The Stolen Empire

Game Master Vethcyr

Perception 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Nitina strolls casually to the doorway and takes aim at Obie. She tsk tsks audibly, but feels no need to shout over all the shouting already happening.

Karina swears under her breath, "Really? Y'all couldn't stall him? I was gonna put him to sleep." She groans, putting a scroll back into her pack. "Change in plans I guess. We go to the temple, meet that herbalist, get to know the area better. Sorry for the mess Oleg. Really, sorry about all this."

Still mounted on her horse, Arastine calls out "I take it he's dead? We might still be able to track them back to their camp. That said, the longer we delay, the more difficult that'll be."

Oleg has asked us if we can find his wife's wedding ring which was stolen by bandits. In exchange he has offered us 1000 gold in credit after his business recovers from bandit attacks. I think we should do it.

Karina raises her eyebrow, clearly excited about the prospect of her share of 1000 gold. "Wow Oleg. Your wife's a lucky gal if you'd shell out that much for her. What does this ring look like? Oh, and while you're at it, do you know anything about where a certain Thorn Ford is? The bandit base is supposed to be nearby."

"That's a thousand gold in store credit here between yeh 'f yeh c'n find it. Tha ring is brass with a single pearl embedded in it." Oleg thinks for a moment, before saying "Somewhere south 'f here, 'f I had ter guess. Yeh migh' try askin' Bokken. 'e gets his supplies from tha south, so 'e migh' know a bit more 'bout 'em."

"Well $#!*" Klinn glares at Vlad.

"Well that credit sounds nice anyway," Klinn says, obviously grumpy and in no sort of good mood.

Restless, he says "Well, #&!!, I'm already all packed up to go, lets get out of here. To the temple?" Klinn gets a clear directions as he can from Oleg. Lets go follow those directions, shall we?

Once on the trail, you overhear Klinn saying to himself "Well, at least they don't know what happened to their ally. At least we have that advantage..." Clip Clop, Clip clop, We all ride down the trail (please?) I'll post my supplies in an edit.

Dude, chill. This rushing the party along is getting ridiculous.

"All I know is that there're rumors 'f an old temple ter 'rast'l down southwest 'f 'ere somewhere. 'm not sure where 't is, 'xactly," Oleg says evenly.

Before you set out, I need to know a few things. First, you guys need to tell me whether you want to explore a hex or just ride through it. Exploring a hex takes a minimum of 1 day - possibly more depending on terrain and party movement speed. As you don't know where the temple is, which option do you want to take? I should point out that there are three types of features that can occur in hexes - Landmarks are spotted as soon as you enter a hex (Oleg's trading post is a landmark, and this hex counts as explored), and standard features are automatically discovered once you explore a hex (which in itself requires no check). Hidden features, however, typically require some sort of check to discover the feature (and you only get to make the check when exploring the hex) - as such, you can easily overlook these features.

Second, how did you distribute the loot from before?

Also, you all have horses (either your own or taken from the now-deceased bandits).

"Hmmm. In that case, could you direct us to Bokken? It sounds like he could tell us more about the lands to the south."

Given that, I'm up for heading towards Bokken, whatever direction he's in, exploring all the hexes along the way. But, it's a party decision of course.

Also, I know I took an alchemist's fire, everyone got 17 gold (minus Vlad), and I took the bandit amulet. I think Pete took the other alchemist's fire and the shotgun. Unsure about the rest.

"Bokken lives due east 'f 'ere," Oleg says. "He's mebbe ten miles from 'ere, but he's gone a bit daft these past few years, and 'e'll like as not think yeh're here ter bring 'im supplies."

Klinn doesn't need anything from the bandits.
How long does it take to ride through a hex?
To be on the safe side, we should have, what a week's worth of food with us? 6x7=42 trail rations (we have 48), 42 days of horse fodder (speaking of which, how much of it's food can a horse get from camping on a grassy plain? Do we actually need to feed the horse extra when there is grass around?) It also seems like we should take just about everything that was in our wagon in the first place:

That depends on what type of terrain you are riding through. I'll let you guys know what your expected travel time is when you plan journeys through explored hexes, but when they're unexplored, well...

And yes, your horses (and mules) can graze in grassy areas.

EDIT: As a general mapmaking note, each hex has a diameter of twelve miles, and for clarity's sake, I will ask you from which facet of a hex you wish to embark when traveling. The upper right is facet 1, and they proceed clockwise to facet 6 in the upper left. To head due east, you would leave via facet 2 of this hex.

I already have a horse, but I think that we should get the wagon and the gear. Whatever we do we should do it quickly if Obie doesn't come back when he is supposed to chances are there will be a bandit group sent to Oleg's place to find out what the heck happened.

We should try to find Bokken quickly no matter what we plan to do we must make sure that we can either attack the camp by the time they will attack Oleg or we can return here to defend it again. Because if the bandits come back to investigate, chances are they will come a lot harder. But what do you lot think?

"We probably have a few days. Planning a large attack takes time," Arastine says confidently. "Besides, meeting the homesteaders and settlers out here might provide us with more information about where to find their camp."

So it looks like Vlad and Karina want to find Bokken. Klinn seems to just want to wander. What about the rest of you?

"Vlad, there are so many other explanations that could account for the bandits being late back to their camp. Perhaps they stopped to raid some farmers or had some trouble with their horses. I doubt that they will assume that they were completely wiped out by a group of adventures who happened to stop by Oleg's trading post the previous day. We could easily have a week before they figure out what happened and put a strike force together. Even so, they have no idea if we are one powerful mage lucky group of commoners. No, I think they will try to get more information about us before they bring a large attack force to Oleg's trading post."

Crap, I've fallen behind on this thread. (Also, my last post got double-ninja'd, it was supposed to have happened before Obie killed himself.

Nitina has been quiet as usual, but she suddenly begins to speak, her usual impassiveness rapidly giving way to what can only be true relish.

I think you overestimate these bandits' tactical resolve. No, when her forces fail to return I suspect Kressle will send another band, only slightly larger at most. They're a criminal organization, not an army.

And another such band is exactly what we can use. As her forces continue to vanish without explanation, Kressle will grow fearful. Fear and disinformation must be our allies against superior numbers such as hers. And of course, next time we'll have to guard the most helpful captive a bit better.

The bandits will be coming here. I see no reason to wander off looking for some old herbalist who may or may not have information that may or may not be useful. We should scout the area around here, find there most likely route, gather local intelligence and prepare our move. But above all we must be subtle.

Vlad, you're a mercenary. Klinn and Karina, criminals. Aristane, an aspiring 'adventurer,' I take it. But this is no simple adventure. A larger game is afoot, a game that will require more than inquisitiveness and bravado. And we must be ready. After all, she smiles exaggeratedly at Vlad's rapier we wouldn't want to bring a knife to a gunfight.

"Whatever we are, Nitina, we need to work together," Arastine says in an attempt to be conciliatory. "If we leave now, we might be able to track them back to their camp. If we don't, their trail will decay and we won't have an alternative to exploring blindly. I'm going to take a look 'round."

Arastine rides out of the trading post and looks around for footprints.

Survival: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18 Success!

"I've found their trail! We should be able to follow it easily!"

So do you want to track the bandits, find Bokken, or just explore?

Ha Ha Ha Ha Vlad bursts out laughing about the rapier comment. Point taken young Miss...I never did catch your name. Or a couple of your names for that matter.
I just realized Vlad doesn't know half the party's name between one thing and another

Nevertheless, I say we send a party to track the bandits and a smaller party to learn what they might from the villagers nearby to learn what they might about the bandits and perhaps creating a peasant resistance. This should be done by those with horses so that they can catch up with the group again afterward. We should be safe with the bandits a few days away and we can keep the trail from growing cold. Vlad draws his rapier and thrusts it skyward with ridiculously exaggerated actions And let us see how knives may work in gunfights Curtsying to Nitina after with a flourish of his blade.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
gosh darn it, didn't make it.

"I don't think splitting up is wise - there are a lot of bandits in these parts, and you hear stories of aggressive beasts. Frankly, there is safety to be found in numbers," Arastine responds. "Also, anyone who needs a horse should take one of the bandits'. We can cover more ground that way. Oh, and Vlad - you've met Karina and her brother Klinn. The reptilian critter is Nysro. The old man over there is Pete, and this is Nitina," she says, pointing everyone out in turn. "Now, there are several problems with that plan. First, trails go cold no matter what you do. Second, without a known landmark how can you expect one group to rendezvous with another? Third, there aren't enough settlers out here to form a peasant army - we'd be dealing with isolated homesteaders whose farms and trapping sites are often miles apart." She looks around for a moment and says sheepishly, "What? We keep track of how many people try to settle down here, and traveling traders tend to give accurate descriptions of population distribution."

HINT: Party splits tend to be a bad idea in Kingmaker, especially when you haven't fully explored an area. Just saying.

"Ya know what? The more I think about it, I think we shouldn't go hunting for the bandit camp. It sounds to me like they'll have us outnumbered anyways. This is a whole new strange land to all of us, and the only people we have are, well, each other, and Oleg here. So the last thing I wanna do is put everyone on a horse and ride off in a different direction. What's wrong with exploring these parts for a bit, maybe if we feel like it meeting Bokken, crazy as he might be, and getting a better lay of the land?"

Sense Moooooootivez on Arastine:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

"HAH! Well, clearly we should follow the tracks of the bandits if possible! We attack when they aren't expecting an attack, sucker-punch, one, two!" Klinn collects himself after his moment of teenage immaturity. "But seriously, the sooner we get to that bandit camp, the less prepared they will be and the easier it will be to dominate. It is about a days ride from here, maybe twice as long to follow the trail? If they send a follow up band, we'll spot them before they get to the camp. We shouldn't have any trouble with them We probably shouldn't bring the wagon, it would be a clear tip off. What do ya say, two, three days of food tops, get up, get out, get rid of these bandits!"

Wow, I'm mean when I'm tired. Okay, if you guys really want to do a party split, you can. Just set up a time and place to meet, okay? And if we do that, everyone needs to post regularly. Pete, I'm looking at you here.

Also, someone only suggested that Pete claim the shotgun. He hasn't taken it, nor has anyone else. So far as I am concerned, it's still up for grabs. It came with 10 bullet-loaded cartridges and 10 pellet-loaded cartridges.

Vlad turns to Oleg. Oleg, what landmark would work well for this purpose? And who wants to be in each group?

Re: the shotgun. If Pete doesn't actively want it, I could also grab it. Though I already have some other offensive options so it's not the end of the world. Just saying that someone might as well use the item :)

I'm still kind of meh on splitting the party, but /shrug

"As a rendezvous? This'd be the only real fort or significant buildin' fer miles," Oleg says, indicating his trading post. "Ah bin hearin rumors 'f a giant tree down south, and of a stag statchoo far ter tha southwest, but they'd prolly be several days ter a week away. Without havin' done much 'xpleration meself, ah cannae rightly say where yeh migh' wanna meet up."

I'm not a fan either, but I'll allow it. Just know that I will not rebalance encounters just because half the party is elsewhere. The stolen lands are a dangerous place.

Shotguns count as simple, right? If so, Pete will claim it. It'll be useful, at least until he breaks it.

"You all really think it's best to split up? Now I may be some old coot, and maybe I've only been around these parts a wink before you all got here, but that sounds like a recipe for disaster. I was outnumbered once before, and I'm still sore about it." He picks up the bandits' shotgun and examines it. "Get it? Heh heh."

"Look, we'll need to explore the area no matter what we do. We just explore it along the bandits' tracks," Arastine says calmly. "We have a few days before they learn something's wrong, so let's use it to learn about this region. Load up your saddlebags with what you need - we might encounter terrain unsuitable for the wagons." She grabs a week's worth of trail rations, a bedroll, and a gunsmith's kit, and loads them onto her horse.

The bandits' horses all have saddlebags. All personal firearms are simple, and this is a double shotgun.

We all seem to want to go somewhere, so let's just pick a direction and go. Arastine has found the bandits' trail, and you can follow it or strike off in another direction. Just tell me which way you want to go.

With these things under consideration let us do as Arastine suggested and follow the trail all as one group exploring around it.

I vote we follow the bandit trail. Both Klinn and I are very against splitting up.

"Whoa now. I'm not saying we should split by any means. Vald, now, he might tell you different, but it seems pretty crazy to me to split up when we have no idea what the country out here is like. Especially since explorers rarely come back. Vlad, if you would like to go some other way or stay here at the fort or some other crazy thing, go ahead. But really, you haven't exactly made friendly with us yet."

"Come on sis. Arastine's right. If any direction to explore is as good as any other, might as well follow the bandits."

After Vlad speaks, Klinn grins. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Klinn also grabs a week's worth of trail rations, the map making kit and footprint book, a 50 ft length of the hemp rope, the water purification and a medium tent. He also grabs the bandit leader's dagger and straps is to his belt. He ties a 2 days of horse fodder to Nysro (who seems to protest for a moment, but finally gives in). He takes straps his longspear to the horse but keeps his short spear accessible. He leaves his backpack behind, keeping the rest of his possessions in his saddle bags.

Klinn puts his gloves and cloaks on, ties a piece of cloth over his mouth an nose, and mounts his horse. "You gotta name, you sack o' fat?" he asks the beast, patting its side. The horse says nothing.

As the others (who are leaving with Klinn, Arastine, and Vlad) mount up, he and Nysro move out in front of the fort and start circling the fort, getting used to the new mount.

Karina stares intently for a second at Klinn before speaking, "If you think that's best, Klinn, then you've got my support. And Vlad, if you want to split up and leave us to our own fates, maybe you shouldn't be here in the first place."

Karina will carry the supplies from her pack (listed under her inventory now), with a week's worth of trail rations. She picks the first horse she sees and says, "Hey there, buddy. Yeah, you'll do just fine." She clumsily mounts the horse, who whinnies and takes a few steps back. Both Karina and the horse look uneasy.

As the consensus seems to be to follow the bandits' trail and explore along the way...

All of you have horses, and can retcon in any conversations and gear selections you make.

You head west, following the bandits' trail. After about three hours' travel, evening falls and Arastine says "I can't follow a trail at night. We'll need to wait until morning to continue on." Assuming no one objects, you make camp in a copse of trees that stands among the plains.

Map

Throughout the ride, Arastine remains at the front of the group, tracking the bandits as she goes. Several times you have to make abrupt turns as the bandits' trail meanders between rocky outcrops and across narrow ridges. "I don't know if they were drunk, or if they were avoiding something in this area," Arastine says, "but their trail is certainly not a direct line to the trading post." Arastine otherwise stays mostly focused on following the trail.

Karina remains in the middle of the pack, making idle conversation with the others in the party. She and her horse continue to seem uneasy around each other, as if they have made a mutual arrangement to tolerate each others' presence, but would much rather be walking on their own. This is apparent in her struggles to get her horse to turn abruptly in the erratic bandit trail. "We sure are exploring all over this area following this trail. Though if all horses were like this one, I would be shocked to see anyone follow a straight line."

Dang, this game is going fast. Normally I'd be thrilled but now I just feel guilty for not keeping up.

Had I been keeping up, I would also have voted for not splitting up and using the trail for a exploration-path. So no arguments here. Just pretend she made some biting comments along the way.

Fortunately, I think I can just pass it off as the fact Nitina is a woman of few words, rather than that I'm sloppy about checking enough.

SM on Karina 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Nitina has been quiet for most of the ride. Though not a particularly skilled rider, she's clearly been on a horse before. When we stop for the night, she nods. As good a place as any, I suppose.

She ties up her horse in a place where it can graze, and whispers to it in an uncharacteristically kind voice Výborne, Tmavé Vetra, dobre urobil.

We'll need to keep watches. Three shifts of four hours each. Unless anyone has any disagreement, I'd propose myself and Vlad on the first watch, Nysro and Karina on the second, and Klinn and Pete on the third.

"I'll stand watch with Karina - I doubt Nysro wishes to leave Klinn's side," Arastine interjects.

Not least because I'm pretty sure he unsummons when Klinn is asleep...

Oh right, I completely forgot about Aristane. Nitina has no problem with that substitution.

Ol' Pete spends most of his time on the first day's ride attempting to control his horse, who apparently prefers grazing and being kicked to walking peacefully. "Prob'ly shoulda gotten spurs..."

Tired and sore, he lays down and gurgles in agreement to the watch order.

After setting up camp (Klinn ties his horse to the northernmost tree, Klinn sets up the tent for himself and his sister around M-N, 75-76), Klinn and Nysro get into a good natured wrestling match, of which there is no clear winner. After they settle down, Klinn has some dinner while Nysro explores the campsite for the best place to hide. As he eats, Klinn Detects Magic around the glade. Are we on a hill? What is the shadow and the light green swath? As it gets darker, Klinn looks for a good place to climb up the rock, but gives up as it gets too dark to see properly. He climbs into the tent. As he does so Nysro walks around to the other side of the big rock.

You are in the lee of a hill.

[Tangent]Did we give poor Oleg any advice on what to do if more bandits show up looking for the others while we're gone?[/Tangent]

Nope!

Oh goodie!

Karina ties up her horse on a nearby tree (U60ish?) and assists her brother with setting up the tent. "I like this spot. Nice and cozy by this rock here." She smiles, and climbs into the tent. In the tent, she asks Klinn, "You've been pretty quiet. You holding out okay, Klinn? I mean, with how things turned out, being here and all."

You settle in for the night. It is well-lit by the moon and stars, but not enough to equal day (20% miss chance). Vlad and Nitina spend their watch tensely eying each other, more alert to signs of imminent treachery than for danger from outside sources. Despite this, no such danger rears its head during their watch.

Midway through Arastine and Karina's watch, the first sign that something is wrong is the sound of a gunshot, followed by Arastine's shout of "Look out! We've got company!" A loud, strange screeching sound follows. As you look toward the sound, you see a massive centipede approaching the camp. It is bleeding from several legs.

As embarrassing as this is, only Arastine made the perception check to act in the surprise round. She then won initiative and scored a crit.

Initiative Order:
Arastine (18+)
Vlad (18-)
Klinn (14)
Nitina (12)
Pete (11)
Karina (5)
Big Bad Bug (3)

Map

The blue circles indicate those who are prone.

Arastine stands her ground and fires twice more at the centipede, hitting with both shots (stupid low touch AC for huge critters). "Come on, everyone! Up and at it," she shouts.

Arastine Rapid Shot Attack 1: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (10) - 2 = 8
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 78 Hit!
Arastine Rapid Shot Attack 2: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (10) - 2 = 8
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 49 Hit!

AHHH!! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO! I DON'T HAVE NYSRO!!! Oh, wait, awesome summon monster...

Klinn wakes up at the noise, but as he is still groggy, it takes him a bit to wake up (surprise round). He crawls to the mouth of the tent (move, N75.5?), sizes up the situation, and summons a fiendish riding dog (standard action) in R75. The dog's name is Puddles. Puddles, blessed with her new existence, raises her joules and charges directly at the BBB ending his movement in U79. Puddles attempts to take a big bite out the B^3.

Dog Stats are w/ augment summoning.
HP:17/17, AC: 13
Saves +7/+5/+1
Attack: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 5 + 2 = 20
Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Free Trip (against a DC 210?):1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
6/7 monsters summoned today (also, we don't have new spells, so this counts as fighting bandit day, right?)

Damage so far (before DR): 7+11+7+10=35-DR*4... Not looking great for Mr. 100 legs...

Right - spells have not refreshed yet.

Wow! Good work moving it along guys! I went off to one fundraiser for a day and I come back to find a lot has happened. Seriously great work!

Vlad stands up, a smile spreading across his face (move action). Draws his bow (standard action). And unfortunately has to wait to start shooting until next round.

Come here my pretty Vlad says as he stares at the centipede, his smile growing larger.

Pete rolls out of bed whining. "Whaat whaat, just a bug? Oh, it's a big bug. All right, lemme try out this thing. Haven't fired a gun since pappy took me to the gun show." By the time Pete got a look at the critter it was half dead, so he's not too concerned about it. These folk are pretty good at shootin'; good thing I'm on their good side. Well, maybe the nun don't have a good side. The old man gingerly finds his way to his feet and draws the looted bandit shotgun.