Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 9

[✨Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and Happy Holidays to everyone else who has a holiday at this time of year!  I got this typed up and ready to post in time, so I decided to not delay it any further. ✨]

~~~~

[Day 22 and 23 – Working and exploring the Spire]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened October 10, 2022.]

[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

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 7th level Wizard

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

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 22 (continued)

Morning

Gridik and Swamprover [secretly watched over by Marativy] left Haverston’s Grange [the inn the Ratpack was staying at] in southern Downmarket to go to the Therassic Spire, a building that housed a group of wizards and sages specializing in things Thassilonian.  The went north to the gap that was The Warrens and cut over to Bis at Quarrimac’s Curatives.  In Bis they went south along the central road to Cavalcade.  Once in Cavalcade they followed streets and bridges to the border between Cavalcade and Highside Stacks.

The Therassic Spire was tall with no windows.  Steps led up to a front door that had a sign in Draconic on it.  The sign read “Closed until further notice.”  The door was locked.

Marativy could see that Gridik and Swamprover were stumped by the locked door and stepped up next to them, offering to open the door.  Gridik nearly jumped out of his pants as he had no idea Marativy had been following them.  Once his heart calmed some, he said, “Yes, please.”  Marativy easily picked the lock and opened the door for Gridik and Swamprover.  She then faded back into the shadows.

Gridik and Swamprover entered the Spire.  The foyer was a large room with stairs leading up on the left and right sides.  Ahead were two open doorways, each leading to a different room.  Not seeing anyone, Gridik called out a hello and announced himself.  After a few moments a clearly puzzled half-orc woman stepped out of one of the side rooms.  She stated that the Spire was closed as everyone was busy doing research.  Gridik used this as an opening and convinced the woman, introduced as Koif’a, that the Spire clearly needed additional help and he and Swamprover were experienced researchers from Magnimar so when can they start work.  Koif’a stated that they should come back in a week if they wanted employment, giving them a signed note stating the same.  Gridik thanked her and stated they would return the following day to start work.  Then Gridik and Swamprover left, leaving behind a bemused Koif’a.

Outside, Gridik and Swamprover discussed what to do next, settling on going over to the Tarheel Promenade to look for some history books about Kaer Maga.  After several hours of searching, Gridik finally purchased a copy of Archeological History of Kaer Maga (in Draconic) for 20 gp – quite a bargain.  The two then returned to the Grange in Downmarket.

Afternoon

Having toured the inner districts of Kaer Maga and before he dismissed Gav for the day, Roscuro asked Gav about the Ardoc family and if they sold their constructs.  Gav informed Roscuro that the Ardoc family made constructs on request only.  Wealthy families in the city liked to own them as status symbols.  Roscuro thanked Gav and told Gav to check back in the morning to see if the Ratpack needed his services.

Dinner

The Ratpack gathered from their various doings and shared what information they had learned with each other.  After listening to the information Gav had supplied, Marativy suggested that instead of grabbing a construct from the Ardoc family directly, one could be taken from a wealthy but less politically connected family in the city.  Alternately, maybe one of the group might do a service for the Ardocs in exchange for a construct.  This seemed like a good path and Hrefna volunteered to go check out the Ardoc factory the next day.

Day 23

Morning

Hrefna and Templeton headed over to the Ardoc factory to seek employment opportunities [or an opportunity to grab a construct before it was activated].  Hrefna ended up talking to some of the employees and was sent to the foreman, where she made her pitch to get hired.  [My notes don’t say they got hired, so I don’t think it worked.]

At the same time, Gridik and Swamprover with Marativy watching over them, returned back to the Spire.  After Marativy picked the lock again and let them in, Gridik and Swamprover went to the side room Koif’a had emerged from the previous day, looking for the half-orc.  The room turned out to be a study with several books in Ignan on the table but no Koif'a.  [Neither reads Ignan, but Gridik has a good eye for scripts and identified the language it was written in.  He also made a note to himself to learn Ignan.]

While Gridik and Swamprover were looking for someone to speak with, Marativy quietly made her way up the stairs on the left to start exploring the Spire.  In an alcove to the side of the top of the stairs she found an airshaft that went all the way up the Spire.  She climbed up to the next floor [the 3rd].  On that floor Marativy saw a gnome reading a book while walking directly towards the airshaft.  Marativy turned invisible [Ninja powers] and did her best to stay out of the way of the distracted gnome.  The gnome turned in front of the shaft and walked down a side passage.

Exploring the floor some, Marativy discovered a room with no people in it.  Scattered across some tables were a variety of books in languages she could not read.  She also found a bag off to one side.  Opening it to check its contents, she found a ring, a pouch of coins, and a change of clothes.  She took the coins but left the ring as it was too identifiable.

Back on the first floor, after looking around and finding no one, Gridik and Swamprover were about to go up the stairs on the left to explore when an elf descended the stairs on the right, stating “You should not be here.”

Gridik convinced the elf that they had been hired by Koif’a to assist (providing the note as evidence) and then asked to be put to work.  The elf took the note and told Gridik to wait there before going back up the stairs on the right, possibly to find Koif’a.  Swamprover took the opportunity to go up the left stairs and explore while Gridik waited.  Gridik was fine with this plan.

At the top of the stairs, Swamprover found the same air shaft Marativy had discovered.  However, as she was preparing to climb up the walls, she noticed a stone platform descending down the shaft at speed!  She immediately hopped out of the shaft and hid a couple steps down the stairs [not the best cover, but better than nothing].

The stone platform came to a soft landing and a dark elf stepped off it and turned away from Swamprover, descending a different flight of stairs [both sets of stairs on the first floor curved up and met at this landing on the second floor].  Swamprover realized it wasn’t an air shaft but a magical lift!

The dark elf descended the stairs to the entry foyer and found Gridik waiting there.  He immediately told Gridik to leave, but Gridik explained he could not as he was a new hire and an elf had taken his note of employment.  The dark elf shrugged and escorted Gridik to the other side room, which contained several study carrels.  The dark elf parked Gridik in one of the carrels and told him to wait there.  The chair and table resized themselves to fit a kobold, so Gridik was more than happy to wait.  [Hurry-up-and-wait is also common amongst academics.]  The dark elf then went back up the stairs on the right of the foyer.

At the same time, Swamprover was experimenting with getting the lift to work.  It gust seemed to require some magic talent and concentration to control and she got it to ascend fairly quickly.  When she stopped at a floor Koif’a was standing right there looking at her.  The grippli squeaked out that the elf had taken their note.  Koif’a stepped onto the lift and made it descend, escorting Swamprover back to the ground floor.  She walked Swamprover over to the room with the study carrels, finding Gridik already sitting in one.

Gridik said the dark elf had told him to wait here for work to do.  Koif’a sighed.  She parked Swamprover in a different carrel [which resized to fit her] and brought the two of them work to do, realizing it would take less time and effort to put them to work than to get them to leave the Spire.  Later the elf, Farsen, came back and returned the note to Gridik…and also a pile of scrolls to collate data from.  Gridik and Swamprover set to work.

Meanwhile, Marativy continued to explore the upper floors of the Spire by way of the “air shaft”.  She found rooms with people in them on the upper floors and avoided those floors, eventually reaching the top floor of the tower.  The landing here was a decorated short hallway with a red carpet leading to the one door on the opposite wall.  Marativy started walking along the carpet but after a few steps the carpet animated and attempted to envelope her.  She leapt and twisted clear of the carpet quickly stepping over to the door and standing on bare floor.  Marativy scrutinized the door and found it was trapped.  Taking some time [and using her magic gloves] she disarmed the magical trap.

Marativy carefully opened the door and looked inside.  There was a lavish library on the other side with a seating area and some statues, but it appeared to be empty.  She stepped in, quietly closing the door behind her, and looked around.

A voice from above her, full of curiosity, asked, “Who are you?

“No one,” she replied and went invisible.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[This session ended on a bit of a cliffhanger!  We speculated who the voice might belong to, but we didn’t find out until the next session.]

[One bit of rules clarification.  Rogues can disarm all traps, including magical traps, but Ninjas are limited to only mechanical traps.  Back in Book 2, the Other GM inserted a pair of magic gloves that allow the wearer to disarm magical traps.  This was him observing an issue we were running into and fixing it with a magic item rather than us recruiting yet another NPC.  He is from the school of play where the players do everything and rarely bring on NPC hirelings.  I’m old school and have no issues with us having plenty of NPCs to cover our weaknesses.  Both schools are valid, so I have no issues with his solution.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions

Last Session: Session 8

Next Session: Session 10

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 8

[Day 21 and 22 – Dinner with Abra, continued tour, and first foray to the Spire]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened October 3, 2022.]

[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

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 7th level Wizard

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 21 (conclusion)

Dinner Time

The Ratpack met with Abra from the Duskwardens at a restaurant across the street from the Grange for dinner.  The Ratpack sought permission to explore the Undercity [the Duskwardens domain underneath Kaer Maga] and Abra sought assurances that the Ratpack would not cause problems nor require rescue.

Roscuro shared information about the group touring the outer districts of Kaer Maga as dinner conversation.  Once everyone finished eating, Abra requested that while discussing possible access that both he and Roscuro wear Rings of Truth, that would compel both sides to speak only truths.  Roscuro was skeptical, but agreed.

The following conversation clearly did not go as Abra expected.  The Ratpack was knowledgeable about potential dangers, especially those related to Runelord areas, despite knowing nothing of the Undercity.  Also, the Ratpack was very confident about being able to handle the threats as this was not the first Runelord-related dungeon they had cleaned out.

Abra agreed to go forward with getting the Ratpack permission to explore the Undercity, but also suggested the group speak with the Council of Truth, a set wizards and sages operating out of the Therassic Spire in Cavalcade.  They specialized in the city’s history and had a significant library, if one could gain access to it.  He suggested that potential sponsors for access might be the Augurs, the Ardoc family, or the Bloat Mages.

During the meeting, Marativy slipped away to perform a mission of her own.  She took to the rooftops and ran a block or so north.  She then looked for a place to set the severed hand she had been charged with delivering as a message from the Magnimar thieves' guild.  She found a small courtyard that was mostly empty then [it was evening and street traffic was dwindling], but would have foot traffic in the morning.  She turned invisible [Ninja powers] and dropped to the ground, placing the severed hand in a doorway that would get good sun in the morning.  She then moved away as stealthily as only she could and returned to the Grange.

After dinner [and after Abra left], the Ratpack discussed their options.  None of the group felt it wise to make contact with the Ardoc family as they had a potential job to steal one of the Ardoc’s constructs.  They all agreed that the Bloat Mages were very likely to notice the shards the group already had in their possession.  Given that the Bloat Mages sought increased magical power, it seemed likely they would attempt to steal the shards, making them undesirable/unreliable as allies.  This left the Augurs and the Council of Truth.

Hrefna cast Commune.  After several questions on where the shard might be, Hrefna asked if the Council of Truth would recognize the shard from Roscuro’s usual physical description of it and whether or not Gridik could gain access to the Spire without being sponsored.  Both questions were answered with a “Yes”.  This suggested that being more vague about what the group sought might be a better option with the Council – if they recognized what the shard was, their interests might be aroused.

Day 22

Zitch started work on upgrading Marativy’s Belt of Dexterity.  This would occupy him for 8 hours.

Gridik and Swamprover headed over to the Therassic Spire to see about getting access.  Zitch put his Ward on Gridik and Marativy shadowed the kobold and grippli to keep them safe.  [Their adventures will be written up in the Session 9 notes.]

Hrefna headed over to the Tarheel Promenade to seek a scroll of Lay of the Land.  After making inquiries, Hrefna was told that the Duskwardens were the only ones with that spell in Kaer Maga and she should inquire at the Duskwarden HQ in Bis for it.

Meanwhile, Roscuro and Templeton picked up Gav as a tour guide and explored the inner districts of the city.  In northern Downmarket, they wandered around the Amphitheater by the town lake.  Their information [from the Commune spells] was that an entrance to the part of the Undercity they wanted was in the amphitheater, but it was hidden and guarded by the Duskwardens.  After a casual look around, Templeton felt certain that the entrance was probably in the lake, just behind and below the amphitheater.  Roscuro was dubious about this idea, but neither wanted to tip off/aggravate the Duskwardens right then, so they moved on.

The next district east of Downmarket was Hospice.  Hospice provided relaxation and companionship, i.e., it was full of taverns, brothels, and secluded parks.  Gav gave his opinion on several taverns, but stated his favorite was The Sorry Excuse.  The trio also passed a temple to Calistria, Goddess of Lust and Revenge.

Following the general path of the roads counter-clockwise [I almost said widdershins here], the last district of the city was Widdershins.  Widdershins was the area on the north side of the lake and was where “the average and boring people live”.  [Think 1950’s  Small Town America but fantasy and you’ll have it.]  There were many city guard about, none of the businesses were interesting to adventurers [especially after just walking through Hospice] and the district was home to the Guard House, the HQ of the City Guard.  Templeton and Roscuro were polite and walked through the district without stopping.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[More information gathering this session.  Expect more next session as the group explores the city further and continues to search for entrances to the Undercity.]

[With Christmas, the Day Job being busy just before the closure of the work site until January 3, and now weather issues (temperatures in the teens is ridiculous in the Houston area), I’m behind in posting.  This post was delayed due to power outage in my neighborhood taking out the Internet connection.  My goal for this week of vacation/holiday is to get at least another two sessions typed up and posted and to finish editing Book III of my retro-clone of Original D&D.  If I have to choose one over the other, it will be to finish the edits so I can post my rules as PWYW on DrivethruRPG.  Sorry.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions

Last Session: Session 7

Next Session: Session 9

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 7

[Day 20 and 21 – Arrival and a tour for shopping]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened September 26, 2022.]

[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

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 7th level Wizard

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 20 (continued)

As the Ratpack entered Kaer Maga through the ancient gaping hole in the side of the structure, the district they entered was The Warrens.  This is clearly the poorest part of the city with hovels stacked on each other.  Behind the stacks of hovels, to either side, were the cavernous entrances to Kaer Maga’s outer ring of districts.  The obvious main street through the Warrens to the inner city [where the Ratpack wished to go] was lined with packs of street urchins attempting to sell junk/get hired as guides/pickpocket those new to the city.

Like any other group of new arrivals, the Ratpack was immediately surrounded by urchins as they made their way down the main street.  Zitch and Marativy noticed one of the urchins steal some of Gridik’s scroll reagents while the kobold was distracted by a different urchin.  Marativy stole the reagents back without being noticed and re-planted them in Gridik’s backpack.  The rest of the Ratpack was aware enough to keep hold of their valuables.

After a bit, a higher grade of street urchin arrived and drove away the pickpockets.  He introduced himself as Gav Nahli and offered his "superior guide services" for a "mere" 5 gp per day.  Roscuro had been expecting something like this but haggled a bit to not look like an easy mark.  He eventually relented and accepted Gav’s services.

After explaining where they wanted to go [Haverston’s Grange, where the Pathfinder Society had arranged rooms].  As the group resumed travel through the Warrens, Gav provided a bit of a travelogue, pointing out the location of the Pillars of Dream as the group passed the side street leading to them.  Gav explained the Pillars were as old as the structure the city was built in and touching them led to the toucher falling asleep for several hours.

Once past the Warrens, the group entered Downmarket, one of the three districts inside the torus that held the outer districts.  [Imagine a glazed donut.  The three inner districts are where the donut hole is.  Now hollow out the donut so that it is a circular tube and then take a bite out of the northwest corner.  Where the bite is is The Warrens and the other districts are inside the hollow donut.]  The group walked nearly to the lake inside Kaer Maga and then turned south.  Haverston’s Grange was near the southern end of Downmarket, just past the Auger Temple.  The Augers were trolls who foretold futures with their own entrails, cutting open their own stomachs to do so.  Once at the Grange, Roscuro paid Gav and asked that he show up in the morning for more guide services.

In the Grange, the Ratpack spoke with Lynette the combination barkeep and innkeep.  Roscuro explained they had a reservation through the Pathfinder Society.  Lynette confirmed that there were four pre-paid rooms reserved for a week.  After that the Ratpack would need to pay on their own.  Roscuro agreed to this.

While the rest of the group got settled in their rooms, Roscuro ducked out with Marativy to stop by the Auger Temple.  Roscuro wanted to get a feel for the organization and maybe some useful information.  The duo found a couple trolls standing in front of the temple talking with each other.  One of the trolls turned to face the two ratfolk and Roscuro asked for a divination about his current business.  The troll walked them over to a side area and then explained that auguries cost 15 gp.  Roscuro paid, curious to see how this worked.  The troll then cut open its stomach to examine its own entrails before stating that it saw in Roscuro’s future an individual with a shadowed past, deep secrets best left untouched, and an unexpected friend.  Neither Roscuro nor Marativy were convinced that anything supernatural had just happened, but they thanked the troll and left.

Back at the Grange, the group had dinner, which was spicy dwarven fare.

Day 21

Over breakfast [2sp per person at the Grange], the Ratpack discussed options.  They decided that learning the lay of the land in Kaer Maga would be a good idea and some shopping for magical reagents was necessary.  When Gav arrived, they paid him to take them to find magic shops.  Gav recommended they go to the Tarheel Promenade district as it was the center for all things arcane in the city.  There were a couple routes to get there from Downmarket and the Ratpack selected the route that went around the covered portion of the city to see the various districts.  Also, they wished to avoid having to pay tolls to get through the gates in the walls between the inner districts and the outer districts.

Gav took them north and then cut through a small part of the Warrens to get to Oriat, the northern-most outer district.  Oriat was the home to the city’s artists, philosophers, and hipsters.  Gav warned that the Brotherhood of the Seal, a monastic order that resided in Oriat, was undergoing some form of schism and the monks were fighting each other periodically.  Best to avoid that.

Walking through the outer districts clockwise, the next district was Ankar-Te, the center of the undead trade in the city.  Gav had the group stick to the main street through this district.

The next district was the Tarheel Promenade, which occupied the southeastern quadrant of the outer city.  The two notable shops in the district were the Wheel Unbroken [expensive] and Gadka’s Magical Oddities [discount].  Marativy, following Zitch’s instructions, purchased the necessary materials to upgrade her Belt of Dexterity [from a +2 to a +6].  Neither shop had all of the materials necessary, so Marativy split her purchases between the stores and made both proprietors very happy after purchasing 8000gp worth of reagents in both shops.  Gridik was able to locate two of the spells he wanted [Nondetection and Spontaneous Immolation] and bought a scroll of each.

After spending time shopping, the group continued the tour of the outer districts.  The next district and possibly the smallest was The Bottoms.  The Bottoms was home to abolitionists and freed slaves.  Just past the Bottoms was Cavalcade, another small district that was home to the city’s manufacturing businesses.  There were several streams running through this district with many bridges and waterwheels in evidence.

The next district was Bis, which occupied the western side of the outer districts between Cavalcade and the Warrens.  This district was wealthy and the home of the Ardoc family, makers of constructs and automatons.  Gav pointed out the Ardoc family compound and later their factory as the group walked through the district.  Several guard constructs were seen at several street corners and Marativy noticed small flying observation constructs up on the roofs of a number of buildings.

The group then clipped the corner of the Warrens to re-enter Downside.  Roscuro paid Gav for the day and told him to come back in the morning.

Dinner Time

The Ratpack met with Abra from the Duskwardens at a restaurant across the street from the Grange for dinner and to discuss options to explore the Undercity.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[This session was mostly a big exposition dump with a little shopping on the side.  It took a while for all the players to understand that the inner and outer districts didn’t just have a wall between them, but the outer districts were enclosed in a tube.  I omitted mentioning the Highside Stacks, a district that is accessed from the outer districts of Cavalcade and The Bottoms but is also somehow outside the structure and hangs over parts of Downside and Hospice?  I have no real idea how it works, especially as there is a stream shown that appears to start at the lake and flows south through Highside and Cavalcade without explaining how it makes the jump up to Highside.  I assume “magic” is used but maybe the map drawer missed the detail.  Hard to say.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions

Last Session: Session 6

Next Session: Session 8

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 6

[Day 20 – Up the Storval Rise.]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened September 19, 2022.]

[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

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 7th level Wizard

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

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 20 (continued)

As the Lucky Jenny pulled up to one of the Sirathu docks, Othlo Jenk, the captain of the Lucky Jenny, shared with the Ratpack some information about Sirathu.  Sirathu was a small village that primarily served as a port for Kaer Maga, which sat at the top of the Storval Rise, a cliff of immense proportions.  There were a few taverns for those who missed one of the caravans to the top of the Rise and had to wait until the next day to get to Kaer Maga.  The few shops were mostly for the locals.  Finally, the Duskwardens organized the caravans at the foot of the cliff, so the Ratpack should go there once the ship finished docking.

The Ratpack dis-embarked from the Lucky Jenny and sought out the Duskwardens at the based of the cliff.  There was a large set of bronze doors set into the cliffside around which were several groups of travelers standing in roped off areas, waiting.  As the Ratpack walked up, a human in a brown and gray uniform and light armor approached them and introduced himself.  He was Abra Lopati, one of the Duskwardens.  He explained that there were two routes up the cliff: the fast path and the slow path.  The slow path zig-zagged up the cliff face and took about a day to reach the top.  The fast path, the Halflight Path, takes about two hours but costs money and goes through a blocked off portion of the Undercity, so monsters might attack.  As the Ratpack looks like they can handle themselves, the fee was only 2 gold per person.  Roscuro raised an eyebrow, but paid for the entire Ratpack out of party funds.

The Ratpack was matched up with a merchant and his two sons to head up the Halflight Path.  Abra explained the rules (no talking so as to avoid attracting monsters and some similar safety rules) and handed each member a small token on a leather string.  These were halflight charms and provided light.  Most of the Ratpack grudgingly took them because they were required [every member of the adventuring group had darkvision and needed no light].  The group was then escorted to the brass doors and led through them to the Halflight Path.

An Hour Or So Later

Part way up the path, Abra noticed a bricked up archway that looked wrong.  Just as he was commenting on it, three seugathi busted through it and attacked with surprise.  At first the Ratpack was dismayed, having fought a seugathi under the Lady’s Light.  They quickly determined that these three were nowhere near as tough and rapidly defeated them [compared to that earlier fight].  Abra was noticeably impressed.

An Hour After That, Near Sunset

The group arrived at the top of Storval Rise, just out side the main entrance to Kaer Maga, a blown out section of the city structure, now full of ramshackle buildings and known as The Warren.  The Ratpack asked Abra how to find Haverston’s Grange, the location they had reservations with.  Abra provided directions.  Roscuro then asked how a group might gain access to the Undercity without causing trouble.  This time one of Abra’s eyebrows went up.  Abra said to ask a Duskwarden like himself but he would need to know some details about why the group needed access to the Undercity.  The Ratpack arranged to meet with Abra for dinner the next day to discuss as they wanted to hurry to Haverston’s to get their rooms.  He agreed to meet and discuss further their request for access.  Abra re-entered the Halflight Path and the Ratpack entered The Warrens.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[No, really – after fighting the demonic seugathi in one of the side rooms under the Lady’s Light, we were expecting THREE of them to be very tough.  It wasn’t as their spell resistance was lower and they had far fewer hit points.  It was refreshing to fight monsters we could handle without worrying about a TPK.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions

Last Session: Session 5

Next Session: Session 7