Darkest Corners volume 2

Game Master Harakani

We can't arrest anyone otherwise I'd be all for jumping the thug. As is we ain't got the authority to do anything 'cept tail 'em.

Unless anyone has a good idea of how to get an idea of what's happening inside the building

No, no better ideas at the moment!

I'm also for tailing him.

"Well, we can't arrest him. We could always kidnap him. Just saying. People are dying, we saw the list. And it's the straight branch that snaps, and the bending one that survives the storm.", Mia suggests sheepishly.
A guard suggesting to commit a crime. Then again, we only don't have the authority to arrest him BECAUSE the guard is corrupted and in their pay. So technically we are arresting him after all, just not with authority granted by crooked officials.

Alright tailing 'em it is.

"Aright."

The man inside comes out a quarter of an hour later. He nods to his companion, and they set off again. For the next three hours the unlikely pair do a tour of the upper class areas of the city.

The follow the same pattern at most private dwellings. Any doubts as to their purpose is assuaged when a woman accosts the 'outside man'. Her clothes are rich but dirty, layers of materials as if in the dead of winter. Her hair unkempt. Most tellingly, she had the dark grey bags under her eyes of a Shiver addict.

She argues for a few minutes, than lunges at a pouch hidden under the man's coat, almost getting it free.

With a spat epithet "Hogslop!" the outside man - a big bruiser - sets on the woman brutally with his fists.

Intervene, or let the addict get beat up? Discussion takes time and you're all hidden at least one combat round away.

"JUSTICE!" Diene yells, breaking into a burst of speed twice as fast as any normal man, attempting to uppercut the bruiser.

Ki point for 20 ft speed boost putting me at 60 ft, then charge get me in?

Raging Dragon Uppercut: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31
Nonlethal Bludgeoning Damage: 1d8 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18

Uh oh. Ophelia noted as Diene flew away. This was not what they had planned! But on the other hand, even on leave, they could hardly be expected to ignore crimes that occurred right infront of them could they? No. she decided and moved up to try and cut off the most obvious escape routes.

Isama is caught flat footed by Diene's charge. Oh by stone and root she mutters and taps herself with her wand of LongStrider and mirrors Ophelia to cut off other escape routes.

Mia comes closer, watching, as any interested bystander would, trying to see what was going on.
I can't really speed up, so I'll just move closer and pretend to not be me.

The thug flies into the air from the force of Diene's blow.
The victim issues a faint "Meep!", turns to run, turns back, grabs the pouch and bolts - straight towards Ophelia!
1=Ophelia 2=Isama: 1d2 ⇒ 1

Thinking quickly to try and preserve their cover Isama charges the 'outside man'

Yer money or Yer life!

Charging non lethal damage: 1d20 + 7 - 4 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 7 - 4 + 2 = 141d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

We don't need that one. Ophelia noted. It was not like they were going to be able to bring her in for her crimes anyway. And they did intervene to avoid her being beaten up. But letting more shiver out on the streets wasn't a good option either!

CMB: Steal/Disarm: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

With a quick dash she intercepted the fleeing addict and attempted to joink the purse out of her hands.

clarification: they are in the middle of their pattern, Inside man is inside, Outside man is unconcious, addict is de-bagged.
The addict reacted with Shiver-dulled reflexes, three paces away from Ophelia before realising she'd been deprived. She turned back, hesitating, almost tripping, before some atrophied survival instinct forced her into fleeing.

Okay, so what now?

Come on let's clear this guy out and get out of here Isama says to Diene as she rifles through the thug's pockets.

Per: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29

Pocketing whatever she finds Isama runs into an alley and changes her face again.

When they all regroup Isama will grouse to the others Load of junk on the guy, nothing useful. When boss man comes out he should be spooked enough to rush back to base. Maybe we follow him or maybe heal this guy just enough and let 'im stumble back while we follow.

Isama took the money, clatrops, knuckles, lockpicks, and knife

"That seems like a reasonable assumption." Ophelia concurs and hands over the pouch. "At the very least, they would need to resupply."

"Uh, huh. So, well...Er.. We'll put this thug around the corner or something, then wait for the boss man to come out."

Isama shurgs. Could leave 'im out in the open. Really freak the boss man out when he comes back

"Yeah, and what if he knows a cleric trick or two or keeps a potion on him and gets the guy awake? If figure him having a Cure Light not totally implausible."

Alright. Finding himself alone is prolly enough to freak him out plenty. Let's drag him out of sight quick!

Isama, Ophelia, and Diene should be able to drag him away quick right?

taking that as consensus
It is in fact a good quarter of an hour until the inside man comes out, the belt on his breeches now inside out.
He stops, looks around a few times and reaches into his jacket.
"Sarm?" he calls out, tentatively.
perception and stealth from anyone with line of sight. you can choose a bonus to stealth that is ALSO the penalty to perception.

Isama now disguised as a beggar huddling in an alley tries to remain inconspicuous so much so that she barely hears the guy coming out.

Taking -10 on per to get +10 on stealth if I get that right
Per: 1d20 + 12 - 10 ⇒ (1) + 12 - 10 = 3
Stealth: 1d20 + 2 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 2 + 10 = 28

-5 and +5
Perception: 1d20 + 13 - 5 ⇒ (12) + 13 - 5 = 20
Stealth: 1d20 + 4 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 5 = 24

No penalty of boni, I'm quite confident in both skills
Daria, not having drawn attention to herself before, is strolling around in the area, opting to be able to take a good look at what's going on, IF something goes on. There was a reason she was filed as an surveillance and infiltration specialist, after all...
Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (13) + 16 = 29
Stealth: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (19) + 17 = 36

Gonna do the same as Isama I think : )

Not wanting to risk being seen Ophelia lurks a bit further away from their mark.

Perception: 1d20 + 15 + 1d6 - 10 ⇒ (7) + 15 + (2) - 10 = 14

Stealth: 1d20 + 6 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 10 = 29

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
sleight of hand: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Everyone but Isama - who is out of line of sight of Sarm's friend - see the Inside man hesitate, then pull out a stub of pen and a bit of paper. He writes, then starts folding...
You've all got access to one: it is a Parchment Messenger

Isama can summon some Air Elementals to go grab that no problem! Might be a bit obvious though.

Damn. Castor' chirpy Companion would sure be handy, now.

Do we jump him and take control of the map/writing?
Ninja'd by Isama...=> or that

Catching it a bit away from him might work. Or if we could tag it somehow and then just track it ...

Could do a Dire Bat instead. Would be a bit less obvious but way slower and only a bit faster than the Messenger

Could do a Dire Bat instead. Would be a bit less obvious but way slower and only a bit faster than the Messenger

I think that'd be the better option.

It's only 5 feet per round faster than the messenger and will last for 6 rounds. Add in the full round to cast by which time the messenger is already moved 35 feet.... and that the bat needs to catch it AND bring it back... I don't know doesn't look like it'll work now that I think about it. Maybe Diene and Ophelia and Isama can 'mug' this guy too. If he gets the Messenger off than Isama can summon up a few air elementals to bring it back. Air elementals have 100 foot speed and there would be at least two of them. The route on the Messenger map would be a great lead to have.

I was out in the open, nearby...sooo...
When the outside man starts writing on the Parchment Messenger, Mia ducks into an alley to cast Innocence and scribble a line across the city(other end) on her own messenger, then approaches him.
"Oh, Mister, are you folding paper animals? I can fold paper animals too! What are you making? Can you teach me?"
Bluff(Diversion): 1d20 + 12 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 12 + 10 = 26 to come across as a curious if somewhat obnoxious child
Sleight of Hand(Swap): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21 to swap out our parchment messengers while he's folding. Can't keep my hands to myself, curious little thing I am

I figure even if I fail, he'll just let it take off, and it may give you guys a few more moments to consider options. If I do manage to pull it off, all the better....if I just manage to grab his messenger and have to run, he still doesn't know off-duty guards are involved and may suspect rivals.

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
"Scrag off kid." snarls the inside man, pushing Mia back, on to her rear in the street. With a flick of his fingers he flings his little parchment bird up into to the sky, and it takes off.

"*Sob*...*sob*...Mooommy", Mia runs off, gripping her bounty tight to her body to keep it secure, as if she was touching a part of her body she hurt during the fall, rounding the corner towards the others (Diene if I need to choose because of different hiding spots), holding the twitching messenger with both hands, smiling..."Some help, 'mum'?", she winks.

"Nice, let's read it and see where it was gonna go." Diene whispers back, keeping an eye on the man around the corner.

How do we stop it? Just unfold it right? Isama is unsure how to stop it from getting away and a bit uncomfortable around arcane magic.

"So, what next? Get in position near the night market, release it(or another if this one is spent), then trail the guy picking it up? Or jump him?"

"Aright, that sounds about right. Let's do it."

Kn:Local that neighborhood and location: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

"Hmm. Trying to fold it is unlikely to hinder our progress. Let us try that!" Ophelia agrees and the suggests "We could then visit the Night Market and simply wait for our mark to reach it, should we be unable to find the source."

Aid Another: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Knowledge(Local) Aid: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13 , as ordered, Daria adds what tidbits she knows about the night market to Isama's explanation.

"So, lets hurry over there. If this guy expects an answer or a replacement courier, we don't want him to become suspicious and send a second bird before we send the first..."

Also, what DID we do with the courier? If we brought him with us, we may want to drop him off someplace else or make sure he's out cold for longer. If he comes to, in an alleyway near inside man, he may cause high-alert status if they add 2 and 2 together...

Know(Local): 1d20 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 7 + (5) = 13

Dumped him in an alley I am fairly sure : )

Leave the bodyguard. Might make it look like not a normal mugging if we do anything special. Alright let's fold this up and get over there and start casing the place out.

"Yeah, I'm still in disguise, so that helps." Diene agrees with Isama over the bodyguard.

"To the night market."

GM, that brings us up to 21 on the Night Market Local check, we figure any more out?