Ryskovich hurts the leader of the ambusher. The Ulfen man steps out of the greased area and also downs a potion.
Initiative
Pandora
Roderick
Merida
Falinar (6/11)
Ulfen White- Left (7 damage)
Ulfen White- Middle (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Right (26 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Quinray
Ryskovich
Ulfen Red (9 damage)
Quinray then shot at Big Red. [dice=Shortbow]1d20+3
Pandora fires an arrow and easily hits the Ulfen leader, showing Quinray how one should shoot. Falinar then lays on the hurt for his last standing minion.
Initiative
Merida - waiting for clarification, see ooc above
Ulfen White- Left (14 damage)
Ulfen White- Middle (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Right (26 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Quinray
Ryskovich
Ulfen Red (19 damage)
Pandora
Roderick
Falinar (6/11)
Merida misses the ambusher, who retaliates against Ryskovich but misses.
Initiative
Quinray - Performing 2 rounds
Ryskovich
Ulfen Red (19 damage)
Pandora
Roderick
Falinar (6/11)
Merida - Raging 2 rounds
Ulfen White- Left (14 damage)
Ulfen White- Middle (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Right (27 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ryskovich takes out the remaining minion, now only the leader is still standing.
Initiative
Quinray - Performing 2 rounds
Ulfen Red (19 damage)
Pandora
Roderick
Falinar (6/11)
Merida - Raging 2 rounds
Ulfen White- Left (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Middle (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Right (27 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ryskovich
Quinray's arrow is right on target and hits the ulfen leader in the middle of his chest. He seems to be at the verge of collapsing.
The man takes a step toward Falinar, pulls out another potion and drinks it.
Initiative
Pandora
Roderick
Falinar (6/11)
Merida - Raging 2 rounds
Ryskovich
Quinray
Ulfen Red (16 damage)
Ulfen White- Left (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Middle (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Right (27 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Diplomacy is generally ineffective in combat and against creatures that intend to harm you or your allies in the immediate future
- - -
Using Diplomacy to influence a creature's attitude takes 1 minute of continuous interaction
Merida tries a difficult shot into melee. She aims careful to not hit her allies, however that also causes her to miss the Ulfen leader. Ryskovich's attempt to subdue the man also fails miserably.
Initiative
Falinar (6/11)
Quinray
Ulfen Red (16 damage)
Ulfen White- Left (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Middle (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Right (27 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Pandora
Roderick
Ryskovich
Merida - Raging 3 rounds
Falinar misses the thug and Quinray's attempt to disarm the man also fails.
"You treacherous swine! First offering a truce and then attacking me! Hjort was right! Die pathfinders! May Gorum judge my soul!"
Seeing that Roderick is the easy target the Ulfen leader attacks him and hits! The wounds that were just healed by Rodericks extract are opened at the exact same spot.
Initiative
Falinar (6/11)
Quinray
Pandora
Roderick (7/10)
Ryskovich
Merida - Raging 3 rounds
Ulfen Red (16 damage)
Ulfen White- Left (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Middle (18 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
Ulfen White- Right (28 damage) - Prone + Unconscious/Dead
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Pandora steps south firing between Quinray and Ryskovich to avoid the soft cover and shots her readied arrows towards the stout Ulfen.
Hjort, and who is that one? thinks the woman as she shouts "You are not a wise one eh! You Ulfen always that proud! You will be my ninth dead Ulfen baby! You choose that!"
The Ulfen manages to raise his shield and deflect Pandora's first arrow. He did not expect the second arrow, which finds his side. Just moments ago that spot was protected by a shield. He goes down with a curse
"May the white witches of Irrisen eat your souls!"
Combat is over!
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"It was stupid from you not to surrender before. We are Pathfinders, serial killers. We are trained to kill everything at sight, you should have known better and hide the first time you saw us." the woman approaches the corpse and binds it so he cannot scape. Then she tries to stabilize him.
Finally she starts registering him and the other corpses looking for useful items and any source that might lead the group to know who this Hjort is.
"They seemed to be working for this Hjort. Do you know that name?" looking at the others she draws a wand "If you need healing let me know."
Pandora stabilizes the leader and checks on his henchmen. Two of them are seriously hurt, but are stable. The last one is dead.
You search the bodies and find the following:
Chain Mail
Chain Shirt *3
Heavy Steel Shield
Heavy Wooden Shield *3
Throwing Axe *15
Potion 1: DC 16 spellcraft to identify
Potion 2: DC 16 spellcraft to identify
50 Gold
The leader also carries two notes - see link to map
It is now 16:00.
1) You decide whether to use diplomacy or knowledge (local)
2) You all make 10 rolls for that.
3) The highest roller in each batch is the main actor, the others are supporting (if 10+)
4) I need to know how long into the night you will continue, as each roll takes time. You will very likely need more than just the remainder of today.
5) I will make a post to summarize how you got all the information.
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Pandora makes a sip of the potions in order to identify them.
"I think we can asume the second potion is of the same sort of the first one. We will be quite save there."
After reading the notes she starts looking at the others "There has been some sort of problem. We have to find out what has been of Rognald Skagni and I am quite sure that discovering whom Hjort Fastaxe and Runa White are will lead us to the point." She then waits to know what the other ones think about the plan and then starts to look for people in the street or taverns where to ask about the two guys and what happened with the house and Rognald.
The group asks around for information about Hjort and Runa, but can't seem to find anyone with information. Therefore you decide to call it a night and rest. Maybe tomorrow you will find more information...
In the inn you stay in a skinny woman is drinking as if there is no tomorrow. When Merida and Pandora buy her a drink and ask if she knows a Hjort she replies: “I heard about an Ulfen warrior named Hjort—don’t know his family name—who came here a while back after his entire village was slaughtered on the Arcadian coast. People say his rage toward the Pathfinder Society burns bright, as they were the ones who slaughtered his people—a people, I heard, that he was destined to be the jarl of. Those traditional warriors from the coast are serious brutes—I wouldn’t want to be one of their targets.”
Because it is quite late the group turns in for some well-deserved rest.
- - -
Day 2
The next morning it takes quite a while before Ryskovich and Quinray ask a big Ulfen woman with a greatsword strapped to her back if she knows Runa White: “A dark-haired Chelish woman, family name of White, has been seen about the market recently. She’s hiring mercenaries and low-life thugs for Gorum-knowswhat. If you’re looking for her to right some wrong, I’d bring a dozen more of you—she was cornered in one of the market’s darkest corners by some of Trollheim’s biggest miscreants, and just when they thought they had gotten the drop on her, she called to her god and blasted them with holy fire. She’s tough, that one, and not someone I’d mess with.”
Pandora asks a passing city guard if she has heard of Hjort and Runa the city guard replies: “Yeah, I know those two. They approached my friends and me and offered us a ridiculous sum to work for them. No way was I going to work for a washed-up Ulfen warrior and a foreign she-devil from the south. Hjort’s eyes told all the story I needed to know: he wasn’t doing whatever he was doing for profit—he was doing it for revenge. That business has only one path, and it leads straight to Pharasma’s ample bosom. And Runa? Well, she’s a foreigner, ain’t she?”
Happy that investigations are working for them the pathfinders enjoy a quit evening in the tavern.
- - -
Day 3
The next morning Merida spots an old man sitting in front of the smithy, enjoying the sun and sharpening a sword. When Merida asks him if he has heard of Hjort and Runa trying to hire mercenaries he replies: “Can’t say as I remember the name of the place, but when they tried to hire my cousin, they told him to meet them at some hole in the market. You’d best do your poking around there and stop pestering the peaceful folk of Trollheim before they decide to yank your entrails out from your mouth and strangle you with them.”
Merida is really good at ferreting out information, she spots a bruised Ulfen man and he tells her: “Hjort and Runa, you say? Yeah, I know ‘em. I drink a beer and punch a guy in the face every night down at the Horned Helm, and they’ve been there for weeks—months maybe. I tell ya, that Hjort can throw a punch, and don’t get Runa started about religion—she’s likely to talk about it long enough it starts a fight and the way she ends fights ain’t fair, ain’t right, and just ain’t normal. Runa is a dark-haired woman from Cheliax, and Hjort is a large brute with red hair, a red beard, and a scar across his left cheek.”
- - -
It is now evening (19:00) on day 3 since you entered the city. Your daily uses have reset (spells / bardic performance / rage)
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As Merida explains the last information Pandora nods and says "I suggest we approach the Horned Helm as for tonight. The more we continue talking the easier they know we are looking form them."
Listening to the others opinions and giving it a thought she explains "We can disguise ourselves as northern Varisian mercenaries, nomad bandits, which recently heard between Linnorm Kings and Irrisen conflict and thought it might be a good place to get a job. So we arrived town and heard about them giving a job. We go there, get as much information about them, try to discover what has been about Rognald, and then decide what to do about it."
And with a sigh in her voice "It's a pitty none knows what happened with the house or with Rognald Skagni."
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Roderick nods in agreement with Pandora, rested and ready to resolve the mystery.
"This is good information and provides clues for how to proceed, even if the entire picture is not yet clear.
Let us make preparation and visit this Horned Helm with caution.
If half the stories you have heard are true, this couple are not to be dealt with lightly."
The Horned Helm is a low-slung, two-story building of questionable construction leaning heavily over a shoddy corner of mud and brick in the dankest, filthiest parcel of land in all of the market. It has no windows, as they’ve all been broken and boarded over; its only door looks like a simple plank of wood covered in scratches, burns, and probably blood stains.
Noise, heat, and smoke pour out from under that door and rise to a staggering crescendo of laughter as the door swings lazily open and two bodies are unceremoniously dumped into the rutted, frozen mud streets outside. A battered sign hangs above the door, swinging on two chains, one shorter than the other. It bears the faded image of an Ulfen helm with two ridiculously large horns.
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"Mercenaries?" Merida says sarcastically, "Are you sure we can pull that off?"
As they approach the Helm, the woman puts down her fur hood letting her long braid fly out, and loosens the tie at her clavicle, letting the slightly oversized chain shirt's neckline fall...strategically. "Doesn't look like this place would think twice about beating a pathfinder to a pulp," she says in explanation, "Better make sure they're focused on something else."