[RPG] Innkeeper's Quest (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy)

[FumblingLinguist]

Confession: when I made the last post, I saw a box that said something like "open voting" and clicked it without really understanding what it would do. I thought it would just add a little tag to indicate voting was open to the thread list, but then I realized it seems to come with a bunch of options I don't actually understand? So I'm just going to remove it, and stick with the unstructured voting I'd been doing.

 

[philotes_mecha]

Confession: when I made the last post, I saw a box that said something like "open voting" and clicked it without really understanding what it would do. I thought it would just add a little tag to indicate voting was open to the thread list, but then I realized it seems to come with a bunch of options I don't actually understand? So I'm just going to remove it, and stick with the unstructured voting I'd been doing.

Click to shrink...

Seems be automatic vote tally I don't bother with it

[X] Fill him on your work for his uncle, Ranis, including your encounter with Karsīmath the big blue lady and her magic sword.
[X] Try to persuade him to let you in...
-[X] ...by attempting to call on your sex appeal (not that it's your forte, but you can try)
[X] Dump your prisoner in a convenient alley, and go find Nawitha's friend

 

[FumblingLinguist]

You have an idea. What man can resist a beautiful young woman like you?

Spoiler: Die Rolling

Sex Appeal normally defaults to HT-3. Attractive gives you +1, but Incompetence gives you -4. The 3d6 roll is 14. I'd decided in advance to treat this as an influence roll, requiring a will roll from the doorman, but even with situational modifiers his roll being mediocre, that's still a failure.

"Oh love," you say, "It is time to face the truth: I always get what I want." The rather blatant line is a riff on a song lyric you once heard, because songs are where most of your understanding of how to be sexy comes from. You even sort-of attempt to sing it, but you quickly realize you're off key. He makes a face.

"Peace," he says. You freeze. "PEACE!" he repeats, angrily enough that he may as well have said, "go away, she-demon!" Startled, the three of you awkwardly scoop up your prisoner and move away as quickly as you can.

"Strange," Ganīm comments. "I wonder what the big fuss is. Did somebody die?"

"Should've listened to this guard and just left this guy," you mutter. "Let's dump him in an alley. Why did we even pick him back up? I guess—let's go that way—I guess leaving him in front of another censor's house wouldn't endear me to your uncle."

"It wouldn't endear me to my uncle. I don't need him any angrier at me."

"Oh?" you ask in surprise, as you readjust your grip on your prisoner.

"He wasn't happy about the duel. But what was I supposed to do? Lie? Uncle Ranis..."

"By heaven, would you people just leave me?" Ghantūr asks.

You sigh. "Over there," you tell your companions, indicating a spot that seems out of the way enough. After the three of you hurry away, Ganīm continues.

"As I was saying, Uncle Ranis knows the censor for clan Qanīr is illiterate. So did he want me to lie? Or maybe I should have told Bahir Kas Qanīr I was too busy to duel him, and have everyone think I was a coward? Anyway, where are we going next?"

After that, things go smoothly. You find Thamūr at the house where he's renting a room. The house is smaller than Thalīra's or Ranis', but still of quite respectable size—apparently the owner's husband had been a successful merchant, but after his death she'd been faced with the choice of moving somewhere smaller or renting out a few rooms so she could afford to stay, and she chose to stay.

Thamūr's appearance is less striking than Nawitha's, but he makes up for his ordinary black hair and round ears with a vividly green cloak and tunic, along with an elaborately carved staff with a crystal embedded in one end. You give him your spiel about coming to Zimar'an to seek your fortune.

"Makes sense. 'Don't build a mountain on top of a mountain,'" he says, quoting a saying you had to copy out many times while learning your letters. He's happy to accept a retainer of twenty silver per week, and goes with you to meet up with Karsīmath, who greets you with an enthusiastic "you come!"

"Sorry I'm a bit late", you say. "We got side-tracked."

"Side-tracked?" she says, giving you the same look she used when you tried to buy her sword for 80 silver.

"Maybe later. But first..."

One glance at the sword is enough for Thamūr to pronounce it definitely magical—though how magical, he says, will take a while. You all find a place to sit down, and Thamūr makes a strange gesture and begins chanting softly. After awhile, you realize he's not going to be home any time soon, so you try to make conversation by asking Karsīmath what she plans to spend the money on. At one point, you suggest buying some armor, but she insists she doesn't need it. "My skin is very tough." Lathir tells her to think about it, because dwarves are tough too, but still know the value of a good helmet. Lathir also tells Karsīmath if she wants to buy an axe, it has to be dwarven, that dwarves make the best axes.

You wish you'd asked Thamūr just how long "a while" would be. Now you're afraid to ask, because you don't know if interrupting him would mean starting all over. Finally, he stops chanting, stretches his arms, and announces the sword bears a single significant enchantment, an armor-piercing enchantment.

"Is that a very powerful enchantment?" Karsīmath asks.

"It's not Scorpion's Mace, but it's still a real magic sword, not just a noise-maker."

"Great! Now that we've confirmed that, I could help you sell it," says Ganīm. "I know a lot of rich people." What do you tell Ganīm?

[ ] Invite Ganīm to come with you as you report to Ranis. He seems to have enjoyed tagging along with you today, and you see no harm in humoring him further.
[ ] Suggest he talk to other people he knows while you talk to Ranis. Maybe he has other useful contacts, but he admitted he's not on the best terms with his uncle.
[ ] Politely decline further help from him. Why's he been following you around so much, anyway?
[ ] WRITE-IN

You remember the other day Karsīmath mentioned arrow venom. If the knife really was poisoned, finding where Ghantūr got the poison might mean being able to sell some to her, and potentially make a lot of money. Do you resist the temptation?

Spoiler: Die Rolling

Self-control number for Greed is 12, roll is a 10, so you can resist the temptation if you want to.

[ ] Don't try to get arrow venom for Karsīmath. You're unclear on the law but it's probably super-illegal.
[ ] Do it! Or rather, do it if you can find a source, not that there's any guarantee of that.
[ ] Actually, if fake poison scams are a thing, as that guard suggested, you should go ahead and scam Karsīmath if you can't find the genuine article.
[ ] WRITE-IN

When you talk to Ranis, will you... (check all that apply):

[ ] Ask if he, or anyone he knows, would like to buy a magic sword?
[ ] Ask him if he can determine whether the knife—which you still have with you—was actually poisoned?
[ ] Ask for other help finding information on Ghantūr
[ ] Pry into what was going on with him this morning, even if he doesn't volunteer the information?
[ ] WRITE-IN

 

[Marlin]

[X] Invite Ganīm to come with you as you report to Ranis. He seems to have enjoyed tagging along with you today, and you see no harm in humoring him further.
[X] Do it! Or rather, do it if you can find a source, not that there's any guarantee of that.
[X] Ask him if he can determine whether the knife—which you still have with you—was actually poisoned?

 

[FumblingLinguist]

You return to Ranis' house. He's home this time, talking to the gargoyle you briefly saw yesterday.

After you introduce Thamūr, Ranis explains, "I was just telling Yadūn here that he has earned himself an extra serving of fish sauce today," evidently meaning the gargoyle.

"Yes. Master is very generous," says Yadūn.

"That's the secret to owning gargoyles," Ranis says with a laugh. "Feeding them well."

Ranis has, evidently, heard the story of your attempting to deliver a prisoner to him earlier that day, and wants a full account. Ranis listens to your story with growing concern. When you finish, he says, "First of all, thank you for being so thorough looking into Karsīmath , as she apparently calls herself. And thank you for bringing me the knife. I'll get it checked for poison just in case Ghantūr didn't get it from Qavvāk ta Sо̄kig."

"Huh?" you say. "Who's Qavvāk ta Sо̄kig?" You'd mentioned Ghantūr's name, but not the guard's comment about "Qavvāk ta Sо̄kig". Maybe the guard didn't make up the name.

"He's a goblin petty thief who seems to mostly spend his time trying to defraud other criminals. He's famous within the city."

"I could have told you that," Lathir comments. "I thought you knew."

How do you react to this information?

[ ] Accept this account of who Qavvāk ta Sо̄kig is.
[ ] Think they shouldn't be so sure he isn't selling real poison. You don't want to get Ranis further off track, but you'll make a mental note to try to find out more.
[ ] WRITE-IN

"Anyway, thank you for bringing me the knife, and getting this Ghantūr's name was smart, but..." Ranis sighs, "...next time, take the knife, leave the bum. A name and an item belonging to the person should be enough for a tracking spell, I believe?" Ranis looks to Thamūr.

"Absolutely," says Thamūr. "Well, maybe not if someone else with the same name owned the knife before? But normally, yes."

"Right. So the thing is," continues Ranis, "if it ends up being important, you can find the man with magic. If not, my wife doesn't have to deal with someone trying to a bring her a prisoner just as she's expecting one of her girlfriends to come over. Now, the second thing. Ganīm, what were you thinking going to a tavern frequented by bums like that? And do you feel any shame about having gotten these ladies mixed up with such people?"

"But I'd never had any trouble there before!" Ganīm protests.

"You'd been there before? Don't you have enough friends with houses in the city that you shouldn't need to go to such places?"

"But..."

"No more buts! I'm going to have to tell your mother about this. I'm serious. Your behavior reflects on our entire clan!"

How do you react to Ranis scolding of his nephew?

[ ] Say nothing.
[ ] Gently tell Ganīm his uncle has a point.
[ ] Come to Ganīm's defense—it wasn't his fault you got attacked, and besides, you and Lathir can take care of yourselves!
[ ] WRITE-IN.

Finally, Ranis suggests all four of you go home. "Especially you, Ganīm. By heaven, if you get into any more trouble tonight... in truth, it would be good if you could stay out of trouble for another two, even three or four days!"

[ ] Do as Ranis suggests and go back to Thalīra's.
[ ] The night is still young. Offer to accompany Ganīm back to his house.
[ ] The night is still young. Once you've left Ranis' house, suggest to Ganīm you explore the city more.
[ ] WRITE-IN.