Gideon Derexhi |
Ooooooor will he?
"Hmm. Well...I'm not certain how much assistance my divination could provide presently. I could certainly attempt it, but if I do not draw the right card from the Harrowing, it would prove less than beneficial to us. My present magics are better suited to protecting us from harm. A Guidance spell perhaps, but even that is only a cantrip. Yeralithi, do you have any spells that would prove beneficial? You specialize in teleportation magics, do you not?"
DM Hector |
There are two entries into the building. There is the main entrance on the South wall, and there also appears to be a small shack leaning against the side of the building that might lead into it, probably a storage shed of some kind. Boarded windows cover openings into the shack.
As you approach with the clear intent of entering the building, three shabby, but tough-looking varisian men exit from the shack, loudly demanding you to leave.
Sir Basil de Fermer |
Basil shows no sign of being intimidated by these characters.."Seriously Pilgrim..we are not here for you..unless you want us to be?"
This is one of the times you wish Paladins had intimidate instead of diplomacy..how are these guys armed and equipped?
Gideon Derexhi |
"Now gentlemen, there is no need for any violence. Surely we can settle our differences without resorting to such...unsavory tactics. We have no quarrel with you, sirs...we only ask that you do not seek to hinder us as we seek out our quarry."
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
I will not celebrate, because the dice bot will get me back later...I will not celebrate...
DM Hector |
"Look, there's bad stuff in there. We wouldn'a want fine upstandin' folks like yerselves gettin' hurt s'all," one of the men says. He flinches a little at the piercing stare Basil gives them all.
DM Hector |
The entire floor of this 20'x15' chamber has collapsed into the pool of water five feet below. The earthen walls of this floored subcellar ooze with foul rivulets, and the smell is abominable. Two oozing sewer pipes protrude through the east wall of this pit just above the level of the sewage. Part of the ceiling above the entrance has collapsed, revealing an attic crawlspace above; a rickety ladder leads up from the water below into the crawlspace above. A door stands in the far wall across the sludge pit. A wooden plank balanced between both doors makes a precarious bridge between the two doors.
Gideon Derexhi |
Gideon's nose wrinkles in distaste and he stifles an obvious cough, the stench nearly overwhelming his sensitive sense of smell. "By my word...this is certainly quite the smell we've discovered. Heavens." he says, pinching his nostrils shut with his fingers. Seeing the ladder, he points it out to the others. "I think the best thing to do is get as far away from the source of this awful reek as possibly."
DM Hector |
In layman's terms, you've basically got three ways to go. There's a door on the other side of the room with a plank forming a "bridge from your position to the door. There's the sludge beneath you. And there's the ladder running from said sludge to a crawlspace above.
Sir Basil de Fermer |
"I mislike this" Basil says.."none of our options is ideal..however I believe we should try and take the high ground..
He moves towards the ladder and stops at it's foot testing the rungs before beginning to climb it one rung at a time ensuring each is safe before putting his weight upon it.
DM Hector |
As Basil puts his first foot onto the ladder's rung it snaps almost instantaneously, the pieces clattering down into the sludge.
Everyone:
Gideon Stealth: 1d20 - 4 ⇒ (15) - 4 = 11
Basil Stealth: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (20) - 3 = 17
Alleria Stealth: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Goblins Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (10) - 1 = 9
1d20 - 1 ⇒ (12) - 1 = 11
1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3
Alleria Derexhi |
PErception!: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Alleria huffs lightly and puts her gun away. The old fashioned way is it? Can't suffer fancy things like a ladder... The gunslinger swallows the rest of her griping and prepares herself to follow the paladin.
Sir Basil de Fermer |
How high is the wall?
Climb1d20 - 4 ⇒ (12) - 4 = 8
Basil cannot find enough purchase on the wall to lever himself up with the weight of his armour.
"Hmm..I mislike going unprotected in this situation..but I cannot see me getting up their in Armour" the Paladin muses.
Gideon Derexhi |
Seeing the trouble that Sir Basil has with climbing the wall, Gideon decides to try an alternate tactic; rather than climbing with all his gear, he decides to leave his armor behind. Asking Sir Basil to watch it, he removes his breastplate and shield, leaving him significantly lighter for the attempt at climbing.
"If I can make it up, it will be much easier for the two of you to follow with a rope thrown back down." he reasons before putting his hand to the wall.
Climb: 1d20 ⇒ 19
Gideon Derexhi |
"Then it seems the bridge is our best option, painfully obvious as it is. If I may make a suggestion, I believe you should attempt it first, Alleria. We can tie a line to you so we can pull you back up, should it prove unstable, but you are the lightest of us and least likely to make it break."
Natasha Musashti |
I fleshed out her background somewhat - apologies to Philip, I read your background and it was like a challenge and a hook at the same time! Hope you don't mind that I wrote Natasha into your background as your fortune teller...
Several hours before...
In the quiet of the Heidmarch Manor, Natasha Nusashti leaves the study of the Venture Captain in consternation. The wizard Yara and the dwarf Andavar have been reassigned, after some scuffle in the docks. Natasha was landed with the task of joining the team, although Sheila Heidmarch knew only they were somewhere searching out a Sczarni woman called Natalya...well, she was a seer.
Calmly she seated herself in the manor house and cleared her thoughts as she shuffled her cards. Without consciously wishing to she flipped out four cards, then a fifth, asking herself where the people she sought were, and who they were...
The Paladin, a card of strength: Well, Shiela said they were led by a Knight of Abadar called named Basil de Firmer. It would seem that he was a man true and faithful, which was a relief to know. You never quite be working with...unbidden she saw the man, heavily armoured and calmly facing a group of armed men in the Underbridge district.
The Rabbit Prince, a key card: If there was a card further from the The Paladin she had expected among any group, this was it. In that moment she saw her, an agile woman dancing with a lethal weapon, facing her foes and striking them down before she could be touched.
"Strange fellows," Natasha whispered. "A solid knight and a devil-may-care bravo. Where are you, though? And who binds you together." She flipped over the next card.
The Theatre, a card of crowns: the sight struck Natasha as hard as it did the first time, the beautiful man struck blind by the gods, his fate foretold by Natasha herself.
"Him..." Natasha whispered. "So it was no coincidence I met you before," she murmured. "Prophesy, yet sometimes just a fraction too late. But is it my fate to be bound to you all?" She turned the penultimate card.
The Wanderer, the book: no surprise, her own card appeared here.
"So I must join you," she murmured softly. "Now show me where..."
The Demon Lantern....again a card of keys.
"I know where you are," she whispered. Taking her cards she called Butterfly to her. "Little friend, I need the spells for traversing dangers as easily as you do in the city, and...I think I had best be able to unleash fire on my enemies. I think this could be dangerous, and I am no warrior," Natasha sighed. If cats could shrug, Butterfly would have shrugged, meeting her gaze and explaining how to do what she wished.
Then she left, seeking out three people already touched by fate...
Gideon Derexhi |
Don't mind it a bit! I'm glad that the background I came up with for Gideon could serve as a source of inspiration for you. When I first pitched it to the rest of the group as a possible character choice, Devon himself said it screamed of Varisia so much that he asked to make Alleria his sister. Haha.
Alleria Derexhi |
Feisty Varisian women for the win!
Alleria pulls on her brother's arms for a minute, Been lifting saddles and hay enough you think you can lift me come trouble? She smirks at the young man and then punches Basil's armor. More like than not your on damsel in distress duty if this goes badly. She winks at the pair as she cinches the rope to her waist and then turns to the bridge.
Don't let me fall boys...
Alleria approaches the bridge and then moves forward...Acrobatics?: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26