The Shackled City - Golarion Prelude

[jkason]

Caytis Maggerin, half-elf magus

"Aw, come on guys," Caytis says. "You're getting all the fun."

Realizing he hasn't the talent to get a bowshot that won't put his friends at risk, Caytis drops his bow, drawing his quadrens out as he charges at the mottled creature still standing. Despite the arcane glow that marks his using magic to enhance his aim, the young half-elf's stab goes wide.

[sblock=actions]Free: drop bow
Swift: Use Arcane pool on Quadrens
Move/Standard:Charge attack the skulk (ending K14, drawing Quadrens as part of movement.

Arcane Pool Charge Attack Quadrens;damage (1d20+5=11, 1d6=4)[/sblock]

[sblock=mini-stats]Caytis MaggerinHP: 10/10 AC: 15(19) AC(T): 12 AC(FF): 13(17)
(values in parenthesis with Shield active)
Init: +02
BAB: 00 CMB/CMD: 00/12 ACP: -1 ASF: 00 Spot: +05

Conditions: Shield (1 minute), Charge (-2 AC until next turn), Arcane Pool (+1 attack w/ Quadrens for 1 minute)

Saving Throw Total Base Mod Misc Special
Fort: 03 2 +1
Ref: 01 0 +2 -1*
Will: 03 2 +1

* -1 Reflex (Wyrm Blooded trait)
** Conditional: Immune sleep, +2 vs enchantments, +4 vs acid

Weapon Attack Damage Critical Special
Quadrens +2 1d6 19-20/x2 1 pt bleed on crit
Quadrens, Spell Combat +0 1d6 19-20/x2 1 pt bleed on crit
Composite Shortbow +2 1d6 20/x3 Range 70 ft.

* Conditional: +1 attack with Arcane Pool enhancement.

Arcane Pool: 4/5 remaining

Spells Prepared:
* 0 Level (3): Prestidigitation, Detect Magic, Light
* 1st Level (2, DC 15): Shield, Shield[/sblock]

 

[ahayford]

The remaining skulk’s wicked grin fades as his companion strikes the flagstones. Svexyn slips through the rear door quietly, while Caytis charges through, eager to enter the fray. The skulk, fights on, knowing he is outnumbered. His once laughing eyes are now filled with a desperate madness. His blade moves defensively, but he cannot deflect the onslaught of an entire group.

A quick deflective blade and a shoulder strike push Caytis’s strike wide, but the move leaves him open to Wilbur’s quick stab. Marcus brings his flail to bear once more. The heavy iron balls smashes into his face. A few teeth clatter on the floor as he recoils from the blow.

Nia smiles at the creature. Maybe you’ll listen to me now, yes? Nia’s scream strikes the creature squarely, launching him off his feet. By the time he hits the ground, his spirit has already left his corpse behind.

The group scans the room for any more ambushers and finds the store room devoid of any further threat.

Marcus prods one of the skulks with his boot.

These two are decidedly more deceased then I would have liked...

A small groan can be heard from the back of the room as Keygan shifts boxes and piles of ingots off his bruised and battered body.

Thank goodness! I thought for a moment that was it for poor Keygan. On any other occasion I might find the experience of getting rescued by band of adventurers exciting.

Keygan brushes himself off and begins to compulsively re-stack the piles of raw materials just as they were before he was abruptly tossed into them.

You have to understand, they never told me they were taking children. Just a few street folk here and there...no one that would be missed. I’m not proud of what I did, but they forced me to help them.

Keygan finishes his stacking them turns to the group. The withering stares of the party are palpable in the air.

L...L...L...et me start at the beginning. Gnomes aren’t very common here in Cauldron... But it wasn’t always this way. Back when the city was founded, Surabar granted the governance of the domains below the city to two of his allies: the gnome wizard Jzadirune and the dwarf warrior, Hathan Splintershield. The earth beneath the city is riddled with ancient basalt tunnels and dormant lava vents. It was a brilliant move really. He granted his allies lands equivalent to the entirety of Cauldron itself, and he provided the city a line of defense against anything that might poke its way up from down below.

Keygan smiles at Surabars brilliance, but withers under the groups quiet stares.

A...A...Anyway...the gnomes and dwarves built a beautiful city, one to rival even Cauldron in scale and housed as many gnomes and dwarves. The wizard Jzadirune lead the city to become a haven for crafters and artists. Before long, it was known throughout Golarian as a source of fine art and wondorous magical artifacts. Gnomes from far and wide came to Jzadirune’s city to learn or perfect their art, staying just long enough to pass on their skills to another before moving on. The city became more of a commune then a city before long. Paintings and sculptures covered every wall and hallway. I remember it so vividly.

Jzadirune flourished for many years. It was such a magical place to grow up in. A perfect place for a gnome to settle down...as much as any of use do. There was always something new and amazing happening.

Keygan sighs.

And then, the Vanishings began. People would wake up one morning and slowly fade away....literally go translucent slowly before your eyes...until they simply vanished. It was only a few people at first, but then entire branches of the city just up and vanished. The city was abandoned. I remember leaving the city with my family, leaving all our worldly possessions behind lest it bring some of whatever taint lived down there with us to the surface.

My family lived in Cauldron for a short time, but my father and mother felt the wanderlust and left for new experiences. Cauldron was so new to me then. So many humans, elves, and other talls. The sky was so huge above my head....I decided to stay for a while.

But now I've stayed for too long...gotten complacent and set in my ways...


Keygan laughs and pulls at his greying hair.

I longed for my days in Jzadirune again...it was just that kind of nastalgic thinking that got me into this mess. The locksmithing business has gotten so tiresome. I’ve built, rebuilt, and disassembled about every mechanism I can imagine. My masterwork vault currently defends the city’s treasurey. There was nothing more for me here. I had tapped all the new experiences I could from Cauldron's well. I could feel the bleaching beginning...

So I bought this house, not because I wanted a new storefront, but because it was constructed over the last remaining entrance to Jzadirune. I found my mother’s old spell book and started puttering around with illusions. Even managed to summon myself a familiar. I thought I was so smart...so brave. Thought I was some kind of adventurer...

Keygan points to the door leading to the spiral stairwell.


I dug open the entrance over the course of a week. When I finally gathered the courage to go inside, I didn’t make it ten feet. Those creatures were waiting for me. Probably heard me making a racket digging for miles underground. There were others with these creatures. Shorter, smellier ones dressed all in rags...never did see their faces....and taller ones similarly garbed....In addition to ones like these fellows here, with the chameleon skin...


Keygan stops to stare at the now purple skin of the two slain skulks.

Fascinating....

Keygan suddenly snaps out of his reverie.

They took my familiar down, deep into the darkness of that place and brought me back here. When they figured out that I had built most of the locks in the city, they forced me to forge skeleton keys for all my locks so that they could move freely throughout the Cauldron. I made them out of lead, hoping they’d break more easily...but they just forced me to make more. The beasts threatened to kill my familiar, and then me, if I did not comply. I know I am a coward...but you must believe I meant no on harm. They said they were just taking street folk....not children...

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

Val listens closely to the little Gnome's recitation, feeling his face warming as an unfamiliar anger begins to grow in his breast. Finally there's just too much to contain, and it comes pouring from him in a torrent.

"Just street people? Just street people? Because a person has no family, no connections and won't be missed they're fair game? And now it's come to CHILDREN?" A nasty suspicion begins to grow in the priest's mind. "Taking them for what, exactly, Gnome? Did you ever even ask to what hell the dregs of Cauldron are being taken?"

 

[Fangor the Fierce]

Svexyn's eyes stare at Keygan. The words he mutters are slow, yet careful. "I am a street folk... you allowed them to hunt those like me. You were a mentor, yet turned your back on those like me.... you turned your back on me."

 

[ahayford]

Keygan's mouth open and closes for several seconds as all blood drains from his face.

W..w..what? No please...I didn't meen...

Keygan looks at Svexyn, then down at his feet.

I do not ask you to forgive me for what I've done Svexyn. It was so easy to justify my cowardice. The creatures would come and go in the night, rarely ever contacting me. When they did it was to drag me to the forge to make new keys.

Keygan looks at the Skulk corpse again.

I never really slept. Every second I lay in bed, I feared one of those skulks was just waiting in my room for me to fall asleep...That I'd awaken to cold steel at my throat...or worse...

I do not know where they have been taken. I never asked. I assume somewhere in Jzadirune beneath the city. They spoke a language I did not understand amongst themselves.

 

[Dragonwriter]

Marcus just glares at the pitiful gnome, his fingers rattling off a steady beat on the grip of the slowly-swaying flail. He spits on the floor of the shop and breaks gaze with the gnome, looking around at his companions. "We should deal with him later. Right now, we've got more pressing matters. First, tell us why they turned on you now. Next, open the door down. We need to find where they took their captives and bring them back."

 

[Shayuri]

"Calm...down..." Nia says. "What's been done be terrible, but we can still make tings worse if we try. An angry head don't make good decisions."

She takes a deep breath, then says, "We cannot be de only ones who know of dis. If we go down and never come back out, de secret die wit us. On de odder hand, time be important too. If we go now, we might save people who be dead if we delay."

"It be fortunate den, dat we know a gnome who wants to start to atone for de tings he was forced to do."

Her eyes fix on Keygan. "Can we trust you, Keygan, to go an' tell yer story to de city guard, while we go below to save de ones who be taken...and yer familiar while we be at it?"

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

At the wise-woman's words, Val takes a few deep breaths. "Right you are Marcus, Nia. The captives must be freed first, then we can weigh whatever actions Keygen takes to redress his wrongs in his judgement. But I think he shouldn't tell the guard at this point; we don't know which of them we can trust for sure. I'd say he should deliver the message to my father at the Drunken Morkoth; the Cardinal is wise in the ways of Cauldron, and will know what to do if we should not return within . . . what, two days?"

 

[Dragonwriter]

"Your father and the Church of Saranrae. They can involve the guard if they so choose and have a better idea of which guards are worth trusting. So few these days..." Marcus adds to the discussion.

"But we've got to go down there and soon."

 

[jkason]

Caytis Maggerin

[sblock=ooc]Yoinks! Lots happened overnight, I see. [/sblock]

Caytis didn't say much as the gnome told his tale and Val vented his spleen. He was too busy fuming at himself. Trapped outside, having to rely on someone else to open a door for him since he hadn't the strength to bust it down like Marcus might have, then managing to fail spectacularly when he finally entered combat. All that studying, all that training, and he was still just a fool swiping at thin air in a fight.

Focus, Caytis. Past the conflict in your blood. Channel it. Use it. Prove yourself better than the accident of birth that's marked your skin.

Then Nia--as the "uncivilized" woman was increasingly capable of--talked sense. As the others offered modification to the plan, Caytis realized all his internal strife was of no use to the innocents held below. He moved to the back door to retrieve his bow from where he dropped it, and nodded as he secured it again.

"I think we've got ourselves a plan, then," he finally says aloud. He points to the stairwell with his quadrens and smiles wickedly.

"Let's go skewer some more predators, shall we?"

[sblock=mini-stats]Caytis Maggerin
HP: 10/10 AC: 15(19) AC(T): 12 AC(FF): 13(17)
(values in parenthesis with Shield active)
Init: +02
BAB: 00 CMB/CMD: 00/12 ACP: -1 ASF: 00 Spot: +05

Conditions: None
In Hand: Quadrens

Saving Throw Total Base Mod Misc Special
Fort: 03 2 +1
Ref: 01 0 +2 -1*
Will: 03 2 +1

* -1 Reflex (Wyrm Blooded trait)
** Conditional: Immune sleep, +2 vs enchantments, +4 vs acid

Weapon Attack Damage Critical Special
Quadrens +2 1d6 19-20/x2 1 pt bleed on crit
Quadrens, Spell Combat +0 1d6 19-20/x2 1 pt bleed on crit
Composite Shortbow +2 1d6 20/x3 Range 70 ft.

* Conditional: +1 attack with Arcane Pool enhancement.

Arcane Pool: 4/5 remaining

Spells Prepared:
* 0 Level (3): Prestidigitation, Detect Magic, Light
* 1st Level (2, DC 15): Shield, Shield[/sblock]