DMDM's Way of the Wicked, Part II: The Dark Tower

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

a scythe and spiky boots

I never said they were spiky boots.

IOther than insulting us, do you have a purpose for your visit? We have places to be.

"An' now wi' the questions, not twenty feckin' seconds after I said no questions. Nobody listens no more, that's another thing."

This guy has clearly attempted to threaten us with his buddy Booger. I do not see how these comments are terribly misplaced since this guy seems to have already said that he wiped out the 8th.

I do not think he attempted to threaten us with Booger, supposedly he is not even here. And I do not believe he said he destroyed the 8th, only that he knew of them. We may NEED information from him to avoid their ruinous fate.

'The bright light of day has been known to tax the niceties and demeanor of our friend. I have been told that he ... can quite charming in his own way (when the moon is in the sky and you meet him in a dark alley).'

'But let us not waste your time or patience any further then, unless of course there is a reason to why you have made such a profound an appearance here.'

This should not be a fight. In fact we may need this little guy.

"Stay your hand Sir, and we may come to assist each other."

"Ah now, there's a lad wi' a civil tongue in his head. Bit late in the day, an' it doesnae speak well that yer travellin' wi' yon company o' bletherin' gomerils. Still, it's nice ter see a young person try, like." He scrunches up his face into a thoughtful scowl, reaches into an inner pocket of his jacket, and takes out a small glass flask of some brownish liquid.

"Arright, it's a rare fine mornin', an' I'm nae hungry. Gaun yersel', get movin'. I'm too relaxed to fash myself wi' killin' yer just now, pleasant though it might be." He waves the flask at you dismissively. "Along wi' yer, afore I change my mind. Git."

'The bright light of day has been known to tax the niceties and demeanor of our friend. I have been told that he ... can quite charming in his own way.'

'But let us not waste your time or patience any further then, unless of course there is a reason to why you have made such a profound an appearance here.'

'I am Cуровую зиму, from the Far Uttermost North, who may you be sir and what is your connection to this area?'

The Judge sighs while shaking his head:
He does not know anything. Probably just delaying until he can show us his big Booger .

Normally DM gives us a chance to discover things, they are just not 'the easy way' to go about it. Then he swats us like flies.

IME this is the sort of situation where players, reluctant to take instruction from a mere NPC, may spend a lot of time shifting from foot to foot. So let's break it down:

A) Okay, we're done here. We leave hobo gnome behind and head on down the trail to the next thing.

B) We'll go, but not before throwing some snarky comments and whatnot just to make it clear we're not being ordered around here.

C) No, let's not go -- we want to do more here. [specify]

D) Screw it! We attack this guy!

C) No, let's not go -- we want to do more here. [specify]

I'm all for the third option, I would assume DM put the redcap here for a reason (and not just call us witty and derisive names).

I was hoping Edmin, or to a lesser degree Jax would trade insults with him, and that act would somehow 'trigger' the redcaps 'oh your a my kind of scum' persona. The Judge was more threatening than insulting which may have a different reaction.

I agree with #C. If Cy wants to lead, she can ask more questions. The Judge is in a generally bad mood these days (perhaps that is the source of the -4 to bluff and diplomacy more than the smell). If he, I, thinks up a more proactive question, he will ask it. But until then, he is going to work on reverse psychology by simply finding this gnome/fey to be beneath his station and, thus, not worth his time of day. Hopefully this will ting the gnome's interest and get him to volunteer some more insight.

Jax had been leaning against a tree, one booted heel propped back against it, arms crossed with fingertips lightly touching Brink's black and silver handle. He was smiling faintly, shaking his head at the Judge's threats and Cimu's attempts at pleasant talk.

You are no vampire to taste the blood of any passing creature in passing, Brink. Jax glances at his blade, no words coming from his lips.

He looks up and pushes off from the tree, hand on his blade. "You must be mighty bloody bored to be sitting around in a f%@%in' swamp year after year. Harrassin' the few passer-by that come through must be a damn highlight. I'm want to bet you followed the others who came and giggles while polishing that blade as each of them died slow, painful deaths."

Its a fey and it told us how to "ask" questions from it already. No questions, right? :)

From the air Ulp does a look around...perhaps to see if Booger is there

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27 perception

Stupid humans doing their talk-talk

Ulp knows he is not good in a social situation so he stays out of it, but he sees if he can find something. Though he does call down.

Give our new friend the barrel of booze! Not a question...we have big barrel of strong booze...you drink!

Note I am talking about the Keg of Glog we took from the Captain

J

He looks up and pushes off from the tree, hand on his blade. "You must be mighty bloody bored to be sitting around in a f*@%in' swamp year after year. Harrassin' the few passer-by that come through must be a damn highlight. I'm want to bet you followed the others who came and giggles while polishing that blade as each of them died slow, painful deaths."

Its a fey and it told us how to "ask" questions from it already. No questions, right? :)

Nice! Still, he's already disillusioned with your group -- two question-askers and the Judge. So, you'll have to make a DC 15 Diplomacy check, straight up, or he's done wi' yer.

Oh, look, Jax's strong suit. 1d20 ⇒ 5

maybe a bonus for the booze?

It won't be +10... :]

maybe its really good booze

Nice! Still, he's already disillusioned with your group -- two question-askers and the Judge. So, you'll have to make a DC 15 Diplomacy check, straight up, or he's done wi' yer.

I PM Edmin a few hours ago before I even saw this post but he may be busy.

Cуровую longs for the days of her youth, when barren bitter winters with certain death looming was the only worry she had to deal with.

She throws her voice behind Edmin.

'Are we done here then? Tell this grizzled bearded halfling that we are no longer taking auditions for our bardic boy band, Murderers, Music and Mayhem {tm} no matter what notes he can belt out. And if the length and girth of his scythe is supposed to make up for his other short comings, well, those must be REAL pitifully short, comings.'

Diplomacy 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

I did not want to roll diplomacy and say nothing. I am up fo rany suggestions at this point. I've read what the redcap, I don't know what I am missing.

Well, when rolling diplomacy you should generally say something, yes. (Or at least say what you're saying -- "I'll make some genial insults" -- if you don't feel like spelling it out.) It's more like, is the rest of the party good with this approach?

I defer to those who had more than 4 hours sleep in the past two days, as you can see in the above post, I can't even type a full sentence.

Alternatively, Jax can sing this and Ulp can play his flute.

The Judge suddenly begins to sing some strange song.

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the redcaps want more blood food
And the treants ignore their pleas

So the redcap found some friends
And demanded equal rights
'The treants are just too goodly
We will force on them some blight'
Now there's no more treant oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the treants are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw.

The Judge then looks to the disgusting gnome.
We have eliminated that annoying treant. Others will undoubtedly follow us into this forest. If we are unsuccessful, then you will face hunters and rangers and loggers. You will kill and eat some. But eventually, the bloody sun god worshippers will send their paladins and their inquisitors to find who is killing the hunters and loggers.

The Judge pauses and takes a quick drink from his waterskin and stares at it for a moment before continuing.
I bet the Dark One's piss tastes better than water.

He replaces the waterskin at his side.
So, it seems you have two options. Be the hunter, or be the hunted. The success of our mission will help determine how fey like yourself feast, or suffer famine.

1d20 + 15 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 15 + 4 = 37

Edmin loks around at his companions then at the small Fey before slamming his ax against a tree and shaking it at the bearded bastage.
"I am tired of this shiza! You want to sit here in this farged up forest of get behind something where you can do something with that blade beside shine it? This is the reason people like you go no where! You sit around talking shiza but never do anything! Now get off your ass and help us or shut the frag up and get out of our way before I take that weapon from you and turn you in to gnome on a stick!"

1d20+15+4

Edmin loks around at his companions then at the small Fey before slamming his ax against a tree and shaking it at the bearded bastage.
"I am tired of this shiza! You want to sit here in this farged up forest of get behind something where you can do something with that blade beside shine it? This is the reason people like you go no where! You sit around talking shiza but never do anything! Now get off your ass and help us or shut the frag up and get out of our way before I take that weapon from you and turn you in to gnome on a stick!"

Diplomacy roll please...

Intimidate.....Sorry that is Edmin's diplomacay.

[roll roll]

Okay, first the good news. He liked the Judge's verse! He was intrigued and willing to switch back to neutral. (Because he and Booger, they hated that feckin' tree.) So, well done Judge.

Now the less good news: he doesn't care for Edmin's tone very much. At all. He turns pale in the face, then flushes deep red. Then he makes a nasty sound in the back of his throat, and...

...disappears into the ruins behind him, like a rat ducking into a pile of stones.

There were ruins behind him?

'Well that went exactly the way all our other past social encounters wind up.'

Another potential enemy and no information or treasure.

"Up ahead, the road passes between two piles of stone rubble."

"The left-hand pile of rocks was once some sort of tower, but it has been completely destroyed -- there's nothing left but rubble. You can't even tell what it might have looked like."

"You whirl. A small, wizened humanoid -- a gnome? -- is sitting on the opposite, right-hand pile of stones. You're pretty sure he wasn't there a second ago."

Nobody reads my flavor text.

I read it :)

Ulp stays up in the air for the the remainder of his minute of flight. He watches the gnome for as long as he can see him.

I have a feeling we will see him again.

The Judge just shakes his head and calls out,

Some of us are not as skilled at conversation as others. Just remember, together we are strong. Divided, we must live in the shadows of the great trees. Choose which you prefer my forest friend.

Do anything else, or continue on your way?

Nobody reads my flavor text.

I always read it but a lot of silly things happens in two weeks in real life.

Continue

If I cannot convince him to return, then I suppose we should continue on.

The Judge sighs when the fey gnome does not return. He then looks to the others.
Should we search these ruins? There may be something of value. I admit it is unlikely, but still getting anything that could help with the mission would be beneficial.

yes let us search!

Well, who is searching, and how? -- It's a rather large pile of rubble... say 40' x 40', and rising up to 15' on the top. He was sitting about halfway up.

We sweep it with detect magic to see if anything comes up...if not we should move on.

I don't think Detect Magic penetrates rock that far.

Either does perception unless we start talking about excavating the ruins.

Ulp lands on top and does a quick search

Take 10 for 18 on percep

There's a narrow crack where he slipped inside, but unless you're a Small size creature you're going to have to crawl on hands and knees. Ulp, of course, can scamper right on in.

Dren could potentially go in as well if we want to follow him and make him more angry.

Ulp not want to follow alone...Fearless leader should we go after him or just leave him be?

He does however look down the path/tunnel does he see the end of the tunnel?

"He has no bearing on our mission that I know of. We should push on unless we have a quick solution.

Whispered Message to the group

'He also has a scythe and that winning personality.'

'To be perfectly honest I would like nothing better than to starve him for a week then gift wrap him for Elise.'

So... leaving then?

Dren does sweep the mounds with detect magic then he is ready to leave.