Selena/Thantos:
Nothing specific comes to mind. The armor is of all different types (some chain, some leather, even a few pieces of plate) on all different types of people. If there is any commonality to the armor worn by what you're taking to be "outsiders" to the keep, it's that, to a piece, it's all dirty, scratched, dented, and obviously well used but at least somewhat cared for. Upon closer inspection as one of the men passes you, you recognize some kind of insignia emblazoned (and very very faded) on his leather jerkin, but the insignia doesn't stand out to you in any way. Looking for the same on other pieces of armor you recognize a plethora of what you are guessing is some kind of unit designation maybe. Some are brighter than others, some are faded to almost nothing. You come to see the insignia in different places on various people: some wear an insignia on their shoulders, some on their chests, one group of 3 even have a tattoo on the side of their left cheek and no markings at all on their armor.
You reach a servants door at the back and side of the keep, somewhat close to where Armand has described his room to be. Moving up to the door you see no guards and you manage to slip through the back door without much of a sound and very little notice.
Within the back section of the keep, there is little traffic. As you move through the halls, keeping to the shadows and ducking into alcoves and unlocked rooms as other soldiers pass, you notice that there are two distinct groups of people moving through the keep. Some are what you are taking to be normal keep soldiers, dressed in uniform, and generally grumbling about their lives. Listening in from the shadows to a conversation between two such keep military personnel you come to realize that over the last 2 days a mass of Mercenaries from surrounding areas and even from farther away cities have come flooding into the keep to help strengthen it's defenses. The official word seems to be that the call was put out for mercenary companies to come to the keep to replace the keep soldiers while the majority of the Kiren's Keep Militia were ordered out in packs to hunt down the remaining orc forces in the area.
There seems more to the conversation and you have many questions about who ordered the Mercs into the keep and who ordered the keep soldiers out, but you do not have time to sit and listen to much more rumor.
Moving quietly past the guards you manage to reach the door to Armand's old room. There are no guards. The door, however, is locked.
"Hi Miss!"
"I've heard here is the place for some good Blacksmith stuff."
Says Mird loud and clear entering the shop. He wants his presence to be noticed. He gives a kind look to the girl, he wants she to know she is there to help her.
"Do you mind assisting me?"
After saying this he turn his attention to the 2 drunk guys. He gives them a challenging look.
Intimidate->
The area looks clear, and there is no sound coming from the room, so you pull your lockpicks out of a pouch at your waist and start to work on the door. No more than a minute or two later the snick of the lock opening is accompanied by voices from down the hall moving in your direction. A quick twist and push of the door and you're into the darkend room, closing the door silently but quickly you find you're just in time as the voices round the corner at the end of the hallway and come nearer.
"The little b!!&% sneek thief is in the keep somewhere." Says a deep, older voice.
"She's supposed to be dead by all the rumor I've heard." Says a younger, more shrill male voice.
"She ain't dead you idiot, boss says she's here so she's here. Says he's got some kind of tracking thing on 'er and she's in the keep somewhere in this area." The first voice exclaims.
"Hey, ain't that the ex commander's room? The one they all went off with?"
Mird:
The two drunkards look up at you, the one moving around the table toward the girl stopping in his tracks and retracing his steps to get back around toward his friend. The girl, finding herself no longer acosted turns and bolts into the blacksmithery, leaving you and the two men alone.
"Well now, who the hell might you be?" says the one holding the dagger. "You let our fun go runnin' off, I don't like that." The other man draws a dagger similar to the one the first has in his hands and they both start advancing on you.
No more than a couple seconds later a very burly and very hairy bear of a man steps out of the door wearing a very heavy leather apron, a sword longer than you are tall strapped across his back and a very large and obviously very powerful crossbow loaded and ready. The young woman you saw earlier steps out around him, a smaller but obviously just as deadly and loaded crossbow held steadily in her hands as well. The blacksmith and his daughter bring the crossbows up level and aim, each at their own target...thankfully neither of them is you.
"I recommend you two boys go sleep it off somewhere...and leave me those daggers, you won't be needing them anymore. And, iffin you want your swords back, fixed or otherwise, you'll come back next week with your Sergent in tow and apologize nicely to my daughter here."
"We'll do no such thing..." the second of the two thugs starts and then sputters off till he sees the wicked gleam in the eyes of the blacksmith's daughter, and notices her taking aim about midway down his body.
The first thug, the one who originally threatend the girl, slowly puts his dagger on the table and motions the other to do the same. "Christoph will hear about this you know. He'll run you out of this backwards little hamlet faster than you know what hit you...if he doesn't kill you slowly as a warning to the other country bumpkins inhabiting this mud pit."
The blacksmith smiles. "And then who do you think would fix your broken little swords and dented armor you idiot. While I may be forced to prioritize fixing your junk over the maintenance of this keep, I don't have to let you rape my daughter in doing so. You bring Christoph around, I'm sure he'll sing a different tune once I threaten to conveniently forget to place my order for more raw metals and you and your mercenary friends are fighting with rusted spoons. Now get away from my store. There seems to be a paying customer waiting on my services."
Gesturing again with the crossbow and being very clear of his intentions, the Blacksmith waves the two men away. Grubling both follow suit and stumble away.
The huge man unknocks the bolt from the crossbow and slowly unlatches the string of the heavy crossbow. His daughter does the same, with a grace and obvious expertise you didn't expect, and hands the crossbow to her father, who goes back inside.
"Thank you" the young woman says to you with a smile, "I wasn't sure what I was going to do about that if you hadn't distracted them. I could have called for Dad, but then both of them would be dead and we'd be packing our bags and leaving the keep, and neither of us really want that."
"I assume, other than saving a damsel in distress so to speak, you're here for something else?"
Selena waits until the unfamiliar soldier is out of earshot then turns to Thantos.
"It seems like there's a mercenary force here, occupying the keep. With enemy agents here, I'm not sure what exactly that means, but I don't think its good for - Commander Kelenthar. Let's find the mage quarters and get back with the others as soon as possible."
Dirk pats his hands in the air to indicate that no offense was taken, "Be at ease. Mercenaries you say? They must have recently arrived, I've only been away from the keep a few days." After a short pause, "How is it that recently arrived mercenaries stand in the Keeps streets openly displaying such arrogance and hostility?"
The sound of voices from out in the corridor are replaced by the sounds of the guards footsteps as they near the door to Armand's old room. The sound of the door handle turning alerts you to the intentions of both guards as they prepare to open the door.
"Attention!" comes a call from the hallway, and the pressure on the door lever quickly releases as the latch snaps back closed. The voice is one you recognize but cannot place.
"Ex-Commander Kilenthar and company are preparing to leave the keep for the Duke's palace, you and the rest of your lot were under orders to see them off. What the hell are you doing here."
"Sir!" the first of the two says, obvious respect in his tone. "We believe the rogue with Kilenthar's group to be in the vicinity of this area of the castle. Orders came from our Sergent to search this corridor."
"You believe?" Says a voice you now can identify as that of now Sub-Commander Garelson. "You believe Lashiel is in this area of the keep? Are you daft you moron? She's dead according to Kilenthar, died protecting this keep at the hands of Assassins! You have orders to search the corridor? Perhaps one of you can fill me in as to which officer in my core is a seer who is seeing visions of dead rouges? Or have you been chatting with those mumbling finger-twiddler's in the mages quarters?"
A long pause is followed by a throat clearing "Sir! Sorry sir...orders..." the obviously flustered second of the two soldiers stammers.
"Your orders are changed. Get out of the keep and stand honor guard for Kilenthar and his companions, and have your former Sergent see me first thing tomorrow morning!"
"Yes SIR!" both say in unison and you hear two pairs of footsteps retreating quickly down the corridor outside into nothingness.
A long moment passes before a soft knock sounds on the door and the Sub-Commander says in a slightly elevated voice "I am entering, do me the honor or not skewering me with that dagger of yours when I step through the door."
Moments later the door slips open and a crisply dressed man with a longsword steps through and closes the door behind him. It is the Sub-Commander.
Selena/Thantos:
Continuing on up the steps and through the keep you finally make your way to a central staircase that Thantos has traveled before. At the top you come to the locked door to the mage's laboratory.
Your soft knock on the door receives no reply.
Mird/Fyird:
The young woman glances at the retreating forms of the leather clad men as they stumble away toward the Goblin. "They are the keep's new 'protection'. Started arriving the day after the attack on the keep. Most of the military is off fighting in the hills and mountains surrounding the immediate region, killing orcs they say. The official story says that due to our losses in the battle with the orcs the soldiers are understaffed and needed some outside forces to shore up the walls. A call went out that any mercenary companies in the region would be well paid to help staff the keep for a few weeks or months while a message was sent to Alpha to shore up our defenses. Word seems to have traveled fast though cause there sure are a lot of them louts responding to the call."
"Dad says there are orders given to all the suppliers in town that keeping the mercenaries happy is a top priority for the safety of the keep. And them bastards are doing their part by harassing all of the honest merchants to give them supplies without paying for them, threatening keep citizens, brawling and destroying private property, and making an all around nuisance of themselves...hey, but at least we're more secure..."
The bitterness in her voice is obvious as she continues. "The keep's been our home for years now, even before mom died this is the only place I've called home, but I don't know how much longer we're going to be here, not with these mercenaries accosting us all the time. Some day someone's going to lay a hand on me and they're gonna get a blacksmith hammer upside the head for it and we're gonna get run out of here."
She seems to realize she's going off on a tangent and shakes her head. "But you're here saving the region and I'm spilling out my personal problems to you. Dad'd have me pumping the forge for hours as punishment if he knew. You're here for supplies right?" She gets a conspiratorial grin on her face and lowers her voice as she says "Let me know what you need, can't give 'em to you for free...we're losing too much of our money on them mercs as is, but I CAN give you the better stock we keep back for payin' customers."
Dirk:
The soldier behind the desk seems to deflate at the 'at ease' command, almost flopping back down into his chair. He seems to recognize that he's taken a liberty with the 'at ease' call and stiffens a bit in his chair as he fills you in on what he knows.
"The day you and the commander and the rest left the keep, orders came down signed by Commander Alalar himself with his personal seal, that a call was going out to the merc groups of the region to come to the keep to shore up our defenses. Since then we've had at least a hundred or more 'professional' solders, as they like to call themselves, shuffling their way through the keep, taking what they want and acting like the Kiren's Keep military isn't worth the mud on the ground we walk on. Orders haven't helped, to 'keep the peace' and to ensure none of them turn traitor in the case we are attacked, they've been given leeway outside the bounds of military control...they're not under our command, each merc group is under that group's own command and all the merc groups report to a man by the name of 'Christoph' who is the coordinator working with Sub-Commander Garelson to organize the defense of the keep."
"Not to put to fine a point on it Kith, and at the penalty of court marshal as I say it, these Mercs are a pain in the ass. They're disruptive to our training, they won't integrate with the rest of the soldiery, and they're a nuisance and more to the keep at large. Most of the military is out in the hills killing orcs while those of us that are left are nothing more than a skeleton crew...and we're too busy running around breaking up Merc fights to do anything else out in the keep. I read reports on a daily basis of an orc raid on a farmer in the outlaying areas and we don't have enough soldiers to send out to assist. To make matters worse, Commander Alalar seems to have taken leave of the keep as well to go direct in the field."
Quickly the man adds "don't get me wrong! Sub-Commander Garelson is doing as good a job as he can with the mercs, but the situation is pretty hopeless. Christoph seems to be the real commander in the keep these days with Alalar gone, and it doesn't help that it was Commander Alalar's own orders that brought the mercs in in the first place...not that I'll EVER understand why Alalar did that."
DM
Breathing a sigh of relief Lash stalls the man's questions with a finger raised to her lips, calling for silence.
She quickly lifts the bedsheets making a deep slit in the matress with her dagger and inserts the wrapped brooch into the mattress before dropping and smoothing out the sheets.
Putting her dagger away she walks quietly up to the sub commander leaning in close to whisper, "We need to talk, somewhere else."
The two of you exit Armand's room and make your way down a couple hallways and cross hallways to a room just beside what you take to be the meeting room you originally met your companions in. Garelson takes out a key, unlocks the door, and motions you through, stepping through himself and closing the door behind you.
You immediately notice this is NOT the same office that you were received in when Garelson gave you and Mird the job of spying on the orcs days ago. This office is much larger, the desk a richer mahogany wood, the chair obviously leather bound with a soft hide covering of some furry animal, perhaps sheep, or rabbit. Maps lay spread all over the floor and every available surface showing the region in great detail.
"So, Lasciel, I take it that you've not been overeating enough in the last three days to gain that much weight...I would guess Kilenthar wanted you to get into the keep unnoticed? Don't worry about moving around here, most of the soldiers of the keep are at the front gate watching your friends ride off to the Duke's palace...that IS where you're off to right?" Garelson moves around the desk and has a seat in the chair, propping his feet up on the desk, resting his arm on the hilt of the dagger at his belt and leaning back, waiting for your response.
Selena/Thantos
-----------------
As you mention using the Knock spell Thantos has learned you notice that the door is slightly ajar. Not enough to attract notice, but even if the door were locked, it seems to be you could just push it open and enter if you so chose.
Mird/Fyird
-----------------
The woman wrinkles her nose at your mention of the mercenaries again. "They're bringing alot more problems than solutions if you're askin' me, but we didn't request em'. Not long after you and the Commander left the keep to track down the orc leaders, the new Commander Alalar...damn his hide to the abyss...almost immediately sent out a call for mercaneries and made it very clear through a public posting with his signature that the mercenaries were the key to defending the keep and they were to be given the utmost leeway in Kiren's Keep. Since then, they walk around like they own the place and that twice damned bastard Christoph, the guy Garelson put in charge of organizing and leading the separate mercenary troups, doesn't care what they do."
Sighing she shakes her head. "Enough of them, the topic upsets me every time I see one of them. You asked about incendiary arrows, we have a limited stock, but we do have some, anything else you're wanting?"
Dirk listens to the soldier with concern, "That does seem like an unusual solution. Tell me, where did this 'Christoph' come from? Do you know anything about the man?"
"I'm only staying briefly at the Keep, but I can ensure that the Commander is aware of the situation. Perhaps he'll have an opinion about these mercenaries."
DM
[spoiler]
Lash grins.
"Yeah, Kilenthar said you were a smart one. Thing is he sent me in here for two reasons. The first I'm sure you're curious about, which was to get rid of a brooch that been used to scry on us up to this point. It lets them hear what we say and locate up to a general, area.
The second is to tell you that you're surrounded by the enemy. Odds are all the mages are in league with the orcs that attacked the keep and they're also the ones spying on us. Those two idiots outside the door were looking for me because the brooch told them where it was."
DM
Lash grins.
"Yeah, Kilenthar said you were a smart one. Thing is he sent me in here for two reasons. The first I'm sure you're curious about, which was to get rid of a brooch that been used to scry on us up to this point. It lets them hear what we say and locate up to a general, area.
The second is to tell you that you're surrounded by the enemy. Odds are all the mages are in league with the orcs that attacked the keep and they're also the ones spying on us. Those two idiots outside the door were looking for me because the brooch told them where it was."
Selena/Thantos
-----------------
You hear nothing from the other side of the door. It's not "silent" as in a hushed waiting silence, there is an obvious dripping coming from the room behind the door as of standard magical / alchemical experiments, Some whirring of a device or another. It's just that the accompanying "people" sounds you expect...chanting, movement, conversation, etc. are all missing.
There is even light coming from within the room and a warm air wafts out the small cracks in the door and under it.
Being turned in that direction to listen, you happen to notice at about eye height on the inside of the door frame (you can see this because the door is partially open) the wood is obviously splintered, both around eye height and farther down to where the handle of the door is.
It looks like this door might no longer be possible to lock.
Dirk
-------------
The soldier at the desk snorts. "The 666th layer of the abyss as likely as anywhere else. Christoph showed up two days ago, about 24 hours after the first mercenaries started entering the keep and the orders were handed down to treat all mercenaries with kid gloves. He was drug out to the front steps of the castle where Sub-Commander Garelson announced his role in managing the Mercenary companies. Far as I can tell, however, managing the mercenary companies involves hiding at the keep, ignoring complaints and having at anyone who tries to discipline any of them bastards. You wouldn't think the hundred or so of 'em that are here would be that big a problem...and they wouldn't be if my men weren't under orders to leave 'em be."
"We keep being told that we need 'em if we're attacked again till Commander Alalar and his force gets back to the keep, and that an unhappy mercenary turns sides quickly. I say the keep is protected enough to close it's doors an' wait out any attack the orcs might bring without them mercenary scum...but what do I know Sir? I'm just a paper shuffler for the barracks if you take my meaning. Maybe the Commander and Sub-Commander know what they're doing. *shrug* I don't know.
"But you said you were leaving again. Out to hunt orcs with Commander Alalar? If so you should be able to find him with Blackwood company stationed north and slightly east of the keep, about 10 miles out...he should be directing the patrols into the surrounding woods and hills, flushing out and killing orcs.
Lash
-----------
The Sub-Commander leans back in his chair a little farther at your news.
"That was the broach I gave you when you went scouting out the orcs just before the attack right? The one that let my mages watch you from afar? Seems like I know at least one of our traitors then. I'll have the soldiers round both of them up for questioning...seem to remember them both leaving instructions that they were preparing some magical experiment in their lab upstairs and they weren't to be disturbed...interesting timing this is."
"And that explains why those two were in the hallway when they should be out at the gate. Duly noted, we'll keep an eye out for those two and watch them for a day or so to see if they contact anyone else within the keep and then take them down, and we'll haul those two soldiers in as well. Kilenthar did well to send you to me with this information. When we capture those four and interrogate them, is there somewhere I can send a runner to let you know what we find? Duke's Stefan's palace? Or are you all off somewhere else?"
"And is there anything else you need from me? If I'm not back out patrolling the hallway in a few minutes some of the officers might get suspicious and come looking. I assume you're headed back out or do you have other errands in the keep I can help get you to?"
Mird will take:
* All the incendiary Arrows
* Ask for Poison/Acid Flasks
* Ask for Poisoned Arrows
* Ask for a Spyglass
* Oil flasks one for each of us (7 right?)
* Try to buy a Llama or something similar
* Regarding hunting. If the area is good for hunting (I assume my character knows the region or heard of it from other Rangers) we will try to carry the minimum as possible.
* I have nothing in my Sheet regarding tent, bedroll, cold weather gear, etc. should I add it? Buy it now?
With that Garelson salutes you, opens the door and slips quietly out into the hallway.
Selena/Thantos
-----------------
Mird / Fyird:
---------------
The young woman tells you to wait for a few minutes while she goes into the blacksmith shop and comes out with several tied bundles of items.
Selena
-----------
Mird will buy:
* 2 Mules (If 1 is not enough for the items that I want)
* Water for 15 days (Considering the group)
* Food for 10 days (Considering the group)
* The 60 incendiary arrows (not sure how many or these are bolts for crossbows)
* 60 regular arrows for Longbow
* Winter clothing for the group
* Tents, bedrolls, lamps (for the group)
* Spyglasses for the group (On Players Handbook says each one of these costs 1,000 gp. If the price is this high I would buy just 1)
* 20 oil flasks
* 60 meters of rope
Selena/Thantos
-------------------
The door swings open quite a bit farther than you anticipated on well oiled hinges...making almost no noise as it swings inward.
The first thing you notice is that the room is unmistakably clean...cleaner than you would expect for a wizard's laboratory. Two open doors stand at either end of the almost circular central room and through them you can see desks and the hints of beds, obviously the living quarters of the room's two occupants.
This room's walls are practically lined with tables, and as you would expect various experiments in the room are in various stages of completion. Alchemical equipment sits all along one wall, beakers, glass tubing, and liquids of various colors in the containers attached to drip devices and other paraphernalia used in making poultices and potions.
A large central cabinet stands with it's doors closed but the glass doors on it shows various racks and stands of vials and other components within...obviously a central component closet holding standard mage spell components and alchemical supplies.
Along the walls, where there are no tables stand bookshelves, floor to ceiling (almost 15 feet in the air) and stocked full, several bookshelves around the room are laden with books of all sorts. Along one part of the wall, a "reading nook" has been carved out with bookshelves on three sides, two of them being placed perpendicular to the room's walls (providing a backing for other tables and alchemical experiments), and an empty table and set of chairs taking up most of the area between the shelving.
The floor looks freshly swept, the tables freshly dusted and maybe even cleaned. What little of the beds you see are perfectly made.
Selena/Thantos
---------------------
Thantos looks around the room in confusion. "Something is not right here" he mutters wandering over to one of the tables. None of these experiments are 'active'." Pointing at the beaker and tube setup in front of him he continues. "Look at this, the drip is still going but there is no heat to cause a reaction...the experiment here isn't doing anything."
Vaguely aware of what Thantos is saying, you concentrate on the energy within you as your vision shifts into the magical spectrum. You notice two things of distinction.
First, the room is almost entirely void of magic. Residual magic certainly surrounds a couple of the work tables where powerful items might have rested for significant periods of time, thereby bleeding off some of their magical aura, but there is a distinct lack of any true magical effects, items, or materials within the room...including within the alchemical/component cabinet.
Secondly, 'almost void' is the right term since there are two books, radiating a large amount of magical aura, on two of the various bookshelves. As you approach one of them, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up as a strong evocational aura clues you into an almost definitive magical trap laid upon the books in question. This is almost definitely a spell book of some kind. As you take more time examining the book and the magical auras it is emitting, it is obviously a spellbook that is highly prized to someone based upon the shear number of magical enchantments that have been placed on the tome. The other magical book in question seems to radiate equivalent enchantments, enough to ward you away from even considering touching either of them.
Your perusal of the contents of the room take you near each of the two open doors to the living quarters of the mages who use this room as their work area. The desks are mostly clean, each desk has a small pile of neatly stacked paper somewhere on it, and a sheet or two obviously in the process of being written on. The beds are immaculate, well made, tucked in, and look for all their worth as having been unused in at least a short while.
As you peruse the room, Thantos continues to make his rounds of the experiment tables, looking at each in turn. "I'm convinced" he states "that all of the experiments in the room may at one time have been active, but someone has obviously shut them all down to ensure no reactions happen while the area is unoccupied. It's as if both mages knew they would be leaving and prepared for an extended leave. I don't think either of them are here, nor have they been here for at least a day or two."
Lash
-------------
You make your way back through the somewhat empty keep and back to the tunnels. It's obvious that whatever send off was being given it's now over as a mass of people are making their way back across the parade grounds and training fields toward the keep itself. Taking your route back through the tunnels, you make your way back to the old camp site about an hour or two later to find your companions waiting for your return.
Selena
-------------
Thantos shrugs in your direction. "You're right, the lock is obviously broken but how, why and by whom is anyone's guess."
Standard Party Supplies
========================
All
-----------
2 Mules + 2 Carts (Carrying Supplies) - 46g
Food (Trail Rations) for 10 Days - 70 Days of Rations - 35g
Water (Flasks - Water is Free) - 15 Days @ 1 Flask/Day/Person - 5g
Cold Weather Clothing - 7 People - 56g
20 Oil Flasks - 2g
Spyglass - 1000g
Total = 164g Each Person
Special Requests
=========================
Dirk:
----------
Incendiary xBow Bolts (60) - Unknown
Mird:
-------
Rope and Grappling Hook (50' of Silk Rope + Grappling Hook) - 11g
Incendiary Arrows (60) - Unknown
Tent & Bedroll - 15g
Arrows (60) - 3g
Sub-Total: 29g
Grand Total: 193g
Fyird
--------
Alchemist's Fire (2) - 40g
Thunderstone (2) - 60g
Tindertwig (12) - 12g
Winter Blanket (3) - 2g
Shield Sconce and Weapon Cord - 1g
Tent - 15g
Compass - 1g
Cleats - 5g
Sub-Total: 136g
Grand Total: 300g
The rest of you are assumed to have everything you need.
So everyone but Mird and Fyird please detract 164g from your total. Mird will reduce his gold count by 193g and Fyird by 300g.
Notes:
* Everyone may now add a cold weather outfit to their character sheets if they wish. All consumable supplies (including food) will be tracked "in general".
* Those supplies listed under the player themselves (for instance Alchemist's Fire for Fyird) are considered to be carried or used by Fyird.
* Any/All supplies on the character sheets or on your horses can now be carried on the mules/carts...do, however, keep track of what you are keeping on your person in case something happens to the supplies.
* Food/Water will be supplemented through standard hunting/fishing/gathering that will be assumed on a daily basis. I will cover the rules I will be following for supply gathering in the wild in the next post.
Please let me know if we're missing anything here, this is your last chance before I move the party out of the keep and into the wilds.
Living in the Wilds of the Black Hills
As part of the next part of this adventure, the party will be camping out in the Black hills, stalking the Queen and her Keep. Given the situation, there are several rules that will come into play here that I'll try to cover in general.
Random Rolls
As a general note, I will be making most to all of the random rolls "behind the scenes" for almost all of the random actions I explain below, including player abilities that passively affect the outcomes of the random situation roles I make. For instance, in the case of a weather roll, I will not be asking the party to make rolls on weather detection...I will, instead, make those rolls and apply them against the difficulty for an end result of me simply telling the party what they think the upcoming weather will do.
Weather
As with any given day weather is a random occurrence. Each day's play time a roll will be made for that day's weather conditions. Players with some way to determine the weather will be given a heads up for upcoming conditions based upon the rolls made on their skills. I will simply inform the party what the best guess by the best player is regarding what the upcoming weather will do. If, in the course of the adventure, the party wishes to wait for a given weather occurrence (Rain, Snow, Fog, Bright Sunny Day, etc.) I will provide a "best guess" for how long it will take for this to occur.
Any player with an ability to affect or accurately read the weather through a special ability (not just a skill but a magical effect) needs to let me know how often they'll use that effect.
Hunting/Gathering
It will be assumed that a period of time each day is being spent hunting and gathering food and water to restock what the party loses. The results of the hunting/gathering are affected by several factors:
* How far the party wishes to roam from it's current base of operations to find Food/Water.
* The results of any hunting/gathering skills.
* The current "activity" in the region the party is hunting (if there's been large combats or lots of monsters trekking around looking for the party the difficulty will increase to find wild game or edible plants that haven't been killed, trampled or scared away).
* Current Weather (affecting Visibility, Availability, etc.)
* How much hunting has already been done in the vicinity in which the characters reside.
From all of this I will generate a difficulty rating that I will apply against the abilities of the party to find food...the end result will determine how much (if any) food/water you find for the day.
Detection/Tracking
In the course of the next part of the adventure the party will, undoubtedly, call attention to itself. How easily the party is found by those searching for it will be determined on a regular basis and, again, will be affected by various conditions. It is assumed that the party, at all times, is taking caution to reduce or eliminate their various trails and will be trying to stay hidden...there is no need to describe in detail on a daily basis what you're doing to stay hidden. HOWEVER if there are any extenuating things you'd like to mention beyond covering your tracks and being careful that might affect how the calculations are made, don't hesitate to explain them.
Some of the factors under consideration are:
* How much the party moves around.
* How often the party may cross paths with people tracking them (comes into play with the hunting rules above, in general the farther afield the party roams for hunting the larger the chance they will encounter someone tracking them).
* The Weather (affecting Visibility, scent, tracks, etc.)
* How much of a nuisance the party really is.
* Presence or absence of specialized tracking skills in the hunting group (i.e. Bloodhounds, magical tracking effects, etc.)
* Overall stealth ability of the party.
Again, I will generate a difficulty rating for whether or not the party is found and apply that against the perceptive abilities of the tracking group.
Be prepared, at the onset of the next part of the adventure, to provide a generic plan on how you wish to proceed to assault the Queen's keep. From this generic plan we will proceed to play things out on a day by day basis. In other words, instead of real time activities, I will provide the party a general description of what happens for that given day. If no one posts for changes I will continue playing out the general plan and providing more information each day of play till the party decides to do something different. Assuming something important is to happen (party is detected, you find something interesting, etc.) we will slip back into role playing real time and handle the event.
If there are any questions about any of this, now is the time to ask.