Armand concentrates on keeping away from any possible tracks so that he does not obscure the area for those with better skills.
He succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, displaying a quite uncanny abilty to not be in the way.
Not sure, but I think you get an extra 5 for rolling a natural 20.
Jacen tries to remain in sight of everyone and calls out when a team mate strays too far from the group.
For the group, note that in his system finding an excuse to use a wierd skill to accomplish the goal does not work like it does in the core RAW system. Part of the "challenge" is trying to figure out what skills he "wants" us to use. Like he wrote - he has 3 "primary" skills in mind that we should be able to deduce given his write-up. Using something outside of those 3 results in a rather tremendous penalty and likely contributes little to nothing to the total point goal we are trying to achieve - even if you rolled really high.
As the trail dwindles the group decides to fan out and work towards finding more clues. Booj and Armand move around trying to stay out of the way, and find better vantage points. Booj manages to reach different spots, but does not actually find anything. Armand, however, just trying to get out of the way, manages to get a bird's eye from up a tree, to point out signs of a trail. Yuriel also points out what he thinks would discern the path taken, but Roedd ends up correcting his suggestions, before Jacen and Seljak get side-tracked. With the aid of the other's suggestions, Seljak and Jacen manage to see where the path continues a little further.
The skills I was looking for were:
Perception, to see signs of passage (easy, result as is)
Nature, to decide the best path for a horse in the terrain (medium, result -4)
Insight, to think which direction the rider may be headed (hard, result -11)
So, with an easy DC of 9 and 6 PC's, the target total was 54.
Seljak and Jacen, both rolled Perception and 18, so together they add 36 to the total (easy skill at face value)
Roedd and Yuriel, both rolled Nature. Yuriel had the exact idea, but fumbled. His total was -4 [math: 1+4=5, 5-5 (skill fumble)=0, medium skill -4]
Roedd got 27, medium skill -4, so he added 23, Yuriel added -4
Armand used non-associated skill... but Crit. Forgot to mention, but a crit in a non-associated adds exactly the value of 1 success (9 easy DC). So although it was not towards the intent, he still managed to help.
Booj, used a non-associated skill. With neither a crit or fumble, a non-associated skill = 0.
Jacen +18
Seljak +18
Yuriel -4
Roedd +23
Armand +9
Booj +0
Total 64, ten over the target total. so the group succeeded.
Also, though I call this the skill challenge, one set of rolls isn't a whole skill challenge. Treat the one we just did as one success in a skill challenge. So, it may span five different scenarios like this over time and in between encounters to accomplish the whole skill challenge.
All:
GM, that brings me to my suggestion. For a case like this, there's really no benefit to Booj participating, especially now that we know the crit/fumble system. There's no expected gain whatsoever to trying something outside the top 3, no matter the bonus, as a fumble is as likely as a crit. I would suggest an even higher penalty for skills beyond the tertiary, but that could still give them a greater than 5% chance of doing something useful.
For all - it's long
Armand prepares to advance on the newly revealed trail.
The path leads further towards the mountains, turning slightly northward and losing a little elevation. The reason for the downward turn becomes apparent very shortly. The sight of the last vestiges of sunlight reflect off the loud rushing river before you. The river is lined by rough sandy banks on both sides, and spans roughly around a hundred feet wide. The rider's trail moves straight up to a shallow portion of the span, with what looks to be moss-covered rocks lining the bottom. The water rushes past at a good speed, but it doesn't appear to be flowing so fast as to wash a strong swimmer aside. This looks to be the only way across, unless something could be found further up or down stream to either assist or be used to cross.
Booj asks, of no one in particular, "Are we swimming across, Boss? This slave knows how to swim!"
After hearing Booj's question and shaking his head in dismay, Roedd proceeds to ford across the river at the point which appears to be the most shallow.
Once on the other side, Roedd will take up a defensive posture, facing away from the river.
"Well, unless ya fergot to mention ya ken fly..."
"So, we must cross. Enfin, it is not to my taste, but needs must, and where he has gone, we must follow."
Once again, Armand displays the worth of his noble upbringing and half swims, half wades across the river.
"My brothers and I played often in the moat as children."
Booj confidently jumps into the water, and promptly sinks from view.
Yuriel bundles his scale armor into his pack, and joyfully dives into the water. His blue skin seems to blend instantly with the rippled river surface as he swims across.
Jacen also removes his armor, and bundles it, before easing his way into the chilled waters of the river.
Despite the able-bodied swimmers flitting through the water, the group finds itself a few hundred yards downstream. As this is how far they had to travel before they were able to fish Seljak from the rush of the water. He had went under like a stone, and the group was barely able to see him. Only by Jacen's grace in the water, and Yuriel's abilty to function under the surface, that they managed to get Seljak's head finally above water. His thrashing made swimming with him difficult, but the others were able to run ahead enough to get a line into the water that the could use to pull the others out.
With the whole group finally on the other side, the exhaustion of the ordeal finally kicks in and everyone finds that they are all cold, wet, and tired. It would be wise to start a fire, as the sun has just sunk below the edge of the mountains and what little light of dusk there is will soon vanish.
"Next time we'll tie a rope to you, Seljak!"
"Vraiment, we must insert bladders into your armour. It would have been distressing to lose you beneath the water."
Armand wrings out his own soggy garb.
It might be wise to have the old bear and monkey take the first watch. Give'em a chance to dry out and warm up.
It would be wise to start a fire, as the sun has just sunk below the edge of the mountains and what little light of dusk there is will soon vanish.
"Let's make camp, and pick up the trail in the morning."
Median defense descending: Seljak, Jacen, Booj, Roedd tied with Yuriel, Armand
Combining the ranks, then pairing best-worst, next-next, etc., with a modification for pairing Armand with the most perceptive character. It puts low defenses on the Roedd/Armand watch, which is why I put them first, and there's a tie between Jacen and Seljak.
"I shall peacock alongside Monsieur Beast with pleasure."
In the words of my venerable Uncle Onslow... Oh, Nice!.
The night was calm and quiet, except for the steady, almost rythmic, burble of the nearby river. You all wake ready and refreshed... and hungry.
After you eat a little to get some energy for the day ahead, you find the trail on this side of the river easy to follow for the moment. It leads you further to the north east. Closer to the looming mountains, and possibly the border between Ozelenit and its current enemy Klim Rubrik.
possibly the border between Ozelenit and its current enemy Klim Rubrik.
I'm not eating that legion bark if I don't have to. There ought to be a nice fat rabbit 'round here somewhere.
There's only one way to eat a brace of coneys.
Well I can't let these hares go to waste. Grab what you want.
I like half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve!
Armand enjoys the impromptu barbeque.
"Monsieur Beast, you have a fine eye for rabbits and enemies. I thank you."
Yuriel eats quickly, rolls himself up in his cloak, and is instantly asleep.
"Good work, Roedd." Jacen praises the master of the hunt before enjoying roast rabbit.
After gathering your supplies and finishing off the rabbit, you return to the trail head. The signs are fairly apparent, leading up through the dirt and brush up into the hillside. The path can be followed easily, as it turns into what looks to be an oft used trail. It's possible that this is a footpath used by some of the locals to get to the river.
The first part of the day is a steady uphill climb, getting to a nice vantage point you can see the river behind you looking much gentler from this height. The path winds its way up and down a few hills, crossing what look to be the ends of longs spurs and draws winding down from the higher peaks to the north-northwest. Cresting another of the hills, around a little after high sun, you find yourselves overlooking a village.
This village straddles another river, and looks to use most of its energy to power watermills on both sides. The river itself pours into a basin just north of the town from a great waterfall cascading over the top of the mountainside. The village has a few shallow-hulled ships moored along its banks, they look to be used to haul goods further downstream. It's not clear whether anyone has spotted you over the ridge just yet.
Armand has very little idea of where he is.
Yuriel is not local, but tries to remember any relevant briefings or conversations with local mercenaries.
Surprisingly, something comes to mind, "The little village is known as Zelbogat, which roughly translates to "Rich in Iron". It is a small border mining town. The village is in fact in Klim Rubrik territory. The enemy."
Apparently the details that Yuriel is sharing are the stories I was telling him over the campfires a few weeks ago.
"Oh yes, so it was. You look different now I'm sober."
Booj looks down and moves his lips, sounding out the names just loudly enough for others to realize the little slave is attempting to memorize them.