Session 07 - Fighting Pits, Man Problems, Prison Talks, and an Acquittal

Fritz: And, uh...who exactly are you?

Wizmur: I'm an intellectual!

Fritz: So you're unemployed?

Wizmur: ...yes.

Plot points/Scenes

The Jagged Tooth

• Jalan decides to take Drant along to find some criminal contacts that could help him find whoever put the bounty on his head, Fritz decides to stay in the library and investigate these easter egg rooms
• Jalan and his criminal connections
  • The Jagged Tooth bar
    • Shady bar in the bad part of town
    • Can bet on animal fighting - some Shady Individual walks up
      • SI: “Come to join the pits?”
      • D: “Is there gold involved?”
      • [F: “you don’t even know what gold is!”]
      • D: “....I’m catching on.”
    • Drant pickpockets some gold off Jalan for the entry fee - he actually succeeds but he doesn’t know how to pickpocket so Jalan very clearly sees it happening but the curator snatches it from him before Jalan can get it back
• The fighting pit
  • A round pit with a balcony with portcullises, currently two displacer beasts are duking it out
  • Drant is taken from Jalan and put in a cage, given the ring name Bug-Man, and pitted against a giant constrictor snake
  • Drant gets his ass handed to him by the snake, even with Jalan illegally helping him by spitting darts at the snake
    • Jalan gets spotted by a bystander who is appalled that he’s cheating. On Jalan’s next round:
      • J: “I load up another paralyzing dart and shoot it at him.”
      • DM: “You’re not even trying to be subtle? That dude is looking right at you.”
      • J: “Oh no, I’m shooting the dart at the dude.”
      • DM: “haha oh shiiiiit”
    • Drant BARELY survives with 9 health (even with his Odic healing bullshit - it’s lucky we levelled up because his Vampiric Touch and extra hit points were clutch - and by clutch I mean saved his dumb ass)
      • [“It’s not even fair, I didn’t get to do anything, I had a whole plan and he was just like NOPE” *makes hugging motion*]
  • Drant just gets up and starts crying, then rips the fangs out of the snake’s head and stabs its corpse with them [“die! die! die!”]
    • The crowd starts chanting “Bug-Man!”
    • “And it’s time for round 2! Bug-Man versus the Golden Bear!”
    • D: “i need help”, gets into the fetal position, clutching the snake’s fangs and rocking back and forth
  • They release the Golden Bear into the ring, Drant hits it, Jalan blow-pipes it and it dies immediately, Jalan gets some stink-eye from the curator
    • Turns out the Golden Bear was a crowd favorite and the curator suspects Jalan of cheating
  • Drant’s led out of the ring and asked if he wants to fight again, he says “uuuhhh not now no pls”
  • The curator refuses to pay out Jalan’s bet winnings until the body is searched and foul play is eliminated
  • Drant goes over to the body and searches for the dart under the guise of “IT’S NOT DEAD!” and stabbing it with his snake fangs, finds the dart, eats it (rather than try to hide it), and temporarily paralyzes himself, then resumes the fetal position
  • Curator can’t find any proof that Jalan was cheating
• Back to the actual reason they’re here [drant: “i’ve forgotten why we even came here”]
  • Jalan re-approaches the curator, and asks if he doesn’t try to cash in his winnings, if he’d answer a question - then asks about Grimwold Torchstone (the guy who according to Jalan’s Embassy file tried to put a bounty on his head)
    • Curator: “I’d rather you cash it in…” but he answers
    • He’s a crime boss, most try to avoid him, he’s gone underground recently, doesn’t really have a big presence in this city and isn’t located here
    • Jalan cashes in his winnings on the way out anyway
      • DM: “uh...how long after doing this do you stick around?”
      • J: “I am getting tf out of there as soon as possible”

The First Secret Room

• Fritz finds a book in low archaic (which she can read because of college days), it’s a book on construction which when she tries to pull it out opens a secret door
• Inside the secret room
  • Lots of books written in archaic (language of magic), hard to find since the Rapture (1000 years ago), writing in archaic isn’t done anymore since writing in a magic language holds no magic
  • Find a compendium of different magical items that have been used throughout the ages
    • Mentions Ralodithius and some of his artifacts
    • Mentions Gramiere
    • Mentions the millennium artifacts with a more detailed description of what they do, but not a more useful detailed description
    • Contains some spells that have been lost to time
  • There’s a hatch up in the ceiling with a ladder, an old man in a blue robe climbs down the ladder and is very surprised to see Fritz
    • He introduces himself as Wizmur Greybeard
      • F: “And, uh...who exactly are you?”
      • W: “I’m an intellectual!”
      • F: “So you’re unemployed?”
      • W: “...yes.”
    • Specializes in archaic and history
      • W: “I can’t actually cast spells”
      • F: *audibly disappointed* “Oh…..that’s tragic”
  • Drops some hints that he knows details about Ralodithius and the big battles that led to his downfall, and also about lots of big historical events
  • Also drops hints that he knows everything about everyone, including personal details about Fritz’s history - starts rambling about her parents and her father and says something about he knows everything there is to know about everyone in town, including our little team
  • He mentions that people in the government pay to keep him housed/fed and he just continuously farms information for them
    • He doesn’t seem to be very tight-lipped but to be fair he was purposefully showing off, he’s probably got important information on people that we could use, but may not be more forthcoming with more sensitive information
      • I smell another date in Fritz’s future and I am not pleased
• There’s four secret rooms in the library
  • This one’s history and the magicks, the other three are all different subjects
• Jalan and Drant enter the library
  • Drant is still clutching his fangs, his carapace is cracked and he’s just rocking back and forth, clearly traumatized
    • Fritz: “What did you do??”
    • Jalan: *like a tattletale* “Drant entered a fighting pit”
    • Drant: *crying* “I didn’t knooo-oo-ww”
  • Drant and Jalan discuss how he can probably make a pretty cool necklace or something out of his fangs

Sylvia and Her Man Problems

• When we get back to the power plant, Meghan and Sylvia are arguing over something petty but we don’t get involved, just go to bed
• We wake up the next morning and Sylvia has a black eye, and huffs and puffs and puts in her two weeks notice
  • Apparently Meghan got mad she brought a man here and let him in overnight, and Meghan punched Sylvia
    • F: “You brought a man in? Into the facility? Where is he, who is he, where did he all go while he was here, is he still here?”
    • Jalan starts lecturing Sylvia about the threat that poses to security, and starts rethinking the decision to give her full guest-making administrative positions
  • Fritz marches down the hall and kicks open Sylvia’s door, hammer in hand, demanding to know who this dude is
    • [Jalan jokes that it’s her date Daryl Borksnob rebounding with Sylvia, Fritz does not think that’s amusing]
    • It’s a young attractive 20-something male, don’t recognize him, but judging from the clothes scattered around the room he’s high-ish born, not nobility
    • Fritz kicks the door open, brandishing a hammer, and screams at him to get out, he flips out and flees
    • Sylvia gets all huffy that he’ll never speak to her again. Fritz says “good riddance.”
      • S: “You’re not my mom!”
      • Jalan jokes that she kind of is because we’ll be screening all of the boys Sylvia brings home from now on
  • Jalan talks Meghan down
    • “The whore! The hussie!”
    • She is also extremely angry that we’d hire a replacement (“she’s more like a subordinate”)
      • M: “So I’m her superior but I don’t have any power over her?”
      • J: “Well it’s not like...it’s more like compartmentalization”
        • Because Meghan is the self-declared head of public relations, and Sylvia’s more like a receptionist, he frames it like Sylvia’s taking over all of the menial duties
• Sylvia’s new duties
  • No longer allowed to just give visitor passes to anyone even just for strictly business, instead she writes down the names/positions/business of people who try to get access and when they showed up
  • Regarding male companions, she’s urged to go to their house
    • S: “But what if I wanna get married?”
    • F: “If you come to us with a new dude in two weeks, no.”
    • [J: “yOuR’E noT mY mOM!”]

Designing the Prison

• Meeting with Carissa at the Embassy to discuss designs/policies moving forward
  • Treated very kindly this time comparatively
  • Borksnob seems embarrassed to be in the same room as Fritz
  • Design discussions
    • Government would have 24-hour access to any prisoners
    • Manned internal security team and supplementary mechanical security
    • Government has its own oversight team during prison operations so that we can run the prison privately but they can ensure it is up to spec
    • Rooms where you can wheel out these cryo-chambers and interrogate people
      • Jalan goes on excitedly about how they could be suspended and there could be chairs so the prisoners could sit down but then you could take the chair away so they’re hanging above empty space and it could be dark and scary
      • Nobody is sure how to respond
  • Carissa lets slip that there was a break-in on Saturday (whaaaat? No wayyy)
    • Fritz offers a partnership in designing and implementing a new high-tech security system
      • Even though nothing appears to have been stolen from Carissa’s office, maybe it would offer her an extra feeling of security
      • Agrees, plans will be drafted (ha, sucka we gon’ rob you blind)
      • Carissa offers that Daryl also work on the project (probably so that we don’t have 100% control over it, so we’ll have to find a way to pull the wool over Daryl’s eyes)
        • kinky
        • Daryl seems excited to work with Fritz, Fritz is unenthusiastic
  • Back to prison discussions
    • Carissa wants to create a center of intelligence operations in the empire (would look good on her resume ig)
    • Also expresses concerns that our prison may not be entirely secure, and that worst case scenario if there was a breakout there’d be dozens of high-profile prisoners released into our little valley
      • Says that she’s only comfortable storing a maximum of three prisoners at a time with us, Jalan protests that we have the facilities to store many times that, she agrees that we’ll start off small and as we continue to make improvements and prove ourselves secure she’ll consider storing more people with us
• On the way out, Jalan pulls Borksnob aside and asks about his date
  • BS: “Isn’t she dating you now?”
  • J: “Uh...no. I’ve asked her before, she doesn’t seem interested”
  • [F: “I don’t recall this happening” [D: “maybe it’s cause ur 5 feet taller than her??”]]
  • Borksnob says that he’s feeling trashy and that he’ll be going to the Jagged Tooth later that night if Jalan wants to join (Jalan says sure but later sends an errand boy to cancel on him, Borksnob sends an unnecessarily long and flowery letter in return that basically says “I’m glad your prison planning is more important than MY FEELINGS”)

Beginning the Prison Expansion

• Fritz begins work on improvements to the plant, beginning with the program/system administration, adding encryption/extra levels of clearance - nothing hardware yet, only software - she wants to make sure the system is absolutely 100% secure so that nothing like the cyborg courier could ever happen again
  • Her really hammering down on this system is an attempt to make it completely physically impossible to get into parts of the system she doesn’t want other people into
• Jalan begins searching for sellswords to hire as our security detail
  • Gets a group of 4 goliaths for 150gp/year each (or 0.5 gold/day)
    • Takes Drant to insight our potential hires
    • One of them has the potential to be a sorcerer and/or a skilled swordsman, has a longsword which he refuses to give up
    • Jalan buys the other three longswords so they all match, and buys them chainmail armor
• Sylvia’s warming up to her job, and is in charge of writing down the names/appearances/intentions of everyone who comes through asking for clearance but not allowed to give clearance to anybody without our consent
• We begin to have a lot of government officials stopping through to preview the facility in advance of our big collaborative project
• Sylvia starts making eyes at one of the guards
  • S: “What, I’m not allowed to fraternize with the guards?”
  • F: “Fraternize, sure, but try anything more freaky, I’ve got my eye on you.”
  • S: “More freaky?”
  • F: “Do we have to have the talk?”
  • J: “We don’t have maternity leave.”
  • *Sylvia shuts up*

Robin Stormcaller’s Trial

• Carissa’s there, waves cordially as we enter
• Robin’s in chains, and crying
• Judge: “You will be sentenced to death unless someone here will speak for you”
  • Fritz raises her hand
• Fritz on the witness stand
  • “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you Ragnar?”
  • Fritz, in only a few run-on sentences, describes how to her knowledge Robin did do what he confessed to but he was under duress and so can’t be held accountable - describes the suit he wore
    • Judge asks if she still has the suit, she says yes but she barely got it off him and it’s malfunctioning so we stuck it in a cryo-chamber for the time being - doesn’t let on that she has a few perfectly functioning suits with her right now, she says she’d be perfectly fine with turning over the suit to the court as evidence
• Judge: “While we appreciate the testimony, overturning such a conviction on just one account would be foolish.” (he wants to see someone hang) “Is there anybody who can corroborate this story?”
  • Fritz shoots dagger eyes at Jalan from the stand, he reluctantly raises his hand
    • [J: “Well if I hadn’t done it I never would’ve heard the end of it!”]
• Jalan on the witness stand
  • Basically just corroborates what Fritz says
• Judge’s verdict
  • He accepts Fritz’s and Jalan’s testimonies as valid, but says that Robin will still be executed for blaspheming Ragnar
  • At the last moment Carissa intervenes and pardons him, saying something about justice and humanity
  • She puts some symbolic shiny paint on her hand and extends her hand to Robin, who tearfully takes it in his shackled hands
• After he’s unshackled he comes up to us and says he owes us a life debt, offers to work for us for free for only room and board
• The Warm Fuzzies
  • As we’re walking out, Fritz approaches Jalan [J: “oh no”]
  • F: “That was a good thing you did, I’m proud!”
  • J: “I only did it because you’d never have let me hear the end of it otherwise.”
  • F: “But it was still a good thing to do! Didn’t it give you the warm fuzzies?”
  • J: “the what”
  • F: “You know, the feeling you get when you hug a kitten, or help an old lady across the street, or do something for someone else out of the kindness of your heart.”
  • J: “Where I come from, we don’t have kittens...the old ladies are the most dangerous...and no kindness exists in my heart.”
  • F: “You’ve never felt the warm fuzzies??? Sylvia, block out an hour in each of Jalan and I’s days, I’ll show him what the warm fuzzies are”
  • Sylvia: “I’ll show him the warm fuzzies.”
  • …..*silence*.....
  • J: “Guess I won’t be needing your services, Fritz.”
  • Sylvia: “Does this mean I get maternity leave??”
  • [Drant: “Jalan never pulls out.”]
• Outfitting our new hire (free labor?) Robin
  • DM says he’s a blank slate and we can give him whatever we want, also that he’s very tech savvy
  • We opt to give him a steam hammer since it’s a pretty specialized weapon and even though technically only tinkers can use it he’s tech savvy, Fritz dedicates 100 gold and the rest of the day to making him one
  • Don’t remember what we did for armor for him, though it’s possible Fritz could schematic up some more specialized tinker stuff

Carissa’s Secret Meeting

• Jalan opts to go alone since neither Fritz nor Drant is particularly sneaky nor interested, Drant finishes up his Odic tattoos and Fritz continues work on the prison schematics
• Carissa’s got great hair, nails, and is uncharacteristically done up
• Jalan trails her to the Patzeria (the diner Fritz and Stan went to)
• Jalan can’t see her once she’s entered, instead decides to stake out the place from a place across the street
• A tall, lithe blonde female, dressed very well but conservatively, heads into the Patzeria a few minutes after Carissa/after Jalan staked out the place
  • He waits for some 2 hours before Carissa finally re-emerges, 20 minutes after that the blonde female leaves, and Jalan tails her
  • She’s weaving back and forth, making multiple turns, doubling back on herself as if trying to lose any tail, Jalan remains undetected, she eventually makes her way to Carissa’s house

Plot type

Session

Parent Plot

Act 1: Just Your Normal, Everday, Morally Ambiguous Power Company