Thursday 23 January 2014

Session 1: 1-2/8/4708 AR - Fall of Lamm, Edge of Anarchy


1st of Arodus (M8), 4708 Absalom Reckoning


Three residents of Korvosa, Naglatha Kaz and Vemi, are brought together by Zellara the Fortune-Teller for mutual revenge upon the crime lord Gaedren Lamm. Emerging from his fishery lair after nightfall, having done the deed, they find that King Eodred II Arabasti is dead, his Queen, Ileosa, has taken the throne, and serious rioting and looting has broken out throughout the city. Apparently many people dislike their Chelish queen, and don't want her as their new monarch.
Kaz Anders approaches Castle Korvosa seeking his friend the artist Trinia Sabor, who had been painting Eodred's portrait, but is told to report to Marshall Cressida Kroft at the Citadel.

2nd of Arodus (M8), 4708 Absalom Reckoning
After resting overnight at Vemi's place near the western docks, Naglatha goes to sell the night's loot to her uncle Devargo Barvasi, while Vemi talks with his actor contacts and Kaz seeks Trinia Sabor in her apartment in the Shingles. Kaz finds Trinia nervous and afraid, worried she'll somehow be blamed for the King's death. Trinia identifies a jeweled brooch found in Lamm's lair as belonging to Queen Ileosa. There is a substantial reward offered for its return.

Session XP
Bloo the dog - 135
Yargin Balko, 'the alchemist' - 200
Hookshanks Grueller, the bad gnome - 200
Giggles the Half Orc - 200
Freeing the Little Lamms - 200
Gaedren Lamm - 600
Gobblegut the Alligator - 600
Investigations etc - 200
Total: 2335/3= 778 XP each.

Naglatha Winterkill: Level 2, 5000 XP for Level 3. XP 2000+778= 2778.
Kaz Anders: Level 2, 5000 XP for Level 3. XP 2000+778= 2778.
Vemi Diaquani: Level 2, 5000 XP for Level 3. XP 2000+778= 2778.

Loot Inventory Update
Gear:
3 vials of acid
2 tanglefoot bags
1 thunderstone
Oil of Keen Edge (doubles the crit range of 1 piercing/slashing weapon or 50 arrows for 50mins)
Dose of Silversheen (weapon treated as silver for 1hr)
Light crossbow with 10 bolts (Kaz)
Disguise Kit (Kaz)
Jade inlaid cigar case (Vemi)
Adamantine arrowhead (Naglatha)
Zellara's Harrow Deck

Gold: 
+786gp 3sp per character


Session Account by Judith/Naglatha
Strange Meetings
In which Alliances are made and an Enemy’s downfall is arranged…


It only occurs to me now that it should have worried me more than it did at the time exactly how the Harrow Card inscribed with my name and an address in Midland came to be delivered to my lodging in Old Korvosa. After all, in my line of work only a fool advertises where they live. But there it was: an invitation to a meeting in Lancet Street and an opportunity to indulge in some long overdue vengeance. I’ve heard it said that some people believe revenge is a dish best served cold… As far as I’m concerned, I don’t like to leave my debts outstanding.

I arrived at Lancet Street and found the house; an ordinary house in an ordinary street. There was nothing obviously unusual about it but something at the edge of my awareness was screaming that things were a long, long way from ordinary. It set my nerves on edge but I could still see nothing obviously untoward. Have I mentioned how much I hate getting screwed over by magic? Despite my misgivings I went in; the chance of finding Gaedrenn Lamm was too good to turn down and it occurred to me perhaps too late that whoever had sent that invitation might well have known that. 

There were two others already there: at first glance a fop and a clerk. A second glance told things more clearly: fine clothes, no longer quite fashionable, concealed a powerful build that belied the initial impression of an idle fop while calluses on the hands told of long practice with weapons – someone to watch out for. The other was no less deceptive: I decided he seemed vaguely familiar, a wizard of some sort but nothing like the mad bastards the Acadamae produced. It was the eyes that really gave him away: for all his unassuming demeanour, he had a killer’s eyes. They introduced themselves as Vemior Diaquani and Kaz Anders. They too had received Harrow Cards and been invited here to gain revenge on Gaedrenn Lamm.

Then our host arrived, a Varisian fortune-teller named Zellara. The sense I had that something was off with the whole set up still hadn’t abated but still there was nothing I could pin it down to. I watched somewhat distracted as the fortune-teller laid out the cards and gave us the usual recital: warnings of plots and danger, the chance for wealth, admonitions to take care… Then she told us that Lamm had wronged her too and that she had found his current base. The vagaries of fortune-telling were forgotten as she told us he was at the Old Fishery on the West Dock. Knowing Lamm would abandon the place at the first hint of trouble, we determined to hit him that evening.

The raid went about as close to plan as we could have hoped. Kaz summoned a spirit to his aid – apparently that of his younger sister who had been killed by Lamm years earlier and all I could think was that I was glad the creepy dead kid was on our side. The child ghost proved an effective diversion as the rest of us broke in through the front taking out Lamm’s bully boys one after the other. The children Lamm had kidnapped to work for him escaped into the city. Lamm himself had vanished, but the dead kid – Maria – took an unholy glee in terrifying one of Lamm’s henchmen into telling us where he had fled. 

Lamm, it transpired, had taken refuge in the basement dock of the old Fishery. His pet alligator was between him and us, but unfortunately for him we were more than capable of killing him at range. Vemi took on the alligator while the rest of us focused on Lamm. Between my arrows and a very pissed off dead kid, he didn’t last long. Dumping his corpse in the same river where he had disposed of so many of his victims seemed a truly poetic resolution to our revenge.

With Lamm gone we went through the loot he’d accumulated. A fine jewelled brooch stood out as it was marked with the royal seal, worth more than the rest of his loot put together, but so identifiable that fencing it in Korvosa would just be asking for trouble – the best we could hope for was a finder’s fee. A hat box swarming with flies proved to be the repository for a poorly preserved, severed head, and it was with a peculiar lack of surprise that I recognised it as Zellara. Tucked into the box and stained with blood were her Harrow cards.

Leaving the Fishery it seemed we had stepped into a riot. King Eodred was dead and the streets were filled with people shouting abuse at the Queen. As expected the Watch were out in force, but then we caught a glimpse of patrols of Hellknights as well, and decided discretion was far and away the best option. Vemi’s apartment was close by and as we were burdened by what we had taken from Lamm’s base we holed up there to wait for the riot to burn itself out.

The grey dawn saw the city subdued and the streets quiet. It was easy to slip through to Old Korvosa where I knew I could fence Lamm’s treasures with fewest questions, returning a few hours later with a purse of Gold Sails to divide between us.

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