Session 28 - Scene 5 (of 10)

Back at the transportation company, Larrak and Vanka wait for the others to return.  When everyone meets back up, they tell the others what they observed.

To the untrained eye, the transportation company appears to be more or less legitimate during the day, though it has far more workers than needed; Schlomo always keeps around six to eight men around for muscle.  They also spotted Vargas show up earlier in the day, talk to Feldman, then return later.

The others discuss their lack of progress during the day.  Tiberius attempts to start an argument with Scrag over screwing up his attempt to get information outside the bar, but Larrak shuts the conversation down in order to stay focused on the matter at hand.

Larrak feels the important thing to do is rent some horses so people can follow Vanka and Vargas when they head out later.  Challa reminds him that one rider would be best to avoid attracting attention; she volunteers to do it.

Scrag immediately tries to lobby again for his plan to jump Vargas while he is out with Vanka.  Larrak shouts him down.  As arguments ensue over what to do once Vanka is out with Vargas, Larrak decides he has had enough and heads out for a drink.  To his dismay, Scrag follows.

Challa then heads off and agrees to rent a riding horse.  She also stops by Teldorath's shop and gets a set of leather armor to make herself less conspicuous.

Meanwhile, Scrag starts drinking large amounts of alcohol at the bar while Larrak slips out the back door to get away from him.  He sneaks back to the area near Schlomo's to observe.

Session 28 - Scene 6 (of 10)

At the appropriate time, Vanka heads in to the transportation and Feldman introduces him to Vargas.  Vargas then explains Vanka will be acting as his driver for the evening.

Shortly after, the two men head off in one of the carriages with Challa secretly following behind them.  Vargas directs Vanka over to a more gentile area of town.  As they head in to the fancy residential area, Challa loses track of them.

Vargas directs Vanka to a particular house.  He explains that he, himself, took the man who lives there on a trip to a country estate earlier that day and needs to stop by the house to make sure everything is ok.  Vanka nods in understanding.

The criminal exits the carriage and makes his way over to the house, keeping in the shadows.  Vanka is then surprised to see Vargas jump his way on to the second story roof of the building; he deduces the ruffian must be in possession of magic boots.  Vargas then opens a second story window and climbs inside, leaving the servants on the ground floor below none the wiser.

A short time later, Vargas emerges from the window with a small bag.  He jumps down and heads back over to the carriage, telling Vanka it is time to go back to the office and report in.  On their way back, Challa spots them and follows them in.  Larrak spots both of them as they head back into the carriage house.

Inside, Vargas heads over to Feldman, speaks for a moment, and gives him the bag.  Vanka sees Feldman take a look inside the bag, smile, and then head into Schlomo's office and close the door.

A little while later, Feldman emerges from the office, empty-handed.  He comes over and tells Vanka he did a good job then assigns him to clean the stables for a few hours then go home for the night.  He explains that Vanka is to be paid on a weekly basis.

Session 28 - Scene 7 (of 10)

A couple of weeks pass as Vanka continues working for Schlomo.  Some nights he just hangs around the office, while others he goes off to drive the carriage for Vargas again.

Then one night, Feldman takes Vanka aside and tells him it is time for him to go solo, and that Vargas will give him the details.  Vargas then hands Vanka a note with the address of a house, and tells him he is looking for a diamond necklace.

After Vanka heads off in the carriage, he stops a short distance away and informs the others of his mission.  Although some are uncomfortable with it, they decide to let him go on ahead.  They hope to be able to return the necklace later.

Vanka parks the carriage some distance away and sneaks his way towards the house.  He finds a window to unlock on the first floor and makes his way inside, looking carefully around first.

Once inside, he finds the jewelry cabinet in the bedroom.  After picking the lock, he pockets the necklace.  He then cases the rest of the house to make sure there is nothing of value to take (being a thief after all).  After finding nothing, he leaves.  

However, Vanka notices that he is spotted by a neighbor as he leaves the window.  He quickly rushes to the carriage and makes a fast getaway.

After arriving back at Schlomo's, he hands over the necklace in a bag to Vargas.  Vargas and Feldman then head into Schlomo's office together, and the bag once again disappears after the door closes.

Session 28 - Scene 8 (of 10)

When Vanka is finished for the night, he regroups with the others.  Everyone is beginning to get anxious as they realize they don't really have a plan for what to do next.  They had been hoping Vanka would hear something about Rufus, but no one at the transportation company has ever mentioned him.

Larrak thinks maybe they should look at stealing Schlomo's safe.  Tiberius likes the idea but Challa doesn't see what it has to do with their mission.  Arguing ensues.

Leigh is frustrated as none of their plans so far have worked.  After thinking on it for awhile, Vanka suggests that the last thing Schlomo would want is attention.  Challa suggests collecting the evidence they have and going to the authorities, but Larrak distrusts Lt. Gerdrand.

No one agrees on a course of action and the arguing continues.  Leigh suggests threatening to fireball Schlomo while Tiberius insists on his plan to confront Schlomo and say they work for Rufus and he is displeased with his piece of the cut.

Challa argues with Tiberius, pointing out that his plan would immediately tip their hand if they are wrong about how Schlomo's criminal network works.  Tiberius explains that he is trying to prompt Schlomo to contact Rufus.  Larrak thinks to himself that he's pretty sure their information indicated Schlomo did not know Rufus directly, but no one listens when he tries to point it out.

In the end, Leigh decides to just go with Tiberius' plan because she doesn't want to argue anymore.  Challa agrees as well, mostly because she lacks a better plan.  Larrak refuses to have anything to do with it.

Session 28 - Scene 9 (of 10)

The next night, Vanka is sent off on another job.  When he gets ready to return with the jewels, the group puts the plan into motion (sans Larrak, who just watches from nearby).

Tiberius enters the carriage house in the lead, holding Vanka (as if captured).  He begins yelling about working for Rufus and that Rufus isn't happy with his cut.

Feldman immediately circles his men.  He demands to know what is going on, saying that Rufus has nothing to do with their operation.

Tiberius responds that Feldman must not be high up enough to know what really goes on.  Challa groans to herself.

Feldman and his men begin advancing towards Tiberius.  He insists Tiberius must have bad information, as Rufus as nothing to do with them and never has.

Tiberius decides to back out slowly, leaving Vanka so that his cover will stay intact.  The others carefully follow.

Outside, everyone regroups a short distance away and watches to see if anyone leaves to go see Rufus.  No one does.

Session 28 - Scene 10 (of 10)

The morning after, Larrak decides to try the direct approach.  He heads straight into the carriage house and demands to see Schlomo, saying he has business to discuss.

After Schlomo agrees to see him, Larrak explains that a lot of people seem to be interested in Rufus the Red.  He wants Schlomo to tell him what he knows so he can sell the information.  Schlomo asks what is in the deal for him, and Larrak explains that if he doesn't get the information, who knows what other kind of disturbances could occur, causing Schlomo more attention and trouble.

Schlomo sees Larrak's point.  He does, however, make a point of insisting that the deal is that he will never have to see Larrak or his people again.  Larrak agrees.  Schlomo reminds Larrak that he would be a very bad man to cross.  Larrak confirms his understanding.

Schlomo then tells Larrak the person he needs to see is named Slippery Pete.

Session 28 - Session Notes

After the last several sessions of non-stop action, I was hoping this would have been a nice chance to slow things down with some interesting role-playing and investigation/problem-solving kind of activities.

Sadly, this session turned out to be a mess and I ended up pretty disappointed.  I'd been sick half the week and still wasn't feeling that great by the session so I was a little off.  Several of the players were stressed out from work so that didn't help either.  And to top it all off, the group is (apparently) just pretty much lousy at trying to do investigation type stuff.

So, we got about 2/3rds through the session or more before it really dawned on me that they had no clue what they were doing.  I thought they had a plan all along.  They didn't.

Anyhow, it all ended up OK in the end and the next part of the trail of Rufus will be a bit more straight-forward so things should get moving again.

The Vanka player is yet another player new to 4e.  He's dropping in for this session and the next.  I suggested the Vanka PC as a good fit for the story and he ran with it from there.

I tried to make Schlomo's organization feel like a real crime front.  I thought it would help with their planning.  In the end, I realized I must be the only one who watches crime & punishment type shows.

As mentioned previously, Schlomo and Vargas are named after characters from Seinfeld.  The new ones introduced this time, Feldman and Slippery Pete, are as well.

Session 29 - Cast of Characters

Challa Kri - Kalashtar Paladin
Larrak - Dwarf Fighter
Leigh - Eladrin Wizard
Scrag Graveborn - Half-Orc Warden
Tiberius Enchilada - Human Warlord
Silas Ballard - Human Avenger
Durmindin - Wilden Shaman

Session 29 - Scene 1 (of 10)

Armed with the new lead of "Slippery Pete", Larrak gets everyone back together and they start thinking up ways to find him.  Vanka, deciding he's helped the group enough and needing to get back to his own business, leaves to attend to personal matters.  For extra help, Scrag and Leigh find Silas (who has been busy attending to his newlywed wife) and bring him into the investigation.

Tiberius stresses to everyone they need to plan more carefully this time to avoid running into the problems they had while trying to get in with Schlomo.  Ultimately, the group decides to start by inquiring to Lt. Gerdrand about Slippery Pete, figuring he is a known criminal.  It is decided that Leigh (as the usual liaison of the group) should go talk to him, along with Tiberius and Durmindin while the others wait.

When they get to Gerdrand's office, Leigh immediately causes confusion when she refers to the target of their inquiry as "Slippery Toad".  After getting a good laugh, Tiberius corrects her with the proper name of Slippery Pete.

Gerdrand takes out a journal of law enforcement reports and looks up information on Slippery Pete.  He relates to the group that Pete is a known smuggler with a long history of run-ins with the law.

Tiberius wonders if Gerdrand might know where to find Slippery Pete.  The lieutenant suggests they start at the wharf.  

The warlord also wonders if Gerdrand knows of any fences operating out of the wharf area.  He responds that he does not, but Leigh is able to get a name of a top fence out of the lieutenant – a woman named Mandy.

Mandy is said to be based out of the south side of town.  She has had numerous investigations but never been arrested as she tends to use her looks and feminine wiles to get out of trouble.  She also usually uses a large dumb guy for muscle and/or to use as a fall guy.  Tiberius' thoughts immediately turn to Scrag.

Meanwhile, Larrak and Challa go out separately to try and develop their own leads.  Challa tries asking around some of the local temples, but they've never heard of Slippery Pete.  Larrak likewise has no luck at the bars.  And Scrag's plan to wander aimlessly around town and hope to overhear a conversation about Pete is the least effective of all.

Session 29 - Scene 2 (of 10)

A short time later, everyone gets back together and Tiberius gives out the info on Mandy.  Tiberius has a plan to try and go undercover by posing as a dumb guy and try to get her to take him on as muscle.  

Larrak reminds Tiberius of the failure of the last undercover operation to take into account their goal, and suggests that a more direct approach would work better.  He is in favor of simply asking Mandy about finding a smuggler to do business with.

The group favors Larrak's plan, but knows they'll have to wait until later in the day to carry it out.  Since it is still early, everyone decides that doing some recon down on the docks could be useful.

Several different schemes are planned to go on simultaneously.  Leigh plans to pose as a traveler looking for discreet passage out of town.  Tiberius will pose as a criminal looking for a smuggler.  And finally, in an attempt to try something unconventional, Challa will pose as a prostitute on the wharf with Scrag as her pimp, hoping to get some information out of sailors.

Silas, uncomfortable with the angle the investigation has taken, decides to go spend his time in a bar.  Larrak, however, sees an opportunity to aid in Challa's plan while having some fun at her expense.  Durmindin, intrigued, sticks with Larrak to see what he has in mind.  Larrak decides to seed the pond by handing out free gold coins to arriving ships' crew as a "friend of lonely sailors" and pointing them in Challa's direction.

To Challa's surprise, her disguise seems to attract a lot more customers than she was expecting.  Right away, three large sailors head her way.

The men tell Challa they are looking for a good time.  Challa confirms, but is surprised when the men pull out gold coins.  It will be trickier to put the men off than she thought.

Trying to cool them down a bit, she suggests they will need to pay extra to make up for their shortcomings.  This only seems to encourage one of the men, who feels the need to insist on his masculinity.

Putting his arm around her, he suggests the two of them head behind the nearby shed and spend his money.  

Undeterred, Challa removes his arm from around her and says she wants some help.  She's looking for someone who owes her money and wants info on his location, suggesting she will make it worth their while.  She stumbles, however, trying to get out Slippery Pete's name, trying to avoid making it sound like some kind of innuendo.

The sailors, however, are not interested.  When the press her to go behind the shed and show them a good time, she forcefully states that for three gold, they can get some manual release action.  The men then go off to play dice to see who will get the benefit of Challa's strong arm muscles.

The next potential client is a single sailor who looks down on his luck.  When Challa tells him her story, he confesses he's never heard of Slippery Pete, but leaves immediately to go find information for her.

Not long after, two more sailors show up, both rather intoxicated.  They, too, have never heard of Slippery Pete.  When Challa tries to blow off their advances, however, they get aggressive.  One of them suggests they will simply take what they want.

Scrag immediately leaps into action as Challa's pimp.  Trying to threaten the men, he tells them to back off and without money, they will get none of his girl's time.

The men aren't immediately convinced by Scrag and start advancing.  Challa, trying to stay in character, warns the men.  Nearby, Larrak tries to help out as well.  He tries to pay some other sailors to go fight the two men, but finds no takers.

Scrag then resolves the situation by smashing the two men's heads together.  Knocked unconscious, they immediately fall to the ground.

After some of their fellow crewmen haul the two unconscious men away, four more sailors show up all with a gold coin.

Challa cannot believe that so many sailors have this kind of money.  She asks the men what is up with all of the activity on the docks, and they tell her about the friendly dwarf who is the "friend of lonely sailors".

Immediately figuring out that Larrak is having fun at her expense, she tells the men they have been tricked and her rates are higher.  Upset, the men decide to head back and beat up the dwarf for making fools of them.  Larrak, however, only needs to pull out his axe and scowl before the men decide to head off to the bars instead.

After causing so much commotion, Challa and Scrag decide to abandon the operation.  They also want to make sure to leave before one of the first set of sailors comes back with three gold.

Session 29 - Scene 3 (of 10)

Meanwhile, Leigh looks around for passage.  She does find one sailor who seems willing to help her.  She gives her story about needing discreet passage out of town.  But when the sailor asks where she is heading, she stumbles.  After a noticeable pause, she eventually gives the strange answer of "west".

Giving a sly smile, the sailor acknowledges his understanding and suggests she head over to his ship to arrange the payment with his captain.  However, Leigh gets a sense the man is not trustworthy.  Being by herself, she wants to avoid being kidnapped or worse.  She suggests the sailor bring the captain to her.

The sailor, looking disappointed, grumpily says he will fetch the captain.  After fifteen minutes of waiting, Leigh decides the man is not coming back and leaves.

Session 29 - Scene 4 (of 10)

Tiberius has better luck than the others, finding a man willing to talk about discreetly transporting goods.  The man agrees to introduce Tiberius to a smuggler he knows in exchange for a small fee.

The warlord, trying to save his money, suggests that he has a friend (pointing in Challa's direction) that could pay the man for his troubles in other favors rather than money.  The man thinks for a moment, but isn't convinced.  He wants the cash upfront.

The two men then haggle over the price.  Tiberius attempts to secure the introduction for the modest sum of five gold, but the man wants fifty.  After some back and forth negotiation, the two settle on a price of thirty.

The man tells Tiberius to return to the docks at 8:00, when the smuggler he knows will be around.

Session 29 - Scene 5 (of 10)

Everyone discusses what happened that afternoon over an early dinner.  While everyone else reports no success, Tiberius happily confirms he was able to secure a lead by getting a meet with a smuggler later that evening.

Larrak suggests they go talk to Mandy in the meantime.  Everyone agrees and splits up to try and locate her current location.  Ironically, only Larrak fails to find it.

Mandy currently operates out of an abandoned warehouse.  She has one big guy around for protection.

Since Silas and Durmindin haven't had a chance to do any acting yet, Larrak decides they will be the ones to go in and talk to Mandy.

As soon as they enter, Mandy is all business, asking what they want.  Silas gives a story about looking for someone to moves some goods, but sounds completely out of his element.

Wary, the young woman smiles and acts innocent, saying she doesn't know what they are talking about but it sounds like something against the law and, switching back to a more forceful tone, suggests they should leave.

Durmindin tries to save the conversation by pointing out they simply need some information so it shouldn't be any trouble to her.  But his cold demeanor turns her off – she orders them out and has her bodyguard move towards them.  Rather than be physically thrown out, the two decide to leave.

When they get back, Larrak can immediately tell they failed, accurately predicting they failed to be convincing.  Leigh suggests trying again with a different set of people, but Larrak knows Mandy's guard will be up now.  He suggests they wait at least until the next evening.

Session 29 - Scene 6 (of 10)

When the appointed time comes around, everyone heads back to the docks area.  Tiberius heads in alone to make contact with the smuggler.

He is relieved to see the man he paid earlier is around on the docks.  Heading over, he tells Tiberius to follow him back to the smuggler.  Tiberius tries to ascertain if the man is setting him up for anything, but can't tell.

The two of them head on to the dock of one of the smaller ships.  The man tells Tiberius the smuggler is below decks.  Keeping his hand on the hilt of his slung axe, Tiberius approaches the hold opening while the other man leaves the boat.

Down below is a tall, lanky man with a moustache.  He greets Tiberius, who notices the man has a thick eastern accent.

Tiberius explains he is looking for someone to discreetly transport mystical items.  The smuggler confirms that Tiberius has "misplaced" the provenance documents for the items.  He says that transporting such items is tricky, and quite expensive.

The warlord tries to sweeten the deal a bit by mentioning it could be ongoing work.  The smuggler is intrigued.

The smuggler asks Tiberius for his name.  He responds with the alias of "John Smith".  The other man simply says, "of course it is" and gives his name as "Pete".

Tiberius is excited now, believing they have found their man.  To confirm, he gives a long, flattering portrayal of a man known as Slippery Pete and asks Pete if he is the same man.  Pete responds that he is, but suggests he is not so much legendary as simply a capable expert.

Pete wants to know what item they will be transporting.  Tiberius describes a small, mystical statue.  He explains to Pete that he does not have the item yet, but Pete believes it is good to plan ahead.

The smuggler wants 150 gold up front to secure passage of the item, plus any additional expenses incurred later if they run into problems.  Tiberius talks him down to taking half now, half when the job is done.

Pete wants to know when he will need to ship the item out.  Tiberius responds they have 14 days.

Once the deal is done, Tiberius casually slips in how he also needs another specialist – someone to help with a problem he is having securing some of the items.  He tells Pete he is looking for a man named Rufus.

Slippery Pete mentions that he may know such a man, but if they are talking about the same man then his services will be much, much more expensive.  Tiberius responds that he has a unique need, to which Pete's only response is that such needs are regrettable.

The smuggler can tell Tiberius isn't being entirely truthful with him, but doesn't care.  He mentions that he is unsure Rufus is still in the area, but he can tell the warlord where he was last located; for a fee, of course.

Tiberius is happy to take the information he can get.  Pete wants another 100 gold, but Tiberius decides to pay him 110 because he "knows his information of the finest quality".

Once Tiberius hands over the cash, Slippery Pete explains that Rufus had been staying out at the Tower of Waiting on the small island in the middle of the river next to the city.  He wishes Tiberius luck and reminds him to come back once he has the item.

When Tiberius asks Pete how he will get ahold of him, Pete explains to send him a message in a blue envelope and give it to the dockmaster to deliver to dock #5.  Tiberius finds the method overly elaborate, but agrees.

Session 29 - Scene 7 (of 10)

Tiberius gets back to the others and explains how he made contact with Slippery Pete and secured a cover for a smuggling route for stolen mystical items.  He recommends they follow through with the plan and keep on Pete as a contact.

Larrak agrees, giving Tiberius 100 gold for related expenses.  Challa contributes 50 gold as well.  Tiberius jokes with Challa that he promised her (undercover prostitute's) other services as well but promises Pete is good looking.  Challa is not amused.

The warlord then explains he has a location for Rufus' last known address, the Tower of Waiting.  The only one familiar with the area, Leigh remarks that the tower is an old fortification built on a small island in the middle of the Nentir River.  It was originally used as a naval fortification back in the days of the Nentir Empire, but is now a half-collapsed building used largely as a bird roost.

More importantly, Leigh notes, it is believed to be haunted.  Many stories exist that the crying of a female ghost can be heard at night.  Everyone worries the location could have undead, but Larrak notes that it is also the perfect place for a criminal to hide out.

The group decides to head over immediately.  While looking around the docks for some method of transport, they notice an old man around an area of the docks with a sign noting "Chester's Boat Rentals".  Rather than "borrow" a boat, the group decides to talk to the man.

Tiberius asks Chester about renting one of the boats.  The old man responds that he can lend them out one of his larger old dinghies for five gold, plus a fifty gold deposit.

Larrak doesn't want to waste much time on negotiations.  He tries to get the old man to rent them a boat for 10 gold, but with a 25 gold deposit.  Chester stays firm, though he does note they can just buy the boat for 50 gold.

Tiberius doesn't trust the old sailor, and wants to leave someone behind to make sure he doesn't abscond with the money.  Larrak refuses, saying they will need everyone if they encounter Rufus.  Also, he doesn't see how an old man is going to run off just for 50 gold.

Eventually, they decide to pay the man.  Larrak does, however, threaten Chester that they will hunt him down and kill him should he run off with their money.  Somewhat upset, he responds he will be there.  He also offers them a free rowing lesson with their rental, but the group declines.