I was made invisible by a party member to scout the Baron' manor for incriminating info. I was doing ok searching rooms until I found a room with the Baron himself and two mastiffs. Peeking through the cracked door, I used prestidigitation to make the Baron's junk smell like delicious meat to distract the three of them with crotch slobber while I opened the door. I came in, then closed the door behind me.

I failed the stealth check on closing the door, and they were alerted. Still invisible, I slipped deeper into the room to dodge the two dogs coming in to pincer the door. The Baron immediately started shrieking about assassins. (Unknown to me, two members of the household had recently gone missing and the Baron was on high alert). I made a magical noise out in the hall to keep the dogs occupied, since they would be able to smell me through invisibility, if left unchecked.

I was currently trapped in the room, but things were almost ok until I noticed a keyring on his belt. As the dogs barked and scratched at the door, I used Mage Hand to start throwing books around the room as a distraction. I failed a check to steal the keyring, and he took a jab at me with his rapier. I dodged, but when I pinned his weapon arm to a wall, that counted as a grapple and I accidentally dispelled my invisibility.

The dogs rounded on me, lunged, and bit. I was able to disengage, and a miraculous roll on Color Spray blinded all three of them. I dashed out of the room, made for the nearest hallway window, and lowered myself out of the second story.

My landing was rough, and I lost my footing. I was also instantly spotted by guards outside. I got up took off sprinting to lose them in the city, with almost no lead.

As I rounded a corner, the Baron's right hand man rolled a nat 20 on pursuit, clotheslining me from his hidden position behind the wall. With his flaming demonic arm, he cold-cocked my face as I lay prone, and I was out cold. My party had been waiting outside on the other side of the building and didnt see this. They searched the wrong area, and tried to meet up with me at the inn, wasting precious time.

Meanwhile, I was whipped, healed, tortured, healed. I pressed to persuade as best as I could while being flogged, but it became clear if I kept going I'd just have my tongue cut out. He wasn't looking for information. The Baron himself cut off my ear with a heated blade. Later he cut off my right hand. With a brilliant bit of roleplay, I was able to get him to stop for a moment and listen to me.

I started working my plea. I told him I was new here, didn't know which friends I should have been making. Said I knew now that the Baron was the kind of friend I wanted. I said I was very skilled, I just lacked direction. I said I was his, and he could point me in any direction he wanted. He said he'd point me south.

The party found me a few hours later, already hung, facing south.

I don't begrudge what happened. It was an awesome bit of drama. I played Arnwell like Arnwell, the Baron acted true to his reputation, which spoke to people being tortured and hung long before we accepted a spying mission. The dice rolls were fairly made, both Arnwell and NPCs getting amazing rolls. The story was basically out of our hands. The world and the characters came alive, and it all played out the way it was meant to.