A frightened young human girl, dressed in ragged, dirty clothing, shoots out of the bushes in surprise. She runs back a few steps and then stops at a tree, breathing heavy. There are twigs in her hair and her barefoot feet are muddy.
"Don't hurt me," she stammers, looking the group over, her eyes wide. Her age is hard to determine. Certainly she is older than ten and likely she is younger than eighteen.
"Please don't hurt me. I've been following you, hoping to find some food. I'm all alone. Please don't hurt me."
"By the powers that be!" Turnipin stammers and quickly moves toward her. "Dear heart, are you hurt?"
Could we get a description of the girl? How is she dressed? Is she wounded? Just in case: Spot: (1d20=7)
DM: sorry I've been MIA a bit. Hey I run a PbP and they tend to do this. Hang in there! This is a great game and you're doing awesome!
"I agree with the dwarf. We should continue following the footsteps if the ranger does not suspect a double cross. However, haste should not replace caution. Perhaps one of the more sturdy of our group should take the vanguard and keep a wary eye behind us?" Turnipin says in response to Dunham's odd behavior.
"I might make mention that one benifit of being...a stunt...is that we can see fairly well when there is little light. Let one of us, or better yet, the dwarf who can see in the dark, help lead the way if stealth is deemed important." Turnipin says.
"Myself, I say light a fire and let us hurry! Whatever has the children may...we really should throw caution to the wind and hurry. Draw your weapons and make ready for battle!" he finishes with a bit too much drama.
Nothing particularly arcane seems amiss or present at the scene.
DM:
Spoiler:
according to the SRD Knowledge(Arcana) can be used for "ancient mysteries, magic traditions, arcane symbols, cryptic phrases, constructs, dragons, magical beasts" so from a naughty-player metagaming prespective I was hoping to recognize the scale...but I am content with your ruling since Turnipin isn't up to this point much of an adventurer.
Fee Templefound wrote:
"Although dark and gloomy, those little kids were probably taken against their will. We must hurry...and be quiet. Let's go!" Fee whispers loudly. Without wating to see who does what the halfling takes off towards the wood in the general direction Bowen indicates the tracks lead.
Turnipin hurries after Fee, eager to match his pace since he was left behind earlier...
"Agreed, we must make all haste!" Turnipin says anxiously. "Don't let my stature slow you down, I can keep up." The gnome adjusts his satchel and girds his loins.
"Woodsman," speaking to Bowen , "if we come across any woodland critters, pause and let me commune with them. Perhaps they will have taken note of the children's passing?"
I want to use my Talk with Animals ability at the first chance. I will ask any little "burrowing mammal" if they saw the kids, how many there were, which way they were going, how fast were they traveling, and any other impressions the critters may have picked up on.
I hope not too much happens! I will be out of town the next two days. If combat does ensue, I've got two uses of magic missileready and Turnipin is ready to use it. He also like to use various harmless spells to distract foe, too...
"A haunted house?" Turnipin repeats softly. The gnome plants his quarterstaff firmly on the ground. "I am not afraid of ghosts. I think this seems like as good a direction as any to pursue."
Turnipin looks up to all the men in the group, looking for approval.
"Bowen, I have no doubt as to your ability to survive wherever you find yourself. I assume you can track and hunt your dinner with no equal. Could it be that you could use this ability to find the man-child's trail?" Turnipin asks the big man.
"If the lad did head out of the town, I can query the woodland creatures for more insight."
Hopefully we'll roleplay it, but just in case, my plan is to use Turnipin's speak with animals ability once we leave town to ask anyone if they've seen the boy.
Turnipin stays with Bowen and tries to be cognizent of anything out of the ordinary.
"Perhaps friend Bowen could start at...Gavel's house and look for any signs of the youth's passage?" Turnipin offers. "Or we could start at this Idris Eavewalker's?"
Turnipin was standing quietly, not wanting to draw any attention to himself.
The Chronicler wrote:
"It seems," says the Sheriff, "That Gavel Kreed's son has disappeared. The boy snuck out of his room last night and did not return in the morning. The Gavel thinks the boy might have left town."
Left town? he thinks to himself.
Turnipin steps forward and says "I too volunteer to find the man-child. I only need an hour or so to prepare."
"Not much to say here ... I worked as a guardsman in Oppara but came to Falcon's Hollow for a change. I was under the mistaken impression that it would be a nice quiet place to find a pretty girl and raise a family. The sheriff was kind enough to take me on before letting me know how wrong I was," Rall says with a smile.
"Well met," Turnipin says.
"I am but a humble scribe with a propensity for the arcane arts. I've settled in Falcon's Hollow because of the rare and mystical wood that have been reported in these parts." Turnipin finishes his sort intorduction and looks toward the other big men.
Turnipin says thanks, finds a quiet spot, and gets out his spell book. He spends 30 minutes muttering to himself and then puts the book away.
Turnipin prepares magic missle in his open slot.
"If we are done for the day. I would be interested in hearing a little about the men I will be spending the evening with." Before Fee can say anything, the gnome waves vaguely in the direction of the humans and says "Starting with one of you if you please."
Turnipin follows along as quickly as his stubby little legs will let him, keeping the unseen servant nearby (with the dagger), and wishing he could take 15 or 20 minutes to prepare a spell.
"No problem," says Rall returning the dagger "I thought it was a letter opener. ... Say, how'd you do that floating dagger thing anyhow?"
"Many and varied are my arcane masteries..." Turnipin says flamboyantly.
Rall Kirnast wrote:
"Okay, let's get these guys moving." Picking up his longsword, Rall points at the one not in Manacles. "On your feet. You try to run and the gnome's magic dagger is going to track you down and kill you in your sleep."
Picking up on the idea, Turnipin hands the dagger back to the unseen servant and orders it to keep in line with the men.
"Okay. So we go together. Bowen, if you don't mind, you can scout ahead a bit. Dunham, if I had your rapier behind me, I'd move at a steady pace. You keep these two in manacles in line. I'll walk with this one [the prisoner without manacles] and make sure he doesn't try anything. Everybody else ... as needed and crowd control. ... And ... and thank you for saving my life. All of you. Thanks."
"Do you mind if I get my dagger back...it is a bit small for you, afterall." Turnipin says.
Fee sucks in a deep breath of revelation. "Are you one of the faithful?!?"
"I ... If I were a religious man ... Look," says Rall waggling the arms of the body he's dragging "There'll probably be a better time to discuss that."
Looking around at the others he asks "Are we ready to go then? What's the plan? One to scout ahead, one to watch our backs and the rest to herd these three along? ... Or ... do we hold up in here and get the sheriff to come to us?"
"Naw, I vote we take the riff-raff to the sheriff."
Turnip hops down and heads for the door. Passing Dunham the gnome makes a mental note, loose morals might come in handy.
Turning to Rall, "Well I'm glad ye decided to arrest some of them. This will make things dangerous for any of us. Especially the wee folk that helped." He motions towards the three nonhumans.
Turnipin, finds his original table and climbs up into the seat. He begins sipping his tea as if nothing had happened. He orders the unseen servant to start straightening the room.
Unseen Servants only have a Str 2 so I would rule that Rall just snatches it (otherwise you're talking about an opposed Str check, but since Turnipin didn't specify what to do, servants have no intelligence, and they will not participate in combat, I think it's a mute point).
Turnipin watches the remaining thugs try to fend off the men aiding the fallen lawman. Then Rall jumps up and snatches the dagger. Surprised, Turnipin calls the servant back.
The gnomes casts his Dancing Lights as a glowy humanoid shape and sends it distract (DC 13) the thugs by hovering directly infront of one.
Turnipin casts unseen servant and hands it his dagger. "Go wave this over the halfling," the gnome instructs.
As soon as the invisible force begins to carry the dagger across the room Turnip yells out, "Beware the enchanted blade which protects the fallen or your life is forfeit!"
The blade bobs up and down over the halfling.
Turnipin begins to move to about 30 feet of the combatants.
IF I can identify the spellcaster, I will use the distraction tactic with the Mage Hand on him/her instead of the thug if it looks he/she is a threat. Otherwise I'll continue with pestering the thugs.
Turnip seems pleased at the way things are progressing. The little mage continues to position himself out of harm's way (using a move action if needed) while waving his hands in intricate little circles. He casts mage hand and uses the embodied force to tap the thug attacking Rall on the back of his weapon arm shoulder, hoping to distract the fool.
Turnipin backs up a little bit (outside AOO range) and cups his hands over his mouth as he intonates the spell.
Turnipin casts Ghost Sound and causes it sound like someone with a deep gruffy voices says "Attack from behind boys!" followed by as much unsheathing sounds as the spell can muster. The sound comes from behind the group of thugs.
"Word from Kreed is that we got to leave the sheriff alone for the time being, don’t want to make a martyr out of him. But then there’s you, some maggot brained stunt loving son of a diseased cow that just wanders in and volunteers to help him."
That's twice now that tall fool has been disrespectful towards the wee folk, Turnipin thinks bitterly. Some respect is in order. The mage begins to circle closer to the leader, mumbling a little colorful spell.
if allowed Turnipin moves within 10 ft of Hilp and casts prestidigitation, coloring the thugs entire outfit the pinkest shade of pink a gnome can imagine.
"I'll have what he is having," Turnipin says to the waitress indicating Fee. The wizard then looks disaprovingly at the halfling. "Settle down my good sir." Turnipin suggests. "You're new here and not everyone is as easy going as you. If you are baator-bent on helping someone go get that man-child out of here. This is no place for a youngster." Turnipin points to Savram who is walking away from a huge barbarian whittling what appears to be a sword.
Turnipin doesn't normally frequent the tavern. However, business is all but none existant so he decides to be more "public". Besides, he heard the papermill owner does frequent the place and Turnipin needs a more steady income.
The little gnome pauses outside the door, takes a deep breath, and pushes his way in...
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