Gangs:
The Duke - Runs the Noose. Halfling. think: Kingpin by way of the Shire.
- @Actor[Sable the Emissary] - The Duke's emissary. We owe $3250gp monthly as "dues"
- Gangs of the Noose:
- Cutters. Duh.
- Garner Street Lords - eliminated. Cutters now control their former territory.
- Black Arrows - run by Nock
- Thumpers - run by "Guy" (strongest of the Duke's gangs)
Widow - Runs the West. Female gang. Rumors of magic use. Lulu was bluffing as to the nature of their relationship. The status of OUR relationship is currently unknown.
- Ember - The Widow's emissary.
Vreelak - Runs the far SE. Necromancer with a gang of undead
Tal Ga'ib - The Leper. Crime boss of Sanctuary.
Guards - Corrupt and untrustworthy.
Lulu - Ten Pins (hard core thief). Lied to us about the nature of her connection with the Widow.
Notable NPCs:
@Actor[Goober] - Murdered.
Buster - Cutter's former #1. Now an undead THING in service of forces currently unknown.
Ratner - Buster's sycophant. Disemboweled.
Tanner - Former gang leader of the Garner street lords; now deceased.
@Actor[Nervous Ned] - Tanner's cleric. Might be worth recruiting.
@Actor[Roonan] - Blacksmith. Allegedly trustworthy.
@Actor[Jessradei] - The blacksmith's wife. Sennae (can predict the future?)
Oleg One-Eye - proprieter of the Shiloh (designated neutral ground)
Wemble Furryfeet - Proprietor of Shorty's Tavern.
@Actor[Darryl] - Our new faceless mooks. Muscle for hire.
Nock - leader of the Black Arrows
Jack - Proprietor of Jack's Place. Our new favorite tavern (mostly because we drink for free)
Cutter's ledger:
Joeber - One of Cutter's associates, he may be able to open additional connections.
- Introduced us to Potentius
The Madness of Sanctuary
- Overheard adventurers in the Wingless Horse discussing a ruined mansion in the SE of the Noose that allegedly hid a wizard's lab.
- After clearing the spiders, stirges, and demon chickens, we discovered some scrolls and a cave that led down into "madness" that we were dissuaded from exploring.
- Wizard's conspiracy room strongly suggested "evil" living under the city and possibly something about shapeshifters related to the royal family.
- Buster, in an undead form matching Kalli's vision, attacked the hovel with a band of zombie minions. He fled back down into a sewer entrance once the fight turned against him but swore he'd be back.
- Buster returned, attacking us at Potentius's home. This time he brought ghouls and ghasts -- a much more deadly fight. He again fled when outmatched.
- What's next? Mummies and Liches? We may need to go on the offensive here.
- Robert, a "friend" of Potentius's contacted us about investigating a mysterious hole in his basement. We discovered a tunnel leading to a series of fungus caves inhabitated by fishheads (Kuo-Toa). We ultimately defeated a fishhead warlock and discovered the remains of kidnapped townsfolk. Our 8k reward was traded for the deed to the house which is now our Guild HQ.
- We were introduced to a Chaos cult operating in Thumper territory when they kidnapped and attempted to sacrifice Justine. We mounted a rescue attempt, killing the cult leader and recovering Justine.
- Cultists referred repeatedly to removing the stars from the sky. Relevant?
- There was some creature living in a pool in the basement. No idea what it was and no interest in finding out.
- Dead cultists can't swim.
- Justine's gear, including her magic sword, is still missing.
Potentius's Mission
- @Actor[Potentius] offered 5000gp to recover his stolen "merchandise" from rival merchant Lambert. With the help of @Actor[Sentori], his lieutenant, we attacked Lambert's warehouse and discovered a crate containing roughly a dozen kids.
- Unwilling to be a party to slavery, we convinced Sentori it was in his best interests to disengage from the mission and he fled, after giving us Potentius's location.
- @Actor[Lira], one of the kidnapped kids, has joined our gang.
- We assaulted Potentius's home, killing his guards, and "convinced" him to modify the mission. We now have quarters in his house and 200gp/week salary for its defense.
- Potentius is displeased with our tendency to get attacked in his home. He tried to evict us but backed down when threatened. We'll likely need to find a new solution.
- After clearing the Kuo Toa from Robert's basement, we repurposed the house as our new HQ, ending our relationship with Potentius.
Backbinders Alley Murder:
- Justine reported discovering the body of a dead girl in the alley. She had been murdered and her organs surgically removed.
- Further investigation revealed she was a local prostitute named Allie and had been last seen at the Nameless Tavern.
- Goober has also been found murdered in a similar fashion, although not dissected. There are some scratches/notches up at the top of the wall over Goober's body. Had a "G" carved into his corpse. (Possibly the Garner Street Lords?)
- Justine reported another dissected prostitute in an alley off Pony Street. Killer is now being referred to as the "Surgeon".
- Farris & Colton found us at Potentius's and reported their daughters were the most recent victims of the Surgeon. They've engaged us to investigate.
- Esmerelda was killed 2 nights ago. She worked mostly at the Inn with No Name.
- Delta was killed last night. She frequented Shorty's.
- Private Poole suggested there had been an additional 2 or 3 murders we were unaware of.
- Most recent murder had "NO MISTAKES" scrawled in blood on the wall near the body.
- Further investigation suggested that Alonzo, the barkeep from the Inn with No Name may be involved. His green necklace is magic.
- We followed Alonzo to his apartment, where we saw a bright green glow. We confronted him and he burst into green flames. Just before he died, he claimed he had a "deal with IT". The green gem was destroyed in the fire. Searching his apartment turned up several journals filled with babbling gibberish.
- With Alonzo's death, the string of murders ended. We collected half of our fee from Farris & Colton.
Fall of the Ten Pins:
- Roonan asked us to look into a vision his wife had of her being kidnapped.
- She suggested the Ten Pins were going to pay a visit on the night of the full moon to kidnap her because they haven't been paying their protection money.
- We scouted the area and planned an ambush.
- Fought off a small force of Ten Pins and delivered a message to Lulu to stay out of our territory.
- Lulu conducted a meeting in which she proposed that we agree to work for her. We declined. The meeting did not end on good terms.
- Justine reported that the Ten Pins were pissed at our interference and had assigned a squad to take vengeance on Roonan and Jess. We evacuated the blacksmith and his wife to "safe" territory.
- After buying intel from a paid informant, Sbarrus, we led an assault on the Ten Pins HQ. We a handful of Lulu's lieutenants and killed her gargoyle bodyguard before taking her prisoner. She claims that the Widow is her aunt and will annihilate us. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.
- Lulu's lieutenant, Chorus, traded Roonan and Jessradei for Lulu who agreed to a truce.
- The Duke has called for a meeting in 4 days to discuss the fallout.
- We met with the Widow who told us she hated Lulu.
- Jess and Roonan managed to get themselves captured despite our best efforts but were ransomed back safely in exchange for Lulu, who has retained control of what's left of the Ten Pins.
The A-Team and the Future of the Cutters
- While investigating the Surgeon murders, it became apparent that we've gotten a reputation for helping people.
- Leading up to our scheduled meeting with the Duke, we were contacted by multiple parties interested in our services. We appear to be facing a decision point:
- The Widow has asked us to assist her in eliminating the Duke. In exchange, she offered to give us control of the Noose.
- Nock, leader of the Black Arrows, asked us to ally with them in eliminating rival gang the Thumpers, splitting their territory when that's done. We're supposed to meet in 2 days at the Shiloh with our answer.
- The Duke proposed we come work for him directly as one of his "hit squads". We attempted to push back, asking for veto power on any questionable assignments but he refused.
- We abandon the gang life and go underground, serving as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The A-Team.
- Our solution to the problem looks to be off to a solid start. The Duke grudgingly accepted our request to stay as a gang. We've begun organizing around the idea of a security company rather than criminal gang. Merchants have accepted a 50gp monthly "insurance premium" for actual protection. We've cracked down on unsanctioned thievery in our territory and have a small cadre of Darryls providing patrols.
- The widow alerted us to a scheduled move of the Duke's hefty profits by wagon through a choke point at Moonrunner's Way. She has offered a huge reward if we were to hijack the wagon and/or eliminate him.
- Unfortunately, upon arriving at our target we were accosted by the Black Arrows who claimed "SHE" had alerted them to our intentions. Were we betrayed by the Widow? If so, why? Who gains? If not the widow, then who is the "she" that was mentioned? Lulu? Lira? Whoever it was also knew that we'd be using Kenny to scout, so it has to be someone with fairly detailed knowledge of our tactics.
- We engaged in a close battle with the Arrows. When it appeared as though we might win, Nock called for a truce. He revealed that the Widow had, in fact, betrayed us and had offered them control of the Noose if they could eliminate us. We agreed to regroup and try to determine a strategy to move forward.
- Nock seemed to believe that the Widow had also met with the Thumpers at some point but their whereabouts and intentions remain unknown.
- The following morning, Sable the Emissary met us at HQ and told us the Duke was demanding we come and protect him that evening against a threatened attack by the widow. We reluctantly agreed, but something was off about the entire encounter. It is yet unknown whether this is a setup by the Duke or if something else entirely is going on.
Watch Order:
- Sam/Kalli
- Niko/Justine
- Gustav/Rajest
- Mud/Zingen
Marching Order (Direction of travel ^)
Kallista | Gustav | Niko |
Samadhi | Rajest | Zingen |
Lira | Mud | Justine |
Kallista | Samadhi | Niko |
Zingen | Rajest | Mud |