the boat was lost from view in the fog.

Marativy shared the information with the group.  Tired, Roscuro suggested she go scout the location to see if anyone was there but not break in.  The entire group was tired and needed rest.  They would deal with the house after getting some sleep.  Marativy agreed to this and she headed off while the rest of the group returned to their respective homes.

~5:00 AM

Marativy located the address Leon provided and snooped around it.  It appeared abandoned, but she discovered that the door was trapped and there were very alert guards inside.  She had to use her ability to turn invisible to avoid being found and attacked.  She did learn that the supposedly nailed up window beside the trapped door was rigged to act as a concealed door.  She left with that useful information in her back pocket.

10:00 AM

The Ratpack met at the Blue Rodent for breakfast and strong coffee.  Marativy reported what she had learned scouting the address Leon had provided.  The group discussed options.  It was tempting to go and investigate the house in Ordellia immediately, but they had a meeting with Gavahn the information broker at Noon and that information might be important.  They decided to go to the meeting first and then go investigate the house.

They again split into two groups, a Roof group and a Street group.  Templeton and Winston are the Roof group and Winston received Zitch’s Ward.  Zitch cast Heroism on Marativy, Roscuro, and Swamprover.

Just Before Noon

The Roof group arrived to the meeting site early to scout around for a good observation place.  The meeting address is a cobbler’s shop [that several of the PCs were incidentally familiar with].  As all the buildings around were single story with very observable rooves, they chose an eatery with outside seating to observe from.

The Street group arrived at Noon and entered the cobbler’s shop.  It is a functional shop with shoes on display.  Roscuro talked with the clerk there and stated he had an appointment to speak with Gavahn.  The clerk showed the ratfolk and grippli into a back room.  In the backroom the clerk opened a secret passage with stairs down and gestured for the group to proceed.  Marativy confidently led the group down the stairs to a door, which she knocked on.  A half-elven woman opened the door and looked over the group before letting them in.

In the cozy room on the other side of the door was Gavahn, sitting at an expensive table.  There were chairs for all four of the adventurers, including one chair with a box in it and a smaller, grippli-sized chair on top of that.  Swamprover claimed that chair and found she was sitting at eye-level with Gavahn as a result.

After greeting the group, Gavahn asked if they had decided to do the favor to cover the expedited information fee.  Roscuro stated that they agreed to do the favor for the expedited information.  Gavahn seemed pleased with this.  Before explaining the favor, he provided the good-faith information he had promised the night before: one of those who kidnapped Frederick was a mage of power named Leruu.  Leruu was an elven male who specialized in this kind of work, but only infrequently worked in Magnimar.

The favor for the expedited information was to collect a debt owed.  The debtor was Seeshaah Sarass, a female lizardfolk.  She was a loner and good in a fight.  The debt was a wooden box and its contents that Seeshaah carried on her person at all times.  Gavahn provided a good description of Seeshaah and the box [5”x12”x2”, wooden with gold leaf decoration].  The Ratpack were not allowed to kill Seeshaah, retrieval of the box was the preferred outcome, although, if necessary, retrieval of Seeshaah would work.

Roscuro asked for some clarifications and was told that they were allowed to use Gavahn’s name with Seeshaah and that the ratfolk were working as his agents to collect the debt.  There were no other agents working this job and the ratpack were to deliver the box directly to Gavahn.  The job needed to be completed in 2 days.

Roscuro accepted the job on the Ratpack’s behalf and they said their goodbye’s to Gavahn.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[This session was played remotely due to the Other GM and Marativy’s player doing anniversary things – I didn’t ask.  Their wedding anniversary proper was a few days later.]

Ratpack

Book 1:

Session 01 – Start

…

Session 32 – Conclusion

Book 2:

Session 1

…

Session 10

Session 11

Session 12

Session 13

Session 14

Session 15

Session 16

Session 17

Session 18

Session 19

Session 21

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 19

[Day 47 – The Ratpack makes inquiries and gets into trouble.]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 17, 2021.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Via Roll20

Marativy – female ratfolk 6th level Ninja

Roscuro – male ratfolk 6th level Monk

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 6th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Swamprover – female grippli 5th level Wizard

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 6th level Summoner (Synthesist)

Winston – male ratfolk 6th level Gunslinger

Autumn

[We worked out Winston hiring Gridik to craft the pouch of Abundant Ammunition here and then retconned it and Gridik making the Pearl of Power back to the previous session.]

Day 47

After Sunset

The Ratpack arrived at the Outcast Fishery once it was dark.  They split into a Roof group, who would stay outside and keep an eye on things, and a Street group that would go in and see if they could learn anything about Frederick’s kidnapping.  [The PCs started using this dividing into teams plan more often as time went on.]  The Roof Group consisted of Templeton and Winston, who had Zitch’s Ward cast upon him.  The Street Group was Marativy, Roscuro, Zitch, and Swamprover.  The Roof Group was told that if they heard Zitch’s cackle, there was trouble.  Reciprocally, if the Ward on Winston dropped, the Street group would be warned there was trouble outside.  Marativy warned the Roof group that the Outcast had guards up on the roof [of the fishery], so they elected to hide in an alley across the street and observe the front of the building from there.

As the Street group approached the guards blocking the entrance to the Fishery, Swamprover insisted she wanted to do the talking.  As she was one of the most Charismatic of the Ratpack [which was not a high bar to clear at all], it seemed like a good choice to Roscuro.  When the toughs guarding the door asked what the group wanted, Swamprover immediately told the they were here to talk to Frederick.  This confused the guards to no end.  Luckily, Marativy [lowest Charisma in the group] used her criminal knowledge, stepped up, and told the guards the group was her to speak with Donal.  This the guards understood and they let the ratfolk and grippli inside.

The Outcast was a large open building, similar to a warehouse, where fish caught in the bay were deposited by the fishing boats and then sold.  At night, the mostly empty building hosted agents of the criminal underworld, those looking to do business with them, and those providing services such as drinks and tavern snacks to both.  Once the Street group was inside, Marativy explained to the others that Donal was the head of the Wreckwash Blades, information brokers part of the Sczarni organization.

Marativy guided the group to a table near an impromptu tavern.  She explained that the people the group wanted to speak with were talking to others and they needed to wait.  Roscuro bought a pint for everyone at the table so they would not stand out [nor get the stink eye from the person running the impromptu tavern].

While waiting, some other ratfolk were noticed at another table gambling.  Swamprover decided she wanted to gamble while she waited, so she went over to that table.  Marativy, never one to miss an opportunity to [cheat at] gambling followed, as did Zitch who wanted to watch.  Not wanting to be separated from the group, Roscuro sighed and followed them over to the gambling table.

After a couple rounds [Swamprover was down 6 gold, Marativy up 12 gold], the people the group was waiting for became available.  The Street group made their way to a table with a human and a dwarf sitting at it.  The human introduced himself as Gavahn and asked what the ratfolk wanted to know.  Roscuro explained that they wanted information on the kidnapping of a merchant, Frederick, a couple weeks ago by the Night Scales [I was more circumspect than that, but I didn’t get much in my notes as I was doing the roleplaying].  Gavahn explained that the information being asked for would take some time to gather as the Night Scales tended to kill those looking into their business.  He also offered that the information could be expedited in exchange for a favor.  Roscuro was not certain about owing a favor to a criminal operation and did not commit, but stated the group needed time to think over that part.  Gavahn offered to provide preliminary information at a more private meeting the next day to let the ratfolk better estimate the value of the favor.  Roscuro agreed to that and was given an address in Dockway to meet at Noon the next day.

During this conversation, Zitch noticed a human at a nearby table nearly spill his drink when the words “Frederick” and “runelord” were uttered.  As the meeting with Gavahn concluded, the person also got up to leave.  Zitch pointed him out to Roscuro and the Street group started off in pursuit.  The human got out of Outcast ahead of the Street group, but the Roof group noticed that Roscuro was clearly walking with intent at the human who had left the building just ahead of him.

Winston stepped out of the alley and “accidentally” walked into the human, sending them both to the ground.  The human got back up without speaking to Winston [who was pretending to apologize], so Winston grappled the human.  Roscuro ran up to help Winston hold the guy, thinking they would drag him into the alley.  Swamprover cast Flare to try and blind the guy but instead drew the attention of the guards up on the Outcast.  [Whose purview extended much farther than the Ratpack thought it would.]

The closest guard yelled out for the group to halt what they were doing.  [At this point there was confusion as to where the guard was.  I thought he was above us on the building we were next to, but he was actually across the street on top of the Outcast.  Things might have happened differently if this had been made clear sooner.]  Swamprover went to put an Arcane Mark on the guy so we could find him later if he escaped, but the guard heard her casting and ordered her to stop.  Roscuro whispered for her to complete the spell and she did.  Roscuro did his best to stand between Swamprover and the guard to block the shot, but the guard hit her anyway.

At this point three more guards showed up on the roof [and I finally understood they were across the street and not directly over us].  Seeing this was getting out of hand, Roscuro whispered to the Ratpack to run down the alley and get out of there.  The guards all shot at the Ratpack before any steps to escape were taken [and a big argument was had about them getting free shots before initiative was rolled].

Roscuro and Winston dragged the human back into the alley where Templeton was waiting.  Templeton took the guy by the scruff of the neck and flew off with him.  Zitch used his new flight power and followed Templeton into the air.  Those two took a long loop to the south, flying over Keystone and Lowcleft before landing in a park in the Naos district.

The rest of the Ratpack ran for it through the alleys and back streets, gradually making their way around southern Beacon’s Point and then east to Dockway.  Swamprover complained about the crossbow bolt sticking out of her the whole way.  Once in Dockway, Winston used his healing knowledge to safely remove the bolt from Swamprover.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[This session was played remotely due to very heavy rains off and on all day.  Not wanting to endanger the Other GM’s electronics (he runs off his laptop), it was easier to play remotely.]

[Sorry for this being a bit late – there is a lot going on right now.  June has a cluster of social events with friends and family and this year my wife has a Significant Birthday and has asked me to put together the party.  It’s fair as she planned mine, but this is really outside my comfort zone.  End of the whine.]

Ratpack

Book 1:

Session 01 – Start

…

Session 32 – Conclusion

Book 2:

Session 1

…

Session 10

Session 11

Session 12

Session 13

Session 14

Session 15

Session 16

Session 17

Session 18

Session 20

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 18

[Days 39 to 47 – Back in Magnimar, taking care of business.]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 10, 2021, with some supplemental info that was retconned on May 17, 2021.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 6th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 6th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 5th level Wizard

Marativy – female ratfolk 6th level Ninja

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 6th level Summoner (Synthesist)

Winston – male ratfolk 6th level Gunslinger

NPCs

Auto – a clockwork servant fixated on Winston

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 3rd level Wizard (Invoker)

Autumn

Day 39

Morning

The Ratpack dispersed to accomplish different objectives.  Templeton and Marativy rented a cart and took the broken statuary, rubbings, and drawings from the expedition to the group’s art patron, Ayavah.  They had to knock on Avayah’s door for a while before they got her attention.  Templeton made a presentation of the recovered items, but Avayah was not particularly interested in the statuary [which was odd to us as artists are usually very interested in examples of their craft and Avayah is a sculptor – we chalked it up to poor writing on the adventures part].  It didn’t look good for a big payday until Marativy showed Avayah the rubbings from the Big Red Door.  Avayah was exceedingly interested in those, nearly snatching them out of Marativy’s hands.  She took all the rubbings and the drawings and gave Templeton a bag with 500 gold coins in it before walking back into her home, muttering over the rubbings.

Swamprover went to speak to Sabriyya Kalmeralm, the head of the merchant house that provided the ship transportation to and from the Lady’s Light.  Sabriyya was in a meeting, but her assistant said she would be available just after lunch.  Swamprover made the appointment and then left.  She located a place to eat and has a leisurely meal before retuning for the appointment.  Swamprover reported that the troglodyte tribe was willing to discuss trade, but the boggard tribe was hostile to outsiders.  Sabriyya was pleased to hear at least one of the tribes was open to talks.  She inquired when the Ratpack would be returning to the area and Swamprover admitted she did not know, but it might be a week or more.  Sabriyya told Swamprover she had a ship she could hold in port for up to a week but the next boat after that would not be available for nearly a month.  Swamprover thanked her and told Sabriyya that a message would be sent in a day or two once plans were finalized.  She spent the rest of the afternoon tracking down a scroll of Fireball and purchased it.

Roscuro spent some time seeing to Helanda [defector from the rogue Queen’s Guard unit at the dungeon] and Gnaeus [freed from servitude to the being posing as the runelord in the dungeon] before they left to follow their own pursuits.  Roscuro provided Helanda a letter of introduction to the Tower Girls and instructions on how to get to them.  Then Roscuro had a spa day, getting properly clean for the first time in a week and having his traveling clothes laundered.

After Gridik was paid for his contract [200 gp], Winston hired him to craft a Pouch of Abundant Ammunition.  Winston purchased a scroll of Abundant Ammunition and gave it to Gridik along with money to cover crafting expenses and payment for services.  Gridik transcribed the spell to his spellbook.  Gridik would start work on the pouch the next day once he had it memorized.  [It is a first level spell and Gridik had his full complement memorized already.]

[I have no notes as to what Zitch was up to on this day.]

Evening

The Ratpack met for dinner at the Blue Rodent and shared what they had been up to during the day.  They discussed how long they would be staying in town and came to the conclusion that they needed to find out what, if anything, the Pathfinder Society had learned about Frederick’s kidnapping before they should decide.  Winston requested the group stay in Magnimar at least a week so he can upgrade his musket.  The Ratpack agreed to stay in town for at least a week.

Day 40

Winston started working on an upgrade to his musket.  He will finish working on it at the end of Day 47.

Gridik spent the day crafting the Pouch of Abundant Ammunition for Winston.  Gridik will pocket 360 gp as his fee, plus he now has the spell in his spellbook.  All-in-all, a good deal for the kobold Invoker.

Roscuro, Swamprover, Zitch, and Templeton walked over to Heidmarch Manor, the Magnimar lodge of the Pathfinder Society to find out what has been learned by the Society.  They entered the manor, which appeared to be empty at the time.  Roscuro knocked on the door to Sheila’s office [Captain of the lodge and owner of the manor].  Instead of the door opening or Sheila calling out “Enter!”, the ratfolk heard footsteps upstairs approaching the stairs.  The half-elf Koriah, either second in command or Sheila’s assistant [which would amount to the same thing] came down the steps and greeted the Ratpack.  She escorted the Ratpack into Sheila’s office so they could talk privately.

Koriah told the ratfolk that Sheila was out on Society business but she left notes as to what the Society had learned so far.  An organized group in the city had been hired to kidnap Frederick, the Night Scales.  Marativy had heard of the Night Scales and shared that they are rivals to the Sczarni crime syndicates and specialize in kidnapping, trafficking, and assassination.  This matched what Sheila had in her notes.  Unfortunately, that was all the information Sheila left in her notes.

Roscuro reported where the group was with tracking down the Shards.  He discussed the fake Runelord living in the dungeon under Lady’s Light and why he was certain that she was a fake.  He also talked about the viable Clone of the actual Runelord the group found in a sarcophagus and his unease with the knowledge that the actual Runelord might still be alive somewhere.  He allowed that he was working on a plan to destroy the clone, but the magics on it made most hazardous if not deadly.

Finally, Roscuro asked if the Society might have a way to sell the statuary remains the group had retrieved from the dungeon.  Koriah asked to see the statuary and the group adjourned to where the cart was parked.  Koriah told the ratfolk the Society should be able to find a buyer for the broken statuary, but it might take some time.  The Ratpack was fine with that [as they didn’t want to keep lugging it around].  The statuary was unloaded and the ratfolk left.

Noon

Back at the Blue Rodent, the group decided that they would take the week off to pursue individual projects and then start looking for Frederick themselves.  This would also let the false runelord flail about for a week in reaction to Gnaeus being liberated and the hag being killed.  Perhaps security might start relaxing again by the time the group returned to the dungeon.

The loot from the expedition to the Lady’s Light was divided up and paid out.  Each member of the Ratpack got a share worth 518 gp.

Afternoon

Swamprover spent the afternoon and early evening crafting ink from the hag blood harvested back in the dungeon.  She ended up with one vial of ink suitable for scribing magic scrolls.

Day 41

Gridik and Roscuro contributed money to Swamprover so she could scribe a scroll of Fire Breath for Gridik as part of an arrangement they made back at the dungeon.  [Gridkik paid 50 gp and Roscuro contributed 25 gp.]  At the end of the day Swamprover gave Gridik the freshly scribed scroll.

Gridik spent time that night transcribing the scroll to his spellbook, finally adding a second level Invocation spell to it.  [As an invoker, he gets a bonus casting of an invocation spell for each spell level and he had no invocation spells for second level until now.]

Winston continued working on his musket upgrade.

Day 42

Swamprover met with Zitch to swap spells.  [Both use their familiars as spellbooks, so they can swab directly, whereas she had to scribe a scroll to share with Gridik.]  Swamprover received Lightning Bolt from Zitch.

At the end of the day, Swamprover performed the ritual necessary to transfer the Fireball spell on the scroll to her familiar, Snek.  She now had access to both Fireball and Lightning Bolt spells.

Zitch tracked down a scroll of Mirror Hideaway and performed the ritual necessary to transfer the spell from the scroll to his donkey rat familiar.

Gridik spent the day crafting a Pearl of Power [1st level] for his own use.  It will allow him an extra casting of a first level spell each day.

Winston continued working on his musket upgrade.

Day 43

Swamprover used the vial of Hag Ink to scribe a scroll of Lightning Bolt.  Her plan was to sell the scroll to recover money spent this week on spell swaps and turn a modest profit.

Winston continued working on his musket upgrade.

Day 44

Swamprover started looking for a buyer for her scroll of Lightning Bolt.  [The Other GM never got back to this and everyone forgot about it between game sessions, so I will need to nudge them about it.]

Winston continued working on his musket upgrade.

Day 45 and 46

[No notes on these dates.  I think I miscounted the days we spent doing things as I hadn’t assigned day numbers to them.  My mistake.]

Winston continued working on his musket upgrade.

Day 47

Roscuro, Marativy, Templeton, and Zitch met up to start searching for Frederick on their own.  Zitch cast Heroism on Roscuro [for the skill bonus as we all are weak on the investigative skills].  The group went over to the carnival in Beacon’s Point.  The fortune teller there is a Sczarni information broker some of the group have interacted with before.  Roscuro reasoned that if the Night Scales and Sczarni are rivals, the Sczarni might be willing to help a third party investigate their rivals.

The fortune teller started his spiel, but then he recognized Roscuro and Marativy and stopped immediately, asking in a plain voice what information they wanted to buy.  As the Night Scales have a reputation for going after people investigating them, Roscuro uses a roundabout way to explain that he was looking to retrieve a kidnapped friend from whoever had him.  Roscuro could tell that the fortune teller was concerned he was looking for the Szcarni until Roscuro went to say the name of the group he was looking for.  He cut off Roscuro at “Night…”.  The fortune teller pulled out a small card with one word written on it “Outcast”.  He then bid the ratfolk goodbye.

Outside his tent, Marativy explained that Outcast was a reference to the Outcast Fishery.  At night, this building became a sort of crime market, acting as a black market and job fair for those who operated beyond the law.  The Ratpack would need to wait until after sunset before they could go and get the information they wanted.

Sunset

Winston completed upgrading his musket.  The rest of the Ratpack came around and collected him, explaining what they had learned and what the plan was.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[A lot of housekeeping was handled this session and we discussed which direction we wanted to proceed: continue with the AP or track down Frederick.  The PCs had a stronger emotional and fiscal tie to Frederick, so we decided that the shards could wait.]

[This post was delayed as I've resumed typing up the session notes for my playtest game for Adventures in the Green, my OD&D clone set of rules.  If you have any interest in that, the posting is located here.  They are dealing with one of the players just learning he caught lycanthrope - from a wererat of all things.]

Ratpack

Book 1:

Session 01 – Start

…

Session 32 – Conclusion

Book 2:

Session 1

…

Session 10

Session 11

Session 12

Session 13

Session 14

Session 15

Session 16

Session 17

Session 19

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 17

[Day 37 and 38.  Raid on the boggard village to save troglodyte captives and the return to Magnimar.  But mostly the raid.]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened May 3, 2021.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 5th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 5th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 4th level Wizard

Marativy – female ratfolk 5th level Ninja

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 5th level Summoner (Synthesist)

Winston – male ratfolk 5th level Gunslinger

NPCs

Auto – a clockwork servant fixated on Winston

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 3rd level Wizard (Invoker)

Mel Sharples  – male halfling Cook (Expert of unknown level)

Alice Hyatt – female halfling Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)

Flo’ Castleberry – female gnome Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)

Autumn

Day 37, Expedition Day 7

~7:00 PM, After Sunset

While Zitch and Templeton were trekking back into the dungeon to see if Gnaeus wanted rescuing [end of Session 16], Roscuro, Winston, Marativy, and Swamprover headed to the boggard village to rescue two remaining troglodyte captives.  Once in the area, they set a rendezvous point in case things went wrong.  The plan was for Swamprover to use Flaming Sphere to light the boggard shaman’s hut on fire and then some others near it on the west side of the village.  As boggards would come out to fight the fire, first Roscuro [with his light crossbow], then Winston [with his musket] would snipe them.  This would draw all attention to the southwest of the village, allowing Marativy to start searching for troglodyte captives in the huts to the northeast with minimal chance of being seen.  With the rough plan in place they then made their separate ways to the boggard village.

At the boggard village they set up around it.  Roscuro and Winston took position in some cover to the south of the village, about 70 feet outside the camp.  Roscuro had three flasks of oil with fuses set out, plus a torch and his flint and tinder.  Swamprover was to the west of the village with a pond of water between her and the village.  Marativy was to the north east of the village.

The plan started well.  It took two rounds for the Flaming Sphere to light the shaman’s roof but only one round each on two others before the spell expired.  Boggards exited the shaman’s hut once it was on fire to see what the noise was.  Roscuro sniped the first one, and this is where things started going awry.  It turns out, boggards have a lot of hit points and the light crossbow does a maximum of 6 points of damage [size small version].  So Roscuro’s shot hit, but rather than kill the boggard, it merely alerted the boggards they were under attack!

While Swamprover was moving the Flaming Sphere to light as many huts as she could, Winston and Roscuro shot at boggards, concentrating fire until one was dead before moving on to the next.  With all the distraction to the south and west, Marativy easily snuck into the eastern edge of the village and started searching for captives to free by peeking into the huts.

The boggards sounded a general alarm and guards quickly donned armor and rushed to their posts, including three who stationed themselves on the northern approach to the village.  This complicated Marativy’s search slightly as she had to avoid the guards as they exited huts.  Luckily, this is what she is best at.

Winston and Swamprover started targeting boggards trying to get water to put out the fires [Swamprover with Force Bolts].  Roscuro shot at targets of opportunity.  In the middle of this chaos, the boggard shaman exited her hut and cast Wind Wall across the southern approach to the village.  Guards on that side of the village took up position just inside the wall of winds.  Recognizing the spell, Roscuro stopped shooting and held his fire, waiting for a boggard guard to step past the protection of the Wind Wall.  Winston attempted to shoot the shaman through the Wind Wall, but the magic blew every shot off target.  [The player was not certain his shots counted for the effect of the Wind Wall but after three shots were all blown away, he had to concede they did.]

The shaman healed the wounded boggard guards while Roscuro lit his readied torch and Winston learned he could not hit things beyond the Wind Wall.  A group of boggard guards moved into position to snipe at Roscuro and Winston with short bows from the eastern part of the village, not covered by the Wind Wall.  Roscuro plucked one of the arrows from the air and the other missed.  Roscuro returned fire but missed.  Marativy continued her search of huts for captives, eased by all the huts now being empty of guards.

The boggards guards to the south charged Roscuro and Winston.  [The Other GM made a mistake here.  Boggards only have 20 feet of movement on ground and he had them charge 50 feet.  I think he mistook their 30 feet of swimming as their normal move.]  Guards around the shaman started throwing javelins at Swamprover, tired of her plinking them with Force Bolts.  One of them hit [for 7 points of damage].  Winston stepped away from the boggard guards near him and rapid fired on one of the boggards, blowing its head completely apart [the second hit was a critical for 44 points of damage, twice the boggard’s total hit points].  The shaman dropped the Wind Wall and summoned several giant toads near Winston and Roscuro.

Marativy, finished searching the huts on the east side of the village, crossed the trail dividing the village, and started searching the huts on the west side.  The first hut she checked had an unconscious troglodyte captive in it!  Roscuro grabbed and lit a readied flask of oil, tossing it at one of the summoned toads.  The fire bomb caught one of the boggards in the area of effect and set him on fire while the toad shrugged half the effect [it made a Reflex save, but the guard did not].  Guards around the shaman threw javelins at Swamprover again, one hitting [for 8 points of damage].  Winston stepped away from the guards threatening him and rapid fired, killing another guard.  The remaining guard [not on fire] advanced on Winston to attack while the one on fire attempted to put himself out.  Both failed at their actions.  The toads attacked with their tongues.  One hit Roscuro but failed to reel the ratfolk monk in [it failed the Grapple check].  The shaman, satisfied with things to the south of the village, turned her attention to Swamprover and cast her own Flame Sphere on top of the grippli wizard.  Swamprover side-stepped the sphere easily [she made her Reflex save for no damage].

Marativy carried the troglodyte captive out of the hut and hid him in some tall reeds in the village so she could search some more.  Swamprover, injured and about out of spells, moved north to put some cover and distance between her and the shaman.  [She moved twice, which put her at the northwest corner of the village and near where Marativy was searching.]  Roscuro scooped up the remaining two vials of oil [now lit due to the burst from the first one] and threw one at another toad, spreading the flames between the ratfolk and the village and burning toads and guards in the process.  The boggards threw javelins at Winston and Roscuro.  They missed Winston and Roscuro deflected the only one that got near him [he did not grab it as he had his crossbow in one hand and a lit vial of oil in the other].  Winston backed away again and shot and killed the last guard on him.  The shaman moved the flaming sphere to Roscuro, who side-stepped it.  The toads attempted to grapple with their tongues again, two missing Roscuro, but the third grabbed Winston.

With the guards on the north edge of the village now looking back to the south to see what was going on, Marativy no longer felt it was safe to leave the unconscious troglodyte alone.  She picked him up again and took him with her to continue her search.  Swamprover entered the village to search as well, but was noticed by the guards who shot at her with their short bows, getting hit once.  Roscuro stepped back and threw his last flaming oil into the open mouth of the toad grabbing Winston with its tongue, convincing the toad to let go of Winston as its mouth became an inferno.  Guards in the village threw javelins at Roscuro again, who caught one and threw it back, hitting, but was hit by a second one.  Winston shot the toad with the burning mouth once and withdrew.  The burning mouth toad died from the flames, popping out of existence [as summoned creatures do when they die or the spell expires].  The other two attempted to grab Roscuro with their tongues and missed.  The shaman moved the flaming sphere back onto Roscuro, but the monk avoided it with ease again.

At this point the adventurers decided it was time to leave.  Winston and Roscuro retreated south before arcing east to the agreed upon rendezvous point.  Swamprover quickly fled to the northwest before circling around to the north to the rendezvous point.  Marativy dragged her rescued troglodyte outside of the camp unobserved and found a hiding spot to pause and watch the aftermath of the attack.  She hoped the boggards might check on their captives, giving her an idea where the last captive might be.

Much to Marativy’s dismay, the boggards instead focused on putting out the fires.  After that, they started searching the area, so Marativy shouldered the captive and slowly made her way to the rendezvous point.  [I should mention that Marativy has the lowest strength of the group with an actual penalty to Strength checks.]

Near Midnight

Marativy arrived at the rendezvous point with the rescued troglodyte.  Winston checked the troglodyte and pronounced him suffering from malnourishment and Filth Fever, but not dying.  The four adventures then made their way back to their camp, arriving well after when Templeton and Zitch returned with Gnaeus.   Swamprover complained about her injuries and Zitch healed her up.  Everyone quickly went to sleep afterwards.

Day 38, Expedition Day 8

Morning

Rested and newly invigorated [everyone finally leveled], the group had breakfast and started packing up the camp.  Zitch cast a new spell available to him, Cure Disease, on the troglodyte, curing the troglodyte of his Filth Fever.  Winston and Zitch walked the troglodyte back to the troglodyte caves and told Sulgesh the group was leaving the area for a while but would be back.

By the time Winston and Zitch returned from the troglodyte cave, the camp was packed.  The group hefted their loot and remaining supplies and walked to the pickup point.

Noon

The group arrived at the meeting point for pickup.  The Fortune Found was just arriving and after a short period all were aboard, including Gnaeus and Helanda.  The ship weighed anchor and turned north, arriving at Magnimar just before sunset.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[This raid lasted much longer than expected and took up the whole session.  We hand-waved getting back to the ship and the trip back to Magnimar so we could make up some time and start there next session.  As a result, some opportunities to roleplay with the NPCs was missed and Gnaeus just wanders off once we get to Magnimar, seemingly ignored.  We were able to at least get Helanda pointed to the Tower Girls.  Even if she decides to not join the gang, it made for a more positive separation of ways.  I like separating from NPCs in a way that makes them more inclined to think positively about the PCs – you never know when allies will be needed later.]

[This was the first time I was able to made much use of Roscuro's ability to deflect or snatch missiles and I was very pleased with it.  I wish monks could use up attacks of opportunity to deflect more than one missile per round, but the rules are what they are.]

Ratpack

Book 1:

Session 01 – Start

…

Session 32 – Conclusion

Book 2:

Session 1

…

Session 10

Session 11

Session 12

Session 13

Session 14

Session 15

Session 16

Session 18

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 2, Session 16

[Day 37 continues.  Conversations, an opportunity, and setup for rescue.]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened April 26, 2021.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Via Roll20

Roscuro – male ratfolk 5th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 4th level Wizard

Marativy – female ratfolk 5th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 5th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 5th level Summoner (Synthesist)

Winston – male ratfolk 5th level Gunslinger

NPCs

Auto – a clockwork servant fixated on Winston

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 3rd level Wizard (Invoker)

Mel Sharples  – male halfling Cook (Expert of unknown level)

Alice Hyatt – female halfling Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)

Flo’ Castleberry – female gnome Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)

Autumn

Day 37, Expedition Day 7

Afternoon

An hour into the three hour walk back to camp from the series of caves under the Lady’s Light, the human woman rescued by the Ratpack awoke.  She was draped over the back of Templeton’s foo dog form and the group was traveling through the narrow cave tunnels under the lagoon, so it was pitch black for her.  Her first words were, “Oh rats.”

This caught Roscuro’s attention.  He was walking at the back of the line of adventurers in case the woman woke up and tried to do something unwise, like run back into the dungeon.  As ratfolk have darkvision [as do grippli and kobolds], it had not occurred to Roscuro that she would be blind and not likely to flee.

Roscuro greeted the woman and told her she probably wasn’t a prisoner but he had some questions for her.  Roscuro was indirect with much of his part of the conversation, not wanting to tip his hand before learning whether the human was a foe or not.  This made the early part of the conversation slightly frustrating for both sides.

The human’s name was Helanda and she was part of the Queen’s Guard that had traveled here from Korvosa.  They were looking for items of power they could use to reclaim the throne for their queen, who apparently been overthrown [see Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path from Paizo].  They encountered a woman claiming to be the Runelord of Lust, but Helanda was not entirely convinced.  Shortly after voicing her concerns, she woke up tied to the hag’s stake and was tortured as a means of slow execution.  Helanda was not surprised that the Ratpack had found the bodies of three others as anyone who questioned “Sorshen” tended to quietly disappear.

Somewhat reassured after the ratfolk lit a torch and allowed her to walk under her own power, Helanda related more of her story.  Her group arrived at the Lady’s Light weeks ago, but she was not certain how many as they were underground for most of that time.  They used a cave entrance near the boggard camp to gain entrance to the tunnels that led to the dungeon entrance.  She was somewhat nonplussed about the fact that the Ratpack had fought and destroyed the guardian statues at the dungeon entrance.

Helanda’s group lost two of their numbers fighting the glass golem and she was slightly shocked to hear that the ratfolk had destroyed it rather than use it as a teleportation device.  Gnaeus had not yet arrived when they passed the room the Ratpack had found him in.  Two rooms past that room, they encountered three incubi.  One teleported away while Helanda’s group fought and killed the remaining two incubi.  The third incubi returned with “Sorshen”, who killed or charmed the remain group of 40-50 Queen’s Guard by herself.  Gnaeus arrived later as the bodyguard of a wizard.  “Sorshen” charmed Gnaeus and had him kill the wizard.

Helanda also told the Ratpack that the runelord has to maintain the charm spells on a weekly basis but was lazy about it.  The spells on Gnaeus were due to wear off this day and it might be another day or two before the runelord got around to doing so.  There was a possibility that the group could convince Gnaeus to leave entirely.

This was an exciting opportunity for the Ratpack, somewhat tempered by their time constraints and low level of available resources, like spells and ki points.  On top of which, Swamprover was adamant that the group go back to the boggard village to see if there were anymore troglodytes to rescue.

After a great deal of discussion of options, the ratfolk split the party: Zitch and Templeton would return to the dungeon to speak with Gnaeus and see if he was willing to defect, while Roscuro, Marativy, Winston, and Swamprover would raid the boggard village.  Gridik would stay at the camp to subtly add to the security there while Helanda was there.  [Roscuro is a bit paranoid at times, but would rather be cautious than betrayed unexpectedly.]

~5:00 PM

The group returned to the camp and had dinner [shared with Helanda].  Templeton flew off with Zitch to return to the dungeon and possibly release Gnaeus.  Meanwhile, Roscuro, Marativy, Winston, and Swamprover started walking west to the boggard village to rescue hostages [Swamprover] and kill some boggards [everyone else].

~9:00 PM

Templeton and Zitch arrived at Porn Hall and then took the back passage to the gated room.  Gnaeus was there waiting and appeared slightly surprised as he realized that the ratfolk appearing in front of him was not either of the two he had spoken with earlier in the day.  When Templeton asked if Gnaeus was willing to leave the employ of the runelord, he stated he was quite ready to leave his captor far behind.  He also regretfully told them that the password on the gate changed at the same time the charm spell was supposed to be renewed and he did not know the new password.

Templeton in his foo dog form is very strong.  Zitch supplied Templeton with a crowbar to pry open the gate, which Templeton did easily.  Gnaeus thanked them and stepped through the gate, ready to leave.  He asked the two how they had arrived and Templeton explained he flew, carrying Zitch, but carrying both Zitch and Gnaeus might be an issue.  Gnaeus cast Fly upon himself and suggested that Templeton carrying him was unnecessary.  The three then left, traveling another three hours to get back to the camp around Midnight.  Gnaeus gifted the Ratpack a wand of detect secret doors with twelve charges left for being released.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[We were back to everyone on Roll20 for a session as my wife (Swamprover’s player) needed to get up extra early the following day.  The living room where we play is right outside the master bedroom area, so gaming there while one of us is trying to get to sleep just doesn’t work.]

[We knew the fight at the boggard village would take some time, so we deferred playing it out until the following week.  This would also allow the Other GM to set up a larger map on Roll20 as the attacking PCs planned on doing so from range and the original map was too small.]

[We also started having a conversation about what we were going to do once back in town to hopefully speed things up.  When the conversation turned to rehiring Gridik or making him a member of the group and providing him a share of any treasure, we discovered that Templeton’s player did not want to share experience or treasure with any NPCs.  This started to get heated, so we stopped the conversation, deferring it until later.]

Ratpack

Book 1:

Session 01 – Start

…

Session 32 – Conclusion

Book 2:

Session 1

…

Session 10

Session 11

Session 12

Session 13

Session 14

Session 15

Session 17