Locke Landen - Human Bard (274 points)
Morgan Merkle - Human Mentalist (266 points)
Brother Maurice- Human Initiate of Avandra, the goddess of freedom and luck (137 points)
Sindri Blackshield - Tiefling Knight (267 points)
Virgil the Grim - Human Barbarian (268 points)
Day 129 (Cont.):
Weather: Definitely Spring
Date: Peris 16th 2526
The party came up with a plan to infiltrate the auction; Locke and Morgan would act as buyers, while Sindri, Virgil, and Maurice went up onto the roof of the Black Star Trading Company warehouse. Morgan would use Telesend to message the assault team once the flying carpet was brought out, and they would bash in the roof, jump down, and steal the rug, while Locke and Morgan escaped in the confusion.
Virgil and Sindri bought cloaks to hide their Adventurer's Guild shoulderpads and then bribed a worker at the adjacent Brassholm Trade and Storage warehouse to store a 20' ladder out back. Locke picked up a disguise kit, so that people would be unable to connect Morgan or himself to the heist (though they didn't end up disguising the far more conspicuous 8' tall barbarian or Tiefling).
Midnight arrived, and, after being patted down for hidden weapons, Locke and Morgan were led through the front office and into the Black Star warehouse. Stacks of crates had been moved to the side, freeing a roughly 20'x20' area for seating, and a small raised platform for the auctioneer had been brought in. A set of stairs down to a cellar lay to the northeast, while another set up to what looked like a second-floor office stood against the north wall.
Meanwhile, Virgil grabbed the stored ladder and the assault team climbed to the roof of the adjacent warehouse, pulled the ladder up and used it to cross to the Black Star warehouse's roof, where they waited for the signal. Inside the warehouse, Locke and Morgan took the seats closest to the auctioneer's platform, noted the 12 guards scattered around the room, and took a look at the other groups.
The largest was a group of dwarves, seated in the southeast corner of the room, with a large contingent of guards. Ahead of them were three wizards in blue robes with six more guards, while two groups of nobles sat on the western side. Locke noticed that one of the nobles had a black raven pin on his cloak, but failed his Heraldry, and was only able to say that it was likely not a noble house, but a sign of the Raven Queen, the goddess of fate.
The auctioneer arrived, and laid out the rules for the auction: the items would be brought out one at a time, each party would have a chance to inspect the items, payments would be due immediately, and no blood would be spilled inside the warehouse. Once that was taken care of, the first item was brought out: a cloak called The Nightmantle, made of weightless darkness.
In addition to its natural nighttime camouflage, it also allowed the wearer to turn invisible by drawing it shut with both hands. While doing so, the wearer would also be able to evade exotic senses, such as magical wards and blindsight. Bidding started at $60,000, and quickly turned into a war between the two groups of nobles, ultimately going to the man with the raven pin for $100,000, paid in gems.
The second item was an enchanted greatsword named Blackrazor, brought forth in a fine glass case on a velvet pillow. A Very Fine blade, with third order (ie +3) Accuracy and Puissance enchantments, it lay in a black scabbard decorated with obsidian. In addition to those more mundane qualities, though, Blackrazor was capable leeching health from its victims to the wielder, and of casting Great Haste on the wielder, though only if the weapon's magical reserves were charged by letting it drink blood.
However, the auctioneer also warned that the sword possessed a malign intelligence that was obsessed with murder, and could, if upset with the wielder, attempt to possess him. Blackrazor was also capable of speaking and reading Common, as well as communicating through telepathy with its wielder. The noble with the raven pin was interested, but the greatsword ended up going to the wizards, who paid $220,000 out of a tiny purse that could in no way hold that many coins.
Finally, the flying carpet was brought up by a porter, and Morgan Telesended the assault team before casting Madness on the auctioneer, immediately stopping his speech. Virgil and Sindri noisily ran across the roof before smashing it open with a sledgehammer, opening a hole above the second-story landing at the top of the stairs.
Virgil jumped down and then over the railing and landed on the porter, knocking the man unconscious, while Sindri jumped down to the landing and the guards in the warehouse readied their clubs. The dwarves fell into a shieldwall, while one of the blue-robed wizards cast a Force Dome, where they waited for the attack to be over.
Meanwhile, Locke ran over to the guards at the door to the front office and Fast-Talked his way past, with Morgan and the auctioneer quickly following, while Sindri sent two guards flying down the staircase with his morningstar, Maurice cast Haste on himself and Sindri, and Virgil threw the flying carpet up to the railing at the top of the stairs.
With a shout of "Get the Nightmantle!", the nobles turned on each other with knives, while the guards beat on Virgil to no effect as the barbarian menacingly drew his sword. Locke Mind Controlled the auctioneer and ordered him to accuse the dwarves, while Maurice finished sheathing his sword and picked up the carpet.
Sindri crushed a guard's club in half with his morningstar before sending the man 6' down the stairs, causing the rest of the guards facing him to route, while Virgil started cutting down the four that had gathered around him, completely immune to their pathetic clubs. The auctioneer ran back into the warehouse and yelled "The dwarves did it!" as the noble with the raven pin threw down a flash nageteppo and ran for the exit.
Locke was waiting, and stunned the noble with Rapier Wit, and Mind Controlled a second, who was ordered to kill the first. The stunned noble was soon dead, and the controlled one was finished off by Sindri as he ran into the front office. Locke quickly pocketed the Nightmantle before the party ran off into the night. After making sure nobody was following them, they headed back to the Crimson Boot Inn to rest.
Day 130:
Weather: Sunny and Warm
Date: Peris 17th 2526
First thing in the morning, the party went to Tharos, gave him back the flying carpet, and received their $400 each. After that, they returned to the Crimson Boot, where they found the local adventurer's guilder waiting for them. The man informed them that they had been invited to a meeting with Gylium, a member of the Merchant's Guild. Apparently one of their members had gone missing in the Iron Forest.
Notes:
Both Morgan and Locke succeeded at their Acting and Disguise, so they're not going to be tied to the heist, but the rest of the party isn't so lucky.
It was realized at the last second that Maurice and Sindri both have Honesty, which almost entirely derailed the adventure, but luckily they both passed their rolls to break it.
It's kind of strange that wearing armour can reduce fall damage to 1/5th, but it's cinematic so it works.
Virgil has DR7 against crushing damage on every hit location except the eyes, and the guards never managed to inflict even a single point of damage rolling 1d+3.
There was some debate about selling the Nightmantle to Tharos, but they decided against it. Not sure what they're going to do with it.
XP:
2 for general success
1 for combat (they were outnumbered, but the guards were fodder's fodder.
1 for completing a minor quest
1 for loot (though they could get more if they sold Nightmantle)
0 for roleplaying
MVP went to Virgil for just not taking damage.
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