Arcadia - Land of Opportunity (Inactive)
Game Master Nazard

Let's just call it "Hobart's Prize"Lilo suggests

He is of mixed feeling when it is announced that Hickory will be transferring to the new vessel..on the one hand he is attracted to the girl, on the other her Taldane stubborness and upper class insensitivity sometimes drive him to distraction.

For her part, Hickory is most pleased to have finally a proper cabin or her own, though she is completely understanding and sympathetic on your loss. Lots of people throughout the day as you prepare to set off again come to express their sympathies; Hobart was well liked among the crew and colonists it seems.

Over a week goes by, and slowly life gets back to normal (as normal as your lives ever get, I suppose). The Hobart's Prize sails with the rest of the fleet, and you get very little rest as you all have to pitch in to keep the ship moving. Everyone make a Profession (Sailor) check as Aid Another actions to help the actual sailors keep control of the ship.

1d20 ⇒ 11

Sailor 1d20 ⇒ 13

I'll remind you that profession cannot be used untrained and therefore those who do not have it can't make the roll.Unless off course you are gifting us a rank due to famililiarity in which case...

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

I'll remind you that profession cannot be used untrained and therefore those who do not have it can't make the roll.Unless off course you are gifting us a rank due to famililiarity in which case...

1d20+4

Profession can't be used untrained technically, so I wouldn't allow you to make untrained checks to earn money, but I personally don't like the idea of Profession (Sailor) determining how well you can work a sailing vessel. It's better than having a separate skill for it though, which just gets annoying. What do you use to determine how well you manage a rowboat in a storm? Profession (sailor)? For our purposes, this is a wisdom check, or Profession (Sailor), whichever is better.

Well I actually do intend to take a rank in it at 2nd level..because it makes sense

Profession Sailor: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

You're tired every night, but with the help of the party, your skeleton crew is able to manage the ship quite well and keep it on course. You never really lose sight of the rest of the fleet for the entire week.

During your week at sea, Hickory brings out one of her many volumes, the author of which appears to be your own Falcon Gray! Gray was part of a failed expedition many years ago and has written a book on the geography of Arcadia, with large sections devoted to the native peoples (the Skraeling nations). The entire last half of the book is a lexicon of Skraeling common words, phrases, grammar, and sentence structure. Reading this book and practicing over the remainder of the voyage will be sufficient strategy to take 1 rank in Linguistics adding Skraeling Common as a language (even though you won't be quite fluent until you are able to practice on actual Skraelings, you will be able to understand and communicate with them).

On the eighth day after the pirate attack, the 5th of Desnus, you are called to the deck as the Lady Iona has changed course and begun heading towards you. Captain Theodric hails you and asks for mooring planks to be lowered. He comes bounding across as soon as they are secure.

"My friends, please come quickly. It's Lord Brycen. He's been poisoned."

Lilo spends the time trying to mend his relationship with Hickory..though perhaps not as slavishly devoted to her as he was still he is attracted to her.

He studies assiduously from her stock of tomes in between the arduous work shifts..and begins conversing with her in Skraeling at every opportunity.

On the news of the new crisi he sighs,marks the page and closes his book.

"It seems the Chel's might have another agent on board ..how many more do we have to deal with I wonder?"

Rommin will make sure he has his weapons with him and then cross over. Once he is on the ship, he'll pause and closely scan those aboard.

Perception 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

Is anyone who is watching what is going on doing anything strange? Rommin is worried about an assassin lurking...

Perhaps a Sense Motive would be appropriate.

Sense Motive 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

When given the time to study the books, Eriniyes does so before falling asleep from the heavy workload. She is not used to the manual labor of running sails, but can feel herself get stronger by the day.

Upon hearing of the poisoning, she glances at Rommin. They both seem to be thinking the same thing. She walks across the plank to see the Lord with the others.

Rommin will make sure he has his weapons with him and then cross over. Once he is on the ship, he'll pause and closely scan those aboard.

Perception 1d20+10

Is anyone who is watching what is going on doing anything strange? Rommin is worried about an assassin lurking...

Perhaps a Sense Motive would be appropriate.

Sense Motive 1d20+5

Everybody seems to be ill at ease on board the Lady Iona, although many give half-smiles to see you all arriving. Even your presence seems to give comfort to them.

You are escorted by Sir Kheiron to Brycen's cabin. There, you see his Lordship laid out in bed, his brow covered with sweat and three shades too pale. A mostly-eaten tray of food sits on his little writing table.

"Good...good, you've come," Brycen whispers hoarsely. "I suppose it's too much to hope that any of you have magic powerful enough to neutralize poisons? Yeah, I thought not."

He gestures to his food tray. "We'd gotten so far away from the Chels that I stopped bothering to cast detect poison before each meal. Stupid, stupid, arrogant. Someone on board slipped black tortoise tears into my food. Falcon Gray's too. He's in even worse shape than I, practically reduced to bear's endurance spells to keep himself alive. I'm not quite there yet either, but soon. If you don't know black tortoise tears, it's a nasty poison, very expensive, but very deadly. It's slow to work, can take hours to die, but difficult to fight off, even with standard anti-toxin. There is a specific antidote though; if you can find out who did this in the next couple hours, they might have the antidote on them. It's really our only shot. Banker Camder didn't prepare anti-posion spells today."

"You have the full co-operation of myself and all my men, unless gods forbid one of them is behind this. Whatever you need is yours, and at this point, no questions asked."

Who brought the food from the galley for both of you?

Who brought the food from the galley for both of you?

"A sailer named Timmus. He's already been questioned, his belongings searched, and we believe him to be clean. The poison could have been slipped onto the plate itself before the food, or onto the forks. There are traces of poison on both as well as in the food. Timmus told us he passed by a dozen or so colonists, sailors, and soldiers on his way to his Lordship's cabin, and had stopped first to give Captain Theodric his meal. The assassin could have poisoned the food while it sat unattended, although that would have meant being back here in these corridors and the Captain doesn't remember seeing anybody back here. If the assassin had the power of invisibility, however, well, he could be standing right over there." (points to random corner)

Rorse gritting his teeth but speaking for the first time in a while more than to say yes or no. He has been throwing him self at sailing as if he is punishing himself.I hate to say it, but I think that we might need to search beyond what is polite, the pregnant woman had a false belly for goodness sake. I say we get a couple of trust worthy males and a couple of trust worthy females and do a search of the people down to being nude. Males with males and females with females, it will be intrusive, but getting rid of any chels is the important thing, while this is happening on deck, we need a full search of everyone's belongings below deck.

We also need to question everyone who could have had any contact with the food what so ever. Rorse on a whispers into Vero's ear a command he used to use to cheat and hide and go seek as a child. Vero Seek

handle animal1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

The wolf bonds off to find anyone in the room that is there but appears not to be.

do we have a scent of the poison? perhaps Vero can work with that.
Vero looks at Rorse for a moment and then goes back to sniffing the room.

Lilo nods in agreement with Rorse..not surprising as the halflings have become accustomed to putting up an united front."I'd suggest Erinyes and Harmony for the women and Titus or Romon and myself for the men..they'll spot if someone is lying better than I can and if there's magic involved I can scan for it. Damn I miss Hobart he'd have known what to do in this situation"

Breaking off he does a quick scan of the cabin to see if any magical emenations are out off place

Rorse nods. "I'll take Nissen, Vero and anyone you'd like to lend us, or keep an eye on us, to search the lower deck."

Eriniyes nods at Lilo when he suggests she question and search the women. Once down in the hold with the suspects, she will cast detect magic on the entire room.

It will be tricky for Vero to sort out the scent of the poison from the scent of the food, and if the assassin has extra poison sealed in a vial, it's not likely to give off a scent. However, he doesn't find any invisible people hiding in Brycen's cabin.

How would you like to handle these strip searches? Bring everybody up on deck and search them out in the open, or search them down below? I think Rorse meant to bring people up on deck for searching, while others search their belongings down below. I would need to know who goes where, who gets sent to bring people up, who searches where. Sir Kheiron can have places in either location made private for questioning, and can assign soldiers he believes to be trustworthy to escort you.

You get a list (as best as they are able to recall) as to who could have had even a slightest chance of poisoning the food.

Timmus, the sailor who brought the food.
Captain Theodric, who might have had a chance while Timmus was laying out the tray for him.
Kuras who was nosing around the galley during one of his free walk-abouts.
Fara Tweedlebottom who was also nosing around, sniffing the pots.
Jerrys Puthor, whom Timmus remembered as just hanging around that part of the deck by himself.
Lieutenant Andrells, who was nearby conversing with a pair of soldiers from the Desert Rose.
Soldier Tatrill and Soldier Prathus, the two soldiers.

hmmmmm I assume we have tents on board for when we make land and don't have any permanent buildings. lets get a couple of those set up on deck for a bit more privacy. Erinyes and Hickory will search the ladies, with soldiers posted outside(female if we got em) lilo rommin and titus to search the men. Nissen, Vero and Rorse below deck with any of the extra trustworthy soldiers. though I wouldn't mind Erineys doing a magic check below deck before they start with the women, it will be a shorter line for them after all.any objections/suggestions?

Vero come, sit.We'll get to the bottom of this.

I suggest also that we segregate the current most likely suspects from the rest..under guard if needs be..though with the captain that may be problematical.

I suggest also that we segregate the current most likely suspects from the rest..under guard if needs be..though with the captain that may be problematical.

Well, with the exception of the captain and Timmus, all the rest are currently down in the lower hold. Who wants to go get 'em?

I vote for mass movement, everyone on deck now! keep an eye on those that are seen dawdling and trying to put things away.

I have been known for having pretty sharp eyes. Let me go down below and mingle a little before you come down to take everyone up. I'll try to get myself in a position to watch for unusual reactions when you arrive.

I wouldn't mind Erineys doing a magic check below deck before they start with the women, it will be a shorter line for them after all.any objections/suggestions?

Sounds fine with me. Maybe I can go down after Rommin has had time to look around some.

Rommin will go below and look for a comfortable place to be able to watch most of the people when Rorse comes below to start the search process. He'll make a note of what people are doing, and scan for any sudden changes when he comes down.

Perception 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
Sense Motive 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Rommin makes his way down below and finds a spot to casually observe the lower hold residents. The mood down here is just as dour as that above. Four soldiers stand guard over the prisoners, two of whom he does not recognize and assumes they must be the two Rahadoumi soldiers mentioned in the above list.

A few moments later, Eriniyes (and I've guessed Titus as well) head down below to begin scanning for magic.
Where does she wish to begin scanning - fore or aft, port or starboard?

Map here

Eriniyes walks to the fore part of the hold and scans the area for magical auras.

Titus spends the next few days holed up in his hammock. He tries reading the Skraeling book, but can't stay interested. The words are also a lot blurrier than they should be, and it gives him a headache, so he puts the book aside and spends most of his time just brooding by himself or walking around. When the business of the poisoning comes up, he rouses with a sigh of aggravation. The trip was really starting to wear on him. He followed along silently, glaring at the passengers aboard the other ship. Whichever one poisoned the noble was going to help Titus vent some of this frustration.

Eriniyes casts detect magic. As soon as she does so (she detects the presence of magic), Jerrys Puthor cries out and makes a mad dash for the forward ladder.

Rommin...

Initiative from everybody (including those topside, as shouts of warning are probably likely).

Down in the lower holds, visibility and maneuverability are both poor. Anybody further than 5 feet away have 20% concealment due to poor lighting, constantly shifting shadows, and low-hanging ropes and sacks. Every square (unless it's completely clear of stuff) costs double movement, unless you make a DC 15 Acrobatics check to avoid obstacles. Charging is impossible. The dark-brown crates with the metal bands represent piles up to the ceiling - they block movement completely. Eriniyes and Jerrys have both just acted in the "surprise round", so everything starts with Round 1 once inits are in.

Niesen initiative: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
Jerrys initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Initiative 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Lilo moves towards the companionway to the hold. He holds at the top standing to one side waiting for the others to assemble.

Initiative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Initiative 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Initiative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Rorse init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

ROUND 1...

The map should be updated on line, so post away folks.

Lilo moved to the top of the ladder at the shout from below, so Rommin to act...

Rorse charges to the other ladder to get ready to descend and calls for vero to guard kheiron. Assuming that the centuar will be doing his best to safeguard the ship.

** spoiler omitted **

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" says Jerrys.

Round One
Titus has no compassion for the man's fit. He may or may not be guilty, so the old man tries not to crush his skull when he steps across the room and backhands him with a balled up fist.

Initiative:
Lilo
Niesen
Rommin
Titus
Rorse
Eriniyes
Jerrys

Niesen also gathered with Lilo and Rorse at the top of the ladder.

Rommin moves to block off Jerrys from getting up the ladders.

Titus moves even closer to Jerrys and slams his fist into the guy's face. Jerrys crumples to the ground.

anyone can view.

Niesen gets down to the bottom with Rorse, and yells out, "Where's this guy's stuff?" When somebody points, he dashes over and begins carefully pawing through his belongings.

He shakes his head and growls, "Nothing!".

Rorse finds nothing also.

"Get him up on deck, Titus" Lilo calls.."and grab that other fellow Rorse..We'll get to the bottom off this"

"Get him up on deck, Titus" Lilo calls.."and grab that other fellow Rorse..We'll get to the bottom off this"

"Other fellow"???

Continuing to scan the area around Jerrys, Eriniyes detects a lingering aura. Knowledge Arcana check DC 16 to identify the school of magic:

maybe He didn't realize the init of nissen was our rouge?

rorse will adress the soldiers I want to know who boarded this ship with that one, then to the rest of the ship if anyone did. you might as well come forward now.