3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)

[JoyWonderLove]

Spoiler: Downtime conclusion

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A sigh. “Here I stumble into your office, only to steal precious time prattling of transferring crooks out of situations they might well deserve. To say little of those murdered. That deserves far better than James’ silence; let alone my neglect.” A frown formed plainly while she reached for sai in her pocket like a child would a stuffed animal, only to find it completely missing. She groaned irritably at herself for expecting any better after rummaging for rumours in Thieves Guild territory.

“For however many coppers its worth, I know someone that would be interested to hear all this. Let’s see if your Sinois issue isn’t lock and key to both our troubles.” She buttoned up the top button of her bulky overcoat unnecessarily.

“Thank you for your time, Miss Vale.”

Spoiler: Jbe will never read this, so

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BARBRAAAAAAAAAAAA. WE NEED TO TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALK.

Stepping into the room filled with endless stacked crates covered in runes, Spoiler breathed deep the surprisingly not stale air of a sealed vault, and breathed out loudly, exhilarated.

“This is it. This is the real closer for last night. Six vaults and a few hours making the undead take a dust nap, then we’ll open up opportunities for hundreds of people. That’s possibly thousands of families that won’t have to turn to crime for coin!” She grinned. “Can you even imagine how many lives that could improve? Even outright save?! The library book is nothing compared to that.”

Oracle offered up the idea of splitting between the sleek footed and strong armed, but it was the implied potential to ambush the inquisitor or bossy little boy that made Spoiler pause. Barb always does her homework. What the hell did she even dig up on these two last night? When due process was lower on the priorities of the heir to the Justiciars than a potential jump and dump, the noble and inquisitor had to both be viciously guilty of ugly past-times. The rogue nodded.

“Really love the top down approach, Oracle, and I’m with you to make this mission happen. But I already told ya last night; that’s not my name.” She reminded breezily. “Although, funny thing you mention our guest from the church. You remember when I spoke to Inquisitor Strange yesterday, before any mention of their army? He told me enough gold might make things move, but it’s suspect if even holy warriors give too much of themselves. It reminded me of that parable about the foxes, as biblical as that gets.”

Anything major happens to Azrael, the subtle message hinted to Kate and Barbara went, and we trigger an army marching to steal Fox’s wealth. No matter what questionable declarations the holy man made about what The Merchant’s Guild did inside its vaults, it was better to let Azreal waltz safely through the night unblemished. Spoiler couldn’t rightly claim she wanted to harm a child tied up in criminality, either. The younger the mind, the more time they had for improvement. But she had seen Oracle render hardened criminals helpless if unharmed, and strong ones at that.

“Still, like I said, I’m with ya.”

The boy’s lithesome little form produced the sai she thought had ended up serving some Fort Clinton low life, and she laughed, her good cheer returned. It certainly wasn’t the first time a sticky-finger child had gotten the best of her – she had lived too long in the Narrows for that – and she had done similar in good spirit before. But then Damien went from mocking sarcasm to antics refreshingly fitting his age, not trusting her to understand certain basic nuance. Ah, but if he thinks me so foolish, I made an obvious mark yet. Truly a shocker, the hug being too much.

When he tossed it at an awkward angle, Spoiler sprang back comfortably to snag her sai midair, entire weight carrying end over end, and the splayed fingers of a single hand meeting the floor expectantly, before catapulting her body backwards into an upright stance. Unable to hide her pleasure at the one handed back handspring, she found the receding form of the noble already swiftly shooting off into the air attached to a mechanized grappling hook she had never known existed. This she eyed wistfully, before touching the black leather hiding the silver symbol.

“Estanna, if you ever wanna give your girl something nice for helping keep the Merchant’s on their feet...” she muttered this before finally climbing the stairs up.

Spoiler: Splitting up, Feathersnow, etc

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Dunno if you’d find it boring to “split up” while ebard is AFK, Feathersnow, so it’s not like it’s wrong to stay with us (only if you want to) instead. I personally want to go to the top floor because I think that’s where the mezzaine (dungeon?) is; if we go there asap, the rest is probably easy. But go where you like. A paladin is probably the safest person to be beside in her.

Spoiler: Taking 10s and rolling 20s.

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Take 10s,

Tumble/Perform: Weapon Drill (24/16) to catch sai and tumble with it.
Move Silently: (25)
Hide: (25)

Rolling,

Search: (1d20+10)[27]
Spot: (1d20+7)[12]
Listen: (1d20+7)[23]
Appraise: (1d20+3)[14]

[JbeJ275]

"Goddam Idiot Waynes." Murmurred Barbara as she raised one arm, letting Juluis fly from it with instructions to follow Damien and return to her if anything like fighting started. She then began to follow Spoiler up the stairs warily, checking any writings on the stairs describing contest as she went up. Occasionally breaking from doing so to talk with Spoiler.

"Umm Spoiler, sorry for messing up with the calls. I'm still new to this sort of... getting my hands dirty I guess. I've got way more expierience with the intruige where everyone's sitting behind desks and I just have to figure out whose corrupt with some magic and some searching and then kick it up the chain. The whole... mask.. cape.. weapons and lies and criminal conspiracies I actually have to runn through the night with I'm really still figuring out."

[JoyWonderLove]

“Oh, no big. Really, it’s actually a great sign. Like a pedigree puppy making peace with some stray cat.” Spoiler giggled into her mask. “Besides, wouldn’t it be way more worrying if all the lying and masks and stuff was actually second nature to you? Like, if I don’t have integrity, I can still spend the rest of my life fleecing low lives and making bank. Maybe even buy off the Bard’s Guild so me and Robyn can pick up right where we dropped off. But if you don’t have integrity?”

Spoiler put away her sai after a preliminary check Damien hadn’t damaged it, and drew her dagger as they approached nearer the top of the stairwell. “The wolves get their pick of the slaughter. There’s little point turning to Watchmen when even the House holding the reigns is about as trustworthy as your local crimelord. It wouldn’t take long before most realize real justice is only a dagger’s throw away, and night starts bleeding into day. And I could make it in that world, too, I think, just fine. But I know too many that can’t, Oracle. So I don’t envy you going against your own nature, just to get the basic resources you need, to do the things you should have been able to do in the first place. But I’m happy to nudge a few pieces into place if it help you keep the boat from capsizing.” She stopped suddenly, looking behind to the wizard.

“Speaking of things going down. House Sionis: What do you know about it? What about its Manor?”

[Feathersnow]

Kate, stoic as always, watches the less encumbered members of the group climb with ease that she could only replicate with psionics, if even then...

She trundles forward, sure to not go ahead of the group.

[Molan]

Spoiler: Spoiler : The Opera House

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As Spoiler turned to walk out, Vale smiled and nodded.

"Sure thing sweetie. Any time. Feel free to walk through the front door next time if you find anything you think I might be interested in. Stay safe out there."

She smiled and winked as Stephanie left, and then walked away, turning back to admonish her apprentices some more.

Damien grappled up to the top level of the vault, and the party slowly began to work their way through the cavernous space.

Spoiler: OOC Note for party

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Please remember we have a new roll20 map up so once you've read through this prompt I encourage you to reference the map to help guide your exploration / decision making.

The place was dark, dusty, and gloomy. Moonlight shone in weak, ragged shafts from the skylight, cascading gently over the stacked crates and moldering walls. The Vaults were very much products of Gotham; ornate pillars held it's ceiling and higher stories aloft and great iron statues appeared to hold up some of the largest and most important balustrades. As the party worked their way through the first vault, they searched for all the promised dangers and wonders that Fox had advertised; signs of monsters, arcane energy outbreaks, traps, and/or treasure.

Spoiler: Damien

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Damien's decision to reach the topmost level was rewarded. The highest tier mezzanine only covered the very outermost ring of the building, adjacent to the walls on each side, with a wide open chasm in the middle looking down on the lower levels. The middle-most floor had large openings too, but it had a much larger surface area, with long sections that crossed from one side of the great old warehouse to the other. The bottommost floor was the largest, but from his high vantage, Damien could see that it was bifurcated into multiple rooms; by staring down from the top floor, he could see into some of the rooms that the rest of the party couldn't, but still others were closed from his sight. They'd have to search those manually.

He'd been right for another reason; the moonlight was strongest at the top level, and as he found time to adjust his gaze, he eventually began to take in his surroundings. He was perfectly well hidden from his perch, and was able to carefully make his way along the top level without making a sound. Finally, he'd been right about it's contents; down below the crates might have held run-of-the-mill magical weapons with weak enchantments, or low level spell scrolls or wands. But the horde up top was much more valuable. Here he saw a table, coated in dust, with an ornate golden pair of demons reaching up from it's center. Resting in their outstretched golden wings was a magical looking wizard's rod.

There, he saw a long display case, covered in some kind of crystalline glass cover, inside of which were several incredibly ornate magical rings, a wand, and a device he couldn't recognize. Some of the walls were covered in bookshelves, but the bookshelves held precious few books, and each of them was physically clasped in magical steel locks, and their spines crawled with latent arcane runes. In another area, he found a full alchemy lab (which was strange -- wasn't this cold storage?) and a series of incredibly expensive, rare looking potions and elixers. It went on like that; the top level was a mountain of platinum in waiting.

He didn't find much from his vantage on the floors below him, however. And he didn't hear anyone else moving around, besides his own party.

Spoiler: Barbara

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While she spoke with Stephanie, Barbara searched high and low, the two brooding nights walking behind them as they scrubbed the vault. The first room they found themselves was more like an atrium, filled with boxes containing basic magical materiel, like wand components. There were a whopping five doors leading out of it. They ignored most of them, pushing through the large metal doors in the center, and found themselves in what had to be the central great room of the vault. Two sweeping stone stairs went up around ten feet to a pedestal, before turning right and left another ten feet to reach the first mezzanine level. Somewhere up above them, Damien was probably still lurking, watching, but he was out of sight now.

They searched as they chatted, slowly making their way up the stairs to the second floor. Barbara had an easy time reading a lot of the magical writing on the items stored here; the second level held finished wands, blank spellbooks, crates of scrolls, magical arms and more. She combed through the area searching for the white crate Fox had mentioned, but came up with nothing. Eventually in one of the back corners they found some of the red "W" sigils Fox had warned them about. The area was trapped, and at multiple points Barbara managed to spot well hidden but telltale runes in place to trigger spells if any of them passed through their radius. Inside the trapped area was a pair of locked chests and a locked bookshelf.

Spoiler found another trapped area on the bottom most floor, but here, upon careful inspection, she discovered that the traps weren't blocking the crates that had been stacked up in their perimeter, but a secret iron door behind the crates. The door unlocked from the inside, and when they opened it, they found that it released into the alley next to the Vault. Barbara closely inspected the area around the door, and found the same sealing mechanism that had previously closed the main entrance to the vault shut.

Spoiler: Stephanie

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Stephanie and Barbara searched while they spoke. Barbara did a particularly excellent job identifying several magical run traps that even she herself had almost missed. Some of the traps were guarding clearly high valued magical treasure, Spoiler was able to determine that another set of traps was guarding a secret exit to the Vault. Barbara searched the area and confirmed the side door sealed when the rest of the Vault did. Still, it was an interesting inclusion.

The place was loaded with loot though -- her head began to spin at how many hundreds of thousands of gold pieces this place might be worth. Still though, she stayed focused on her mission. There was too much at stake to get distracted now.

The party pressed up through the main hall of the Vault onto the second floor. The place was huge, and packed with magical goods. After a good deal of searching though, they didn't find any trouble, and eventually Damien swooped down from the top floor to share as much with the team on the second level. Eventually they made their way back downstairs, clearing all of the side rooms before finally making their way back out again.

"Well that was uneventful." Spoiler quipped.

Barbara turned back towards the main iron doors of the vault, ensuring they were sealed tight, then turned a mechanical ring on the Void Key. Doing so brought the Void Seals back into position over the door, and she entered the key once more, turning it, and causing the strange mechanical sequence of arcane locks to repeat itself just as it had when she'd opened the vault, only this time in reverse. The "inner light" shining on the Vault's windows came back on, and the Void Vault was shut.

They repeated this process two more times, and each with no further eye opening discoveries. Both the Codex and trouble remained elusive, though each Vault brought a new surprise. For one thing, the layout in each Vault was similar...but not identical. In some places there were different arrangements of walls, where a wall from a previous vault would be missing or a new one would show up where none had been prior. The general layout -- the floors, the support pillars, the glass-like roofs -- this all remained static, but each vault was slightly unique.

Working off of their discovery from the first Vault, Barbara, Stephanie and Damien continued to look for -- and find -- traps. These trapped areas too were in different places and rooms each time, leaving no two Vaults the same. They also found that there were sometimes one, two or three secret exits to each vault, accessible only once the Void Key had cracked the building's outer seal. Each time they entered a new chamber, they found ever more incomprehensible treasures. Some of the artifacts they came across looked like they'd be enough to buy a small castle, all on their own.

In the fourth Vault, things got a little stranger. Damien noticed the rank smell first, and after entering Barbara's awareness of spellcraft helped identify that some of the physics in the place were...off. She picked a book off a stack and threw it into the air, where it hovered a long time before eventually slowly making it's way back down to the ground.

Ultimately, it was Damien that found the corpses. Several dead and partially decayed displacer beasts were rotting up at the top level. He reported it, and the party came running.

"Bloody things must have found some way in by accident." Oracle speculated, shaking her head.

"Wasn't that supposed to be impossible?" said Spoiler.

""Supposed to." Damien quipped.

Eventually, further searching found signs of ectoplasmic residue in another area of the fourth vault -- evidence, Oracle pointed out -- that there may have been some undead manifestations long ago. But whatever it was that had caused the mess, it was long gone now. Eventually they finished their sweep and resealed the Fourth Vault.

The fifth Vault passed without a commotion too, and the mission was beginning to look like the easiest stack of money they'd ever made. That was, of course, until they broke the seal on the final Vault.

Oracle immediately noticed a problem; some sort of strange, sticky, glowing substance was seeping out of the edges of the iron doors behind the seal. She investigated it as best she could but couldn't determine the substances' exact nature.

"What does it mean?" Stephanie asked.

"It means this place was contaminated. The reports about arcane leakage here weren't complete BS after all. Be on your guards in there."

The party entered the sixth and final Vault. Here too, they found a very similar -- but still "off" -- structure, slightly different than each place that'd come before it, and here too they found it filled to the brim with arcana. In the main atrium, several glowing blue puddles pooled around similar stacks of supplies, and they made care to step around them.

"I wonder if Fox knew." Spoiler wondered aloud.

"Knew what?" said Kate.

"I wonder if he knew what order we'd search the Vaults in."

"Hard to imagine how he could have. Why?"

"What, weren't you all counting?" said Spoiler. She looked out and received blank stares in response.

"The secret exits, dummies. The first Vault had one exit that we could find. Second had two. There were three in the third one."

"Wait a minute..."

"Are you saying there may be as many as six alternate entrances to this Vault, now that we've unsealed it?"

"All's I'm saying, Red, is that if you wanna bet on it, starting bid is 500 gold. There's gonna be more than a few alternate entry points to this sucker."

Oracle shook her head.

"We need to move quickly, then."

The party was standing in the sixth Vault's atrium. Here, there were five separate doors, just as before; two on the right, two on the left, one straight ahead. Experience at this point told them there would be stairs leading to the second floor beyond the door in front of them, but multiple rooms that needed searching to their left and right.

Spoiler: OOC

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Okay, so I pushed us forward a good bit for the sake of keeping us on track, but if anyone wants to take any actions during the search of the previous five vaults, you can create a Spoiler tab in your reply to do so. I'm keeping your take ten and rolled results from your checks, those have all been reflected in your IC discoveries and actions. I didn't have you take anything from the vaults, but if someone feels their fingers getting sticky just say so.

We're still not in turn order, but go ahead and roll for initiative now, just so that I've got it for reference when the time eventually comes. Let me know if I missed anything.

First move is to pick a door.

[MrAbdiel]

The child Damien is fairly unimpressed by the displacer beast carcasses; but the ectoplasm seems to bother him more. With a heavy sigh, he takes off his backpack, and fishes out a vial; a slim glass vessel filled with an opaque orange fluid, and a tiny word identifying it on the cork - 'Ghostblind'.

"If there are spirit-predators in the area, we can't afford for someone to be possessed. These are good for ten minutes until you go hostile, or start casting. Keeps dead eyes from seeing you, and dead ears from hearing. I recommend hanging onto it until it looks like we have trouble with something that doesn't breathe." He gives the vial to Azrael. And then produces another, and another, and two more; enough for the whole party, evenly distributed, tucking his own into a fold in his gi. "...And I want them back if it doesn't turn out that way," he appends, as if fearful of appearing thoughtful or generous.

"Clear the side rooms first. Can't afford to have some gutter-mage who has been squatting in these vaults and gearing up on supreme arcana come squeezing off fireballs from behind us, when we move into the main vault."

And with that, Damien moves to the closest door to himself - the one on the far right, and takes a moment to listen at its surface. If that yields nothing, he'll delicately try the handle, quiet as he can, and crack the door open enough to peek inside.

Spoiler: Rolls!

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Initiative - (1d20+5)[12]
Listen at the Door - (1d20+5)[12]
Open Lock if it happens to be locked and there is no noise - (1d20+6)[13]
[ROLL=Maybe Sleight of Hand to open the door quietly and discreetly?]1d20+10[/ROLL]

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Feathersnow]

Kate, being the muscle who barely even knows how to look for things, or what things to look for, steps behind Damien, ready to chop at anything that charges him.

Spoiler: initiative

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(1d20+1)[17]

[ebarde]

Azreal takes a step forward, going into a ready stance as he prepares for a possible fight. His eyes then glow in divine light, as he uses detect evil on the doors.


[roll]1d20-1[/roll]

[JoyWonderLove]

Spoiler: Jbe/Feather on the TG, Molan on the items

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@Jbe, Feather, the first part is the only one relevant to you. I’m basically mentioning the Sionis Manor and (more important) The Thieves Guild. It’s a request to coordinate against them by nudging institutions, and basically asking what you guys suggest for that? I’m worried they’ll target us if we don’t keep them off balance now. Let alone just beat them down?

@Molan, I mentioned that “Okay, any of you see a half decent looking dagger or piece of armour around, give it here? Fox wants these Vaults completely safe for volunteers later, and there’s no reason we can’t quality check a few goodies at the same time. Win-win, right? I’ll hand it back when Oracle does the key.”

You mentioned that if we’re interested in nabbing something we should speak up, but I’m settling for a middle ground approach? I’m basically rolling the dice that MAYBE I can get a rental on better equipment to help with the Vaults, but I kind of get it if that’s a little much for a player to put out there. Otherwise, gems! I’m fine liberating a shiny or three.

=Chapter 2, going from Vault to Vault=

“The way of it is,” the conversation continued in Vault one after they found what would become their only secret exit, while Oracle and Batwoman was near. “A source I met recently mentioned something worth hiding is going down at Sionis Manor. I’m not exactly suggesting it’s worth either of your time to chase rumours and hearsay with me when there’s bigger issues; Velnire – the Midtown Underboss? – he’s pissed about last night. No surprise; but we have to be known by now. Aliases, appearances, the like.”

No attempt was made to hide the worry in her voice, smooth the crease around her eyes. “I’ve already nudged a few people. If we’re lucky, they’ll deliver a nice gut punch to the Guild sometime soon. Keep them reeling, right? But I can’t promise anything actually comes of it, and a bunch of mercenaries are easy targets if we’re not careful, and the Thieves Guild aren’t kept busy.” The rough cool stone beneath her hand revealed no loose stones or false bricks, so the blonde turned away for lack of access to any secret door she could find.

“That’s why I’m going to check out Sinois Manor after all this. There’s huge potential for someone paying up for whatever details are dug up. I’m good with company with either of you are in, but I get it if you have better plans or ideas in mind. I’m not the knightly tactician or savvy diviner here. Any ideas on keeping the Thieves Guild occupied?”

***

Before Vault two’s gigantic metallic front door, Spoiler spoke up as the interlocking mechanisms clicked and ranked its way open after Oracle turned the key. “Okay, any of you see a half decent looking dagger or piece of armour around, give it here? Fox wants these Vaults completely safe for volunteers later, and there’s no reason we can’t quality check a few goodies at the same time. Win-win, right? I’ll hand it back when Oracle does the key.”

***

“So, seriously, do you actually work for Batman himself?” Spoiler asked in Vault four when she found Kate out of anyone’s earshot while they swept an empty chamber on the bottom floor. “How did you even get that kind of job? Were you bumping boots before that, or did’ja bust the same place and get to talking or?”

***

By the halfway point of the fifth Vault, Spoiler had accepted the entire evening was going to be effortless. “Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. I’m just a hobbyist uh-huh. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. A simple commoner duh. Oh, the Wayne’s ain’t got **** on me uh-huh! Never-mind Gotham City itself-uh! When’ve you last been relevant, huh? Sometime, past a decade!”

***

On the bottom floor of the sixth Vault, there was an odd tension in the air that hadn’t been found in all the previous sweeps. As Damien inched up to a door, Spoiler cleared her throat quickly as a subtle request to hold. Slapping a bolt into the hand crossbow and hopping up on the crate beside the inquisitor, she quickly crouched behind yet another rune covered crate before her. Staring down the middle of the crossbow to the door beyond, she gave the lightest whistle to indicate readiness.

Spoiler: Initiative

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Initiative: (1d20+5)[19]

[Molan]

Azrael stalked around the main atrium, working his way in between the stacks of boxes, and the blue glow in his eyes scanned each one of the five doors in turn. After he passed the first one, furthest to the right, he rapped his knuckles on it.

"This one's clear."

Spoiler: Azrael: Detect Evil (no peaking you scamps)

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The first door has no evil aura's behind it, but the second to the right door does; standing near it you can detect one faint evil aura. The centermost door is clearly filled with enemies, but whoever they are, they're standing at the very edge of your spell's range; you have to get right up to the door, but you can detect at least five separate auras, all of them faint.

The next door over is not compromised, but the final door, to the far left, contains something. This aura is moderate in power, and it's hiding only a few feet from the door.

Damien edged up to the door and manipulated it's handle. Locked. He took out a couple of objects from his belt and began to fiddle with it, before being rewarded with a satisfying *click* sound and earning a mixed look of amusement and admiration from Spoiler.

Spoiler: Damien

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You're able to pick the lock with little effort. You slide inside the room silently and find it's about 30 ft. wide and 30 ft. deep, and mostly just filled with more arcana supplies. However, you do find two chests in here, each with high quality locks. One of the chest's appears to be trapped.

Spoiler: Oracle and Spoiler

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***In the Fourth Vault***

After scanning around the first floor, Barbara read some of the arcane script on one of the cases and pried it open, revealing a stack of scrolls within. She took a handful out and the party moved up to the second level to search it. Eventually, Oracle found several weapon and armor racks and called Spoiler over to them.

"Would this do?" she asked, proferring what looked like an elf-made dagger in an elegant sheath. Spoiler inspected it, and it was clearly enchanted, but also unidentified, and she didn't have any means of solving for that.

"I mean, maybe?"

Barbara just smiled, and took out one of the scrolls she'd secured from the bottom floor.

"I can't imagine Fox can afford to part with too many of these, but there are literally like a hundred of them down there."

She held the scroll aloft, holding her hand outstretched in the direction of the dagger, and read the arcane words. Spoiler could feel a familiar sickening feeling as arcane magic swelled invisibly in the air, and several white glowing runes appeared in the air in front of her as the page slowly disintegrated in her hands.

"Holy crap!" Barbara blurted, covering her own mouth as the exclamation spilled out. "Listen to this!"

Spoiler: The Dagger - Identification

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The Dagger Barbara identified is a breathtaking Mithril Blurstrike Dagger of Deadly Precision, +2. In addition to the powerful enhancement bonus and special materials, this weapon causes an enemy to be flatfooted the first time you strike him with the weapon each round, up to 10 times per day. Any successful sneak attacks do a whopping extra 2d6 points of damage. The item is, neatly put, priceless, and a quick appraise check marks it at around 73,000 gold pieces retail.

"You sure you wanna lift that? Fox is definitely going to notice."

Spoiler grinned sheepishly. "Well, I mean, I was going to give it back..."

But they both stood there for a moment longer, considering the breathtaking amount of wealth Stephanie was holding in her palm, and what the implications were for the total contents of the rest of the vaults.

Azrael began to gesture towards the other doors.

"Trouble here," he said, pointing towards the second door to the right. "And here...and...here." he pointed in turn towards the middle door, which concealed the main hall, and the leftmost door. Only the rightmost door and the middle left door apparently did not contain danger. The paladin drew his sword.

"Does anyone have a preference?"

[Feathersnow]

Kate says "turn around, and hold on a second..." she gets out her dorje and uses shield once Azrael either averts his eyes or makes it clear he won't.

Spoiler: Spoiler

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"I don't actually know Batman personally, no. I just feel inspired by him. And implying I am with him makes me scarier. And fear keeps people honest."

The fact she blushed at the implications the follow-up question was hidden by her helmet...

"As for that, no... I haven't met Batman, but he isn't really my type. If you understand my meaning. And I'm seeing someone. Anyway...

No, I just retired my commission and realized I was in a position to help.

[MrAbdiel]

Damien has a moment to spare while the inquisitor does his determinations; so he puts his tools to work on the non-trapped chest in the little room.

Once he’s done there, he emerges and hears Azrael’s report and, once again assuming unearned authority, gestures to Kate and Azrael, and then to the remaining unopened door on the right; before flattening himself against the wall beside it.

Spoiler: Actions!

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Take 10 for 18 picking the lock (forgot my masterwork tools last time!)

And then take 10 for a 27 to hide, awaiting the platies to open the door to dangertown USA.

[JbeJ275]

Spoiler: Talking with Spoiler and Batwoman

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“The way of it is,” the conversation continued in Vault one after they found what would become their only secret exit, while Oracle and Batwoman was near. “A source I met recently mentioned something worth hiding is going down at Sionis Manor. I’m not exactly suggesting it’s worth either of your time to chase rumours and hearsay with me when there’s bigger issues; Velnire – the Midtown Underboss? – he’s pissed about last night. No surprise; but we have to be known by now. Aliases, appearances, the like.”

No attempt was made to hide the worry in her voice, smooth the crease around her eyes. “I’ve already nudged a few people. If we’re lucky, they’ll deliver a nice gut punch to the Guild sometime soon. Keep them reeling, right? But I can’t promise anything actually comes of it, and a bunch of mercenaries are easy targets if we’re not careful, and the Thieves Guild aren’t kept busy.” The rough cool stone beneath her hand revealed no loose stones or false bricks, so the blonde turned away for lack of access to any secret door she could find.

“That’s why I’m going to check out Sinois Manor after all this. There’s huge potential for someone paying up for whatever details are dug up. I’m good with company with either of you are in, but I get it if you have better plans or ideas in mind. I’m not the knightly tactician or savvy diviner here. Any ideas on keeping the Thieves Guild occupied?”

"The issue is, the city shoudn't be relying on strikes by well meaning mercanries and vigilantes just to do the day to day job of keeping criminals on the back foot. But the people who shoud do that, the justicars are corrupt, or crippled by corruption from below, beside and above. Corruption we can't excise without proof or other corrupt organisations will stop anything getting done and ramp up the bloodshed for a while for winding them up. But... I can't get the proof I need alone. I'll do this job with you if you promise to help me secure the evidence I need to oust Bullock in another one later."

"Smart." Says Barbara after seeing what Kate's doing, as she then weaves Mage Armour around her own form. Staying perhaps ten feet behind the armoured forms opening the door, but ensuring she can see within when they open it up.

[Feathersnow]

After everyone is ready, the heavily armored woman opens the latch, steps back, and pushed the door open with her poleaxe.

[Molan]

Spoiler: Damien

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The chest contained what looked like the material components to build wands and rods, or perhaps all of the components were simply the materials required for spellcasting. Damien couldn't be sure, but he find several small bags of gems, 500 gold pieces, several silver and golden rods, and several bundles of enchanted threads, amongs a large assortment of junk.

Kate opened the door, revealing the next chamber beyond. It was a long, rectangular room, once again mostly cluttered with Guild goods. The room contained several prominent looking locked chests. At one end, several old archery targets made of rotten wood, straw, and leather strips laid in poor repair. A large weapon rack rested on the far wall. Several weapons were still in it, including a guisarme, a longspear, a greatsword, and a net. The weapons were clearly enchanted.

Spoiler: Oracle

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Assuming that you're still running with your search result from the beginning of the mission, which I think is only fair, the following occurs:

You notice a ring of what look like very feint carvings on the ground in the middle of the chamber, outlining a 10ft by 15ft area of the floor, in the general vicinity of where an archer using the practice targets would have stood. The carvings are covered in dust and almost imperceptible, but you've been on your game tonight and managed to pick out what's clearly a magical trap. You can move around the trap without triggering it either by moving along the far wall in front of the weapon rack, or by crawling over a pile of barrels on the wall closest to you.

Roll for Spot, but hide your result.

[JoyWonderLove]

Spoiler: Kate/Feathersnow, Barbara/Jbe, talking Thieves Guild strategy

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Spoiler: OOC

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Sorry if any of this comes across as a bit much; this will be my last long comment in the Vaults on the Thieves Guild. I wrote this to highlight +I presume+ there’s a real threat if we allow the Thieves Guild to have breathing room, but also to understand how you two feel about tackling them with Downtime. If you answer like ‘I’m still in a planning stage/the justiciars really are the answer/trust me I have an even bigger problem’, that’s a 100% perfect response and I’ll otherwise drop it entirely. Knowing ahead of time who’s helping me nip at them piranha style, and who’s focusing elsewhere, is useful and good characterization.

Spoiler’s head bobbed sideways as she regarded Oracle quietly. “Bullock – is a well-wedged bolder. Getting him out would safeguard Gotham’s families from threats above, and below. But maybe that’s besides your point? I’ll help you with Bullock any day you ask, so long as Robyn doesn’t need me more at the time. No trade needed or charge asked.” She folded her hands then and leaned back on the dark stone wall she had checked moments ago for secret entrances. “But your approach is like a chess player thinking four moves forward, and my peeking into the Manor is little more snakes and ladders. The dragon on our ass might well breathe hot either way. More immediate options would be great to get us to that long game.”

Spoiler tilted her head upwards, staring at the unknowable glass sealing, as though peering through and past it would reveal the answer. She gradually came to regard what was before her again, more focused. “Oracle, the Mage College has every noble family worth talking to in student, and faculty. The Thieves Guild also have their biggest stakes in Midtown and Uptown, and they’re thankfully too stupid not to piss where they play. Do you know any powerful nobles they stole from? Diviners with aspirations of becoming Bloodhounds? Abjurers with wounded self-worth for thieves getting past their barriers? Anyone we can bribe, barter or begrudge into bloodying the Thieves Guild would work here. I’m more than happy if you want to gamble with me on what’s going on over at the Sionis Manor. But I can’t promise it’ll help our self-preservation. Only that the information might be worthwhile.”

Ocean blue eyes flicked over to the armoured dame. “Batwoman? I missed the Herald article on what the armies of House Kane are looking like nowadays, but I’m guessing a military vet would never declare war on anyone lightly, let alone a big criminal organisation like this one.” Her expression eased for the obvious realization that Kate and her House were a force unto themselves, professional and strategic. “It’d be great if you could hint if you have any haymakers winding up for them, or to know if you need help gathering information to figure out where their safehouses or weaknesses might be to strike at. I’m not saying dish sensitive details when we met, what, a whole day ago? But there’s strength and security in numbers, and I’m hoping you’re not in the habit of turning down reserves.”

=Chapter 2, trouble unlocked=


Spoiler silently swung the weapon at hand and levelled it at the new door as Kate nudged it open, only for it to reveal absolutely nothing threatening. Rotten archery targets. A bunch of locked chest. Enchanted but untouched weapons. The blonde stared at the inquisitor, unimpressed. Sighing loudly to release unnecessary nerves, she pointed her crossbow up at the ceiling. The rotten strawman with a frown made of black thread looked dead at her with two brown button eyes, daring her to aim at his bullseye covered chest. She rolled her shoulders to help flush the tension from them.

“So, anyone else think we should double time this and be done with it? We’re not gonna find anything in here. Those displacer beasts earlier probably just starved and attacked each other for nothing else to gnaw on, and whatever ghosts are around obviously don’t like the living.” With that, Spoiler reattached the crossbow to the back sling she unsurprisingly dyed purple, and hopped off the crate with ease. The endlessly enchanted dagger she would have to return eventually was dragged from its sheath on her right, the old one snug on the left. “We can give a solid final search for the book after we’ve sealed all the secret doors and confirmed our only company is Cobblepot level wealth. Anyone that wants to, speak up or get into position now.”

Short of a sharp and strong demand not to, Spoiler strolled over to the leftmost chamber door that supposedly had trouble behind it as well, but adopted a wary stance despite herself. Years of surviving Gotham’s nightlife meant care and precaution, even when not strictly needed. She attempted to open the door.

Spoiler: Molan/chamber door

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So there’s five doors in this room, three detected some kind of evil by the paladin. I’m guessing we just opened the second door to the right and all that’s around us are evil items, so I’m going to the leftmost door to check. Open Lock is a 20 with Take 10. Total defensive action (+6 AC thanks to investing in Tumble ranks) if possible before opening the door, or at least fight defensively (+3 AC thanks to Tumble ranks).

[MrAbdiel]

Damien hears everything Spoiler says. And impatient as he is, he might agree with her; but his total lack of response suggests that either he didn't hear her, or he's obnoxiously omitting to respond to anyone's thoughts but his own. Once Batwoman nudges the door open and a quick scan shows no occupants visible, the black-clad child skulks swiftly between her legs, into the room proper, and gives it a sneaking patrol to make sure there's nothing hiding in a corner they missed. If there's nothing, he'll check over the door at the far end of the room - searching it swiftly for traps, then checking the lock - though not picking it, just yet.

Spoiler: Rolls!

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Search for Traps: (1d20+2)[4]
Spot for Hiding Enemies: (1d20+3)[15]

[JbeJ275]

Spoiler: Talking Thieves Guild Strategy

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Spoiler: OOC

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Super no worries about doing this, it is great fun. But I'm not sure how much downtime really will achieve here, the thieves guild is a big organisation and it goes against the spirit of batanning for us to really have too many forces besides ourselves to call on. I'm up for helping you nip at them but don't think I can funnel assets your way the way you described.

"I hate to tell you this, and maybe I've missed something you would have seen but the city isn't like this because the good guys are sitting on a pile of men, connections and other assets that they've just forgotten to use until now. If we get a new mage or noble in the fight against the thieves guild it'll be because we paid dearly for it, because we won it in a hard fought campaign or because we're taking them off of some other front we have to fight on."

"The way I see it there are four kinds of people in this city, the criminals and their corrupt lackeys, that's about a third of the justicars and the same number of low mages, plus houses Cobblepot, Nigma, Lawton, the New Dents and probably the Cranes too. Then there are those who know the first sort could have their families drinking seawater by the end of the week if they don't go along another half of each the wizards and justicars, plus more or less every other house out there, the third consists of... the people in this room, the batman, my parents, and a half dozen other justicars mages or guildmasters each. The forth kind consists of people who have either left this city or are saving for a ticket out as we speak. Frankly, they're the only one's I'm more than fifty perent sure are sane. Maybe you've got a better picture than me, and from the sounds of things your muuch better at getting the first kind of people to pick fights among themselves, but I don't have an army waiting in the wings to swoop in and take the pressure off everytime we pull something. Not until we can make one, and as you've said, that means breaking some boulders. Unil then, you've got me and if you'll back me, I'll back you.

"I wish Spoiler, this place is trapped to the hells and back, see these carvings? It's a magical trap of one kind or another, old stuff too. You might be right to move on but let me check this out first, if it's keyed as a seal or a containment trap it could give us some hints about what else is in here, and we'll need to mark it off if the workers are going to be in here anyway."

She then moves around the trap, and picks up and considers the net, aware she hasn't the training to use it well but considering it's possible enchantments.

Spoiler: Actions

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Gonna cast Read Magic, swapping out my detect to look over the nature of the trap, with a 23 spellcraft if needed.

She then takes a similiar position to the erlier one, facing the door that's next to be opened.

[Molan]

Damien brushed past Kate, Azrael and Barbara and slunk through the room. When he passed over the area near the weapon rack, a ring of runes, previously undetectable under the dust, began to glow in a 10x15ft square around him, and a burst of invisible magical energy erupted in the room, causing the party's stomachs to perform backflips while their hairs stood on end.

To the group's collective horror, as the magical trap was triggered, the weapon rack near Damien appeared to spontaneously grow a long tentacle, gripping the guisarme that had been hanging on it and sweeping it outwards, hooking at the boy's feet. Luckily, the trip attempt missed, but as the party watched in horror, the "weapon rack" began to grow several new appendages, wrapping them around the other enchanted weapons hanging there.

Spoiler: Damien

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Make a Will Save.

Spoiler: Spoiler

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Spoiler entered the room and found it also full of large boxes, however there were a couple of magical looking metal chests stacked in one corner. As she panned around the room, she felt a strange tingling sensation, and she became acutely aware that the room felt deeply cold. She suddenly couldn't shake the feeling that she was not alone. It started seem almost as though the shadows in the room were growing longer, or perhaps that the walls were bleeding - she couldn't tell whether it was a trick of her imagination. She stood immobile as the very thing they'd been worried about running into began to manifest in front of her; the long dead spirit of a man or a woman -- she couldn't really be sure. Whoever it was hadn't died well -- their neck looked ripped open and their eyes were gouged in the shape of stars.

The ghost lunged at her, and Spoiler braced herself.

Spoiler: OOC

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Make a Will Save.

Spoiler: Oracle

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It's a Confusion trap; it's existence appears to be independent of the Mimic that camped out next to it, meaning the trap was installed before the Mimic showed up. DC is ***18 :-/

[MrAbdiel]

He never did learn to mind his surroundings. The child now and often in a warring state of lethal, cold blooded skill and oscillating, juvenile curiousity, he had permitted the latter to gain power over the former. Just from the corner of his eye, he saw the rack move and the polearm lash for his ankles. From the ankles he springs and the weapon sings through the air beneath him - but the monstrosity that reveals itself is a thing to behold...

Spoiler: Will Save!

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Go ninja go ninja go ninja GO: (1d20+5)[19]

[JoyWonderLove]

Spoiler

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Will: (1d20)[11]

[Molan]

The trap's magic seemed to wash over Damien and he winced for a moment as he struggled against it's pull, but as the spell's attack dissipated, he blinked a few times and remained more or less unharmed and unaffected.

Spoiler: OOC

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Azrael get's to go first, we're in combat now so turn order is up (you should be able to see the turn counter on roll20 as well if you're looking for a neat snapshot). If I don't hear from ebarde after a reasonable amount of time I'll autopilot him.

Meanwhile, Spoiler stepped back out of the far left room, having apparently found it empty, and began to make her way back towards the sound of all of the commotion.

[Feathersnow]

Kate curses in Celestial, which is barely possible, and uses her psionics to attempt to change the initiative order so she can charge the abomination before it eats young master Wayne.

Spoiler: chance of failure

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(1d100)[80]
On a 10 or lower, I fail and suffer enveration.

If I succeed, I charge the mimic
(1d20+10)[25] to hit
[Roll]2d6+4[=roll] damage if I hit

[Molan]

Psionic energy swirled and time seemed briefly disjointed as Kate lurched -- or perhaps skipped -- ahead, past Azreal and into the room, where she appeared in front of the "weapon rack" and hacked down, center of mass, cleaving a bloody track of destruction and eliciting a howl of monstrous pain from the beast. Purple ichor-like blood splattered out onto the ground, covering some of the still-glowing runes on the floor.

[Molan]

Azreal eagerly burst into the room right after Kate, swinging his falchion high over his head and bringing it down in a brutal chop, putting his full weight into the swing. The blade glowed as he swung and as the sword cut into the mimic it unleashed a burst of holy energy. He unleashed a fresh new gout of ichor and the strange alien beast howled in anger.

As Azreal had leapt in, the glowing spear lowered from the rack to impale him but the tentacle holding it was too slow and he'd managed to duck underneath it. A third tentacle swung the glowing great sword at Azreal but that one missed as well. It began to seem as though the monsters injuries were affecting it's prowess. Along the top of the weapon rack, several yellow eyes glared at him in malice and pain.

[MrAbdiel]

Suddenly, the air was filled with deadly blades- but at least they weren't all aimed at him. Azrael and Batwoman lashed the morphing creature before him, and the way was open for Damien to lay in too - but his skills were wasted in direct conflict, and he knew it. With a blur of speed, one hand vanishes into a fold of his gi then whips down at the ground, releasing a pinch of what seems to be sand before it roils up in a plume of black smoke engulfing him, vanishing a second later - and with it, the young scion.

Unseen now, Damien makes a quick adjustment: he ducks out of the combat, steps light and unseen up onto the crates beside with a hop, and with matching movements of both hands, draws and whips forth a pair of tiny, dark steel stars not much larger than a silver coin. It's a hasty effort - normally he aims and targets carefully, and only with his good hand; but he's embarrassed, and angry, and desperate to avenge himself on the creature.

Spoiler: Actions!

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Damien uses a swift action to spend a Ki point and ghost step, going invisible. He moves over on top of the crates nearby (he can make the jump without a roll), and whips two shuriken at the mimic, targeting the rearmost square to avoid the allies in combat penalty.

Attack with regular shuriken is +10. Up to +12 because he's invisible while making the attacks. Dual wielding light weapons goes down by -8 and -4, for a +4 and +8 respectively!

Right Hand Shuriken - (1d20+8)[20] [ROLL=Damage]1+3d6[/ROLL]
Left Hand Shuriken - (1d20+4)[12] [ROLL=Damage]1+3d6[/ROLL]

Damien remains invisible until this time next turn; so even if he hits, folks might not he contributed at all! :D

[JbeJ275]

Seeing the impressive work the more martial among them is doing breaking down this creature, Barbara reaches into a pouch at her side and casts Enlarge Person from a scroll targetting Kate, then keeping her distance as the whirl of blades inreases in volume and speed.

[Molan]

As Kate began to grow and Barbara's spell swirled around her, the "weapon rack" in front of her and Azrael abruptly collapsed, pools of ichor spilling out all around it. The weapons it'd been carrying clattered to the floor, and for a moment the scene seemed safe.

Or at least it was, right up until the chest on the opposite side of the room suddenly grew tentacles, eyes, and fangs, and letting out a guttural howl, charged after Kate.

One of it's tentacles whipped out at Kate and lashed against her, drawing blood.

Spoiler: OOC

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Kate takes 8 damage (is your miss chance up? I may have missed that). It's Kate's turn.

[Feathersnow]

Kate lashes around, takes a step back onto the slime of the first dead enemy, and smashes down with her poleaxe!

Spoiler: attack!

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(1d20+7)[15] to hit
(3d6+5)[21] damage

[Molan]

Kate went to slam apart the angry treasure chest with her polearm, but suddenly jerked as she found it was still stuck -- on the weapon rack. Worse, when she looked down at her torso, she saw the treasure chest's tentacle had adhered itself to her and was wrapping around her body.

Outside the room with the mimics, Oracle stood in the doorway, watching the fight unfold. She was so absorbed by the unfolding combat, she didn't notice Spoiler return from the far left room. She also didn't notice as she drew her newly acquired magical knife from under her cloak and jammed it into her back.

Azreal turned away from the weapon rack and charged the chest, but his swing came up short, scraping across the beast's hide but doing no damage. The mimic responded by continuing to grapple with Kate, it's incredible strength crushing her in it's tentacle.

Spoiler: OOC

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Whelp I'll admit it I am a bit dissapointed with how the weapon rack mimic turned out but things are turning around bebyyyy!!!!

Don't panic I'm sure you guys will get it together.

Okay so Kate you take an additional 11 damage from the tentacle but you can now make a grapple check to break free from the Mimic. That brings you to a total of -19 for the fight so far. I updated the HP in roll20 just to keep track.

I had Azreal go after the mimic again but no dice on the second swing.

Barbara unfortunately is doing a good bit worse. She takes a whopping 19 damage dropping her to only 4 HP. Someone might want to go give her a hand.

It's Damien's turn.