Hi guys. Now that WritingForums.org has its own neat D&D group, I thought I'd make a journal for us. NPCs Ripley Spoiler An experienced combat veteren and guildmaster of the recently-created GRAVE RUNNER'S GUILD. According to rumors, Ripley has a criminal past. Now, however, she is a devoted paladin of Helm. Ripley is strict, but fair. Sometimes she can be kind of a dick. Ripley sends guild members on missions. Amari Flatflower Spoiler A genuinely kind and humble priestess of Helm devoted to helping others. Amari took in a young street thief named GORO (PC) and attempted to reform him into a decent law-abiding citizen. The attempt failed, but she loves him anyway. Amari once belonged to the CHURCH OF HELM. However, she was thrown out by the corrupt temple elders under mysterious circumstances. She and Ripley are sweethearts. Mikhail "Mishka" Haeth Spoiler Manipulate, selfish, and charismatic. Mishka was once a pirate captain. Mishka met Hansel, convinced him to become a pirate, slept with him, married him, fell wildly in love with him... then robbed Hansel and the rest of the pirate crew blind, disappeared, and used the money to retire early. Mishka and Hansel are now divorced. Mishka owns a lovely hillside cottage with a successful vineyard. Hansel hates his weasely black guts. "God, everything he does is so wrong. Why is it hot, though." -- Hansel's internal monologue. Sessions will be episodic. As stuff happens, I'll add it to the journal below so people can keep up (if they miss sessions)
SESSION ONE -- DAY ONE Hansel the fighter, Raef the rogue, Roddy the tortle, Goro the sketchy cleric, and Larkin the tielfing rogue all sat in a tavern. The GRAVE RUNNER’S GUILD assigned them an extremely basic mission: Go loot an empty tomb. A high-level team already killed the monsters, and now all they had to do was go clear out the loot. Before they could leave, however, a woman burst into the tavern. Her daughter, Mina, had been snatched by a troll—which hid in the tomb. The party was way too low-level to handle a troll. They could go report the troll to their guildmaster… but it was the middle of the night, and if they reported the troll and waited for assistance, the girl would be eaten. So the party headed off to the tomb anyway. They found the tomb and searched it. Inside, to their surprise, they found: A powerful magical scrying pool filled with mysterious blue mushrooms. Eating a mushroom (while standing in the pool) allows the part to scry on one person (or thing) they choose. They also found a bag of dynamite. The party used the magical scrying pool to scry on the rest of the dungeon. They found the troll fast asleep—with the girl in a cage nearby. Working together, the two rogues (Larkin and Raef) located the troll, unlocked the cage, quietly rescued Mina, then used one stick of dynamite to blow up the troll. The troll woke up. Wounded and enraged, the troll brutally attacked them. The entire party bolted. Roddy the Tortle bravely grabbed the girl and fucking ran. Hansel and Raef stood in front of the cave and prevented it from escaping. Finally, Raef killed with a shot straight through the skull. The party returned, limping, to the tavern. Roddy gave Mina back to her mother and returned to the guild. RIPLEY—the guildmaster—was furious. “You were supposed to loot an empty tomb,” she said. “An easy mission. Instead I hear you went and fucking blew it up. I should fire you all right here. I knew you were a bunch of crooks when I hired you." The party defended themselves and explained what had happened. Impressed that the party had saved the little girl and killed a high-level monster, Ripley apologized (not really) and paid the party a bonus. She promoted them one rank.
SESSION TWO: Sugar-napped Ripley had a problem. One of her new recruits—an absent-minded sorcerer called “Sugar”—disappeared two weeks ago. Sugar has a lot of guild equipment on her... armor, weapons, and spell components. Ripley is pretty sure Sugar stole the equipment and skipped town. Sugar was last seen in the seediest bar in town: THE CROOKED COIN. Together, the party investigated. Goro the sketchy cleric and Hansel the half-orc fighter interrogated the shifty bartender. “I have no clue who you’re looking for,” the bartender said. “Definitely no one has gone missing in my bar. I absolutely have no idea what you’re talking about. Can I get you something to drink?” Larkin investigated a hooded figure at the bar... who turned out to be a broom wrapped in a dark hood as a prank. A beautiful young man with long golden hair waggled his eyebrows at Hansel. It was his son-of-a-bitch ex-husband, Mishka. Hansel grimly ignored him. Roddy spoke to the drunk men playing darts. One of them finally admitted what was going on.... pirates often shanghaied people from this bar. Sugar had been kidnapped. The party reported back to Ripley. “I don’t appreciate pirates stealing my recruits,” she said. “They’ve done this before. The city officials won’t prosecute them. Fuck that. I want you to do what you do best. Get my recruit back. Find the pirates—and make an example out of them. As publicly as possible.” The party managed to locate the pirate ship off-shore a few miles outside the city. It went down with SWAT-team-like efficiency. Roddy (still drunk) pretended to be a drunk fisherman. He floated out in a small boat, singing loudly to distract the lookout. Under the cover of darkness, the party rowed to the ship around the back. Larkin the rogue scaled the ship silently, grabbed a rope ladder, and helped the party up. She knocked out the lookout. After a couple short battles, the party ambushed and killed the half-asleep pirates. But during the fight—the ship captain used a fireball to set the ship ablaze. In a panic, Goro briefly stopped looting the ship to search for Sugar, who was still locked in the hold at the bottom of the ship. The rest of the party put out the fire. At dawn, the party cheerfully sailed back into town with their new pirate ship... with the dead bodies of the pirates tied to the side of the ship, strung up as an example to any future pirate. Ripley paid them extra, and Sugar happily joined the party.
SESSION THREE: Outfoxed Goro, Larkin, Raef, Roddy, Sugar, and new recruit Edith were sent to clear out the tomb of a Golden Age trickster called Volpae, located deep in an ancient cemetery forest. Outside the tomb, they encountered Ombre, an enchanted six-tailed fox claiming to be the old trickster’s pet -- and after they debated the merits of poking her with a stick, she gamely went along with their graverobbing. The gang glazed over the trickster’s museum to his own vanity (although Roddy immediately stole his trademark mask, preserved behind glass), and quickly moved on to the trials waiting deeper in the tomb. Larkin answered a riddle, and through teamwork they made it past a couple of Volpae-centric quizzes, during which they learned that Ombre could help them if they asked her to, but it would cost her a tail each time. They quickly decided they could figure things out on their own. Everyone but Sugar was deeply, constantly suspicious of traps and tricks at every step along the way, with their suspicions only growing each time they did well and everything went as planned. Also, Roddy stole some more merch. They played a shell game against a silver construct that Roddy caught cheating, then moved on to a large room that presented them with a blackboard on which to play hangman. After four incorrect answers, a real gallows appeared in the room and had to be pacified with a sacrifice before the game could continue. Sugar cheerily obliged. Luckily, Raef and Roddy made several key guesses before things could get any worse for Sugar, and the puzzle was solved without anyone losing their head. After this they progressed to the final room: Volpae’s actual burial chamber, where his fox-styled sarcophagus waited in the center of the room, and six less-ornate tombs lined the back wall. Once they were inside, those tombs cracked open and six fox-mask wearing skeletons shambled out and started towards them, arms outstretched. Our heroes leapt into action, easily dispatching most of the skeletons. Unfortunately, the tombs opened up again and more undead poured out. After a bit of a false start, Goro was able to pacify most of these skeletons, buying the gang time to confer over what they should do about this never-ending skeleton problem. “What if we blow up the tombs?” Larkin suggested, surprising no one. And so they did: everyone ran back into the previous room while Larkin used her last two sticks of dynamite to try to blow up anything and everything she could. When the dust settled, however, everything was still in place. They took the moment before the tombs cracked open again to hastily investigate the room, and Edith’s gut told her that there was some solution to be found here that involved the skeletons. She’d noticed that they were unarmed and moved quite slowly. Maybe they weren’t actually hostile -- maybe they could be communicated with. Remembering the mask that Roddy had stolen back in the museum, Goro and Sugar worked together like a well-oiled machine to steal it from him, and Sugar put it on to try to talk to the skeletons. When they emerged from their graves again, the one nearest to her simply patted her cheeks and took off its own mask to give to her. After fulfilling their quests with everyone else, the other skeletons climbed back into their tombs to continue their dirt naps. From behind the gang, Ombre said, “Wow, good job, guys. You sure did kill some skeletons. So, you ready to meet Volpae?” And so Ombre revealed her true form -- she had been the trickster all along. Back in the day she’d been known as Volpae, but at some point she’d gotten bored of the whole thing and decided to set up this dungeon to entertain enterprising adventurers. Sugar raised her hand and asked, “Hey, um, quick question, with the gallows thing -- what would’ve happened if we’d lost?” Ombre brushed this off, claiming she wouldn’t have been hurt. Everyone was still very suspicious. She was, after all, an admitted trickster. The rewards Ombre offered for completing her dungeon helped to soften the blow, however. She gave each of our heroes a magical item suited to them, and a small bag of gold apiece. This wasn’t enough for Goro, though. He offered the trickster a place in the Graverunner’s Guild … if she would pay the exorbitantly high joining fee. It was Ombre’s turn to be suspicious, but Goro committed to the grift, and soon they were headed back to Skyport with her in tow. Goro rushed into Ripley’s office ahead of the others, trying to quietly signal for her to go along with whatever nonsense he was bringing to her. “Goro, we’ve fucking been through this,” she said. After a moment, Ombre was clued into what was going on and patted Goro’s shoulder, respecting the attempted scam. Our heroes filed out of the room for Ripley to interview Ombre, and she ended up joining the guild as a spy and scout. (Later, everyone compared how much gold they'd been given. Goro was outraged to find out he'd gotten less than Sugar and Roddy. Somewhere, Ombre had a really good laugh over it.)
Session Four: Everything Is Fine and Nothing Bad Happens The party had a day off to relax and celebrate. It was the Harvest Festival, and there were drinking contests, fighting contests, fireworks, singing, dancing, music, pickpockets, and street fights. PART ONE: The Dwarf Ripley hired a new party member: Mormiir, a dwarf. Dwarves have not been seen in decades. Mormiir—an orphan raised by a barbarian human tribe—is searching for his dwarven people. The party found Mormiir having an impromptu wrestling death-match with a guy who insulted his beard. After Mormiir was done kicking the man’s ass (and the party was done collecting bets), they went to talk to Ripley. Ripley told them their next mission. The ancient Dwarven city of Whitehelm has been uncovered. Deep inside lie the old blueprints to dwarven airships. Airships are a long-forgotten technology; the blueprints are a priceless artifact, and whoever gets to them first could become rich beyond their wildest dreams. The dwarven ruins, however, are completely unexplored and insanely dangerous. Their mission: Get inside. Find the blueprints. Get out. Tomorrow, the party will leave at dawn to travel to the dwarven ruins. Today... they celebrate their last night in town. PART TWO: Mishka The party spent the night reveling, drinking, and robbing people. Hansel, Raef, Larkin, and Ripley got into a drinking contest, but tragically, Ripley and Raef immediately passed out, and Hansel won. While the bartender was distracted, Larkin snuck behind the bar, found his secret stash, and stole all the bet money from the bar, then slipped out. Hansel left the bar. But before he could get far— he ran into Mishka, his conniving ex-husband. Mishka lured him into private and made him a deal. “I want you to steal the airship blueprints... and bring them to me,” Mishka said. “I don’t know how much you’ve told these new little friends of yours about your past. But I know you have a foster son named Jonn—and I know Jonn is a thief and a whore. I paid him to spend an hour with me—and I gave him a glass of wine laced with Red Jermaine poison. Over the next few days, the poison will slowly cut off the oxygen supply to his brain. In about three weeks, he will be brain dead— but that’s okay, because in about five weeks, he’ll be dead. So this is what I want you to do, dear Hansel. Steal the blueprints and bring them to me, and I will graciously give you the cure. I don’t give a fuck what you do afterwards. I imagine Ripley will be furious you stole from her. You’d probably better leave Skyport and run once you give me the blueprints... but personally, Hansel, I hope she fucking hangs you.” Hansel left without a word. And instead of doing what Mishka asked, he went straight to Ripley instead. He told her everything. Ripley (still pretty drunk) went silent for a while. Then she gave her opinion. Red Jermaine was an exotic poison. It could not be healed with magic. There was a cure, but it was in Calimport, a city across the sea— two weeks away. Mishka had the only vialable cure in the city. But... they couldnt give Mishka the blueprints. Too important. Ripley gave her opinion: they had to let Hansel’s foster son die and get the blueprints as normal, as if nothing was wrong. Seething, Hansel turned to go. Fine. He’d go to the fucking dwarven city himself, get the blueprints, and give them to Mishka. Screw Ripley. But Goro stopped him. The very first mission the group went on, there was a scrying pool full of blue mushrooms. Using the pool—which they still have access to—they could figure out where Mishka stashed the cure and steal it. The group could rob Mishka, get the cure, and save Hansel’s son without handing over the blueprints. Hansel agreed. And they set out to prepare. Mishka is a brilliant sorcerer and a cunning manipulator. Robbing him won’t be easy. They used the scrying pool to locate the cure. Using scrying magic, Hansel saw Mishka take ten numbered vials full of different liquids and hide them inside a wine cask. The room appeared to be an underground wine cellar. Tomorrow, the party will break into Mishka's home-- a successful vineyard outside the city. But first, tonight... they prepare. PART THREE: Goro Fucks Up The party went to visit the local magic items merchant. Diva the Deals Queen has a creepy reputation. Her shop sits in a tiny, cramped corner of a building, but as soon as the heroes stepped inside, they found themselves in an enormous (and heavily perfumed) store. Diva is a gorgeous woman with pitch-black eyes. Her voice drips with honey. She wants to make a deal. She’ll trade magic items... for body parts. Hansel agreed to trade his pinky finger for a chime of sleep, a magic item that incapacitates low-level creatures. The other party members tried to make deals, but pansied out when Diva asked for body parts and souls . Mormiir (the wise but still drunk dwarf) objected to ALL of this and refused to interact with her. And then Goro made a deal. She gave him a magic wand called The Leech, an item that allowed him to cast healing spells—but drained his hitpoints. The wand can also bring people back to life... but it has a chance of instantly killing the user (at which point their soul belongs to Diva). But Goro wanted more. He spied a powerful magic ring called a Ring of Mind-Shielding. Diva made him a very special offer. She’ll give him the ring for free. In exchange for one tiny thing... one minute of his life. At some point in the future, Diva will take complete control of Goro’s body and use him however she wants for sixty seconds. Goro bargained her down. Intrigued and delighted, Diva agreed to the following restrictions: She will not cause Goro to hurt himself. She will not cause Goro to hurt anyone currently inside the room at the time of the deal (including herself, Goro, Raef, Larkin, Hansel, Roddy, Mormiir, or the cat, Pumpkin). She will not cause Goro to hurt anyone currently employed by Guildmaster Joan Ripley at the time of the deal, not including future hires. All of this includes both magical and physical harm. Seemed iron-tight. Diva cut her palm. Goro shook her hand and sealed the deal. Diva’s black, boiling blood burnt Goro’s palm, leaving a black streak there. And then— To his complete horror— Goro suddenly realized what Diva had done. Diva left a loophole in the deal. The deal protected everyone in the guild who worked for Joan Ripley. It didn’t include Ripley. Diva deliberately left a loophole so that she could use Goro’s body to attack Guildmaster Ripley at some unknown point in the future. “Fuck,” Goro said.
Session Five: Hansel the Cannibal The Problem In the last session, Mishka-- Hansel's conniving ex-husband-- revealed he'd poisoned Hansel's son, Jonn. In exchange for the antidote, he wants Hansel to steal the dwarven airship blueprints from the party (once they retrieve them from the dwarven ruins). Hansel refused. Mishka typically spent his evenings amusing himself at the Silverlit Inn, a high-class bar. While Mishka was away that night, they'd break into his vineyard estate and steal the antidote. Breaking and Entering The party broke into the estate. It went relatively easily... Too easy. They slipped around the back and broke in through a window. While they were inside, Mishka came home from the Silverlit Inn, looking exhausted and bedraggled. He immediately spotted something amiss. Goro cast a spell creating a duplicate of himself running out the door, and Mishka vanished with a crack-- using his short-range teleport spell. The party stole through the rest of the manor, exploring it. While they were exploring, they knocked out two servants using a sleep spell. Later, when they came back, the bodies had vanished. Something was wrong. It became clear that Mishka knew they were here... but wasn't stopping them. The party located the special wine cellar beneath the house. Inside a fake sealed wine cask, they found the ten vials Hansel had seen in his vision. It became clear to that each vial was an ingredient for the antidote. Pinned nearby, there was a fake note with a coded recipe for the antidote. Hansel decoded it. It indicated five vials. He took the five, then left the rest. Roddy took the remaining vials. While they slipped outside, they came across small stone statues with sapphire eyes. Roddy took a pair, realizing they were scrying eyes. They took the five vials back to Jonn, who lay unconscious in his bed at the Grumpy Sausage. Ripley, Amari, Hansel, Roddy, and Jonn's stableboy boyfriend all gathered around... and they combined the five vials. Which exploded into a massive fireball, destroying the Grumpy Sausage tavern and murdering Jonn's boyfriend. Everyone else survived. As they staggered out of the building, Mishka emerged from the alley and dropped his invisibility spell. "Wow," he said. "I can't believe that worked. You really are a stupid brute, Hansel. You couldn't just do what I fucking told you." Hansel swung, punching him right in the face. Mishka grabbed Hansel, using a short-range teleport to teleport up fifty feet in the air. Mishka positioned himself so he'd land safely on a building--and dropped Hansel off the roof. Hansel slammed into the ground. Mishka held up the five remaining vials, the real antidoe that would save Jonn. "Now, let's try this again--" he said. And then Goro bolted onto the scene. He threw out his hand and said, "Drop." And magically compelled Mishka to drop the vials. The five vials spun in the air. Mishka's face dropped in horror. He dove off the build, caught one vial, and rolled on the ground. Hansel and Goro both caught two vials. But they still needed the fifth. They fought-- and Mishka was forced to a standstill. They didn't get the last vial back... but Mishka was out of spells and out of options. He put the vial beneath his boot, ready to crush it with his heel... Then kicked it over silently. "This has gotten ridiculous," Mishka said. Then he vanished, using his last invisibility spell. Hansel the Cannibal Mishka spent most evenings at the Silverlit Inn. The next day, Goro went to visit him. Mishka asked the guards to let Goro in. "Well, this is unexpected," Mishka said. "You're Ripley's kid, right?" With a flick of his wrist, he undid the magic over his face. His nose was broken. With another flick, he used magic to cover it up again. "Please don't punch me again. Hansel was enough." Goro asked why Mishka surrendered the antidote. Mishka shrugged. "I'd lost," he said. "I never really wanted to hurt Jonn. There was no point. I just wanted to extort Hansel." Goro asked why Mishka hated Hansel. "Listen," Mishka said. "This is going to sound insane, but it's the honest-to-god truth. Hansel and I used to be... well... we were together. We were pirates. One day I decided to retire, so I stole the ship and all the coin. I offered to take Hansel with me, but he refused." And here Mishka paused. "He wouldn't speak to me. He was furious. I left. I scryed on him from time to time. I was... concerned. He bought a new ship. But after a while, my spells stopped working. I saw his ship wreck in a storm, then--nothing. For three fucking months, I thought he was dead, thought I'd killed him. Then... Khamen, the crew's cook, came to me. He said he'd survived the wreck. He said during the wreck, Hansel murdered and ate the entire crew to survive. Khamen survived by staying out of sight for three weeks while they made it back to shore. I found Hansel in Skyport. He deserves to hang for what he did." Goro asked one final question: "Why do you want the airship blueprints?" "Well, they're valuable," Mishka said. "They have a lot of power. The dwarves used to mount flame cannons on airships and burn down their opposition. In the right hands, those blueprints are priceless. You could build an empire with them. And I'd like them." As he spoke, Goro's eyes widened, entranced. "Well," Goro said. "Do you have any questions for me?" "Mm," Mishka said. "No. I have a few, but I think I'd rather wait until next time. Keep the mystery."
Session Six: Holy Heist The Problem Goro may or may not have accidentally donated his entire life savings to the Church of Helm. In a panic, he gathered the party and together they hatched a plan: break into the church, avoid Ripley and Amari, and get the accidental donation back before anyone even notices it's there. In the meantime... maybe they can pick up a few valuables while they're there. Roddy had to be talked into it. Mormiir did it in exchange for a drink. Larkin was ready to fuckin' go. Talking to Ripley While Larkin, Roddy, and Mormiir prepared for the heist, Goro went to talk to Ripley. He uncovered three major pieces of info: Goro asked: "What are you going to do with the airship blueprints?" Ripley responded: "The political situation is delicate. As you're probably aware, Skyport is ruled by a Prince. Typically the Prince selects an heir -- usually a member of the council -- to replace him, but the last Prince was murdered five years ago without an appointed heir, and his thirteen-year-old daughter took the throne. She's turning eighteen this year. There's five members of the council, and all of them are trying to influence her. Honestly... I have no idea, Goro. Those blueprints have a lot of political power, and frankly, I have no fucking idea what to do with it. I'll probably just keep them." Goro asked: "What do you want done with Mikhail Haeth?' Ripley answered: "He's complicated and dangerous. I would prefer to leave him alone. If you can find a way to use him... use him." Goro asked: "Why did Amari get thrown out of the Church of Helm?" Ripley became deeply hesitant. Finally, she edged around the truth. The Church of Helm runs Skyport. Worshiping other gods is illegal. Heretics are hanged. During this conversation, Ripley heavily implied that she and Amari did not actually worship Helm. "If you sell me out, I will fucking murder you," she said to Goro. "Oh my god, I know," Goro said, and stormed out. Breaking In Mormiir, Larkin, and Roddy scouted out the abbey. The abbey was heavily guarded both inside and out during the day... but at night, the abbey would be empty, and most of the guards would be moved outside. Mormiir made a distraction at the front. He wrestled with one of the guards, drawing their attention. Four guards rushed out to grab him. Mormiir (being a slippery dwarf) booked it in the opposite direction. While Mormiir distracted the guards, Roddy slipped a scrying eye (an item from a previous adventure) into the donation bowl at the center of the abbey. He and Larkin hid inside the church until nightfall... but were caught, arrested, and thrown into the dungeon below the abbey. Mormiir (the real MVP of the session) broke into the dungeon, murdered the guard in one hit, and rescued his companions. Roddy used the scrying eye to spy on the donations. As he watched, they were taken to the abbey refectory, then through a secret passage into the church vault. Together, the three of them slipped into the abbey again. But while they tip-toed through the abbey, a young girl wandered down the hallway rubbing her eyes and looking for a drink of water. She stopped. Noticed them. Stopped rubbing her eyes. And stared. Roddy grabbed her and stuffed his hand over his mouth. Thinking quickly, Mormiir (dwarf barbarian and infiltration expert) convinced her he was a short, hairy dwarf fairy. "Oh wow," the little girl said, wide-eyed. "Gosh! My name is Rina. What are you doing here?" Larkin, Mormiir, and Roddy quickly debated on what to do. Roddy (hesitantly) offered to kidnap her and give her to Hansel to adopt (and she immediately hid behind Mormiir, her new hairy fairy friend). "Oh wow, no thanks," she said. "Listen, there's lots of people around, you probably shouldn't get caught here. I could get scared and scream. But if you gave me, like, two gold or something, I'd probably just go back to bed." Roddy patted her proudly. They gave the tiny extortionist two gold and she scampered off to bed. They proceeded down to the vault, robbed it, and took off. Poisoning the Paladin While the rest of the party was infiltrating the abbey, Goro invited Captain Odin -- the captain of the Paladins of Helm -- out for a drink. He lured the captain out by pretending to have information to help convict Amari of blasphemy. At the Silverlit Inn, Mishka sat in the corner. Goro spotted him and made a split-second decision. He made Mishka a deal. Amused, Mishka kicked up his feet and listened. Goro paid Mishka 1000 gold for some Red Jermaine poison-- and one hour of Mishka's time. He asked Mishka to help him poison the paladin. "We ought to have a codeword," Mishka said. "You know, years ago, back when Hansel and I were together, we had a signal. If something went wrong we'd call each other 'honey.' Anyway, if you need help, just let me know, and I'll do what I can." Goro managed to glean a little information from the captain. Clerics can only cast spells inside the Abbey of Helm if they actually worship Helm. Amari, for whatever reason, can't cast spells inside the abbey anymore. The church knew she must have lost her faith... but they couldn't find enough evidence to hang her. So they threw her out. Goro lied through his teeth to protect his family. He insisted that all he, Ripley, and Amari were all very devout and there must have been a mistake. Goro bought Captain Odin a glass of wine. Using sleight of hand, he tried to empty the poison into Captain Odin's goblet-- but was caught by the bartender. Amused, Mishka stepped in to save Goro. "Why, honey! You're so thoughtful. Thank you for adding my medicine to my drink for me." He took the goblet and bought a third (identical) drink. Mishka carried the goblets to the table, then used sleight of hand to make sure Odin received the poison. Odin drank, then left. "Thanks for the fun," Mishka said. "I needed a distraction." And he left. Roddy Talks to Ripley Roddy went to check on Ripley. "Hypothetically, if you hear someone broke into the abbey and murdered a guard, I just want you to know, it wasn't me," Roddy said. Ripley shut the door and cast Zone of Truth. Roddy immediately broke down and spilled everything. "Oh my god," Ripley said. "Okay. Fine. I give up. Listen. If you ever get into trouble with this -- or anything else -- just remember one thing. The paladins have magic that forces you to tell the truth, but it only works if you actually talk. Understand? If you ever get arrested, don't say anything. Don't talk to the police. They are not on your side. Come get me." "Yes ma'am," Roddy said.
