DM Sinvel's Tales of the Night Watchmen

Game Master Sinvel Menter

"If he doesn't know it, then we definitely don't and need to catch up," Malchius says, scrambling to his feet.

End rage. 3 rounds remaining. Fatigued for 4 rounds.

Xarina stops trembling, her eyes return to normal, and she begins breathing heavier than before. Wiping her axe off on the second dead body she turns to the others.

"Go ahead and subdue him. I'm right behind you."

(For those of you following the fleeing thief.) The watchmen pursue the man, just on his heels. He runs out of the tunnel and into a spacious cistern-like structure, part of the Azir sewer system.

Shuffling along a narrow shoulder along the sewer channel, he makes his way to a long plank connecting one side to the other. Aware that he may be caught, he runs across the uneven plank, desperate to make a getaway. He starts to lose his balance as he nears the other side, then jumps off the make-shift bridge onto the ledge and barely makes it across as the plank flies off the edge and tumbles ten feet down into the flowing sewer system.

He stops to catch his breath before running down the channel and into an adjoining branch.

No map for now, going old school. There is another plank cross on the other side of the tunnel opening, about 70'. To cross is DC 10 acrobatics for half speed, DC 14 for full speed. The plank is a little over 12' long, so crossing counts as 6 squares of movement.

Does that mean that the gap the runner just crossed is also only 12 feet across? If that's the case...

Malchius, running full out, sees the plank disappear but realizes there's nothing for, it so puts extra determination into his step, plants his foot on the edge, and heaves himself into the air...

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

...landing neatly on the other side with two feet to spare, tucking into a roll and up on his feet.

If the gap in front of him is larger than 12 feet, then he'll do something else instead. I'm not sure why 12' of plank would count as 6 squares (thirty feet) of movement. I would understand 5 squares (difficult terrain, so 24 feet worth of movement).

Does that mean that the gap the runner just crossed is also only 12 feet across? If that's the case...

If the gap in front of him is larger than 12 feet, then he'll do something else instead. I'm not sure why 12' of plank would count as 6 squares (thirty feet) of movement. I would understand 5 squares (difficult terrain, so 24 feet worth of movement).

Sorry if my description was unclear. The plank is about twenty feet down from the open into the sewers along a narrow ledge. The difficult terrain covers three squares. You can still use that 14 to make it across the other plank down the opposite side of the tunnel opening. I'll make a map tomorrow to be more clear.

No, I mean the gap where the thief crossed (where there used to be a plank) - how wide is that gap? You mentioned the second plank was 12' long, implying that the gap is only 12' wide. If that's the case, Malchius is just going to jump it and not go for the other plank.

If it is wider at this point, and narrows to 12 feet at the other plank, that's fine. 12 feet is the maximum he feels comfortable trying (50-50 shot mechanically); anything wider and he plays it safe.

No, I mean the gap where the thief crossed (where there used to be a plank) - how wide is that gap? You mentioned the second plank was 12' long, implying that the gap is only 12' wide. If that's the case, Malchius is just going to jump it and not go for the other plank.

If it is wider at this point, and narrows to 12 feet at the other plank, that's fine. 12 feet is the maximum he feels comfortable trying (50-50 shot mechanically); anything wider and he plays it safe.

It is along a narrow edge, so the jump part of an acrobatics check is double because there is no space for a 10' running start. You'd need to roll a 19 to jump across. I'll try to draw up a map soon.

Malchius wrote:

No, I mean the gap where the thief crossed (where there used to be a plank) - how wide is that gap? You mentioned the second plank was 12' long, implying that the gap is only 12' wide. If that's the case, Malchius is just going to jump it and not go for the other plank.

If it is wider at this point, and narrows to 12 feet at the other plank, that's fine. 12 feet is the maximum he feels comfortable trying (50-50 shot mechanically); anything wider and he plays it safe.

It is along a narrow edge, so the jump part of an acrobatics check is double because there is no space for a 10' running start. You'd need to roll a 19 to jump across. I'll try to draw up a map soon.

I'll wait for the map then, before deciding what he does.

Here is the Map. The blue water that was leaking and streaming along the tunnel floor flows into the sewer, which is not full of fresh water as indicated by the brownish color. The sewer is flowing about 10' below the shoulder along the walls. The dashed rectangle is where the plank used to be located before it fell into the sewer. As you can see, there is another plank on the opposite side of the tunnel opening.

Eyeing the gap and the 10' drop to the sewage below, Nathaniel draws back his bow and aims for the fleeing criminal.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 191d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Having found his mark, Nathaniel makes once last attempt to reason with the criminal, "I can track your bloody trail clear across Azir. Make the right choice: surrender, and live."

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Ooops. That last roll was a Diplomacy roll; my apologies for not labeling it.

Nathaniel issues an ultimatum to the fleeing criminal, who decides to continue running away from the Watchmen. The arrow flies across the flowing sewage and hits the man square in the back. His body tumbles forward, but the narrow ledge is too small to hold the limp body which falls over into the flowing sludge and is carried away.

Ah, now I understand the geography. Sorry for the confusion.

"Nice shot, but more criminals fled that way. Hopefully, you can track them without bloody trails."

Malchius heads back to the other thieves they fought and starts searching their belongings.

Nathaniel responds to the man who shares his likeness, "Me too. Did anyone recognize the name he called out? Kyrmar?"

Nathaniel then heads down to the remaining plank and carefully crosses the gulf. (Take 10 = 10 so he goes at half-speed.) Once on the other side, Nathaniel calls out to Garrett, "Garret, can you bring your light this direction?" and begins to make his way to the fallen thief.

Once he reaches the thief, Nathaniel pauses to see if he can hear the fleeing thieves. 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

If he can, he does a quick scan to see if he can pick up their trail and begins to make his way quietly down the tunnel.

1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 131d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

If he cannot hear the fleeing bandits, he begins to study every detail of the terrain near the fallen thief, careful not to disturb any trail between the now discarded plank and the thief, to see if he can pick up the trail of the others who fled. (Take 20 = 30 Survival.)

Well, at least the random dice generator gods gave me the one bow shot.

Malchius checks the fallen bodies back in the tunnel. They all have similar gear: leather armor, mwk short sword, dagger, light crossbow, backpack, common lantern, chalk, 50 feet rope, cloth wrapped bundle of pilfered silverware.

Nathaniel, the guy you shot fell into the flowing sewer and was carried away. Nathaniel can see footprints in the dust and dirt atop of the narrow ledge along the wall. It seems that one person has walked here very recently. The prints lead down the sewer to another intersection.

Garret & Xarina, where are you two? With Nathaniel, with Malchius, or somewhere else?

"I want to follow those tracks when we are done here. Gonna make em' pay. I still hurt from all that."

She is at 5hp currently.

Xarina will make her way over to the ledge when everyone is ready.

"Unless we move quickly, we're not likely to catch this 'Kyrmar,'" Nathaniel notes. Seeing Xarina's wounds, and knowing that Garrett has likely done all he can for the team, he adds, "Although that might not be a bad thing. If we take our time and the trail holds, I should be able to follow him out of here."

Trying to remain realistic about his own abilities, Nathaniel adds, "If we're really lucky, we might even be able to track him back to wherever he decides to rest, maybe even back to any other members of this operation ... whatever it is."

"Well, it's not like the wind and rain are washing away the trail down here. If we carefully pick up that second board, we could camp back there in relative safety, and after some rest, Xarina should be feeling better and I can prepare more useful spells than a pile of charm persons."

Which shall it be? Camp out or follow the criminal(s)?

I will swing either way depending on what everyone wants. Although some extra hp would be nice.

Alright guys, we're into September now and not much going on here. Should we call it quits?

I personally would like to continue. I am in favor of seeing what the others want. Although it is up to you Sinvel if you want to keep running the game.

I'm still here. Could it be that some folks have lost their dots? I suppose there's only Nathaniel left besides us.

I'm in favor of proceeding. Did we lose Garretts?

OK then, let's do this!

So, rest for a while or go after the remaining criminal(s)?

"Xarina, are you able to proceed, or should we rest?"

"I can proceed if everyone feels we need to move quickly. I prefer to rest but am able to keep up."

So, if the group continues, who is leading the charge? I'll assume Xarina will stay in the back.

Nathaniel believes he can hear the faint sound of footsteps ahead of his and off to the right side of the split about 40' ahead.

"I will take point," Nathaniel whispers, "Let's follow quietly; if we hear the footsteps speed up, we can break into a run." With that, Nathaniel begins to follow the sound of the footsteps.

Nathanial presses on. Following the sounds he heard, he walks along the narrow ledge of the sewer tunnel. As he reaches the split, he turns right and can see the tunnel ahead of him lit in the distance. Curving to the left at a wide arc, the tunnel hides the source of the light ahead.

As Nathaniel shuffles quietly along the ledge, he can hear the sound of water splashing followed by a man screaming with terror, all coming from down the tunnel where the light is located.

Malchius double checks the bolt in his crossbow before continuing to shuffle along after Nathaniel.

"We are not alone down here," Nathaniel whispers back as he begins to hurry toward the man's screams.

Xarina has her greataxe at the ready.

Let's knock some heads."

As Nathaniel and Xarina proceed along the shoulder, the source of the yelling comes into view. A man is being lifted into the air by a large beast, it's tentacles wrapped around the doomed thief. The man beats the beast with hs torch, seemingly to no affect. His other hand holds a large scroll, unrolled and crumpled. As he continues to defend himself he lots the parchment go and uses both hands to do the work. The scroll falls into the rushing sewer which is flowing right towards the pair of Watchmen.

To reach it, one person will have to hold on to the other while the other attempts to snag it out of the sewer. The person holding needs a Str check and the other an Acrobatics check.

Or Malchius whips off an unseen servant spell and commands it to retrieve the scroll. :)

"I got it," he says.

Eyeing the filth flowing past, Nathaniel offers his sincere thanks to Malchius, "Neat trick."

Returning his attention to the screaming criminal, Nathaniel tries to make out what has him (without getting too close, of course).

Nathaniel moves a little closer, trying to see exactly what has the man. The torch on the ground lights up the beast just as its tentacles tears the man's body in two.

This is what you see.

Nathaniel begins to back up quietly and whispers, "It's time to find another way out .... the way we came sounds good to me."

The beast begins to devour what is left of the criminal.

Malchius retrieves the parchment and is able to see lines drawn on it. After looking more closely, he recognizes the lines to be a map of a sewer system.

"What do you have there? Anything useful to tell us where those idiots were off to?" Xarina asks.

Malchius nods. "A map. Something we can use once that thing has moved on. I wouldn't want to chance that it's up for dessert."

"Neither do I. Waiting sounds good to me." she says with a shiver.

The beast is busy eating the last criminal and doesn't seem to be moving towards the party. If the group turns around and backtracks to the sewer entrance, the monster may not follow.

"I am in favor of going around. I want to live!"

A bit more shaken than he'd like to admit, Nathaniel's hand slips inside his jacket in search of liquid courage. Instead of his flask, however, his hand finds something else, something he had forgotten he had with him, something that snaps him to instantly and strangely steadies his nerve. Overhearing the discussion behind him, he eases back, into the shadows. "Let's not advertise our presence; it looks like that thing has a decent reach ... and is very interested in dessert." Looking back to Malchius, he asks, "Can you make sense of the map?"

The group retreats back to the open area in the tunnel where it meets with the sewers. Away from the aroma of the sewage and on better footing than shuffling along narrow edges, Malchuis is able to take some time and study the map.

Malchius, or anyone else who wants to study the map, needs to make a check. Knowledge Dungeoneering, Engineering, Local, or just a straight intelligence check accepted.

Xarina will assist Malchius on reading the map.

Assist Knowledge: Local: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Malchius gets a +2 on his roll.

For some reason, I think of this song when I think of the map.

Nathaniel follows suit and attempts to assist:

Knowledge (Local): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19