2nd Game in the CSIO

Most of the group gathered again for a deeper foray into the machinations of entities in the City State of the Invincible Overlord.  I tried to be a little more open and forthright with information this time to help the game flow a little better.  Thus, many of the NPCs were a little more talkative than I probably would have run them, but that's okay.  The group managed to solve a few problems and find more questions.  Two of the group were sick, so Oola the female mage/stripper wandered off in search of greener pastures and the ranger was preoccupied with something else going on in town.  IRL, one player was ill and the other had work & family obligations.

So, for a few days the group sat around the hovel of Tonto (the thief) while Tonto went out to meet with contacts around town, in the Thieves Guild and in the Beggars Guild.  He came back and reported that the nobleman, whom the group was initially interested in robbing, had paid his dues to the Guild to prevent any thieving taking place.  Also, the emerald which was the target of the potential hit was rumored to be cursed.  The group learned that the gnome wandering around was actually hired by the Overlord because the gnome claimed to have a new divination device he had discovered in some ruins.  The group figured that this problem will sort itself out since some believe the device being built summons things instead of scrying on things.  Lastly, they learned that the goblin slave they bought was grateful for his new masters as they didn't beat him or do cruel things to him.  To show his gratitude, he started singing and they were all very surprised by his voice.  (The image and sound I used to convey their surprise was to imagine Jim Nabors, aka Gomer Pyle.)  So, Tonto decided that they needed to start a goblin barbershop quartet and sent Patsy (the goblin) into the Goblin Reservation to find 3 more singers.  He returned with 10, only one was worth keeping.  Patsy was sent back to find more.

Following up on the secretive & fearful actions of the goblins as night fell, the group learned that goblins with a facial scar were the ones being targeted.  So, the group hired a beggar to lead them to the location where the last goblin had been taken.  As they walked around down there, they avoided an encounter with shriekers due to the keen nose of the beggar.  Taking a side passage, Tonto discovered a gas trap which he disarmed and put in his belt pouch.  Continuing on, they found a group of goblins hurrying through the sewers on business of some kind and followed them.  The goblins were ambushed by a group of human mercenaries, the same group as Oola had charmed/befriended earlier.  The mercs grabbed one goblin and chased the others off.  As the mercs were tying up and questioning the goblin, Tonto lobbed the gas canister at them.  They all failed their saves and were blinded.  Tonto slipped in and killed one outright.  The group attacked and the mercs didn't stand a chance.  One got a lucky hit in on Marshal's character (sorry, don't have my notes nearby to look up his name) and that was all.  The goblin not only had a facial scar but was also missing a piece of his ear, making him the prime suspect for the sage to interrogate.

The sage had asked the mercs initially to find this goblin, but the group "found him first" and so got the reward.  They got 100 gp and the 3 items they found identified: a bag of dust of appearance, a suit of chainmail +1 and a shield +2.  The group then decided to go back to the hovel, count their loot, and decide on the next action to take.

It sounds like a short game but the sewer trek was a dungeon crawl of sorts and there were often side comments about Pinterest, beer, Thanksgiving, gaming, D&D Next, 1e module reprints, the history of Judges Guild, and other stuff.  Now, back to work on the next Freeport session and the next CSIO game.

Oh, and if any of you follow Stan Shinn's G+ stuff, he has pics of the maps.  Worth a look!