Savage Korvosa Session 20

In our prior session, the heroes (are they heroes?) had “escaped” the Temple of Urgathoa beneath Korvosa with some information, some treasure, and some satisfaction…knowing that Gaedren Lamm was now dead. After escaping, they began to keep a watch on the buildings above the temple hoping to learn more information. Pop then decided to go into one of the buildings, failing to consult with his companions before doing so and that is when things went a bit awry as Pop was escorted into one of the buildings by the Queen’s Guard stationed out front. That’s where we will pick up after the break.

It has actually been nearly a month since we played this session…more on this at the end of this recap. Everyone was in attendance for this session. Although there are significant changes to it, there are potential spoilers for adventures from Book 2, Seven Days to the Grave, of Curse of the Crimson Throne. As usual, my GM comments are in italics below.

15 Pharast

• As the party was relaxing over a coffee at the nearby Fishbucks while keeping an eye on the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden and the Gray Maidens (aka Queen’s Guard) patrolling out front, Pop got up and walked directly over to one of the Grey Maidens. Although these guards had been turning away any seeking aid, Pop was taken inside.
  • Soon after, two individuals arrive at the Hospice seeking aid. One has a rather mangled arm and the other is aiding him. The Gray Maidens turn them away (and yet they let Pop in…yikes!). As the pair leave, the injured man passes out. The heroes (yes! they are heroes!) come to his aid. Aimar heals the injured individual, reviving him, and then escorts them a few blocks away.
    • The Maidens kept an eye on this activity until the trio walked away.
    • The pair work nearby and there was an accident at work that almost took off Lars’ arm.
    • The pair knew about the Hospice. It had opened a couple of weeks prior. The building had previously been a warehouse.
    • The Hospice had been treating people for free up until now. It even tended to Varisians (these two are typical Korvosans of Chelaxian ethnicity who are prejudiced against Varisians).
  • Armed with this additional information, Aimar headed back to the group.
  • It was pretty clear to everyone that Pop was probably getting himself into trouble (it probably didn’t help that the players knew that Pop was already taken back into the Hospice and was waiting to see the Doctor as we were playing that part in front of everyone).
  • The group decides to get a better look at the building and circles around it…being sure to not attract the attention of the Gray Maidens out front.
    • The back of the building has three large warehouse doors.
    • There is a second floor to the building, but only over a portion of it. The rest of the building has a roof suggesting about a floor and half in height. No windows at the ground level, but there are some windows up on the second floor.
  • Not willing to wait for the cover of night, the group sets up a bit of a distraction with Isabella playing some music and the others adding in their own touches as Darcy heads to one of the doors.
    • Darcy hears nothing behind the doors. They are locked. She successfully picks the lock and slips in unnoticed. The room is relatively small compared to the overall size of the building. Various crates and barrels and the like are stacked about…pretty haphazard. Curtains hang across a couple of openings leading deeper into the building.
      • Listening at the curtains, Darcy can hear various sounds of the ill or injured from both. Peeking through one, she can see a Gray Maiden standing guard just beyond. Looking through the other set, she can see another Gray Maiden standing guard a short distance away.
      • In addition to that, Darcy could see that the chamber beyond the curtains was one large space filled with beds. Lights hung from a high ceiling, providing some dim illumination. Some of the beds held patients (prisoners? both?) and additional Gray Maidens were patrolling both this room and the catwalk around the room above.
      • There were also some doors near the back of the building and another curtained archway to the front. Darcy could not, of course, discern what lay beyond these.
      • Although Darcy might be able to slip in and scout about a bit more or possibly make her way up to the second floor, there was no way that the full group could do so and she slips back outside to the street. (Darcy is really the only sneaky one in the party.)
    • The group decides to climb up to the second floor to see if they can access the building from above via one of the windows. They find a good spot to climb up unobserved (or at least so they think) and get a look inside.
      • The room inside is much smaller than the main “ward” on the first floor but still has beds and some patients (victims?). There are additional tables in the middle of the room. These tables and the floor are covered in both fresh and old blood and barrels with viscera sit between the tables.
      • A couple of “doctors” were working on one individual strapped to one of these tables.
      • As disturbing as all that might be…it wasn’t the worst of it. Pop, strapped to a wheeled bed, was being moved through this room by a Gray Maiden.
    • The party crashed through the window to save Pop. The Gray Maidens and the doctors yelled at the group to surrender as they were attacking the Queen’s Guard and that Dr. Davaulus was working for the Queen. This was ignored and combat ensued.
      • During the fight, additional Gray Maidens arrived. One fled to the lower level, presumably to warn others and bring reinforcements. A from a door at the far end of the “surgical” room opened and a dapper individual stepped out…probably Dr. Davaulus. He quickly went back into the room.
      • The party dispatched the Guard and others attempting to stop them rather quickly. Pop was freed. When the room that the good doctor had emerged from and retreated to, no one was seen within.
      • With the sounds of reinforcements headed their way, the party could do no more…unable to look around for additional information or free the few individuals restrained on beds. Many of these individuals were not likely going to live much longer given the experiments already conducted on them.
    • Crashing back out the window through which they had entered, the party was fleeing and hoping to avoid any pursuit as they retreated through Korvosa’s streets, bloodied and covered in blood.

And that is where the session ended.

While it may appear to have been a short session, it wasn’t. Let’s just say that it was pretty tense. Rachel, who usually has overly complete notes at least a few pages long–upon which I base these recaps–had less than a page. Between that and the time that has passed since this session, I could easily have gotten some of the details above wrong or some may be omitted.

Oh, speaking of that time since the session…RJ, who plays Pop, was not going to be available to play for the two sessions following this one. I consistently point out to players that there really aren’t “wrong” or “right” choices (outside of deliberately attempting to derail other players) and that there are only consequences, I was not really willing to let RJ off the hook that easily. I didn’t want the other players to have to deal with the consequences of Pop going into the Hospice in the first place. In other words, I didn’t want the other players to clean up his mess.

Everyone agreed, including RJ. As it stands, the characters (and the players) believe that they have killed a number of Gray Maidens, the Queen’s Guards, and attacked an establishment that may have been operating with Queen Ileosa’s blessing if not her direct oversight. It does not really matter if this Hospice was not exactly what it may have seemed, been allied with the Temple of Urgathoa beneath (the doctors were dressed and behaved like those in the temple), or had been conducting inhuman experiments on live subjects. The Queen certainly would have the resources to largely hide any less than flattering information or activities from coming to light…most likely.

I honestly have no idea what might happen next. Will the party become Korvosa’s Most Wanted? Will the activities at and below the Hospice lead to a coverup? Would said coverup included “dealing” with any witnesses with, um, prejudice? A lot…okay most…is really going to depend on what the players elect to do next. Will anyone even know that it was them that attacked the Hospice? Hmmm…

At least one individual at the Hospice had recognized Pop and even mentioned his aunt Jenna, although she did refer to Jenna as Pop’s mother. What about the others? Are any of them unique or recognizable enough that a witness could identify them or authorities figure out who they are? A gnome who travels around with (and upon) a rather unique eidolan? A dwarven priest of Asmodeus in a city that is 90% plus human? A Chelaxian bard dressed and acting like a Varisian? Darcy might be the least distinctive of the group and the only one that might not stand out in a crowd of Korvosa’s thugs, criminals, and murderers. Yikes!

For the last few weeks, we’ve taken a break from Korvosa (so RJ will be in attendance) and a break from Savage Pathfinder. We played some Mothership for that change of pace and to experience a different style of mechanics and game play. I enjoyed getting to play it for the first time. I’ve been wanting to ever since I got my hands on it a number of months ago. The light mechanics and thematic was appealing to me. I am sorry to report that only one player character died in three sessions (really 2.5) of Mothership.

We had an ending with our last session of Mothership that will let us pick it up again rather easily if another player decides to go off and get all of the players into quite a quandary and then ditch the other players for the next couple of sessions.