NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 1238441" data-attributes="member: 7737">When In Doubt, Sow ConfusionKell saw Otieno’s magic missiles strike home, saw his quarry pitch headlong into the dust and grit that lined the flat roof across the alley. Racing toward the gap, Kell propelled himself off the edge of the roof — — and slammed painfully into the side of the nearby building. Kell scrabbled for a handhold, but couldn’t hang on, and fell some thirty feet to the cobblestoned street below, where he lay broken and bleeding. [DM’s note: It was only 10 feet across the alley, which should have been an easy Jump check for Kell — except that he rolled low and blew it, even with his bonuses. He then needed to succeed on a Reflex save to grab onto the edge of the building, but he failed that roll too.] Hearing the commotion, Brogun rounded the corner in time to see Kell crumple to the ground and pass out from the pain of his fall (or technically, from the sudden stop at the end of the fall). The dwarven cleric healed his companion, who immediately wanted to go after the assassin. But when the Kestrels reached the top of the building where the man had seemingly been struck down by Otieno’s magic missiles, they found only some dried blood and a discarded, empty bottle of Laumspur. Kell fumed. “We had him! We had him, but we let him get away,” he snapped at no one in particular. The others coughed softly to themselves and looked away. Otieno opened his mouth, then shut it and shook his head negatively in response to a quizzical look from Kell. The ranger wanted to abandon their gladiating, and even set aside their quest for the Shard of Gareth, in favor of pursuing the “despicable Cener.” Brogun spoke slowly. “No. We have given Akevi our word that we will determine the cause of her gladiators’ deaths. And we have sworn to retrieve the Shard.” He stared up at Kell. “Have you forgotten your vow to Ilthian, the dryad?” The Herbalish actually screamed in frustration, his voice ringing out through the surrounding slums: “We shall track you wherever you go, Cener. Know that!” = = = That evening, the Company discovered another indication of their foe’s prowess. Earlier, Brogun had protected a chest with a glyph of warding and stored some spare gear and money within it. Upon opening it, he discovered a neatly written message. Kestrels — I desired only to conduct a pleasant business transaction, but you had to resort to violence. So be it. — Nasir al-Faraj “At least we know his name now,” Otieno pointed out, trying to look on the bright side. [Although inexplicably, the party would fail to act on this information until it was almost too late.] = = = Nasir prowled through the bazaar, unconsciously jingling the fat coin-purse at his side. He absently peeled flakes of skin from his sunburnt face, flicking them to the ground, where they were immediately devoured by starving gutter dogs. The Kestrels had taken him by surprise. He was not used to that. Normally surprise was his ally. Nasir nodded to himself. She will be again, he thought to himself. After several hours of searching and inquiring, he located a merchant who could procure for him that which he required: several potions with which to augment his defensive capabilities. A substantial bribe, paid for by the money Nasir had taken from the Kestrels, induced the merchant also to acquire something special: a brooch of shielding. With those protective devices, plus his own ability to cast resist energy, Nasir felt confident he would survive yet another engagement with the so-called Kestrels. They, on the other hand, would not. = = = Some signs of their investigation into the drug-making operation pointed the Kestrels toward Volpone Venazzi, the brutish gladiator and boss of the Sand Net stable. They decided to trail him to his home one night. After an almost comical amount of bumbling around, Kell (using his ring of the chameleon to disguise himself) created a diversion and lured Volpone away. The (lawful good!) dwarves then broke into his house and ransacked it, locating several medals that Volpone had won in the arena, as well as some incriminating-looking papers. Pocketing everything, Brogun and Kednor fled the area. Kell led Volpone on a merry chase through the city before using stealth to slip away and return to the arena, with the brutish gladiator none the wiser. After the Kestrels re-organized themselves, they headed to Akevi’s quarters to show her the documents. It turned out that Volpone kept extremely detailed financial records which indicated that he had been systematically skimming money off the top of his stable’s profits. If word of this were to get out, the gladiators in his stable would likely riot and demand their back pay, while Commissioner Hafiz would have Volpone arrested. “Assuming that fat slimeball isn’t in on it,” Akevi muttered under her breath. Brogun cleared his throat. “We could blackmail him,” he ventured. “Who?” Akevi exclaimed in alarm. “Volpone.” The room grew so quiet that one could hear the crinkling of the papers as Akevi nervously laid them on her table. Brogun pressed on. “We tell Volpone that unless he divulges his role in the gladiators’ deaths, we’ll go public with his embezzlement scheme.” Akevi leapt to her feet and managed to stammer out a warning. “You’d create a total… total…” “Clusterf--k?” Brogun offered, grinning. He began to warm to the idea. “In the confusion, we can also search Hafiz’s office, and check out that alchemist’s laboratory for good measure. Then we’ll challenge Volpone to a match and finish him off, which should solve everything.” Abruptly, Kednor’s voice rose above his master’s. “I shall not go along with these criminal acts,” he boomed out. “This is the path to damnation.”  [DM's note: the players took me by surprise, and I had to ad-lib huge portions of the game. Using Kednor to enforce alignment restrictions was my was of reganing control while simultaneously deflecting their attention from my lack of preparation. Hamfisted? Yes. But it worked.]</blockquote>

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