Pathfinder - Scum and Villainy (Fantasy Flavour)
Pathfinder, in the freeport of Magnimar, where persons unknown have used an undead cow to spread Anthrax through the populace. We found the cow, but have mostly used the chaos as cover for burglarizing.
Dramatis personae -
Tannis Oberech: Bastard son of a noble, but mostly just a bastard.
Harshal High-seeker Stasny: Corrupt barrister.
Ys: Freelance elf assassin
Zin: Kobold trapsmith and master of disguise.
Gillert: A poet who fell into the company of people mad, bad, and dangerous to know.
GM: The Pathfinder's Society think they've found a cure for the plague.
Tannis Oberech: Let's steal it.
Harshal: Quite. We can't have them profiteering from the misery in Magnimar. So let's steal it and sell it ourselves.
Tannis: Or we can use it to discredit the Society.
GM: Tricky.
Tannis: How about if the cure actually makes people sicker?
GM: ... and you have a source of the spores.
Day Z the Undead Cow in her crate: MMrRRRRUUMMMMMMM.
We want to invest in property - one option is the large boat that ran aground east of the Irespan, destroying every wharf in the bay and still a menace to navigation. The other option is one of the empty warehouses that used to supply those docks. Now we just needed to get the best possible price of aforementioned property.
GM: Ys has Diplomacy and Harshal has Intimidate.
Harshal: Ys is an assassin - you don't want them to be scary, you want them to seem harmless right up until they stab your enemy in the spleen. Whereas I am a lawyer. 'Your Honour, he's intimidating the witness' 'Correct.'
Ys goes in to the bank that currently holds title to the empty warehouse, posing as a Riddleport investor, and offers 1000 gold. The next day Tannis goes in, posing as a tough, and offers 200 gold and menaces.
Loans and Defaults Guy: I really can't let this go for less than 15,000.
Zin: 15,000???
GM: Sorry, 1500. He was thinking in silver.
The banker is quite annoyed that the bank clerks gave Ys the runaround yesterday, even if she is apparently from the despised Riddleport.
L&D Guy: She might be from Riddleport, but their coin still clinks.
L&D Guy: Ms. Yon.
Ys: Yes, of Hither and Yon Trading Company
L&D Guy: Now, I am not the kind of person to assume the worst of people based only only their accent, but would you by any chance know any 'facilitators'?
Ys: I might know some people who ... do bad things.
L&D Guy: Because yesterday I had a visit from a character who made a ridiculous offer and made me feel threatened. And I don't like feeling threatened. He was not the kind of person who can function in polite society. So my superiors are willing to reduce the amount required for the warehouse, in return for his head.
We could produce a body magically altered to look like Tannis. Ys, as an assassin with poor impulse control, has an easier solution in mind.
Tannis: We have another job for you - we need a body.
Ys: Right now I need to pass a Will check.
GM: Because right now you're worth 350 gold to her, dead.
Ys: You're valuable, now.
Tannis: Oh shit.
Ys: I've decided not to kill you.
Tannis: ... this is appreciated.
Harshal: Can we find out where the banker lives and let him wake up with the head on the pillow next to him?
We end up getting both the warehouse, and the salvage rights for the grounded ship. We're not the first to have made the attempt, but everybody else had the Nightscales thieves' guild causing trouble. Then we hire all those kobolds as labour to build a breakwater around the wreck, and shore it up, and Harshal writes a fluff piece for Parvo Crispin's newspaper about the value of kobolds in public works. With his talent for convincing lies, this catches on, and the party gets invited to a civic event in their honour. After all, we did secure a navigational threat, and intend to rebuild those wrecked docks.
GM: And Sala No-name has moved to a park closer to Ilia.
Gillert: The authorities must be glad.
GM: Sort of. Down here most people are all 'Cool! Can I pet the doggy?'
Gillert: 'Yes. Once.'
GM: 'Why?'
Gillert: 'Because you'll only have one hand afterwards'
GM: Technically you can pet the doggy twice.
Tannis' eccentric cousin Emelliandra has been joining ribcages into a long serpentine construct. Pity we didn't know about this when we needed to get rid of that headless body.
Emelliandra: I need a body.
Tannis: ... why?
Emelliandra: I'm making a Necrophidius.
Harshal: Of course you are.
Surreptitiously trying to sell off those paintings generates an interesting response. A Black Knight turns at Tannis' apartment, wanting to purchase the paintings that Tannis DIDN'T advertise.
Black Knight: We have no interest in how you came into possession of them. Indeed, we applaud your initiative - but we want those paintings. We are willing to reward you for them, rather than take them, which is why I come unarmed.
The Black Knight correctly identifies one of the paintings as the Obsidian Courthouse, an extra-planar locale associated with Asmodeus, the demon prince of contracts. Uh-oh.
Tannis: I need to talk to my business associates, but I give you my word I won't sell it before I see you again. Is there somewhere I can can contact you? A name I can ask after?
Black Knight: I do have a name, but I will not be telling you it. Names have power, after all.
The room is getting uncannily cold, too. The Black Knight promises to return soon, which is not ominous at ALL. Nor is the strong lilac scent he's using to obscure what he really smells like.
Zin: What did they offer for the paintings?
Tannis: Two platinum.
Harshal: Is that all?
Tannis: Two platinum BARS.
We agree to the offer, on the additional condition we get a contact in case we acquire more interesting paintings.
Black Knight: It seems you are fishing for my name again, despite our generous offer. Very well - I will give you a name, of one we have influence over. Emelliandra Oberech. Good night.
The platinum bars are ten pounds each, and stamped with the mint mark of one of the more ominous kingdoms elsewhere on this continent. At least it isn't one of the even more disturbing kingdoms on the other continent.
Harshal: I wonder why they even have all those zombie plantation workers, if they're all dead anyway.
Ys: He doesn't NEED zombies, but the zombies had a better union.
Dramatis personae -
Tannis Oberech: Bastard son of a noble, but mostly just a bastard.
Harshal High-seeker Stasny: Corrupt barrister.
Ys: Freelance elf assassin
Zin: Kobold trapsmith and master of disguise.
Gillert: A poet who fell into the company of people mad, bad, and dangerous to know.
GM: The Pathfinder's Society think they've found a cure for the plague.
Tannis Oberech: Let's steal it.
Harshal: Quite. We can't have them profiteering from the misery in Magnimar. So let's steal it and sell it ourselves.
Tannis: Or we can use it to discredit the Society.
GM: Tricky.
Tannis: How about if the cure actually makes people sicker?
GM: ... and you have a source of the spores.
Day Z the Undead Cow in her crate: MMrRRRRUUMMMMMMM.
We want to invest in property - one option is the large boat that ran aground east of the Irespan, destroying every wharf in the bay and still a menace to navigation. The other option is one of the empty warehouses that used to supply those docks. Now we just needed to get the best possible price of aforementioned property.
GM: Ys has Diplomacy and Harshal has Intimidate.
Harshal: Ys is an assassin - you don't want them to be scary, you want them to seem harmless right up until they stab your enemy in the spleen. Whereas I am a lawyer. 'Your Honour, he's intimidating the witness' 'Correct.'
Ys goes in to the bank that currently holds title to the empty warehouse, posing as a Riddleport investor, and offers 1000 gold. The next day Tannis goes in, posing as a tough, and offers 200 gold and menaces.
Loans and Defaults Guy: I really can't let this go for less than 15,000.
Zin: 15,000???
GM: Sorry, 1500. He was thinking in silver.
The banker is quite annoyed that the bank clerks gave Ys the runaround yesterday, even if she is apparently from the despised Riddleport.
L&D Guy: She might be from Riddleport, but their coin still clinks.
L&D Guy: Ms. Yon.
Ys: Yes, of Hither and Yon Trading Company
L&D Guy: Now, I am not the kind of person to assume the worst of people based only only their accent, but would you by any chance know any 'facilitators'?
Ys: I might know some people who ... do bad things.
L&D Guy: Because yesterday I had a visit from a character who made a ridiculous offer and made me feel threatened. And I don't like feeling threatened. He was not the kind of person who can function in polite society. So my superiors are willing to reduce the amount required for the warehouse, in return for his head.
We could produce a body magically altered to look like Tannis. Ys, as an assassin with poor impulse control, has an easier solution in mind.
Tannis: We have another job for you - we need a body.
Ys: Right now I need to pass a Will check.
GM: Because right now you're worth 350 gold to her, dead.
Ys: You're valuable, now.
Tannis: Oh shit.
Ys: I've decided not to kill you.
Tannis: ... this is appreciated.
Harshal: Can we find out where the banker lives and let him wake up with the head on the pillow next to him?
We end up getting both the warehouse, and the salvage rights for the grounded ship. We're not the first to have made the attempt, but everybody else had the Nightscales thieves' guild causing trouble. Then we hire all those kobolds as labour to build a breakwater around the wreck, and shore it up, and Harshal writes a fluff piece for Parvo Crispin's newspaper about the value of kobolds in public works. With his talent for convincing lies, this catches on, and the party gets invited to a civic event in their honour. After all, we did secure a navigational threat, and intend to rebuild those wrecked docks.
GM: And Sala No-name has moved to a park closer to Ilia.
Gillert: The authorities must be glad.
GM: Sort of. Down here most people are all 'Cool! Can I pet the doggy?'
Gillert: 'Yes. Once.'
GM: 'Why?'
Gillert: 'Because you'll only have one hand afterwards'
GM: Technically you can pet the doggy twice.
Tannis' eccentric cousin Emelliandra has been joining ribcages into a long serpentine construct. Pity we didn't know about this when we needed to get rid of that headless body.
Emelliandra: I need a body.
Tannis: ... why?
Emelliandra: I'm making a Necrophidius.
Harshal: Of course you are.
Surreptitiously trying to sell off those paintings generates an interesting response. A Black Knight turns at Tannis' apartment, wanting to purchase the paintings that Tannis DIDN'T advertise.
Black Knight: We have no interest in how you came into possession of them. Indeed, we applaud your initiative - but we want those paintings. We are willing to reward you for them, rather than take them, which is why I come unarmed.
The Black Knight correctly identifies one of the paintings as the Obsidian Courthouse, an extra-planar locale associated with Asmodeus, the demon prince of contracts. Uh-oh.
Tannis: I need to talk to my business associates, but I give you my word I won't sell it before I see you again. Is there somewhere I can can contact you? A name I can ask after?
Black Knight: I do have a name, but I will not be telling you it. Names have power, after all.
The room is getting uncannily cold, too. The Black Knight promises to return soon, which is not ominous at ALL. Nor is the strong lilac scent he's using to obscure what he really smells like.
Zin: What did they offer for the paintings?
Tannis: Two platinum.
Harshal: Is that all?
Tannis: Two platinum BARS.
We agree to the offer, on the additional condition we get a contact in case we acquire more interesting paintings.
Black Knight: It seems you are fishing for my name again, despite our generous offer. Very well - I will give you a name, of one we have influence over. Emelliandra Oberech. Good night.
The platinum bars are ten pounds each, and stamped with the mint mark of one of the more ominous kingdoms elsewhere on this continent. At least it isn't one of the even more disturbing kingdoms on the other continent.
Harshal: I wonder why they even have all those zombie plantation workers, if they're all dead anyway.
Ys: He doesn't NEED zombies, but the zombies had a better union.