What happens that night…
The party is very concerned about the details that they have found out. This man of the west seems extremely powerful, and what connections he has seem even more menacing. There is something about him that strikes you as completely foul and probably evil. Nothing you can prove, and Hermia is sleeping fitfully, though shows signs of possibly waking.
Night grows late, and the moon is covered by heavy clouds. At some point, in the later hours of the night, when you are all sleeping (except perhaps whoever is on watch, probably Smendor), you hear a piercing scream.
It wakens you all, and you recognize the one who screams.
It wakens you all, and you recognize the one who screams.
It wakens you all, and you recognize the one who screams.
Yikes! Sorry...all but Hermia... However, it is fairly early... If you can give me a Fortitude roll of 18 or higher... you will have a chance to wake. You can continue to make such a roll every hour until the potion wears off or you succeed at waking up... Each hour you roll again, the difficulty goes down by one point. You can toss out several rolls, if you like, and we can find out what hour you wake up specifically at this point...
Hmm... Ariarh also rolled... poorly... Well, okay then;
The entire camp is roused, and everyone is now rushing around, desperate to find out what the noise is all about. The companions in the room that Hermia and Ariarh are in are shocked to find that Ariarh is now wracked with a palsy that is best described as the same thing that happened to Hermia. People are gathered around, and men are dispatched to seek everyone.
N’Var is instantly alert and awake, and orders his men to call everyone out; he wants to see everyone and try to discover what has occurred here. As people are moved to the courtyard, after he made a quick examination of the people in Ariarh’s room, everyone in the compound soon realizes that the dark masked figure is no longer with you. He, among all of you, has vanished.
You scour the camp; everyone is helping to look, even the other members of the other party, who seem equally perplexed, annoyed, and angry that this man has gone. They are all doing their best to find him, but no luck.
N’Var moves to his side camp, and questions the men there, and one of the men on the tall towers is now dead. He is fallen on the ground beneath, his neck broken on the earth; as if he fell out of the tower. Yet one of the other men suggests otherwise, indicating that the man did not fall, rather, he was pushed. The other guard says he heard a noise like a scream from the tower and looked up; there, over the light of the torches, he saw a dark shape, like a giant man-shaped creature, possibly a winged beast, flying swiftly east. In its wake was the tower, and you believe that the man who fell from the tower fell as a result of this winged beast slamming the guard from his post.
It seems likely that this winged creature and the missing man in black are more then coincidence. The other group has attempted to “aid” Ariarh with a similar draught, but this time Smendor is ready for them and bars their path. As such, Ariarh is awake, though in pain. When she awakens she describes what she sees and felt. Any may attempt to uses skill to divine the nature of what it was that happened to her.
points of Damage...
Yipee! Fortitude Rolls!
Roll 1:
Roll 2:
Roll 3:
Gan now is convinced the man in black is a magical and evil creature. He sets his jaw straight and goes to interrogating the other party.
Intimidate:
Diplomacy:
"Tell me what brings you God aweful bunch to this area now else there be hell to pay and while you are at it tell me all you know about our masked friend."
Puck casts Detect Magic on Ariarh and uses
Spellcraft
and
Knowledge Arcana
in an attempt to identify what is going on here, so he can inform the captain... I hope.
Yipee! Fortitude Rolls!
Roll 1: 1d20 +5
Roll 2: 1d20 +5
Roll 3: 1d20 +5
Cool beans! On roll "3" you got a 16 your target number by third roll. This means in three hours you awaken, it is roughly 6:30 AM... shortly after dawn, as it is now roughly 3:30 AM...
Puck casts Detect Magic on Ariarh and uses
Spellcraft 1d20 + 6
and
Knowledge Arcana 1d20 + 3
in an attempt to identify what is going on here, so he can inform the captain... I hope.
This is obviously a dark version of "Detect Thoughts" with somewhat stronger components utilized... Clearly this figure has used his power to probe Ariarh's mind... and it is likely that he did the same to your mistress!
If that is correct, then he may have learned much about her, and perhaps more about the rest of your group; including some of your members and their history...
As to why this figure "flew" east, or how he managed to do so... You don't know... And you don't even know why he would GO east... if he did indeed travel there...
All you know is that he probed Hermia and Ariarh... for what reason or purpose you are not sure... It was almost as if he was looking for a young woman with healing powers... And checking to see your identity with a power to read minds.
Puck informs the group that the Man in Black has been using his evil eye to probe the minds of the two girls, and if they happened to be thinking about the group while he was doing this he may be privy to more information about them than is comfortable, if the ladies had the group in their thoughts at the time.
Either way, we have definitive evidence, if the testimony of a brownie is to be believed, that someone used mind melding magic on the girls, and caused them pain.
Gan now is convinced the man in black is a magical and evil creature. He sets his jaw straight and goes to interrogating the other party.
Intimidate:1d20+7
Diplomacy:1d20+7
"Tell me what brings you God aweful bunch to this area now else there be hell to pay and while you are at it tell me all you know about our masked friend."
"Captain,"the bookish man calls out "Please observe that we are not doing anything illegal. We met that man recently, and spoke to him, more as a curiosity... nothing more. He has hurt your men, and their women, but we are certainly not aligned to him in any way. If these people will not stop harassing us, I ask you for aid. But rest assured, we did NOT participate in anything... I would guess that everything you have had trouble with regarding your ladies... is a direct result of that villian. Rest assured that my attempts to heal the lass were sincere... her resting seems to have refreshed her, and even now she is close to waking... I should think..."
He turns to Gan, but moves back slightly from his menace.
"I already told you; we are here with a charter to explore these lands for propper colonization as provided visa via a writ from the legal authorites of the land of Brevoy. We have attempted to explore the land, and will continue to do so... Captain, if I am not mistaken, your man, and these ladies, were all assulted by the same menace... and now he has fled east, at least for a while."
The captain has his men dispersed into the crowd, and everyone looks edgy... they are not happy at the man who died, and there is muttering about sending out search parties. All of them looking to the orders of their captain.
Ariarh wakes up and describes what happens. She was in pain, and suddenly had a dark dream, as if the man in black was pointing at her and black tendrils entered her mind. They seemed to pierce her skull and mind and seemed to try to probe it. Whether they did or not, she does not know… but what is clear is the probe was broken suddenly, and the man seemed to have fled.
She is clear, though, that it was through his doing; she is pain, and suffering, and is awake by Smendor and Brett, but clearly hears the voices in the courtyard outside the walls of the room.
Ariarh starts at hearing the men outside say the winged creature flew east.
"Brett!" Ry sits up and tries not to cry out from the increasing pain/pressure. She bites down the pain as best as she can.
"Those men outside .. they mentioned the thing going east. That's the direction of Bokken's hut. When I talked to Drake earlier on he mentioned that he believed the masked one was from Ustalav, going by the accent. Dasha's from Ustalav, if you remember rightly. Could he be in search of her? Strange things have been happening around that girl." Ariarh grasps at her head, hoping to ease the pain.
The captain is looking very unhappy right now. He does not know how to track a man in the dark who flies... and magic seems the only way. If only he had some sort of flying team to track this menace...
In either case; he is very upset at what happened, to put it mildly. But he does make this annoucement.
"There is enough evidence, both real and circumstantial, for me to believe that there was no "plague" but these palsies were brought on by the actions of this villain from Ustalav. It is likely he has gone east for some purpose, and from you say, it sounds like he may be after this young lady. I believe she is roughly four hours from here, on horse... if we push ourselves. Would that it were day! I shall lead a company of six outriders. Any who would come with me can follow with us; but the rest of you are cleared of any charges. We leave in ten minutes!"he calls out to his men.
Apperently Bokken's hut is nicely marked on your map, and everyone seems to know where it is; and now everyone guesses why he goes there.
Whether or not the other group had any part to play in preventing you from knowing what this man did, or complicancy in the matter, is something you don't know, though you may have guesses. But as far as the captain is concerned, his chief priority is getting the man in black caught and strung up.
Any that want a taste of vengenge can come with him... Those who wish to stay can stay... Hermia will be awake in roughly three hours. Who will stay with her?
The captain is also giving orders that the rest of his men are on full watch; but despite the words of the group, he seems unintrested in what the rest of you do. The killing of his man, and the sheer duplicity of this man... someone he believes to follow an enemey nation (Ustalav), and someone dedicated to bribing political officials among his own people, not to mention the probablity that this man in black may be a possible priest to an evil god... all of it has inflamed his desire to bring revenge... er... justice to this man.
They leave in ten minutes... who goes with him?
Ariarh on hearing their plans to ride to Bokken's, casts a CLW spell on herself to try and alleviate (some of) this pain in her head.
"I have sworn by my sword to avenge Lady Hermia so Captain I shall ride at your side."
"Brett, since it's close to dawn and I need to meditate and renew my spells, I think the best course for me is to stay here at the trading post. I can also be present when Hermia wakes. I am feeling much improved now and can be of some assistance, here." Ariarh looks in the direction of the sleeping Hermia.
Remembering something she wanted to share with the others and recollecting Alaric's words (re the Stag Lord and being Kressle's "boss") when they were at Kressle's bandit camp. Ariarh turns back and continues more quietly (only to her companions, away from the ears of Captain N'Var or his men),
"And, I wasn't able to share my information with all of you. Earlier, as I was approaching Drake and Captain N'Var in the courtyard, they were privately conversing but when the Captain saw me he halted the conversation. I think it may be important. They were saying something about the Numerian problem and much trouble arising if the Stag Lord is reinforced in the south. It seems they know more about this situation but haven't been so forthcoming with the information."
Well, as I assume that Puck was out and about to deliver the cause of Ariarh's malady, definitively, he has overheard the captain and the others speaking about moving east on Bokken's.
Puck shakes his head woefully. "Something is not right here," he says. "Why would this man, why would these men be so sloppy as to announce their intent in such a manner? He were so careful about skirting about the laws, why would he murder a man and then stage an escape when he would have been free in a few hours?"
The second Smendor gets the information the man in black went to the east Smendor breaks into a full run to the stable. We do not have time to get ready we need to go quick now! Smendor does not wait for a response.
When he gets to the stable he goes after his horse Bagger and rides out into the early morning.
Ride:
Handle Animal :
Horse Constitution Save:
Horse Constitution Save:
Horse Constitution Save:
Horse Constitution Save:
Survival:
Perception:
Drake!Alaric will run up to him wherever he is and make sure that he is alone with him and say, We think the masked man may be after Dasha for some reason. We must get to her NOW! I do not wish to be put at odds with the good captain, please let Smendor and any else who wish to aid in this leave. There was no plague we have found out. The masked man used dark magic to invade Hermia's mind as he tried with Ariarh. This man is with the group that came earlier that we battled here. He even mentioned the priest that we fought. In addition those that he was with should not be allowed to roam the countryside either. The man with the glasses has a text in the cooking and eating of elves. As I am sure you are aware Urgathoa, whom the other priest worshipped and I have no doubt that the masked man worshipped, is a goddess of gluttony and undead and physical excess. Her followers are known to practice the eating of sentient creatures. That he owns that book is enough to arrest him in Brevoy or at least detain him until he can be suitably questioned as to his practices. I know this is a lot to take in but it MUST be done.
When Puck sees that the warlike men are immediately stirred to action, and unlikely to hear him, he spends a few moments considering his own position. Upon viewing Smendor's haste to comply, Puck runs to the hut where his mistress is still, despite the uproar, incapacitated.
Upon hearing Ariarh's statement of her intent to stay, Puck shakes his head. "Nay, lady. Even as thou art without spells, it is likely the greater thing to travel with the warlike band. If even a one falls, your skills of healing will be of better use there than here."
Puck looks to his lady, and hops up on the bunk to bestow a chaste kiss to her cheek. "Despite the tumult without, my lady doth slumber still. Forgive me, my mistress, for abandoning you in this, your greatest need, but I should think that you would approve of my intent to assist those you have chosen to follow."
He looks up to Ariarh with somewhat sad, yet determined eyes. "Shall we, together with my noble steed, serve, milady?"
Turning to all his companions and the other group that was in Oleg's Gan says,"I myself want to see that this man of dark talents be brought to swift justice, however that may turn out. I know Puck and our Master Dwarf are with me anyone else who seeks the same should ride with us now."
Then leaving the group he walks back to Ry,"My dear Lady, I agree that your talents be best utilized here so steel yourself and do all you can for Hermia. I shall meet you all back here for tea so that we may formally get to know each other in two days time."
Gan then dawn his armor and if he has time will go and saddle Smoke.
"Now my old friend honor and duty yet calls we must ride and ride hard. Know I shall take good care of you as you have of me."
Hmm... I just got home about 10 minutes ago... Was out all day; dentist, brunch, hour long trip to visit my sister, buy groceries, babysit my nephew, then an hour long trip back (AC in car not really working)... gotta love a day off.
But when I think how "hard" my day was, I do realize that my troubles are not that bad, considering the others in this world. I hope your family and friends are well, though.
At this time, I have seen everyone's actions.
Smendor is already going hard, without gear or saddle (I know of your arms, but that is not what I mean by "gear").
Gan is getting ready to rush out with N'Var and his men.
Alaric is riding with Drake.
Ariarh is staying.
Dior and Puck are traveling with the group.
Brett is waiting.
N'Var has already lifted the "Plague" issue... He has now decreed that the issue of a fabricated plauge be null and void so you can hurry after this man in black. Yet if Alaric was correct and there IS a plauge... well if the man in black has CAUSED a plague, he must at least be prevented from spreading it to other places. Not to mention the fact that he has assulted N'Var's men (and your ladies) and killed on of N'Var's men... and may be on the way to greater issue.
So he will take his six outriders and ride quickly after Smendor with Alaric, Drake, Gan, Puck and Dior.
Smendor, you are charging out fast... You will not fall from your horse... but it will still take you time to reach Bokken's place; as mentioned above. However, with your rolls you will reach it about a half hour before anyone else does.
As you rush over Bokken's you see the small cottage with a smoking chimney. There is a light on inside, but there seems to be no trouble at this time; no assults or attacks. The cottage seems fairly peaceful, in fact.
Smendor; what do you do?
You are not sure how far back the others are, at this time, but you are about 50 yards out, in the shadows, unnoticed if you would like to move in with stealth. If not, feel free to proceed as you prefer.
For Smendor, and the rest of you, also...
Smendor, you are currently in front of the riding scouts by about half an hour. You've pushed your horse with as much speed as you can via an unexperienced rider, riding without saddle, riding at night.
I am waiting for a response from Smendor, before we can deal with the rest... but if I don't hear a response from Smendor soon, then I shall assume he is merely "holding action" and move forward.
Smendor, no worries, I will give you some time here out of game, but when you do get this, give me as many details regarding your plans as before; in case I miss the chance to go back and forth and we can go from there.
Once Gan arrives he will survey the situation.
Perception:
Then without thinking he will begin to talk with Captain N'Var and Smendor talking about strategy of how to approach the potential situation.
"Seems to me that you all know this lass that lives here and it was said by Lady Ry that we had to protect her. The way I see it we should surround the cottage and perhaps peek through a window to see if he be here."
If he is here:
Perform: Haiku to inspire courage for all the men. (bardic spell lasts one hour)
It calls us to fight
For those who cannot today
On to victory
Puck directs Dior to hover beside the newcomer, Gan, whose solid back and demeanor lend him the air of leadership in this task.
"Sir, I have a prodigious worry that we have come to little avail. Should that prove the case, I would like to be given leave to return to our mistresses at once, carrying any tidings you and the others might give."
Puck directs Dior to hover beside the newcomer, Gan, whose solid back and demeanor lend him the air of leadership in this task.
"Sir, I have a prodigious worry that we have come to little avail. Should that prove the case, I would like to be given leave to return to our mistresses at once, carrying any tidings you and the others might give."
"You shall have that and I would wish you god's speed. Now I don't believe that we have had a chance to meet. Gan Mondragone is the name."
Puck dares a nervous smile, his emerald eyes flicking to the still hut before them.
"Puck Sparrow is my name. And my faithful steed is Dior," he pets the griffon's neck. "How might we help?"
Remember guys, as of now we're still waiting on Smendor to post his actions... though he hasn't had a chance to post in real life yet, his actions at the cottage can radically change (or not) what you are actually seeing when you arrive. You can have this conversation on the ride over, if you would prefer, but let's give him a bit to tell us what he wants to do, as he made it a point to try to get out the cottage first and fast... If we haven't heard from him in a reasonable time, we'll just assume he is camped out about 50 yards out, keeping a hidden watch on what it is going on...
As far as you know, nothing. They were at the encampment when you left. Though Drake raised your concerns to N'Var, the captain seemed less concerned about a man's reading habbits then tracking down a murderer who has used supernatural magic or the dark arts to assult two members of your group, and by your group's suggestion, seems to be ready to commit another murder even as you speak.
Your suggestions via the possesion of such a book being an arrestable offense in Brevoy (if accurate) would be quickly dismissed to the captain's men by the bookish man, as he points out; you are not in Brevoy.
Therefore, you have rode forth quickly after the villain who is probably going after Dasha, and may commit more murder soon. The rest of the men are (as far as you know) in their bunks, and have gone back to bed after all the commotion. After all; it WAS nearing 4:00 AM when this little excitement happened, and what happens to Dasha is hardly their concern. If anything; it is YOU concern!
The bookish man points out a villian is riding about on your property. It is clearly up to YOU to prevent him from doing anything; as it is your property he is supposedly hiding on.
As of now, though, nothing more has been said.
Smendor will first look around for trouble. He will be moving defensively.
Perception:
Than he will simply call out to the house, " Bokken how ya be in there?
As far as you know, nothing. They were at the encampment when you left. Though Drake raised your concerns to N'Var, the captain seemed less concerned about a man's reading habbits then tracking down a murderer who has used supernatural magic or the dark arts to assult two members of your group, and by your group's suggestion, seems to be ready to commit another murder even as you speak.
Your suggestions via the possesion of such a book being an arrestable offense in Brevoy (if accurate) would be quickly dismissed to the captain's men by the bookish man, as he points out; you are not in Brevoy.
Therefore, you have rode forth quickly after the villain who is probably going after Dasha, and may commit more murder soon. The rest of the men are (as far as you know) in their bunks, and have gone back to bed after all the commotion. After all; it WAS nearing 4:00 AM when this little excitement happened, and what happens to Dasha is hardly their concern. If anything; it is YOU concern!
The bookish man points out a villian is riding about on your property. It is clearly up to YOU to prevent him from doing anything; as it is your property he is supposedly hiding on.
As of now, though, nothing more has been said.
Sun up is roughly 6:30 AM... there is light cloud cover, but by 8:00 AM it is a cold gray morning.
Further; they would arrived roughly 9:00 AM, and Smendor arrived about a half hour earlier. It took them several hours to get there, but that speed was reduced because of the darkness. Once the sun came up, they could push themselves faster, but they are still not galloping full speed for twelve straight miles, due largely to the fact that is pretty brutal on horses, and more importantly, they don't want to miss a sign or clue.
Between your place and Bokken's there are many clusters of trees and so forth. But Smendor is at least there a half hour before them.
As far as you know, nothing. They were at the encampment when you left. Though Drake raised your concerns to N'Var, the captain seemed less concerned about a man's reading habbits then tracking down a murderer who has used supernatural magic or the dark arts to assult two members of your group, and by your group's suggestion, seems to be ready to commit another murder even as you speak.
Your suggestions via the possesion of such a book being an arrestable offense in Brevoy (if accurate) would be quickly dismissed to the captain's men by the bookish man, as he points out; you are not in Brevoy.
Therefore, you have rode forth quickly after the villain who is probably going after Dasha, and may commit more murder soon. The rest of the men are (as far as you know) in their bunks, and have gone back to bed after all the commotion. After all; it WAS nearing 4:00 AM when this little excitement happened, and what happens to Dasha is hardly their concern. If anything; it is YOU concern!
The bookish man points out a villian is riding about on your property. It is clearly up to YOU to prevent him from doing anything; as it is your property he is supposedly hiding on.
As of now, though, nothing more has been said.
There are few details I will now go over to help this confusion.
1. Man in black did not arrive with the four others, he arrived on his own. Everyone in the compound already knew this, and I think I mentioned it before when I gave the initial details, but if I didn't make it clear (presuming that no one in the group bothered to ask basic investigative details like that... and I think you guys did) I am re-stating it for ease of understanding. They were not traveling together, though they spoke to each other. Further, if you recall the four others were sitting at the table and the man in black was not sitting with them. He was standing off to the side, and alone, even when Hermia approached them. And even if they had been talking for a while, the bookish man might respond like this "That is no different then we all saw YOU on the walkway talking to him for a long time... Also, it was YOU who made everyone stay here for some supposed "plague" quarentine... and while we waited around, this man in black has 'supposedly' hurt two of your own friends, assuming it wasn't a ruse, then made his escape and fled to the east... What plans were you concocting with him on the balcony? What did YOU decide to do to him? Perhaps we'll never know... odd that your chief priority seems to be comming against us instead of helping the girl to the east?"
Those words, of course, are entirely dependent on what you would have said to N'Var. But at this point N'Var is no mood for private conferences. He is standing in the courtyard, giving orders and shouting to his men, and searching the extrenal camp for clues, even as his mount is being made ready. As you follow N'Var to make suggestions or give him ideas, the bookish man follows YOU, and N'Var seems in no mood to deal with either of you, prefering to simply hunt this obvious dark/demonic creature of the night down. A threat much more horrible then hints; this is clearly an evil thing, not supposition or speculation. Also, the bookish man is deliberately making himself a pest; arguing with you as you try to speak so much that N'Var would just tell you both to "Shut up! You can either help out, or get out of the way."
If N'Var is actually pushed that far then the bookish man will simply give you a cold smile over N'Var's shoulders as he and his friends go back to bed.
2. At this point, your theories on Urgathoa, while valid on some level, and regarding how N'Var may react don't supercede his opinions on the murder of one his men. And with the murderer rushing away from the compound, according to theories from your own group, hot to murder another girl (namely Dasha), everyone sees him as the prime bogey.
3. N'Var, like everyone else in the camp, except for a few guards, was asleep when the assult on Ariarh happened (with the possible exception of Smendor, as he may have been awake to stand gaurd). In either case, the shrieking, the panic, the sudden general alarm, the rushing out to the surrounding "tent camp" outside Oleg's walls to find a murder was done and another gaurd hit by some demonic flying bat-like monster who is now (again, according to details provided to you by your group) rushing helter-skelter east to where the girl Dasha is - a girl who has demonstrated magical healing abilities - even as the man in black has been looking for a "female healer", and who's details may have been vague and spotty at best, but it prompted him to search the only two females who had healing magic in compound, then flee, and everyone is grabbing their gear to hunt this scum down and Smendor is taking the lead by riding bareback of all things (odd for a Dwarf to even mount the horse without a saddle or stirrup, but I'll let that slide) and then Smendor is galloping out over the plains as fast as he can even while N'Var is gathering a posse to rush after that demonic, bat-like creature, and bring him to justice and hopefully go charging after him...
Well, the above lengthy description was done to give a sense of the frantic pace everyone was in. The fact that other explorers who routinely come back to Oleg's trading post to check in with him; and who decided to simply go back to bed as you dispatched a posse... well; no one really seems to be that threatened over them just because a Fey Brownie suggested that one of them may be reading a cook book on how to Serve Elves as a main course... Right now everyone's charging into the night via the posse, to follow Smendor, who led the charge, to bring this guy down. They're simply too rushed and upset to do anything to stop the other group right now; instead they focus on this guy specifically.
4. With regards to the bookish man disregarding laws or quouting them to save his own hide? Well, it may be true that if he suddenly dismissed or manipulated laws for his own ends then he would sneaky bastard, but that may not prevent him from using what pieces of the law the bookish man wants to, and ignoring the laws he choses to...
In either case, N'Var is tired, frustrated (lack of sleep and working all day with this stuff- and other things), and angry over the death of one of his men over a possible demonic creature. He is thinking about THAT threat, and not anything else at this time..
HOWEVER: if it is any comfort to you, the other four men didn't go anywhere except back to bed. They didn't seem to give a fig about Dasha, and as for this man in black? Eh, it's not thier business. And even as you, Gan, Smendor, Dior and Puck have fled after him... with N'Var, Drake, and six other outriders... Brett, Ariarh and Hermia are still at the camp in the room and over twenty gaurds are in and around the camp to prevent any mischief.
Smendor will first look around for trouble. He will be moving defensively.
Perception:1d20+10
Than he will simply call out to the house, " Bokken how ya be in there?
You don't hear any response... and don't know what that means... Bokken is somewhat crazy, as you may recall, but least Dasha should be awake and about... you would think.
On the other hand, she may be outside gathering food...
On the other hand, less then a month ago Bokken's place was crammed with food stuffs...
On the other hand they may be gathering water...
On the other hand at the base of Bokken's cottage is a huge pond, swelled due to the rains; if she went to get water, that should have been a short trip...
On the other hand; the creature you saw flying... You have no idea how fast he can fly... or how far... or even if he meant to come here..
He may already have left.
He may never have come here.
He may even now be hidden inside with a possible hostage...
What do you do? You have time to make your move, just remember; you are alone for who knows how long; you don't know how long the others will take to get here IN game... but you do know that if the black robed man is inside, then he must have at least heard you...
I should also add that smoke is still rising from the chimeny... at the very least someone was here to make a fire and get it going not too long ago... No matter what you find inside...
Smendor will wait and see that nothing comes out to eat him, then move up slowly using total defense. He will stop and listed for voices, or anything that could help him identity threat.
Perception:
If nothing seems to happen he will move up to a window in the same way and peak into the cottage.
Perception:
Smendor will wait and see that nothing comes out to eat him, then move up slowly using total defense. He will stop and listed for voices, or anything that could help him identity threat.
Perception: 1d20+10
If nothing seems to happen he will move up to a window in the same way and peak into the cottage.
Perception: 1d20+10
Okay, there seems to be a bit of confusion here for me.
First, you said you were not sure on if you were taking your armor, and now that you are there, you have your armor, though you didn't state if you were sleeping in it, or not.
For now; no worries. We'll move from here, but next time, if you aren't sure, you just won't have it. You can't in all fairness say "Oh yeah... I guess I DO have my armor after all, now that I got to a fight alone." :)
Questions for the group
1. I have looked and seen no rules for "sleep deprivation" and want to see some. You have been up most of the night, then got up at 4 AM and rode your horses for four horses straight at a hard gallop; and there seems to be no penalty at all for this. I am not satified with the lack of rules. I intend to implement some; any ideas on it would be well appreciated.
2. I feel that ALL of you riding SHOULD be fatigued at least, if not exhausted... BUT; since the book has no specific rules on it, this time it won't matter. Next time, I will make it a point to do otherwise. But I'm looking for feedback here... Traveling straight hour after hour with no penalty other then not being able to recover hit points is crazy. Let me know if you have suggestions, I'll implement them soon.
check out here for ideas: http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/pathfinderR PG/houseRules/sleepDeprivationSeemsMyOtherPostDidntWorkHouseRulesEtc
3. I may have missed it; but if you combine "Light" amror and "Medium" armor doesn't that equal "Heavy Armor" for purposes of Fatigue via the Endurance feat? I would think so, but I can't find a ruling either way. If someone can show me that would be great. (Don't worry Smendor, in this case it won't effect you; I just would like to know in the future).
Okay, gang... thanks for any input. Peace!
To Smendor on his moves...
As you move forward slowly you peek into the window.
Inside is what looks like a kettle on the fire, and some food on the spit... You can see AND smell from here it has burned...
There is no one about, but the cottage you are looking at seems to have more then one room. You aren't sure as you haven't entered it before (I think that is true...)
In either case, behind the fire place is a door to what you suppose is a bedroom or study. Moving around the cottage you can see what looks like windows; but there are heavy shutters and curtains to protect against the chill and wet; and they are closed at this time.
You can't tell if anyone is inside, but so far you don't think if there IS anyone inside that they have heard you.