The Mouth of Doom (Inactive)

Game Master Grimmy

The lack of rest and the march were done because of the alleged woman's life hanging in the balance. Also, Eli says y'all need to quit your b@@!#in. He's feeling fine :)

Interior and Exterior maps up.

What time of day is it? We could possibly rest and then descend on them before dawn... I mean they don't know we're coming.

1PM.

Grimmy, does Raziel notice any movement?

It's very still, no smoke from the chimney. The cottage has narrow windows, almost like arrow slits, can't get a good view inside.

There's a cauldron and something like a chicken coop out in front of the cottage.

Raziel circles the hut, and if no signs of movement are apparent, he will inform Ghaelja through the Message spell. If he has meandered out of range of the spell, the tiefling doubles back with the information, scolding himself.

Raziel doesn't find any activity in the yard. Not even a chicken moving in the chicken coop.

Ghae whispers to Raziel:
Is it even real? Chickens do not sit idle. Is this possibly an illusion of some type meant to distract us?

"Your reasoning is sound" - Raziel retorts - "But I will not move any closer to the cabin - I can hide and skulk, but my abilities are still limited" - he chuckles - "One day..."

There doesn't seem to be any clue indicating whether the occupants of the cottage have the guard up or down. The absence of smoke from the chimney might suggest they don't want to draw attention to themselves.

These are supposed to be the guys on the other end of the tablet thingy right? Maybe try to use it to lure them out?

Good plan, what do you write on the tablet? I think Raziel or Hound has it.

Assuming that someone asks Ghae:

Whisper: We can tell those on the other end of the tablet that we have been attacked returning to the cabin by a group of bandits led by some druid and his archers. We have escaped, but are being hounded by them as we approach the glade.

Whisper: Doing this adds some believability as we have met such a group and been attacked by them. Furthermore, Killian and his men clearly are at odds with those here in this glade.

Eli starts to nod at the proposition, but grimaces as a thought occurs to him, "Wait. What if the password we were told is part of a cycle? Applicable to the time of day or day of the week or some such," his whisper trails off as his thoughts swirl, beginning sentences and stopping mid-word as the plans come crashing down in his head. He stops murmuring with a smile as one final piece clicks in his head, "That actually might help. What if we pretend we are the bandits, and have captured one of their men. We've taken the tablet and they are required to either come get him or let him die. It's plausible even if we don't have a password, or rather if we don't use the password we do have and play it like our 'prisoner' won't give it to us. It could give us a little bit of time to see how they move out and assess what we're up against. The biggest worry I have is that they kill the girl before they leave."

Then do not even mention the girl. Call it ransom. We have the man for trespassing on our property and unless we are paid, we will terminate him and then reciprocate by invading their land.

Ehhh... Saying that those bandits are pursuing them and to help lay an ambush sounds better. We keep our heads covered so we can get closer as we ride in. Our guide here can keep his face uncovered to help the deception. I think these folks are the type to let their comrades die rather than stick their necks out.

Minimal to no posting for today - my girls are on Easter vacations so... ;)

Ooh this is fun!

So what are you guys writing on the tablet?

"But if we try to approach pretending to be part of their bandit outfit, they will be expecting to find their companions - we won't be able to disguise ourselves appropriately I think" - Raziel pipes in.

"I could always try to stealth just up to the cabin, and start a fire or something similar - trying to draw them out?" - he adds.

Hound just waits for the others to decide. Bashign things was his area.

That is why my intention was to infer that the others were being harried badly and needed help. We describe where "they" are, someplace perhaps a mile or so from the clearing. Make it sound like without help the will not be able to escape the bandits.

Use the horses, these creeps stole them from the bandits in the first place, so that would be a good reason for the bandits to be chasing them. We need to make it sound like someone needs a rescue so that we get some people to leave the cabin.

/Conan Enough talk! attack!

Better write something before Hound charges. Raziel has the tablet.

Waiting on someone else to chip in on this. Not sure that the low Int/low Cha druid should be doing too much face time.

Ghae puts out her hand:
Hold big man. Wise warriors know to know their enemy before their enemy knows them. We must learn more of what is within to avoid charging to our deaths.

Well it looks like we can't agree on what to do, enough are split with sneak/trick/attack that we are paralyzed. So lets get a hard deadline here or else Grimmy should just shut things down.

Only 3 are posting right now, not sure where the others are, although some might have spring/school vacations. Q last posted over a week ago, Eli last Thursday and Ogrim last Wednesday. Ghae has said what she thinks, but will agree to any good option that does not look like suicide.

I'll be down for sneaking into the cabin. Sorry for the lack of posting. I don't see Q as a very verbal person after he's said his piece so I hung back to let everyone else hash out a plan, which evolved into laziness on my part. I'll be more active.

"I agree with Ghaelja. Let us stake out this little hut of theirs. If they haven't killed the hostage yet I'm sure they're not planning on doing so at least for a while. A thought has occurred though... Perhaps we can use the tablet to send them into the hands of our friends in the forest." he rubs his wounds gingerly, "Write to them that their friends have been ambushed and watch them march into an ambush themselves."

Then get to it.

I'll be down for sneaking into the cabin. Sorry for the lack of posting. I don't see Q as a very verbal person after he's said his piece so I hung back to let everyone else hash out a plan, which evolved into laziness on my part. I'll be more active.

"I agree with Ghaelja. Let us stake out this little hut of theirs. If they haven't killed the hostage yet I'm sure they're not planning on doing so at least for a while. A thought has occurred though... Perhaps we can use the tablet to send them into the hands of our friends in the forest." he rubs his wounds gingerly, "Write to them that their friends have been ambushed and watch them march into an ambush themselves."

Pretty sure that was my plan a few posts back. Even if they do not end up fighting the other druidish bandits, they will be out of the house. Divide and conquer.

Sounds like as much consensus on a plan as you can expect with PbP.

Ok, I was not here when the tablets were found, but here is the plan.

Using the language and techniques we got from the guys in town, we say that we are being harassed by the bandits, they have injured/slowed 2 horses and we are being slowly caught. One person (say a mage or fighter) has been caught. We (the bad guys) are currently about 2 miles from the edge of the clearing and want the others to come set a trap to catch the bandits when we reach the edge of the clearing.

Something of that sort is my plan.

I'm all in with Ghaelja's idea.

Q takes the tablet and starts creating the message.

Cool, that's specific enough. We can assume Raziel is on board with the plan.

Let's get a bluff check and up to two aid another's to represent how well the message is worded (so I have something to roll sense motive against)

I could always roll the check in private, but waiting for it might serve as a good roll call/headcount sort of thing. I'm guessing Raziel and Eli would be likely to have input?

Bluff to assist Raziel: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (10) - 2 = 8

Q begins writing, trying his damnedest to sound convincing. "I could use some guidance on this one. I feel I am not nearly convincing enough."

If one of our CHA people chime in, Q will gladly hand over the tablet. Retconning to assist Raziel :)

"I feel as we may be risking too much with a second message..." - Raziel ponders for a second, then adds - "But we need to give it a try, and buy us some time to recover" - his tone is determined, as he sets down to try and come up with a convincing message.

Bluff: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Apologies for the delay people - my girl's Easter vacations still run for another week. I'll do my best to keep up, and will post more often. Lets keep this rolling ;)

I think I'll wait for the morning to see if anyone else wants to chip in before I resolve the bluff/sense motive and have the cultists respond.

Aid another: 1d20 ⇒ 9 <-- nope, unless I can get a wisdom modifier since this is in writing and not spoken, I am not much help

Grimmy, I know this is a tad retcon but... Is this Bluff roll something Raziel could take 20 in? :D

And now that I have some more time, I'll add some details to what Raziel intends to write, if allowed. Something along the lines of:

'We are delayed by bandits in the forest - they are led by some sort of damned druid, harried us and captured our mounts. Not sure if we will be able to sustain another confrontation, and pull through without reinforcements. We are currently holing up and resting - most are wounded, and we need to recover'

Before putting the information to the tablet, Raziel shares the draft of what he is planning to fo with his companions, to ask them their opinion.

Raziel - As I noted before, we need to ask them for some backup. To set a trap to catch the bandits. The goal is to get them out of the cottage to assist their companions. I do not think that your statement quite does this.

I was trying to hint at that by saying 'Not sure if we will be able to sustain another confrontation, and pull through without reinforcements' without being too obvious. I remember the guy we fought back at Zelkor's Ferry was kinda full of himself - not sure he would ask for reinforcements. That being said, here follows version 1.1 :D

'We are delayed by bandits in the forest - they are led by some sort of damned druid, harried us and captured our mounts. Not sure if we will be able to sustain another confrontation, and we surely cannot pull through without reinforcements. We are currently holing up and resting - most are wounded, and we need to recover. Will you assist?'

"Sorry, I dozed off there for a moment. The only thing I would say is that while requesting help is probably necessary, 'Will you assist?' sounds a little... weak. I could be wrong, but I get the feeling that they'd have been more the type to demand assistance rather than ask for it."

Aid Raziel's Bluff: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

How about:

Under attack. Damn druid and bandits. Druid charmed our mounts. Hidden now, but sure they're waiting. Capture likely without backup.

Make it short like being harried.

"Sure" - Raziel nods to both Eli and Ghaelja - "I think Ghael has the gist of it - we'll go with that"

Gogo! ;)

Q nods in silence.

Ok that last one from Ghae is exactly how they talk on the tablet; I'm not rolling the sense motive, they would totally believe that was Symon.

Woot! Go Ghae!

Thanks, for some reason the discussion of the guys you described had me reading it as blunt and cocky. Didn't realize it was that on mark, but it seemed to say what we wanted without any additions that could raise question marks.

Party Time!!! Or in the case of the bad guys, Party Splitting Time!!!