DMDM's Hells Rebels

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

Zia -- the young tiefling who brought you here -- has her fist stuffed against her mouth. Her eyes are wide with terror.

Zeldana looked at Zia with a confused look. "What is wrong?" She asked.

Having a feeling of dread, Zeldana turned to her cards. Doing a quick shuffle before drawing the top card.

Spending one point!

None of this brings us closer to finding the murderer Stricia complains.

Having a feeling of dread, Zeldana turned to her cards. Doing a quick shuffle before drawing the top card.

Cards? What cards?

Your cards are gone.

Okay, retcon -- see discussion thread. Zel reaches for her cards... and realizes they're missing! The girl is running down the alley, but is only 40' away (20' move, took a double move rather than a run action).

Zel: what do you do?

Blinking for a moment Zel put two and two together before calling "She took my cards!!" before running after her to grab the girl.

Okay, running at the girl using a charge action, replacing the attack for a grapple.

Charging grapple: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 2 = 5
Are you serious... man I've been rolling crap for the past three days...

Okay, that's a complete faceplant -- you slip in the foul-smelling mud of the alley. The girl slithers up the side of building exactly as before, except that this time her escape is accompanied by a faint hissing snicker.

On the plus side, you've discovered that you have some sort of Card Sense that tells you when the cards are too far away from you.

On the minus side, right now it's not directional, and is therefore useless. It's the internal, magical equivalent of a car alarm that you can't shut off.

If anyone wants to try going after her, it's only a DC 15 Climb check. (Failure by 5 or more means a fall, mind.)

Oh, and Zeldana: "trouble or evil that comes at you through literal or metaphorical dexterity... Traps, sneak attacks, mind tricks, things stolen from you, broken bones.'

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Confident in her athletic abilities, Stricia leaps forward only to find the wall to be slicker with grime than she thought!

Sorry!

Dang, and you actually put ranks in Climb too!

Yep I'm not going to be the only person climbing after her, splitting the party is bad, she is also too far away at this point for a viable chase even if we did want to risk it.

Mm hmm, okay. Reasonable.

So, now what?

Cleaning off her face Zeldana joined her other friends. "She can't get too far with my cards. We're bonded the way a wizards bond with their familiar." Zeldana told them. "But that is still a large amount of area to cover."

If they are important to you then we will not leave without them. Stricia declares ashamed at her failure to follow. I am faster than most, guide me and I will pursue.

"The way a wizard bonds with a familiar" -- we-ell, the wizard has empathic link, which tells what the familiar is feeling but doesn't give any more information (like, where it is). You feel a sensation of wrongness. Is that the equivalent to the empathic link, or something else? Hm.

So... what are you doing?

"Something is wrong." Zeldana said as she closed her eyes and placed a hand upon the side of her head. "I'm not sure what but I can feel it." She thought as she focused upon the cards.

I for one will pursue. Stricia doesn't wait to go after the thief.

In my head it's only been a few seconds since her first pratfall and I don't think the pickpocket would have gotten very far away.

Climb: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Percep: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

This time Stricia scales the wall as fast as she can which, thanks to her years of physical training, is quite fast indeed. As soon as she is over the edge she looks around trying to determine where the pickpocket could have gone.

Zeldana looked at Zia with a confused look. "What is wrong?" She asked.

"Ruh, Ruh," she swallows hard, "Rooftop. They're rooftops."

I for one will pursue. Stricia doesn't wait to go after the thief.

In my head it's only been a few seconds since her first pratfall and I don't think the pickpocket would have gotten very far away.

Reasonable.

This time Stricia scales the wall as fast as she can which, thanks to her years of physical training, is quite fast indeed. As soon as she is over the edge she looks around trying to determine where the pickpocket could have gone.

She's right there! Only about 20' away, on the ridge of a rooftop above you. However, she has initiative now... She glances over her shoulder and hisses in irritation. Then she turns and says in a sort of hoarse gasp, "Stomper!"

Then she hurls herself down the other side of the roof, out of sight. 1d20 ⇒ 15

Climbing the roof carefully requires no Climb check, but you'll move very slowly. Running up the side of the roof is a DC 11 Climb check. Sliding down the other side (as she appears to have done) would be an acrobatics check, but you can't tell how hard of one until you see the other side of the roof. (There's no reason to assume it would be symmetrical. Most buildings here aren't.)

"Something is wrong." Zeldana said as she closed her eyes and placed a hand upon the side of her head. "I'm not sure what but I can feel it." She thought as she focused upon the cards.

Hmmm.

1d20 ⇒ 10

1d100 ⇒ 92

Okay: you've never tried this before, but... yes, you can /feel/ the cards. They're right... there. The problem is, you have no way to orient yourself; you can't connect "there" to the actual physical world yet. Maybe with practice...

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Stricia runs up the roof, unwilling to lose sight of the thief. She pauses at the apex to see what she's going to be sliding down into.

She goes for it. Acrobatics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Not so fast. Big roll coming up here...

1d20 ⇒ 11

WHAM

You take 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (2, 6) + 4 = 12 damage.

Something flew through the air and hit you, very hard. Not an arrow. Irregularly shaped, and bigger. And...

1d20 ⇒ 13

...it knocks you backwards.

Since you're standing at the ridge of a roof, you'll need a Reflex save to avoid falling.

I know you're there... I just need better... practice... Zeldana muttered a Varisian curse to herself before she gave up and tried her hand at climbing.

Climb: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Climb: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

Stricia just /barely/ manages to grab the edge of the roof. Presumably one of you will pull her up. So now everyone is up to the roof's edge. All you have to do now is run up the slope, over that roof ridge, and after her!

Of course, when Stricia went over that roof ridge, she took 12 points of damage and nearly got knocked off the roof.

I guess we run over to her then?

Zeldana ensures her friend is okay, then bolts after the girl that stole her cards.

Stricia nods back that she is fine. I am hurt, but.. should be able to continue.

Stricia moves as well, but stays behind Sera. She is brave but not foolhardy.

Zeldana ensures her friend is okay, then bolts after the girl that stole her cards.

Bolts, you say. Straight up over the roof ridge?

Mmkay.

She does have an 8 in wisdom, also we are standing on the roof right? overlooking other roofs?

Yup. So, I'll give you a Perception roll...

1d20 ⇒ 14

...followed by an attack roll.

1d20 ⇒ 1

+4 Perception... close but not quite. Going forward, it's nice if you can put Perception and Initiative in your character tagline -- see, for instance, how Sera has done it.

Natural 1? Okay, something flew past you, spinning with a sort of whupwhupwhup noise, bounced off the roof tiles, and crashed to the ground.

Zeldana stopped at the edge and looked back to her friends. "I think something is down there attacking us!"

Zeldana stopped at the edge and looked back to her friends. "I think something is down there attacking us!"

Gaaaah stopping at the edge could give them another shot at you! Roll for initiative!

Init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

Init 1d20 ⇒ 1

pffft

Okay, you yell down to the rest of the team, then run after Weevil, who is just disappearing over another roof ridge.

Whoops, there's a gap! At a full-out run you'll need a DC 10 Acrobatics check to jump over it.

-- Meanwhile, what are the rest of you doing? After her? Run around on the ground and try to catch up that way? Other?

Running jump!: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
.... WTF?! Seriously? Oh! But I did fail by 4, so I can attempt a DC20 reflex save to grab the edge of the other side... doubt I'll make it but hey, why not?
Reflex: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

Stricia runs after Zeldana and makes to vault over the same gap but seeing her falter tries to reach out to save her.

Some roll Help Zel?: 1d20 ⇒ 12

Wow.

Okay, one person -- in this case Stricia -- can make an assistance check, which adds +2. Unfortunately, that's not enough to help. So: WHUMP. Zeldana hits the ground, takes 2d6 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5 of damage, and is knocked prone.

I'm kind of out of ideas. Stricia is pretty hurt but I don't want Zeldana to lose an important item either.

Stricia: jump down to help Zel (or protect her... someone *did* attack her), or continue pursuit? And what are the rest of you doing?