[LPF] The Mightiest Weapon

The Mightiest Weapon

DM: Deuce Traveler
Judge: Mowgli

Who Adventure is Intended For: Four 2nd level characters of any class.

Type: Short Mystery Adventure. A short filler adventure centered in Venza with some combat encounters and multiple skill checks within the city limits.

Summary: Two rival factions have been fighting over famed inventor Callery Frickard. The small Craftsmen's Guild (mostly comprised of worshippers of Sapo and Farino) has seen civil strife caused by rising unemployment and loss of funds because of an inability to adapt to the new inventions of Mr. Frickard, and are also insulted by Mr. Frickard's refusal to join a Guild. The more powerful Merchant's Guild (mostly comprised of worshippers of Cortessa) has found ways to greatly profit from Mr. Frickard's inventions, going so far as outsourcing labor from outside the city for cheap reconstructions of his work. Tensions between the factions were growing ever more violent, but came to a head with recent news. The adventurers are brought in as independent investigators once Mr. Frickard is found dead. Leaders of both rival factions have declared a temporary truce as tempers have now flared to the point of violence over this latest development. The party is asked to find someone to accuse and soon before the city erupts into riots.

Adventure Rules:

- I plan to post daily from Sunday to Thursday. I will try to keep the adventure moving, but if combat is occurring I will wait two days for all to post actions between combat rounds.

- I can NPC a character in case of emergency, but the PC will gain no experience for the encounter if I have to take him over, and the character will be gracefully removed from the party if the player cannot retake control once the encounter is over.

- All rolls will be conducted using ENWorld's dice rollers.

Update:
1st Encounter vs 3 thieves complete: 1,200 XP split among 4 characters resulted in 300 XP each

2nd Encounter searching for clues: 800 XP split among 4 characters resulted in 200 XP each. Also, Quioan received a bonus of 50 XP for identifying the residue as ink, and Daylily receives 50 XP for figuring out that Krif Card was an anagram of Frickard.

3rd Encounter through sorting through clues: 50XP for Kazanto in discovering a motive. Quioan can now add Bren Stillwell as a contact, since his knowledge impressed the man. Bren Stillwell is a dye-making gnome who can provide local nobility and merchant news.

4th Encounter at the Geese Farm: Found location of Callery Frickard's second workshop.

5th Encounter at the Riots: Stopped riots and protected property without alienating either guild. Six sapphires worth 100gp each. CR 4 encounter with everyone splitting the 1,200 XP into 300 XP each.

6th Encounter at the second workshop: Silver broach with emeralds worth 350 gps, a Ring of Protection +1 and a Necklace of Fireballs (Type 1). CR 5 encounter with everyone splitting the 1,600 XP into 400 XP each.

Negotiations w/ Guild: 500gp from the guilds (250gp from each). Also, brought peace to the warring guilds for an unknown amount of time (up to other DMs, and I doubt it will last). Each member of the party has gained contacts with Gadral of the Merchant's Guild and Mimfred of the Craftsmen's Guild.

So total XP is = 1200 + 800 + 1200 + 1600 = 4800. Divided by 4 equals 1,200 XP each. But Daylily, Kazanto, and Quioan all had 50xp bonuses.

Relic = 1200 XP
Kazonto = 1250 XP
Quioan = 1250 XP
Daylily = 1250 XP

Selling the ring of protection and necklace of fireballs gets you 2000 and 1650 gps respectively.

So gold looks like this = 600 + 350 + 2000 + 1650 +500 = 5100gp. Divided by 4 is 1277gp and 5sp each.

The Bren Stillwell contact for Quioan, and the two guild contacts for all four players have no intrinsic gp or xp value, but will be valuable depending upon future DMs and usage.

OOC: I would be fine taking on PCs who only need a few dozen XP to level to 2nd. They should be able to survive and advance after the first encounter.

OOC: In general, those hiring adventurers know exactly what to expect. I'll update here tonight.

Once outside the Inn, the two men get down to business. The first, dressed in fine blue silk, is a representative of the Merchant's Guild. His name is Gadral.

"Thank you once more for meeting with me."

The second man is dressed in brown and tan clothes, typical of the less well to do artisans. Still, although his clothes are more subdued he also seems to have a better sense of how to match his clothes. His name is Mimfred.

"Yes, I appreciate you meeting with a member of the Craftmens Guild."

This double talk on their part is grating, but they explain that both were hired by their respective guilds to ensure that the investigation is handled with the strictest neutrality. They are basically there to watch the party and to represent the interests of their respective guilds, but to also watch one another.

"After all, it was the Craftmens Guild that had a dislike of Frickard, and so my bosses want to ensure the Craftsmen do not try to bury any evidence that might implicate one of their members, if indeed it was an angered Craftsmen who slew the great man."

"Nonsense. We might have had Guild differences with Frickard, but artists appreciate artists. It would be in the interests of the Merchants Guild to place evidence to the contrary, however. They have been known to be that immoral. Oh, and I have been authorized to offer you a reward of 250 gps for resolving this case to the Craftsmens satisfaction."

"Hmph! I see the Craftsmen had somehow scraped enough money to match the Merchant's Guilds offer of 250 gps for resolving this case to our own guild's satisfaction. Really, I don't know how to manage the funds."

"Such an amount was easy to match. The Merchants are simply misers to think this so difficult a task."

When the party is ready, the two men will take them to the murder site at Frickard's house. Both insist on accompanying the party throughout the entire investigation, so the party will have to also ensure their safety. You also get the impression that the Guilds who requested the investigation care more about showing an attempt to placate the city population and protect their reputations, then actually finding the murderer.

OOC: Thank you, to the four gentlemen who have joined.

As the merchants talk, Daylily watches them with a blank look. When they appear to have finished, he turns to Quioan and Relic.

[sblock=Elven]I did nae ken most of the words there, but that there's been a killin' of some sort. Beyond that, it seemed these soppy haggises just said hardly more than a half squeeze of my grandad's yellowberry. Am I much misled?[/sblock]

[sblock=Mini Stats]Daylily Falshenaya

-Normal-
AC: 16 (16 flat-footed, 12 touch)
HP: 26/26
CMB: +6 CMD: 18
Fort: +4 Reflex: +2 Will: +0

-Raging-
AC: 14 (14 flat-footed, 10 touch)
HP: 30/30
CMB: +8 CMD: 20
Fort: +6 Reflex: +2 Will: +2

Perception: +7
Initiative: +2

Current Weapon in Hand: None
Current Conditions in Effect: None
Rage Remaining: 7
[/sblock]

Quioan listens to the two men more or less attentively, although he finds their in-fighting, and his subsequent irritation, to be increasingly distracting. At one point in their narrative, he leans over to Relic and whispers, "Makes you pine for the days of Misters Roug and Ryall, doesn't it?"

Quioan smiles wryly at Daylily's words.

[sblock=Elvish]"Aye, Daylily, ye ken correctly: much of their words were merely political b/s."[/sblock]

Relic listens none two impressed with either of the men but attempting to keep his thoughts far from his face, though he can't help but nod at Quioan's comment.Yellowberry squeezing indeed, I think you have the right of it Daylilly, Relic fights back a smile. Isn't that so gentlemen?

Without waiting for a response:

I haven't had much of a chance to do the shopping I had spoken of with my colleagues, but I don't know if any of that is necessary currently. Much of it was for my studies, and as such will bear little importance on this matter. And I'm sure the faster we resolve this issue, the better for all involved. So when you are ready, lead the way.