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Climb
Perception (roof)
Perception (entrance)
Sad Rock clambers to the roof, but ends up finding nothing but a view of the city.
"I can see my goggie from up here! Hi Goggie!" Sad waves to his new friend, now sporting a sweet training harness.
Sad Rock climbs down after his happytime roof adventure.
"Where go next?" Sad asks, tugging on Ramli's sleeve.
The trip to the Pitview Pub is uneventful, and upon arriving Harrol is able to make small talk with some of the patrons and get a fairly good description of Barnel's appearance.
As the arranged time comes and goes, Ramli gazes through the pub's front entrance across the street and spots a panicked man matching Barnel's description rushing through a bath house into a rear garden and leaping onto the walls of an embassy building beyond.
Realizing this is their best lead, the Pathfinders spring to their feet and take to the street in pursuit.
PERCEPTION
Benjamin:
Damvorak:
Harrol:
Thorel:
Ramli:
Sad Rock:
INIT
Benjamin:
Damvorak:
Harrol:
Thorel:
Ramli:
Sad Rock:
Barnel:
Surprise
19 Ramli :
15 Barnel : Disabling gate
Round 1
22 Sad Rock :
19 Ramli :
17 Thorel :
15 Barnel :
13 Harrol :
13 Damvorak :
8 Benjamin :
Now Up: Ramli in the surprise round, then Sad Rock Ramli and Thorel to kick off round 1.
* It takes a move action to move through a single square. When a character exits from a square, he must choose one of that square’s two obstacles to face as a standard action before moving to the next square. Instead of exiting a square, a character can choose to take another action not directly related to navigating the chase's course, such as casting a spell or drawing a weapon.
* A character may attempt to move three squares during his turn by taking a full-round action. That character must overcome both obstacles on the square he is leaving. In this case, if a character fails either obstacle check by 5 or less, he only moves one square forward and his turn ends. If a character fails either obstacle check by more than 5, he cannot move at all that turn. A character unfortunate enough to fail two obstacle checks in a turn becomes mired in his current square. A mired character must spend another full-round action becoming unmired, effectively losing his next turn.
* A character can also choose to make a ranged attack or cast a spell during his turn in a chase. If the action is a full-round action, he can’t move at all. Use the number of squares and their established distances (in this case, 30 feet) to determine ranges as necessary. The terrain where the chase takes place might provide the target partial or even full cover or concealment. A character can only choose to make melee attacks against targets that are in the same square.
* Any character involved in the race gains a +2 cumulative bonus on all chase checks for each 10 feet by which her speed exceeds 30 feet, or takes a –2 cumulative penalty for each 10 feet by which it is slower than 30 feet.
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"There! Quick!" Ramli yells as he springs to his feet.
Rushing toward the bath house, he calls out to the guard. "Make way, make way!
Frustrated when the man doesn't move, he tries again. [b]"It's my wife, friend! She caught me with another woman; you've got to let me in!"
When the man looks to see this supposed woman, Ramli rushes past him into the bath house.
Most of the Pathfinders begin vain attempts to work their way through the bathhouse, while Ramli sneaks his way in and sizes up the the ivy and the slippery patrons within.
Barnel disappears beyond the embassy into a bustling tea party where he promptly gets held up.
Surprise
19 Ramli : Bluffs way onto Mezzanine
15 Barnel : Disables and passes through embassy gate
Round 1
22 Sad Rock : Mistimes his jumps into bath-house, twice
19 Ramli : Case mage armor, move action TBD
17 Thorel : Fails to Bluff way into bath house, std/move TBD
15 Barnel : Held up at the Chelish tea party
13 Harrol :
13 Damvorak :
8 Benjamin :
Round 2
22 Sad Rock : TBD
19 Ramli : TBD
17 Thorel : TBD
Now Up: Everyone! (and some of you more than once, Ramli and Thorel with incomplete Round 1 actions)
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Benjamin puts his sad skills to work bluffing his way past the guard.
Round 2
Round 3
Deciding that the guard is just not buying his story about chasing down a rare alchemical chicken, he decides to jump through a window instead.
Realizing that chasing people through streets is just not his thing, he'll go back to the guard and attempt to talk his way into the bathing party.
Round 4
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Round 1, Init 17
As everyone else is slipping past the guard, Thorel tries to take advantage of the confusion and also evade them. Alas, hir timing is off.
Round 2, Init 17
Thorel points with mirth at the antics of Benjamin, amazed by how his short legs get caught up in themselves. Hir pointing somehow distracts the guard long enough for hir to move past.
First I read the following...
It takes a move action to move through a single square. When a character exits from a square, he must choose one of that square’s two obstacles to face as a standard action before moving to the next square.
This reads like you should take a move action just to go from the left border to the right border and then need a standard action for the challenge. Thus, it takes both a move and standard to effectively complete a square.
But then, there's this next...
A character may attempt to move three squares during his turn by taking a full-round action. That character must overcome both obstacles on the square he is leaving.
This seems bewildering. Why does it take a move+standard to complete one square, but somehow you can do three squares with a full round action (by increasing the difficulty by doing both obstacles in the first square?)
Anyway, at the very least, when you have yet to even enter the bath-house square, I'm fine with you guys having 2 checks per round to try to get into the bath house. An acrobatics check to crash through a window should be a move action not a standard action, so you should have two attempts per round to leap through the window. There's some question if a bluff check is a standard or move action, but since the acrobatics feels like a move action, I'm fine saying the equivalent bluff check is also a move action.
For crying out loud, it's simply you guys trying to get into the very first "square!"
Finally, the tactics for Barnel suggest:
He attempts a double move every round
Double-move seems to indicate that you can make 2 squares by making 2 move actions. Otherwise why ever suggest the NPC can make a "double move" if every square takes a move action followed by a standard action?
Since you are all standing around at the "end of the bath house" square to start, I'm good with 2 checks per round to get past that first DC check (the Bluff DC15 or Acrobatics DC20).
Then the next square takes a move action to get from the front to the back, and either a standard or move action to complete the challenge that acts as a "gate" to get to the front of the square beyond.
I think this all works out and makes sense.
(I suppose technically in round 1 you all needed a move action to cross that square and get to the end of it, and then make 1 check to get through, but based on the abysmal rolls, I'm good with everyone having 2 checks per round to make it beyond that first exit check)
Benjamin continues to harass the bath house guards with ridiculous excuses , but the large Shoanti is having nothing of it and seems to almost be smirking as the dwarf continues to grovel.
Meanwhile, Harrol and Sad Rock see little point in trying to beg a bathhouse guard and leap through the open window onto the mezzanine beyond.
Thorel wastes no time, bluffing hir way past the guard and leaping into the tea party beyond the embassy, seeing Barnel just out of hand's reach through the crowd.
Round 1
22 Sad Rock : Mistimes his jumps into bath-house, twice
19 Ramli : Cast mage armor, moves through Mezzanine square
17 Thorel : Fails to Bluff way into bath house, fails to acrobatics through window
15 Barnel : Held up at the Chelish tea party
13 Harrol : Jumps through bath-house window onto mezzanine
13 Damvorak : Fails first bluff, retry OK (TBD)
8 Benjamin : Horribly fails to bluff way in
Round 2
22 Sad Rock : Fails initial jump, but makes second jump through window
19 Ramli : TBD
17 Thorel : Moves from front of bath house to front of tea party (1 move action from Barnel)
Now Up: Damvorak (round 1 second action) and Ramli (round 2)
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Benjamin continues to harass the bath house guards with ridiculous excuses , but the large Shoanti is having nothing of it and seems to almost be smirking as the dwarf continues to grovel.
"Excuse me. Have you had the bath water tested lately? No? That's very dangerous, you know. I see some smooth skinned Chelish ladies in there that probably wouldn't appreciate growing hair on their back. It's no problem for a dwarf, of course, we like our women hairy. No doubt based on your splendid bald pate you feel differently, and I can see by your appreciate glances and the slight gathering of sweat you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to said aforementioned bathers. That would be most unfortunate. On the other end of the fortune scale I happen to have the very best in bath water testing chemicals right here. That's right for just the mere pittance of allowing me through I can make sure not a single hair begins to form on those supple alabaster limbs. Surely a wall of muscle and dense cranial matter such as yourself can see the wisdom of allowing me passage?"
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Round 1
Second attempt for round one...
"I say my good man, isn't that your sister over there with that evil looking stranger. Why if it were me, I'd check it out with haste! Don't worry, I'll guard the door while you're gone - just don't be too long! Shouldn't take long to sort that skimpy little man out though. But I'd hurry none the less!"
vs DC 15
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Ramli dodges past the slippery bathers, after a momentary pause as he can't resist the impulse to check out some of the distaff clientele in their disrobed state.
Cursing as he arrives at the gate with no way to unlock it , he quickly tries scaling, only to find it a bit more daunting than expected.
The bath house guard, exhausted by the Pathfinders continuing to dig deep into crafting inventive stories, finally surrenders and shrugs as Damvorak and Benjamin push their ways past.
Harrol digs deep into his halfling ki and leaps up through the window, soaring past the embassy and landing squarely into the Chelish tea party while Ramli takes his time, slipping and sliding past naked patrons.
Barnel, frustrated, finally shoves his way past several dainties, knowing them onto their feet and rushes up to the pond outside the manor, and gives a worried glance over his shoulder at Thorel and Harrol.
Round 1
22 Sad Rock : Mistimes his jumps into bath-house, twice
19 Ramli : Cast mage armor, moves through Mezzanine square
17 Thorel : Fails to Bluff way into bath house, fails to acrobatics through window
15 Barnel : Held up at the Chelish tea party
13 Harrol : Jumps through bath-house window onto mezzanine
13 Damvorak : Fails first bluff
8 Benjamin : Horribly fails to bluff way in
Round 2
22 Sad Rock : Fails initial jump, but makes second jump through window
19 Ramli : Dodges bathers, moves through embassy grounds
17 Thorel : Moves from front of bath house to front of tea party (1 move action from Barnel)
15 Barnel : Finally shoves through tea party, moves to edge of pond
13 Harrol : Navigates mezzanine and embassy, ends at tea party
13 Damvorak :
8 Benjamin :
Round 3
22 Sad Rock :
19 Ramli :
17 Thorel :
Now Up: Everyone except Harrol.
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Round 3, Init 17
Thorel crosses the tea party. Remembering wistfully the taste of wispdust tea along balmy ocean beaches, ze gracefully pours a cup of tea from a samovar and bows to the party host with appreciation. Tea is delicious on any world. Ze moves along to the banks of the pond.
Ze calls out, "This one wishes only to engage in nonviolent discourse, running human."
for
for
Breathless, Barnel glances over his shoulder to see Thorel and Harrol bearing down on him in pursuit and then returns his gaze to the pond ahead and the slippery stones that flank it.
Hesitating briefly, he seems about ready to dive into the water when a pair of feathers sprout from his back and he falls face first into the water with a splash, arms wide and unmoving as he appears uninteresting in any attempt to swim.
Glancing upward, both Thorel and Harrol can barely make out a gray-cloaked figure with a longbow standing atop the roof of the home to which the garden belongs. The figure disappears almost instantly.
Barnel still has a pulse, but a greenish liquid can be seen to stain his shirt where the arrows punctured it and sunk into the flesh of his back.
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Damvorak finally catches up with the others and ponders the dying form. He casts Stabilize as soon as he's in reach, but he suspects the poison will do it's work faster than the blood loss.
At Ramli's cry, he fishes in his pack and produces a small vial of Antitoxin. "Here, try this!" He hands the antitoxin to Thorel.
"Well that certainly confirms there's an archer involved here - and a good one. We'll have a hard time catching up with one who can throw death at such a range."
"...and we're going to need more Antitoxin."
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Sad Rock comes running up, a worried look on his face.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no! Sad too late!! NO NO NO!"
Sad looks right and left.
"Sad knew it. Sad always miss chocolate eel vendor."
Sad looks right and left again for the vendor who he thinks peddles treats by the pond. Failing to find him, Sad sits and begins to mope.
"Who dat?" Sad asks of the dying man.
Barnel's eyes flutter as he struggles to regain consciousness, but eventually he seems to fight off the effects of the poisoned arrows - at least for now.
His lips quiver, and he licks them thirstily as he focuses on the Pathfinders standing in a circle around him, fumbling with his pleas.
"I.. I.. oh, you all? I don't want any trouble! It was good coin, but she's.. she's... ruthless. Please!"
Barnel swallows hard and struggles to position himself against the edge of the pond.
"I don't know her name. Cayden's Cup, I don't even know her face. But she wears a gray cloak, she's probably a Graycloak. If I were to end up in jail, she wouldn't even let me make it through the night!"
He gives all of you worried glances.
"I just know she hates priests - with a passion. She asked me to put out inquiries for potential clients interested in something big an expensive that would need to be moved soon."
"I... I... don't know a route to her. Just the goods, they are usually kept somewhere on the north side of the Ascendant Court, in a warehouse near the Pitview Pub."
Barnel looks up at you, eyes wide, like a man who just completed a confession.
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"Man-mineral, be glad you have never been caught in the yeast storms of ¥åk∂î√î∫. Several of this one's crechemates lost their g••dlås that way."
Thorel offers Barnel a willowy hand. "The femmegray is no Graycloak. You will take us to this warehouse and then be free. If this one's chosenchreche agrees."
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Harrol scratches his head at Thorel's remark, ignoring the proceedings as he furrows his brow and attempts to sound out several words that were probably never meant to be pronounced by halflings.
"That's right!" the halfling pipes up as he snaps back to attention, punctuating the grim half-orc's command with a broad grin and a waggle of his finger. "And don't even think about running again, Inheritor help you if you do, you, you... ruffian."
Harrol seems suitably pleased with himself as he lets his threat hang in the air, grinning somewhat dopily at Barnel in what he hopes is the vigilant gaze of the hardest of Iomedae's paladins, towering above him with all three feet of height.