3. Big "Bust"
General briefing hall
Today you are in the magical affairs briefing room for assignments with that unit. dozens of officers sit in the briefing hall sipping coffee or chatting politely before the meeting. You took one sip of the institutional coffee before deciding dirty water would be tastier. Some officers have nodded or given congratulations on the big bust last week. Tan Lu is off site at some headquarters budgetary planning session so you are waiting with all the other officers in the dayshift briefing hall for today's assignement.
Sergeant Zedong is standing near and nods to you "Morning, heard you might be dropping in. I got my recruits but they are even more green than your team" As he nods you see that there is literally a green skinned aberrational human arguing with a dwarf whose hair it tied up in a top knot and is wearing a Gi. (Rolf) "These two lovebirds have not stopped arguing since the moment they met." (explain aberrational humans and describe him as heavily muscled)
(Bump into some other cops. Interact with people some.)
Fae Li - Asked about why she didn't marry Wei Long (rich noble) "Well if I only needed to produce a few kids to have a life of luxury I sure wouldn't be here." Maybe Make a semi-bitter statement about how her blood will probably help her get promoted.
Theo - Ripped on for looking like he needed intervention not briefing. Maybe have someone ask him if he was related to Knight Commander Adralestos. "Aren't they a big deal in Albienne why are you down here?"
Giera - "Hey, how is your father doing. We all heard about the attack. I hope they catch him soon. We have crooks attacking cops in broad daylight and all the news talks about is the brawl where those berserkers were killed. Talk about lack of perspective!"
Fae Li - Rolf he Dwarf asks something about thule insight. Can you make people do what they don't want to? Also interested how much you get of the past memories.
Claudia - "your dog spooked horse. You should have requested a friggin pony. Ponys don't spook my mare." (diplomacy to improve opinon) You don't look like someone who fights fires.
Morning briefing
The ceasation of the susseration of sound cause you to notice the day shift manager has entered. The Lieutenant is a tall dark skinned Thule female with a no-nonsense air of command. "Good morning people, finish your coffees and listen up."
She holds up a tablet and the room quiets for a monent. You then here Chen Wei (mumble) "To everyone walking the beat today, keeping our city safe from abberations - remember "if you see something, slay something."
(The lieutenant briefly grimaces and a titter of laughter courses through the room before the lieutenant barks out orders.)
"Ok folks looks like we have a big operation tomorrow, so you should go to Ministry HQ tomorrow if I call out your team name today. Teams 2 ,5,7,13, and Flex/Legion.
All other teams will be working double shifts tomorrow since we wil be down half our folks. *groans all around the room* But for today you have your normal routes and assignments. Be on the lookout for a dark complexioned man with braided hair. He may be carrying a spear or a long wooden case probably lead lined. If you see him request backup immediately.
You have your assignments so get out there and get moving people.
Flex/legion please report to my office for additional briefing."
Xumin's briefing
(in a small sparsely decorated office Leitenant Xumin towers over you all except Theo who she is eye to eye with. Up close you can see some Seth tribal features such as dark skin and curly hair made to look straight by being pulled back into a tight braid.
She stares at each of you in turn.
(Let them sit a bit, watch them squirm. She is detecting evil on each as they wait.)
Pick a leader based on behavior/eye contact. In tie order of selection is Fae Li > Giera > Theo > Claudia
"(person picked)? For today you are acting sergeant of the Flexible Arcane Investigative Legion.
Don't let it go to your head, it just means you get your chops busted if your team screws up. I personally think you are all too green to be on the beat even if you did good work last week. A team of recruits means mistakes and mistakes make us all look bad.
The news is filled with tales of your brutal slaying of half a dozen criminals from another precinct in broad daylight. We can't even give our side of the story until operation Coldwater goes live and we collect the rest of that gang.
If you weren't also the heroes of that university explosion you would be on desk duty for life. We aren't killers, we are ministers of the law. As it is Gepaki and Psapsa have been placed on administrative leave pending the inquiry since frankly they should have known better. Not that they haven't been in trouble before.
Look, I don't have a route for you today so go to central and see if they have anything for you to do. And try not to kill anyone until this affair blows over. Oh and Claudia, get your dog out of the stables pronto. I don't know who you blackmailed but a senior inspector in brickyard got busted back down to donkey with no warning so someone might be a bit bitter. Some rich lady who lunches with the mayor felt it was a crime you were passed over just because of seniority. Dunno if you are a social climber but we generally try to keep the politicians out of our affairs.
Ok go gear up."
Pick up gear / check out with whisper
(No potions of expeditious retreat)
(temp stripes for character promoted)
(3 comm orbs - I heard you requested more orbs. Only one is gonna be receiving most of the time.)
(Wardog is available) Peanut - "Oh boy a girl, may I sniff your bum. Oh boy oh boy! You smell good. Let me sniff your bum again, oh boy your friends have bums too let me greet them too." (dog is a hyperactive St. Bernard/yap-dog mix.
(-- censored by gm --)
What does party do
(If party looks around there are a large number of thugs on streets. Bunches of magical residue everywhere.)
Gather Information
Missing Pets
Explore the city
Mage missing in another district
Follow up previous affairs
Look for Lydian/Mattheus?
Check in on orphan boy/wild dogs/etc?
Head to central (go straight to encounter below)
Investigate with police
Get stopped by police. They are giving group a hard time about the killings. Giera can make a perception check to notice the grinning officer in the back.
"Heya Giera, I told the guys to give you a hard time. Personally, I still can't believe those sleazeballs were attacking bystanders like that. Probably tripping off some illegal substances like the guy who wounded Victor. Man what is the world coming to?"
(Unit her dad normally works. They have problem with a missing person call but asking around it sounds like lady was a user so we thought we would see if we could get some ministry folks to help us out. But thought we would bust your chops since we crossed paths.
What we know is that she missed her bridge night and no one has heard from her for a few days but we don't like idea of B&E into a user's home. Door is painted orange and you know what that means. Our captain likes to say "When magic's a factor call a contractor, that's what they call you guys. Well the polite term anyhow."
Info :
Gertrude Mann - age 54.
Address : 21 Jameson Way
(ministry records - Caster 3, son Guy Age 32. Specialties - alchemy, herbalism, conjuration. Sorceror - unseen servant, floating disk, reduce person; resist energy, locate object, make whole?)
Physical challenge.
You are standing outside a well kept brownstone. Mail is piled up outside the door. The front door is stained a vivid orange and a sign over the door Mann's alchemy. Ask about our finding service. The door has arcane tracery all over it including some old scorch marks.
Doors is locked (weak) painted orange to discourage solicitors and because it is spelled though not warded. Pick DC 20. (phantom trap on door) Police will stand outside until given the all clear.
Entry hall - CR 3
Inside the door you see the entry hallway is packed full of books and plants. Piles of books are stacked everywhere and potted plants sit precariously on towers of books. The hallway is literally filled with stuff to the point where Theo is unlikely to be able to move easily through the hall. Also the house is frigid making the outside comfortable by comparison.
(Actually anyone larger than small moving will risk an avalanche. Perception 25 Disable 20 10' bury zone 3d6 damage with 15' slide zone. 1d6) Characters in the bury zone take 3d6 points of damage, or half that amount if they make a DC 15 Reflex save. They are subsequently buried. Characters in the slide zone take 3d6 points of damage, or no damage at all if they make a DC 15 Reflex save. Characters in the slide zone who fail their saves are buried. Characters take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per minute while buried. If such a character falls unconscious, he must make a DC 15 Constitution check each minute. If it fails, he takes 1d6 points of lethal damage each minute until freed or dead.
(lady always casts reduce person to navigate hall or just had unseen servant restack everything if guests are coming.)
Dinning room
At the end of the hall you come to a dinning room. The table is covered with alchemical supplies with many flasks of frozen liquid. The room is even colder than the hallway and it looks like one of the pipettes was knocked down leaking ochre liquid onto the table and floor nearby. The plants in here are mostly dead and the house from here on seems thankfully free of books.
(cat broke some glass and a small slime mold has been let loose it is what is cooling the house. Giera may be able to make a dungeoneering check to recognize the substance)
Brown Mold (CR 2): Brown mold feeds on warmth, drawing heat from anything around it. It normally comes in patches 5 feet in diameter, and the temperature is always cold in a 30-foot radius around it. Living creatures within 5 feet of it take 3d6 points of nonlethal cold damage. Fire brought within 5 feet of brown mold causes the mold to instantly double in size. Cold damage, such as from a cone of cold, instantly destroys it.
Exploring
In general house is filled with plants. Most have not been watered for a week. The bedroom currently houses the cat whom is hiding because of the pipette fiasco. It takes a high perception to spot (+14 hide) It is a normal cat (very haughty, very spoiled - was familiar so still a touch smart) http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/familiar.html#cat "Persimmon"
Kitchen
In kitchen there are a bunch of chopped vegetables. An open cookbook. and a note pad. There is also an icebox (containing another vial of brown mold but contained to only chill the fridge.)
Summary
Looks like lady was cooking and left for some more ingredients. The police will fill out a missing person report. Maybe suggest checking where she could be going.
If party walks to nearby market Perception 15 to notice 2 missing pet signs.
Some careful research will reveal that she was hit by a wagon in nearby market after buying some fish. Taken to hospital where she eventually died. (Note: market has a number of missing animal posters and one missing child)
Panhandler
Heavyweight wino sees Theo and begs some silver off him. If pumped for info he will tell a tale "Hey I saw this thing the other night in the sewers it was a gator I tell you. Big as a whale and tall as a person. I was camped out down there before I was evicted by some other squatters" (If they press they may learn more about this squatter.)
Assisting with runaway wagons
While walking down the street you hear the sound of shrill whistles coming form the north east a few blocks away. What do you do?
The whistles are from Zedong's patrol. Rolf and Gruumsh are chasing an funerary wagon careening down the street with the driver madly flogging his horse to get away. (unsealed item buried below bodies on wagon were detected but now the leakage is about to cause other problems. The wagon outran the other group. Zedong had wagon roll over his foot when it was getting away so he is farther back limping to catch up.)
Hearsh Driver CR 1/3 XP 135
LE Medium humanoid (dwarf)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 120 ft; Perception +1
AC 17, touch 9, flat-footed 17 (+6 armor, +1 Dex, +2 shield)
hp 6 (1d8+2) 6
Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1; +2 vs. spells
Immune paralysis, phantasms, poison
Speed 20 ft.
Melee heavy flog +3 (1d8+1/×3)
Potions 1/day enlarge person (self only), invisibility (self only)
Str 12, Dex 9, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 4
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 11
Feats Weapon Focus (flog)
Skills Intimidate +0, Stealth +2; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception relating to stonework, +4 Stealth
SQ slow and steady, stability
Horse (panicked) CR 1 XP 400
N Large animal
Init +2; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +6
AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 9 (+2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 15 (2d8+6) 11
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +1
Speed 50 ft.
Melee 2 hooves +2 (1d4+1)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 7
Base Atk +1; CMB +5; CMD 17 (21 vs. trip)
Feats Endurance, RunB
Skills Perception +6
Two round after combat starts some undead forms climb out of the wagon and attack indiscriminately.
3 Human Zombies CR 1/2 XP 200
NE Medium undead
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
Defense
AC 12, touch 10, flat-footed 12 (+2 natural)
hp 12 (2d8+3)
Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +3
DR 5/slashing; Immune undead traits
Offense
Spd 30 ft.
Melee slam +4 (1d6+4)
Statistics
Str 17, Dex 10, Con —, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 14
Feats ToughnessB
Special Qualities staggered
One round later the real threat leaps from the wagon.
Ghoul CR 1 XP 400
CE Medium undead
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 13 (2d8+4) 17
Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +5
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +2
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +3 (1d6+1 plus disease and paralysis) and 2 claws +3 (1d6+1 plus paralysis)
Special Attacks paralysis (1d4+1 rounds, DC 13, elves are immune to this effect)
Str 13, Dex 15, Con —, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 14
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 14
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +4, Climb +6, Perception +7, Stealth +7, Swim +3
Languages Common
Disease (Su) Ghoul Fever: Bite—injury; save Fort DC 12; onset 1 day; frequency 1 day; effect 1d3 Con and 1d3 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Charisma-based. A humanoid who dies of ghoul fever rises as a ghoul at the next midnight.
2 rounds after engaging the ghoul Rolf and Gruumsh arrive to lend aid.
Vignette
(dwarf and orc officers arrive, orc blames dwarf for slowing them down, Rolf : I can't help it if dwarven temperment is to stand and fight. You should be better at running. Orcs run just about every time there was a battle." "Better a man who looks like an orc than a dwarf in a skirt who pretends to be Thule." "A skirt? It is a dwarven battlekilt" "It is a miniskirt and if you continue to wear one please shave your legs they are... disturbing..." "It is no skirt... hey what is wrong with my legs? They are good muscular legs!..." "But disturbing on a girl" "I am no girl!" "then why wear a skirt" "Acht, you are so going back to cultural sensitivity training!"
Wagon is loaded with faint unshielded magic items. Zedong arrives to take care of paperwork, freeing up party to move on.
Hospital deaths
a number of magical users have died after being admitted to Guy Claudius Hospital. Leverage what i know about hospitals processes and teams to make it hard to find anything.
Gertrude died sometime monday morning. (Actually Sunday night)
Deaths occur on Sundays. some staff only work sunday.
Party failed to find any other clues.
Jump to
Party should have had 2 more encounters but running late so skipped to next day)
The "bust"
Morning briefing at HQ :
Today you are in the central command briefing room. dozens of units sit in the hall. From the insignia most groups are from Market district. Chen Wei is at the podium regaling some Dwarven captain with some tale. After he finished the dwarf laughs heartily and Chen wei notices that the crowd is about ready for a briefing. He wanders over to the podium and starts speaking even befor eth room has grown quiet.
(mumble)
Today you are taking part of operation coldwater. There is a illegal item workshop in market district we have been keeping our eyes on for last few days since we got the report. It is also responsible for creating some of the so called "date rape" potions we have been trying to track down for the last few years. Market district daytime shift commander Torsen Vilhelm. He will give the rest of the briefing but stay safe out there and remember "You can eat with false teeth, you can't see with a glass eye."
(gruff and irish)
Aye, weahr gunna have ten teams do the bust itself while other teams is gunna set up a perimeter to shut down any breakout attempts of groups escaping form the warehouse before we shut it down.
Yah all gots tah bey on lookout for dey plainsman. They almost caught him hiding in market yesterday and afterwards dere was an attack on some schoolkids where a security guard was badly wounded. There could be more attacks on children unless we find this bastard soon and his blasted child eating weapon.
Now I am using market district teams to actually close the warehouse since they are normally in the area and won't attract any attention. The groups from other districts will be taking place of our normal patrols and outposts to free up market forces. (you hear a guy nearby grumble "geez we could have stayed home I guess 'Vilehelm' up there is just using us as security while his guys make the news" but he is hushed by his partner "Would you rather be working double shift? Who cares who makes the bust so long as we get the bastards")
Your team gets assigned to market gate. You get to check people entering the city.
(pick up gear)
(check out with whisper)
Gate duty
Fae Li's suitor (Wei Long) shows up with roses. Saw her at gate and decided to ham it up some for benefit of being seen by others 'pursuing'. (objective is to seen pursuing. noble half-blood suitor trying to woo. Subject of arranged marriage and she has been putting him off. Make him nice but not interesting. Wants her to quit work. Cool and funny, brought her gifts but partually doing it so his parents feel he is trying. Will let her know this. (Heading out of city to do some escavation. Recent rains uncovered som ruins in mountains he is excited as he is always looking for the ruins of Helen the city that was the original center of Helenese empire but it was lost in the war. (Albienne not Thule))
Entering city noble with shipment of magical goods. (illegal) Actually Albienne with a forged bill and a half thule in wagon. Will try to flee. Is nobels wagon They took it form shop for the heist. Even have a weak wand and staff in the wagon (staff is wizards staff, wand is weak flashlight or simular wastage item. Driver is a grumpy dwarf warrior, "nobel" is a albienne/thule wizard. Make them try to escape and wagon get ruined. There is a load of falchion hidden in the interior under the seat. (Perception 20)
Meet archmage lydian (mostly rp, he likes to lecture and wants to recruit new students particularly bright people) Wagon is being pulled by a surging mass of earth. (phantasmal steed learned form a gnome in dwarven lands)
Wearing battered orange robe pulled up concealing his face (he sunburns easily) His eyes shine like brilliant blue beacons glowing from his hood and virtually crackling with energy.
Wagon has a moderate unbound aura (carpet) and a strong bound aura (shield guardian).
He is a bit concerned since his carpet cut out in a suspicious manner if he had been flying at the time he would have died but there were some facinating runs uncovered but the recent rains. Only that unscheduled landing saved him from being several hundred feet up when the seal expired.
Lydian enjoys educating about stuff. (Connection for later) Need to escort to ministry HQ. He is in an wagon pulled by a pair phantom-steeds He has an oversized medallion with seven gems noting him as a very powerful caster. (He is actually 15th level but the Ministry has not deigned to give him access to 8th list spells for various reasons. This service might have been part of the payment to get him tested. He picked up a clay shield guardian of dwarven make. It interacts oddly and has some independence. It is on loan from the dwarves. (Powerful dwarf pulled strings since his son really wanted this.
Archmage Lorian Wizard(diviner)7/Loremaster10 - he only has up to 7th level spells since the city has never cleared him for 8th level. Partly because they don't have anyone to seal his spells and are afraid of him gaining any more power.
Permanent arcane sight running (useful in his line of work)
(Party then proceded to call in Lewellyn for aid and he enlisted the party in acquiring a spell "mindblank" from the guarded reserve at ministry HQ. The theft was bothch and alarm raised. Lewellyn had to go and deal and asked the party to shield Lydian for a few days while he makes inquiries into the charges of a traitor in the ministry. Says that is why he is there.)
Denouma Party reaches 3rd level. Have accuired a powerful ally though Lydian does not have access to any of his spellbooks. Also his amulet may not allow for casting of 8th list spells. Lewellyn may be able to deal or he may just feel that hiding Lewellyn is more important thatn the slight risk of unbound magic. (As Lydian can handle the minor phenoninon pretty easily. But with the spell up Lydian cant go out on the streets or he will glow like daylight to the ministry outposts)