The King is Dead

August 20, 2015

(We drew Harrow cards and Dan, playing Lazarus, who woke up with Trinia, drew a card that called for a save.  When he failed, he immediately didn't like Trinia anymore.)  

"The King is Dead!"  

That is still echoing down the hall as the group wakes up.  They are still trying to figure out what to do.  However, Lazarus wakes up in blood.  It's not his, thankfully.  He looks over at Trinia, who wakes up with a start.  She can only stare at the blood around her.  She reaches around and pulls out an amulet that Lazarus recognizes as the Queen's amulet that they had before, stolen from Gaedren.  He immediately thinks she had something to do with whatever happened.  The others come in as they mention blood and are shocked at the scene.  They try and tell Lazarus and Trinia to calm down, due to the King's death.  Lazarus immediately thinks Trinia had something to do with it.  She's offended at that, saying that he has no better alibi!  

Cress wants to keep some of the blood but Trinia wants to get rid of it all and the amulet, just throw it into the river.  Cress convinces them to save some and then the rest is cleaned.  He puts the vial with the amulet into the new hiding place.  However, unseen by the rest, he collected two vials and kept one on his person.  

The group knows they have to act normal, so they go to the guild hall to pay up for the performance take.  On the way there, though, all of them sense that the mood of the town has changed.  Guards are huddled together.  Noble's guards are more alert.  Everyone has hands near weapons and no one walks alone.  Niko has their payment ready but they are quite surprised to find that guildmaster Boule himself is there.  He gives a speech that the King's death is not good for them and the town is going to be dangerous.  The king not only didn't care what the guild did, but actively encouraged it!  He was a "devil you know" sort of guy.  They even paid to rat out, he chuckles at that, the independents or smaller rogue groups so that it would appear that something was being done about crime.  The Queen, he says, will not be as kind.  The Queen will crack down on all crime and make all of their lives tough.  Boule tells all of them to keep all proceeds from the last night and to use them with their contacts to find out what happened.  Boule suspects that the Queen had a hand in the King's death saying that the daughter of Westcrown's mayor was ever ambitious.  The group wonders if they should say something, including about Gaedren but decide to follow him instead.  

Gaedren is being cautious and takes the long way back to his hideout but the group does manage to track him down to an old fishery.  They sneak up and see people preparing defenses, as they were nearly spotted several times in chasing him back.  In trying to sneak up, noise is made and it starts a fight.  Grohlyn, Lazarus, and Cress are being pressed by some of Gaedren's gang.  Meanwhile, Niko and Sven are trying to get into the hideout while the others provide a distraction.  They find a room of kids, making little trinkets to sell but also making tools of the trade.  They manage to convince them they are friends and find out where Gaedren is.  They go down a few stairs to find some half orc teens readying weapons.  When they don't know where Gaedren is, Sven attacks and takes one out.  Niko rushes in behind him to take out another.  A third throws meat that sticks to Sven.  Meat?  Sven just looks at it in wonder . . . until the shark in the tank next to him rears out and bites him!  He twists out of being grabbed but still took some damage!  They move away from the tank and take the third one out.  By this time, the other three had got rid of their adversaries and joined up.  

They go down below to find there is a secret area that is holding back the water.  They see the shark in a column of water, and it glides under the walks ways they are on, circling them.  They find Gaedren in his quarters and Niko steps forward to confront him about his mom's death.  The others are caught off guard by this, as Niko is usually quiet.  Gaedren taunts him for a bit but when he sees it's five on one, he relents and says she was dead when he got there.  He looted her body, and Gaedron gives Niko the ring, and says it looked like a hit by the Red Mantis.  Gaedron goes on to say that he was gyped out smuggling fees from the Red Mantis, so he stole the brooch and some gold from one of the Mantis.  However, he goes on to explain that he never saw them without their masks and doesn't know any names.  What he does know, is that Devargo also helped the Red Mantis with smuggling and would know more.  

Grohlyn really wants to kill Gaedren.  The group asks if Gaedron will repeat what he said to the guild.  He says no!  This looks like the reason Grohlyn wants.  However, Gaedron goes on to explain that the guild and town is out for blood on the King's death.  The last thing he will do is admit to the whole guild that he helped the Red Mantis, even if they don't go after royals!  He does relent enough that he would say it in a private audience with Gilroy but that's it.  Grohlyn grudgingly admits that makes sense and the group leaves.  

While discussing what to do outside of Gaedren's building, a griffon rider and then some guards start coming after the group!  They are astonished but Sven got a message from Trinia that their rooms were searched and the blood and amulet were found.  They are now wanted!  Cress admits to the second vial and reluctantly gets rid of it so they won't be tracked.  Cress almost planted it on Grohlyn but realized that would be going too far in the pranks he playes.  The group tell Trinia to meet them at Eel's End.  By the time they shake the guards, they are nearly as far away as they can be from Eel's End.  They go to a market and get some stuff for disguises.  Lazarus uses them on everyone and they head to Eel's End.  They are accosted, quite randomly, and in avoiding it, think they hear fighting break out behind them as they keep moving.  

Trinia comes up to them wondering where they were.  A few are surprised she saw thru the disguises.  Sven knows Devargo, though, and while they try and learn a few things from his employers, they eventually go and see him.  Devargo also realizes that having any association with the Red Mantis group does not help him.  He tells them of a warehouse where they used to meet and do business.  The group thanks him and leaves.  

When they get to the warehouse, the lookout is spotted, a young boy, and Grohlyn kills him.  It wasn't completely intentional in that he did throw the dagger that did it but was hoping to just hit him with the hilt, not have it stick into the kid.  They sneak up and see inside the warehouse.  A human is sitting around a table with gambling money, shuffling cards.  After a quick talk, Lazarus plays the drunk and wanders into the room but as Grohlyn thought, the man attacked!  Grohlyn rushes in and hits him, followed by Niko and Sven.  Cress and Trinia come in a bit slower, watching the street and then shutting the door.  The hit him pretty hard and he's looking bad as he reaches for a potion.  All attack to stop him from doing that, remembering to attack with the non sharp edges of their weapons.  Well, except for Grohlyn, who takes his head off.  They shrug and take his equipment, which is a fair amount, and then discuss what to do next.  

(I tell the group they have earned enough xp to advance to second level for next time.  With iPads and Hero Lab, most are done before we finish critiques!)  

GM Notes

• Dan, playing Lazarus, really did a great job of embracing the Harrow result and not liking Trinia.  It was just enough to create some conflict but not so much that it tore the party apart or completely pushed her away.  It was very well done and I was impressed.  
• Dan also started the evening with a one and then had several more in a row.  It frustrated him, as it would anyone, but he rolled well with it and changed his image of Lazarus from reasonably talented but a braggart to less talented than he thinks and still a braggart!  Again, kudos to Dan for this!   
• I had to internally debate what Trinia did.  She had ample time to get away from the group, and reason after how Lazarus turned on her.  Instead I had her still around and hiding, then able to warn them about the items found at their place.  
• We used the chase cards in the trailing of Gaedren back to his lair.  They worked out very well!  They were a lot of fun in the spirit of a chase that is supposed to happen in the module, even if the details weren't the same.  The DCs were high for first level characters but they did very well.  
• I really did not expect them to let Gaedren off without attacking him.  I was impressed that they thought his arguments made sense and he did just enough to give them a reason not to attack.  Well done to the group for surprising me.  
• Cress' player, Bob, wasn't here so I had him take the extra blood for the second chase of the night.  I had them make Stealth rolls to get away and the lowest below the DC was close enough for the guards on the ground to take shots at them with a crossbow.  Enough to damage them a bit here and there but no more than a nuisance, which I thought worked out well.  
• I don't think disguises are used enough in the game.  It's also tough to remember if they are disguised or not.  At one point, with a bad roll, the player was able to reroll because I had the NPC there tell him to get into his disguise!  We joked that just putting on Groucho glasses is not enough!  I did like the idea of them using the disguises to get across town.  Trinia realized who they were due to the raven familiar, group size, and the obvious equipment, such as Lazarus' violin.  
• Brook didn't want Grohlyn to kill the lookout.  Nor did he intend to kill the assassin before they questioned him.  However, he rolled so well on the to hit and damage that I didn't allow it to be non lethal.  That's probably not fair to the players but none of them argued it based on how Brook played Grohlyn up to this point, so they let it stand.  
• So far, I'm liking not doing xp and letting the players give each other drama points.  I think using XP pushes the advancement a bit fast.  Further, I had used xp as a reward for wiki entries but when that wasn't used regularly, I decided to try this.   

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