Adventure Path Reign of Winter

Game Master Almonihah

"But then the very last thing I remember is the bartender telling us that we should leave. I don't remember anything else. Until now, I mean."

"That smarmy jerk bartender cast some kind of enchantment on you. I think he was trying to get us all, but for some reason it only worked on you. Still, he seems to have gotten his way, at least for the moment. But we don't really know why. Some of us think maybe he was doing it to be nice. I have my doubts about that."

"So how do you feel now? Do you feel weird or foggy or anything? I gotta tell you, you had me worried for a while. It was like you were sleepwalking. Honey Rabbit was worried too."

Findurêl catches up to the party. "We need Nadya to guide us to the tower and she's still back in town...I could wait till nightfall and sneak back there to see if she'll join us...or maybe draw us a map..."

"I think we should all go back as quickly as possible. Nadya and her family are going to be in danger."

Sakitu looks again and Bulvi with a shy smile. "Sorry about the 'Honey Rabbit'. Quasit just caught me off guard and I just had to make something up on the fly." She giggles a little. "But it is a rather cute name for you."

Turning back to Quasit. "So I was enchanted? Hmm. Strange. I didn't even notice. And that's why we're out here?" Just like that Sakitu shakes off the ordeal. " Ok. Let's go back."

She looks around at the others to see what they think.

Sakitu looks again and Bulvi with a shy smile. "Sorry about the 'Honey Rabbit'. Quasit just caught me off guard and I just had to make something up on the fly." She giggles a little. "But it is a rather cute name for you."

"Oh yeah, that's never going to die." says Quasit with an evil smirk.

Bulvi rolls his eyes "Is it sweet enough for a man as gloriously charismatic and humble as I? Clearly the mere idea of being in blissful wedlock with me was so much you didn't notice the spell."

"But let's move back and meet up with Nadya, we might be able to use this to our advantage, if we stop a little while out now they might think we are gone under this enchantment. Maybe Findurel sneaks back in to get her help."

"We've already been gone about an hour, and it's gonna take us about an hour to get back. That's plenty of time for them to get up to mischief. Maybe when we get close to Nadya's house, we could let Fin sneak around and case the place, but I don't think they'll be very sneaky. Nadzheda is in charge. If they think they have a right to grab some one, they'll just do it."

"I think we have to go back. If anyone sees us we can just say we forgot something and that we're planning leave right away." Sakitu looks to Fin. "Are you up for sneaking around?"

Fin nods. "I'll do my best..."

The Ranger will take the lead and head towards Nadya's house, bow drawn and using what cover he can, eyes alert for any signs of danger...

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

did anyone upgrade weapons, armor, or items when you leveled as it will make a difference

I have no idea about the PFS side of things so haven't. Does it just happen off screen kind of thing? We barely got into town.

I haven't upgraded anything gear wise the whole adventure, other than picking up the MW Longbow off a dead guy...how much money do we have?

usually in an ap when you level in a town, there are shops that you can upgrade at, depending on the town of course, when you level and you want to get gear from town I can let you know what they have, if it varies then normal situations otherwise its mostly off screen, though it may make a difference at times

I didn't upgrade anything. I don't know how much gold we have. Was there any gold in that lodge that nearly killed all of us? BTW, my profile and stat line are up to date.

My impression was that we came to town and went straight to Nadya's, rested for a little while, then went to the tavern. The one thing I wanted to get, and I think I mentioned this either here or in the discussion forums, was that I was interested in acquiring a Wand of Cure Light Wounds, but we never role-played that out. Perhaps we could say I hoisted Ibona's before she left? <g> If not, if there is a temple in town, Quasit would have made it her business to go there and buy one.

To my understanding, you can play home games for pfs credit, but doing so has no requirements on the rules, so you can homebrew all you want including how pfs handles things.

PFS or other organized play are the only times I've ever heard of upgrading equipment off screen, naturally they kinda need to because of the whole "living campaign" thing. So for this game, I certainly did not upgrade anything. Not sure why we would expect "free/offscreen" upgrades.

I'm also confused on why Bulvi keeps mentioning PFS since we are not playing PFS, we are getting credit, but for playing a home game with no pfs restrictions.

probably cause of the restrictions I made of it being PFS legal Selena, and Quasit, go ahead and yank Ibonas, and I will proceed with no upgrades then

Woot!

As the group walks back to town, Quasit notices for the first time that under all that armor, Bulvi still winces stiffly once in a while.

"Hey, you're still hurt. Good, this gives me a chance to practice!"

She retrieves a wand from up her sleeve that looks suspiciously like the one Ibona had been carrying, and begins trying to cast with it. She's almost trembling with excitement-- it's clear that even though she's seen others do this plenty of times, it's a first for her. She clenches her jaw and grips the little stick way too hard, then sort of tries to push the magic at Bulvi with a rush of arms and a tensely spoken word...

UMD check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

And amazingly it works!

CLW on Bulvi: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

She squeals with excitement as the tip of the wand lights up and the healing magic washes over the fighter, and she actually jumps up and down in place for a moment.

"I can't believe that worked! How do you feel, Bull?"

Bulvi stretches his arm a little and smiles at Quasit "Much better thank you, I didn't want to complain and get Sakitu all worked up worrying about her honey bunny!"

Quasit beams so much she glows in the dark.

When Quasit pulls out her wand Sakitu digs in her own bag. "Hey, I have one of those too. We'll be a great team."

As fin goes i to town he can see soldiers going in and seem to be questioning shop owners and there seems to be more then 7 groups of them patrolling through the city.

He makes back to the house you have been staying at when he starts to hear footsteps coming by.

(Assuming you all are waiting by the edge of town)

The rest of you notice soldier patrols that you dont recall being there before

Fin will duck into the nearest cover and await to see the source of the footsteps...

Not sure if another Stealth roll is needed but just in case:

Stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24

you are in the residence unless you are hiding in the house?

Oops, my bad GM, misunderstood...were the footsteps coming from within the house or outside?

well give me a perception

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

As Quasit peeks over a stone wall and sees multiple soldier patrols wandering the streets of the little town, she grimaces in consternation.

"Jeepers. Like ants."

She lowers herself down and is quiet for a moment.

"Well that's obviously for us. I honestly don't think they turned out a whole company of soldiers just because I ticked off a barkeeper. That forlarren set us up, and the friendly couple at the White Weasel kept us there long enough for the witch to see what she needed to see."

She musses her hair roughly, as she often does when trying to focus.

"They may already have Nadya. This is bad."

She glowers for a moment, then mutters again, almost to herself. "If they hurt those kids..."

"We've got to try and check on Nadya at least but I don't think I'll be leading the charge on that with all this metal."

"Don't be ridiculous Quasit. You marked yourself as a troublemaker, worse, a troublemaker with a specific goal in mind. The only leader who wouldn't respond like that would be an apathic one, or one that couldn't respond. I would do the same if all I saw of you was your behaviour in the tavern. Also notice that the soldiers were here already. They weren't patrolling, but they were here."

Selena lies in the snow as she talks gently and quietly.

Fin you definately hear the footsteps outside, but you think you hear extremely light pair of feet inside, thought dont know where its coming from as a knock on the door suddenly interrupts, as Nadya goes to open the door.

Before she opens she notices Fin tgen turns her head back and starts to talk to the guards, before moving forward and closing the door

"Don't be ridiculous Quasit. You marked yourself as a troublemaker, worse, a troublemaker with a specific goal in mind. The only leader who wouldn't respond like that would be an apathic one, or one that couldn't respond. I would do the same if all I saw of you was your behaviour in the tavern. Also notice that the soldiers were here already. They weren't patrolling, but they were here."

When Selena starts speaking, Quasit just listens, tensely, her jaw crooked and her eyes pushed sideways. And when the girl finishes, Quasit waits a solid 3-count before turning around and just looking at Selena, her jaw still cocked crooked.

Then she relaxes into a normal face and speaks back exactly as gently and quietly as Selena.

"Or maybe they're looking for you, Selena. You never tire of telling us what an important noble you are, and it sounds like there's a power grab going on in this country since you left. Maybe your family is being hunted and killed."

She blinks and smiles sweetly, then continues.

"It doesn't really matter why the soldiers are mobilized. They are, and we need to get Nadya and her family to safety somehow."

She turns back to peering off toward town.

"Hopefully Fin comes back soon. Then we can make a plan."

Fin nods to Nadya and holds a finger to his lips as she answers the door and goes outside to speak to the guards...after she closes the door, Fin will go close to the door and try to quietly eavesdrop on the conversation...

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Sakitu glares at Quasit and Selena. "You two! Stop bickering!" She whispers harshly and then turns back to spy over the wall. "What are we going to do? Can you see Fin?"

"Just wait, it hasn't been too long, one way or another he'll give us a signal of some kind soon." Bulvi puts what he hopes is taken as a comforting hand on Sakitu's shoulder. He didn't want to go barging in drawing attention to Findurel now.

Out side the group isnt noticed yet

As fin moves to hear the conversation, he can tell the one in charge has a tone that is threatening toward Nadya, threatening for her to come with them and give up any information on the outsiders, or her children will be taken like her other child.

Fin you can attempt to sneak away, go out and stand up for Nadya, or attack, if combat ensues the rest of the party would be 4 rounds away from the house at double move

"Also notice that the soldiers were here already. They weren't patrolling, but they were here."

GM, is this true? Were we aware of a lot of soldiers being in this village? I don't remember soldiers being here when we first arrived, just suspicious villagers. People in the White Weasel were complaining about soldiers, and Emil threatened us with soldiers if we hung around, but I think that's it. I don't think we actually saw any.

Fin thinks reinforcements are in order...he decides to sneak out the back way and alert his friends so they can hustle back and help Nadya...

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26

game/ap written wise no this amount of them were not here when you first arrived, there may have been a small handful just for guards at the entrance, though it does not state. Plus if there were this many when you arrived one would think the tavern owner would have called for the guards when a rogue got uppity and snippy instead of using the drinks to get you to leave

As fin leaves he notices at least 6 soldiers around nadyas place though they seem a bit preoccupied, but while leaving he notices Nadya being taken towards the White Weasel tavern

~~~~group outside~~~~

While waiting for fin, you can see a small gap in the patrol route that you can get through to get back inside

would be a stealth, Acrobatics, or dex check

Is there a place I could place dancing lights to try to distract some of the guards and improve the DC of sneaking in?

from the way they patroll I would say it would distract one and alert another, you could try it but it would alert one group

Without a sign from Fin, nor seeing the guards take Nadya anywhere, Selena is rather unmotivated to sneak back into town, at least until Fin has been gone "too long," about an hour or so after he left.

Either way, Selena plans on playing rearguard, staying back so she can provide surprise support should they run into trouble.

Fair point

Bulvi will make note of the gap in the patrol pattern in case they do have to sneak back into town and waits for word from Fin.

"I wonder what is taking Fin so long. I hope he returns soon with some information. I don't like all of those soldiers swarming the place." Sakitu keeps peaking over the wall hoping for a glance of Fin returning.

Those looking see fin hiding making his way towards you but stops on the otherside of the guards first

Fin will pause until he sees an opening...

Stealth, Acrobatics or dex roll

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22

Fin manages to sneak out to meet up with the rest of the party

Fin grimaces. "The guards nabbed Nadya before I could talk to her or get her away...they took her to the White Weasel...

"With all the patrols, we had best wait to go in under cover of night...but, then again, not sure how long they'll hold Nadya there..."

"They're going to interrogate her. I don't think we can afford to wait. We've got to go bail her out before she talks and before they take her away. It's certain to be a fight when we get there, but if we move now maybe we can get her away before a general alarm is raised."