Savage Korvosa Session 4

Our first few sessions were largely taken up with character creation and then pursuing Gaedren Lamm. While the party had put a stop to his current operations, Lamm himself escaped and went to ground. Many folks that party spoke with mentioned that when Lamm wanted to not be found, he typically could not be found. We had also ended the prior session with Mac finding a dead body, looking as though something had burst out of its chest and stomach. We will pick up with this after the break.

Adam and Jen had to miss this session so Aimar and Isabella were off doing something else.

Most of this session was pretty much spontaneous so I don’t think there are any spoilers for any published adventures.

My GM comments are in italics.

25 Calistril

We’ll pick up with Mac finding the body in an alley in Old Korvosa.

• After following the blood trail for a bit, Mac made sure that Matilda got home safe. He then waited until he caught the attention of a couple of the Korvosan Guard and showed them the body. One remained and one went off to get some additional guards.
  • Sergeant Aristo was with the new group of guards that arrived. He asked Mac a few questions and said he was free to go.

26 Calistril

• The next evening, Mac met up with Pop and Darcy and told them about what had happened the night before.
• Mac magically contacts Divo Figus, an investigator with the Korvosan Guard that he knows. Divo agrees to meet them later at the Three Rings Tavern.
  • They all meet at the tavern. Divo is a little concerned about Mac’s companions, but he vouches for them.
  • Divo shares the following information.
    • There have been at least two other killings that match who Mac had found. They’ve been found over the past couple of weeks.
      • The first was found 11 Calistril.
      • The second was 18 Calistril.
      • The third (which Mac found) was 25 Calistril.
    • All three had the same torso wounds. All three had empty eye sockets with slight burn marks around them.
    • All three victims were shiver addicts and Empties.
    • He believes that something entered through the eyes and then, obviously, burst through their torsos.
    • All three had been dead for some time before found…meaning that the scream Mac had heard was probably not from the victim.
    • All three had blood trails leading away.
      • The first went up the walls of a building in a series of small, oval-shaped prints.
      • The second led to near the old wall in Old Korvosa and then burrowed into the ground…a fairly small hole.
      • The third appears to have simply stopped…perhaps flying given the buzzing that Mac had heard.
    • There have also been additional killings over the last week which have been dubbed the “cookie-cutter” killings.
      • They’ve been dubbed this because the victims have had circular wounds on the body with chunks of flesh missing.
      • Although circular, the edges of the wounds are relatively ragged.
      • There were six additional puncture wounds evenly spaced around each main wound.
      • All of the bodies were very stiff even though at least one was found while it was still bleeding.
      • The first victim was the father of a small-time merchant. The next were Empties; one of them was a shiver addict.
      • The Korvosan Guard is not really pursuing any investigation because nearly all of the victims were Empties.
      • That’s why Divo is telling Mac since Mac might handle investigating this. However, if word gets back to the Guard that Divo has shared this information, he and Mac are done.
    • Divo walks the party over to Old Korvosa and shows them all six locations where the bodies were found.
      • The location where the cookie cutter victims were found closer together than the three torso victims.
  • Divo then takes his leave from the party.
• The trio decide to stick around the area. Pop offers to be “bait” to draw out the killer, but he needs a change of clothes (he typically wears clothes more at home on a sailing ship, including a blue leather jacket).
  • Pop stops in at a nearby thrift shop to get said clothes.
  • He ducks into a nearby alley to change and rub some mud and dirt to make himself blend in even more (at least in his mind).
  • While changing, Pop is startled by an individual nestled in a little nook in the alley. They have a short conversation, especially after Pop offers some coin.
    • The individual introduces himself as Mudpuppy and he lives here.
    • Mudpuppy has heard rumors about the killings in the area.
      • Some say that a dark smoke or some kind of spirit has been seen entering into the eyes of folks and later something bursts our of their chests.
      • With the other killings, the thing doing it has been coming down from walls and roofs.
  • A plan is established. Pop will wander around the general area of the killings…all amongst the Shingles. Darcy will follow as stealthily as possible. Mac will stay hidden in a location that is central in the area Pop is wandering.
  • This goes on for about an hour or so and then Pop and Darcy hear a short scream. This is followed by a thudding noise as a man’s body falls to the street from the structures above. He is dead, still bleeding, and has the cookie cutter wounds.
    • Pop runs around the building looking for a way up. He finds a ladder leading up to the Shingles proper and heads up. Darcy simply starts climbing up the wall. Pop keeps making his way up through the Shingles (without getting hopelessly lost or attacked by anyone–or anything–on the way.
    • As Darcy proceeds up the side of the buildings, a creature looks down at her from over the side of roof. She reaches the to and spots the thing scuttling away.
      • The creature has an elongated eel-like body as big around as a dinner plate and four to five feet long.
      • It has eight spidery legs spaced along its body.
      • There are a pair of bulging sacs filled with multiple faceted eyes that swirl and circle.
      • And, of course, a round mouth filled with jagged teeth and six fangs evenly spaced around the outside of it.
      • It easily outpaces Darcy across the tops of the buildings, disappearing down an opposite side before Pop can reach the top.
    • The pair make their way back down to the body, but it is gone. A trail of blood, disappearing in the near ever-present rain of Korvosa, leads directly to a nearby door.
    • Pop runs to get Mac and Stan.
    • Darcy knocks on the door and says that they only want to talk. The door is locked.
    • Darcy easily picks the lock and slowly opens it. A man’s voice calmly says that he will shoot if anyone comes in.
    • The party again states that they just want to talk. The man within tells them to go away. There have been no killings and no bodies and tells them that they really don’t want to get involved in any of this.
    • Darcy closes the door.
    • Mac realizes that this was Sergio. Sergio is involved with the Cerulean Society in some fashion. He’s a street thug who “owns” some property in Old Korvosa that is rented out. Those who fall behind in rent typically do not do so again after Sergio and his crew visit to discuss the tardiness.
    • The trio heads back to Mac’s place to digest all this new information and get some rest.

That’s where we ended the prior session.

Much of this was impromptu gaming and building off of what the players wanted to do. RJ wanted a shop open pretty late that might have clothing that the poor of the area wear. He got the Thrift Shop with that and various second-hand household goods. It is now a “known” location on our map of Korvosa. He also wanted to try and lure the killer out by being bait, originally thinking–I believe–that the killer was human (or similar). He got his “Yes, but…” with the killer making an appearance, but it didn’t target Pop.

This was because the killer had already been established based on some information I collected from the players. I had asked them for a “creepy” creature or characteristic of a creature. RJ does not like spiders…so he didn’t need to give one and I just incorporated that. Adam had brought up cookiecutter sharks. That should help explain where this creature came from. We are building out not just Korvosa during play but also some facets of the adventure. I have the basic premise already established, everything else follows from play.

When Darcy first attempted to pick the lock to find the body, Rachel failed the roll. I reminded her that she had bennies. Using a benny on a roll like this doesn’t just give a chance for success after a failure; it also tells me that the player sees this as important. Rachel spent a benny and got a raise. When the party faced opposition within, one of the other players brought up that Rachel had gotten a raise so why didn’t they just find the body?

I’ve shared the core “agenda” for both the players and the GM. (Yes, this notion is shamelessly taken from the Powered by the Apocalypse style of game.) One of my agenda items as GM is to make the player characters’ lives interesting and dangerous; to provide them the opportunity for adventure; and, to challenge the players. Another is to let the dice and the players drive the game forward.

• There had already been some speculation as to why someone would take a body like this. There must be some reason, right? Right! The players helped to establish this with their discussion!
• The area is about the poorest of all areas in Korvosa and largely ignored by the Kovosan Guard. The setting has already established this.
• Rachel is one of those players who is really into mysteries and figuring them out. I just gave her (and the party) another one that adds a new layer to the killings going on. There was an almost immediate round of new speculations. Why would a person like Sergio want to hide the body? Is he trying hide that the killings are happening? Have there been more than the Korvosan Guard (and thus Divo) even know about? Is Sergio feeding the creature or otherwise involved with it? Other explanations?
• So in a nutshell, it adds that interesting layer, flowed from some prior discussion and established game “narrative,” and catered to Rachel’s interests.

I hope that helps explain how the game came to that point. I better wrap this up as I’m typing this just a few hours before our next session starts and I want to give the players an opportunity to read it if they so choose.