GM Woran's Rise of the Runelords

Game Master Woran

Aldern gives Rataji a wide smile. "Ah, I know the way to the stables. I should have guessed you were not local. I had not heard of you before, and a splendid lady as yourself certainly would have had all the local lads heads in a tizzy. And the gossip grape vine going wild."

"Gossip grape vine?" Taj doesn't mind being stared at, or having guys think she's cute. She knows she stands out in a crowd, and that people's heads turn wherever she goes. People tend to notice when a girl's hair catches fire.

On the other hand, she doesn't want anything to do with the local gossip grape vine. She'd seen the rumors that spread in some of the towns where she and Snow had been. When you're covered in fire and your brother in fur, the rumors spread about you often are not pretty. That Aldern seems to relish such gossip seems a point against him.

Sense Motive, Aldern: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (3) + 0 = 3
Ah yes. He wants to drown me in ranch dressing.

Perhaps she's overreacting.

She's just met Aldern -- and he seems personable enough. Maybe she's leaping to conclusions. Maybe she just needs some perspective, a little distance? She steps back, looking for someone else to be the focus of Aldern's attentions for a bit. "Oskar's local too! Do you two know each other?"

She shoots Oskar a look that is half apology, half cry for help.

Oblivious to the details of the social interaction, Rodrak looks around warily. "Thanks, Snow. But... if all the patchin' up is concluded, we really need to keep movin'. Gobs excell at this kind of gutter-and-alley fightin'..."

He demonstratively takes position at the rear of the column.

"Shall we?"

Vy nods in agreement at Rodrak's words, although he seems thoroughly distracted.

What's this? Is Taj actually back paddling away from a social encounter? From a male?

Gobs excell at this kind of gutter-and-alley fightin'..."[/b]

"Pfftths. amateurs.

He looks over at snowflake. "Do you always have to beat the boys off with a stick? and pries a board with a big rusty nail in it out of some wreckage and hands it to him.

Starts prestidigitiating one of the goblins dog slicers. May need it. For goblins of course.

"Who is to blame here? She has a certain beauty and a certain way with it. She can't actually help that. And to blame men who fall for that? Only for their un-gentlemen like behaviour. And on that account, you don't want to know what she can do to a piece of wood."

Vy throws the board onto a cart that's still burning.
It catches fire rapidly, and Vy casts a meaningful look at all the men in the group
"Pun intended"

Taj laughs at her friends' good natured teasing. It had bothered her the way Aldern had focused solely on her when his rescue had been a group effort. Still... perhaps she had overreacted to Aldern's intensity. Hasn't she always been intense, too? Besides, he saw her burn and didn't run. Isn't that what she wants? Someone who'll like the whole package that she offers, even the parts that clearly aren't human?

She grins at Snow. "With wood? Only for those who pine for me!"

She turns back to Aldern, and takes a deep breath. She's determined to act with a bit more social grace and kindness to his obvious infatuation. "So, how long have you had Princess? She seems a fine dog. I'm glad that Snow was able to save her."

Oskar regrets the kick against the goblin dog almost immediately. What in the Hells did this parshivaya suka do to me? He’s on the verge of a long and loud string of profanities shouted out in two or three languages, but right then, Snowflake’s channeling seems to take the pain away almost as soon as it sprang up.

"Is your foot okay now? I can't believe that the goblin dog was able to sting you right through your boot!"

“Yeah, good as new, thanks to your brother,” Oskar says, with a note of respect in his voice for the help. “Thanks, Vy,” he says, flashing the young man a thumbs-up. “I didn’t relish the thought of hobbling back to the Bottle and trying to get Nisk to gimme something to put on that. Appreciate it.” He ponders for a second, “‘Course, the alternative of just gettin’ knee-walking drunk to take the edge off coulda been fun, too…” He nods thanks to Justin for the quick cleaning job on him (even if he’s way overestimating what’s there to get off, it’s Oskar Dragenaev, not Oscar Madison).

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 Have I heard of this Aldern clown? Looking at that roll, unlikely.

Oh, this guy…! Screamin’ for his mother not two minutes ago, and now he’s tryin’ to put moves on Taj? She doesn’t look like anybody’s fool, she’ll see that line of vrøvl he’s puttin’ down.

“No, I don’t recall seein’ Al around. Ne pravda li, druzhishche?”

Just seein’ if he understands me…

If there’s a moment when Taj & Oskar have eye contact and Al isn’t looking, Oskar makes an exaggerated eyeroll, get-a-load-of-this-guy face to her.

"With wood? Only for those who pine for me!"

"Willow make a note of that."

Aldern laughs at the wood jokes. "I cant help it, I admit its true! My wife is a full-blooded Varisian. She taught me to flirt outrageously. Anything less and the ladies will get offended."

He winks at Rataji. "Luckily Ash been warned."

Looking at Oskar. "I do think I've heard from you. You mentioned Nisk. You're his hired help right? I've on occasion bought some anti-mange ointment for the dogs from him. Turned one them bright pink. Mais ne vous inquiétez pas. Je sais que ce ne sont pas de votre faute."

Shifting his grip on Princess a little, Aldern looks a bit sadly at the dog. "Well brave Rataji, I've had princess from when she was a pup. Three years she's been a faithfull companion. Its not her first close shave, she's a hunting dog after all. But she's dear to me.

After receiving the healing from Snowflake, Eldira takes a good lock at the recently healed wound... maybe a bit too long, she really has no experience with magical healing (and is moderately worried that everything was reset to factory specifications).

"Thank you Vy, that was certainly a positive change to my bodily functions, feel free to stop any excessive bleeding on my part/on my parts in future. You seem to be rather proficient at molecular reconstruction. "

Eldira seems to miss the innuendo, the hot/luke warm tension in the air, and the general feeling of accomplishment.... her priorities for the day had shifted somewhat... winning is archery contest as a dark horse candidate.... has become less likely than several hours ago.

Everything else, seems to be a collection of illogical acts and while her new companions are impressive, she can't help herself that everything is terribly organized. The goblins could have attacked far more efficiently and the townspeople could have defended themselves with more tactical efficiency (the fact that people got hurt, really seems beside the point in that context).

Asking the group "Transforming noncombatant Foxglove, Aldern , into combat resource Foxglove, Aldern seems like the quickest route to resolving the current situation. Refilling my allotment of ranged projectiles would also be appreciated, though I have secondary ranged options available.

However, I lack the required skill/magical support loadout to improve the combat efficiency of secondary combat resource designated "princess", thus, I suggest not involving her in further goblin extermination projects.

Eldira really can't help herself, especially when the situation involves several emotional layers, she just tries to reduce the situation to the most basic problems... and resolve them.

Rataji blinks. Aldern has been flirting this outrageously with her, and he was married? And he claims that this is the way his wife taught him to interact with women? The smile on her face freezes. Everything about this guy, from his condescending tone and the elitist way he uses elvish, grates on her...

"তাহলে আমি তার সাথে আরো ইন্টারঅ্যাক্ট , আমি চিত্কার করতে যাচ্ছি !" She glances up at Vy.

"Eldira's right! We need to get Princess out of the goblin extermination business and somewhere safe. How far away are these stables? Let's drop you both off so you're safe!"

And as far away from me as possible!

Then she catches Oskar's eyeroll. As annoying as Al is, at least she's not facing him alone. She has not only her brother, but several friends as well: the stout Rodrak, the oddly logical Eldira, the ever snarky Justin... and Oskar. She flashes him a grateful smile before turning her attention once again to the odd tangle of streets that is Sandpoint.

"When we're not about to be attacked by pyromanical midgets, someone's going to explain why our long range support has blood that smells like furniture polish.

kicking this forward.

Pointing to the end of the alley, Aldern speaks. "We're nearly there. Once we're out of this alley, we're on market street. The stables are just a few more yards then. We need to be carefull tough. The horses might have spooked, and if they broke loose, they could be dangerous."

"I'm gonna stand over here in some sort of non horse charg friendly corners and the like till you get that sorted out. Those things don't like me.

Aldern nods to Justin. "I can imagine it must be hard for you. Horses spook easily, and most people dont train them for anything but riding or pulling loads. A small creature like yourself can really frighten them. Its bad, really. With only a little training, a lot of accidents can be avoided."

Taj exchanges a look with her brother. "I know that goblins don't like horses and vice versa, but are you worried that we'll have to deal with stampeding equines? My brother is good with animals, but neither of us have a lot of experience with horses. I'd like to ride, someday. I think I might be good at it, but horses were a bit more costly than my dad could afford for us." She looks at Rodrak, Oskar and Eldira. "What about you guys? Any of you horse experts?"

Furniture polish... this is a very emotional and complicated situation, so it is only natural for the furry creature to be confused...

"Answering the question to Justin and the rest of the group: "My bodily fluids could be described as superior to those of most biological creatures. It does not clump quite as easily and is significantly resistant to carrying toxins, paralyzing agents and mind altering chemicals.
I suspect, that it also renders me immune to those ..emotional responses other humanoid creatures tend to suffer (and arguably benefit) from, effects like "fear, pants-wetting", "happyness" , "having butterflies in my abdominal cavity", "rage" and other effects that seem to be based on some kind of adrenal gland infusing biochemicals into your system that could prove deadly at sufficiently high concentration.

My bodily systems are also extremely efficient, if required, I could perform repetitive physical activities like walking for at least several days before my body would take any kind negative effect. I attribute this effect at least in part to the efficient transfer fluid inside of me, and it has been beneficial in my travel out of .... .... ....."

Bad, partly corrupted memories... better not interact with those files any more than absolutely necessary...

"Ignore preceding, it has been beneficial creating large scale skin printings.

As I have been told, I am apparently immune to diseases... a fact that seemed to be unreasonably relevant to some of my customers. I have received several offerings for services outside of my primary craft. Unfortunately, I can't provide further details about the requested services I was to provide in their room, since the proprietress of the Rusty Dragon always had to have an urgent discussion with those customers."

Regarding the horses:

"My experience with quadrupedal creatures is very limited and I lack the skill to "motivate" the creatures to do any sort of actions.

Unless our actions require me to shoot horses, the qualification of "expert" would be unsuitable. While I do not have a previous experience shooting horses, they tend to be larger than goblins and thus easier targets."

" It's not the horses you should be afraid of, my little brother in furs.Remember that wounded big guy with the stick at the marketplace? Hosk is the owner of those stables" Vy says in a deadpan voice, while a smile sneaks upon his lips

Aldern nods to Vy. "Yes, Hosk. Good man, although perpetually grumpy. He is an exceptional horse trainer, and if its just his horses and mine in the stable, we should not worry. Hosk trains his animals to stomp goblins and they dont panic easily. My horse has been trained for the hunt and will not spook from the scent of blood. Any other horses might give us trouble, if they escape their boxes that is."

"Any of you horse experts?"

Oskar looks taken slightly aback, as he ponders the question. "Horses? Nah, not me. The only ill-tempered beast I have to deal with is Nisk. (Then again, he does like a nice apple...) If there's anything that needs doin', I wouldn't mind a tip or two, fair 'nuff, Rataji?"

Rodrak hrmps.

"I prefer to keep both my feet on the ground."

"Tips? I think the best tip is to keep a calm tone and try to order it to do a trick that it knows, like 'come' or 'work'." She looks up at her big brother. "What do you think, Vy? You know more about animals than I do."

There's a special rule under handle animal regarding domestic animals and untrained handle animal skill: If you have no ranks in Handle Animal, you can use a Charisma check to handle and push domestic animals, but you can’t teach, rear, or train animals. A druid or ranger with no ranks in Handle Animal can use a Charisma check to handle and push her animal companion, but she can’t teach, rear, or train other non-domestic animals.

"It's a two layer trick basically. First, it helps if you and the animal want the same thing. The second part is convincing the animal that it wants what you want. That takes trust. And bribery for others. Threats work, but than you're teaching it fear, or the way to beat you"

Oskar takes in the siblings' advice. Oh, you're so screwed. You're gonna get your thick skull stomped in. Muttering to himself, he says, "Most of Oskar Dragenaev was found in the stables this morning. Cause of death was being a dummy in the presence of a horse... Ain't fair; threats work so well with Nisk...!"

Aldern holds up Princess a little higher. "I understand horses arent your thing."
He indicates the whole party. "If someone can take over Princess from me, I can handle a spooked horse or two. Besides, if no horse has escaped its box, we will be fine."

"carrying something twice my weight is not in my corpus vitae"

"I'll take her. It's best if we start moving. It's going to be a long day yet"

Gently Aldern places Princess in the arms of Snowflake. The dog lets out a low whine. "Good girl Princess. This man will take care of you now."
Aldern gives Princess a few calming pets on the dogs head. Princess lets out a sigh and snuggles up into Snowflakes own fur.

Checking out the street from the mouth of the alley, it looks deserted.
With a quick dash, you make it past several buildings.
The door to the stables doesnt open right away when you try. For a moment you fear it is locked. But with a little bit more force, you find out that it was merely stuck.

Inside the horses are restless. There is the smell of blood and you can see a broken window.
With the door opening and so many people rushing inside, the horses neigh and a few kick the doors to their boxes.

Aldern steps forward, and with a calm but firm voice calms down the most nervous horse.
handle animal: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

With the most nervours horse calm, the others calm down a fair bit.
Aldern takes the time to check them over. In the box closes to the window, he reaches inside.
With a look of mild disgust, he holds up a goblin corpse, its head smashed in by a horses hoof. "Well, guess we found out why they were so spooked. This one wont bother anyone ever again."
He disposes of the corpse in a corner.

With the horses calm, he gently takes back Princess out of Snowflakes arm, and makes her a little nest in the straw. "Good girl princess. Now Stay."
Princess doesnt seem to like being left behind, but obeys her master. Head on her front paws, she follows Alderns every move.

From between some supplies, Aldern retrieves a composite longbow and a quiver with arrows. He attaches the quiver to his hip and strings the bow in one easy movement.
"Ok. I am ready. Where to next?"

"Any idea from where somebody might be coordinating some kind of defense? Or failing that, where they are bringing people to safety? Gobs will go after who they think are vulnerable, so I prefer to either defend the villagers or go hunt the big bad."

He starts cleaning the warhammer with a linnen cloth as he muses. He glances about to his companions

"We can play cat-and-mouse with these gits all day, but I'd rather do it effectively. And perhaps thump whoever or whatever had got them so riled up thoroughly on the head. Or heads. I don't discriminate."

"Let's check where we are needed'
Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

Most of the sounds of battle have died down by now.

Oskar, having been in sandpoint not that long, has had the question if he wanted to join the militia. Having a full time job, you werent that interested (Nisk needing round the clock supervision).
But you did get the explanation that in the event of serious trouble, the town guard and militia members would meet up at the Garrison. A stone fortress that serves double duty as Sandpoint’s militia barracks and its jail.

Taj notes the competence with which Al handles the bow. Good, maybe he's not worthless after all. "Let's patrol, heading towards whatever passes for an authority in this town. Either we'll find trouble, or we can help those that were hurt."

"That'd be the garrison, Taj. The locals've told me that in the event o' trouble, I should make my way there." He nods in its general direction.

"This is what happens when you don't have everyone in on your civil defense plan. We have to waste time heading for the one place we KNOW is protected to receive orders rather than a vital area that needs protecting." he looks around "Someone throw me up on the roof, I'll see if there's something more pressing requiring our attention than resolving the inadequacies in your command structure."

"He's all yours" Vy mutters to Oskar, while he strokes Princess

Princess wags her tail. She seems to have taken a liking to Snowflake.

Taj smiles at the dog's reaction. Animals always seem to love her brother. "You've made a friend, Vy."

She looks at Justin. "Are you sure you want to be boosted up there?" Quite honestly, he looks frail and academic -- not the sort to be scaling buildings. "You don't look like much of a climber, but then again I haven't met many ratfolk. Are you guys good climbers?"

Taj looks around to see if there's a ladder or an obvious climb spot to one of the roof tops. They're only one or two story buildings, but perhaps there's an easier way.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

"If worst comes to worst, either Oskar or I can try to climb, but the garrison isn't likely that far. This is not that big a town, and the time we spend scrambling on roofs might be better spent just going where they asked us to go."

"I'm not. But among humans i make a great projectile, and anyone can fall into a haystack

The stables have a hayloft, but not a skylight. The easiest way up the roof would be to climb up into the loft, and open the wooden loading doors.
With the doors open, someone would need to lean out precariously to be able to give Justin a boost up.

Taj looks at the set up of the stables and mutters, "Why do I let myself get talked into such things? But if there's precarious balancing to be done, I'm the one who should do it. Come on, Justin. Let's get you up there, and perhaps me too. I'll never forgive myself if you fall on your impudent furry ass."

She climbs the hayloft ladder, opens the loft door, then swings precariously out, first lettng Justin scamper up on her shoulders, and then swinging up herself to keep him company. Her legs spiral out gracefully as she grips the edge of the door and flips up, landing neatly on her feet.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

"Nice view." She glances around for any obvious fires, fleeing people or mayhem.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Or not...

However, most of what she looks at is Justin, trying to make certain that he doesn't topple off the roof. She asks the others, "Does anyone want me to lower a rope or anything so you can join us?"

Oskar slings his shield on his back to get his hands free. "A good rope never hurts, Rataji. Got somethin' you can tie off against? If not, soon as I'm up I can hold an end."

Climb check: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

If Taj can secure a rope somewhere, that ought to do it for a Climb check. With my shield unequipped, my ACP is two points better, reflected in the roll above.

"Yeah, there's a buttress here, Oskar." She tugs it. "It feels sturdy." She loops the rope around a couple times, and ties the knot, then leans over encouragingly. "You should be good to climb up here if you want."

Climbing up, you find yourself with Rataji and justin on a thatch roof.

You all look about. There is a clear view to the sandpoint harbor, which is downhill from the stables.
Its harder to make out details uphill, and the Rusty Dragon blocks quite a bit of your view.
There is still a trickle of smoke coming from the north, but its irregular, the fire its coming from most likely dying out.

You can see partly down Salmon Street, where several people are approaching in a tight formation.
Coming closer you can see they are being led by one of the town guard, the rest looking like they are from the militia: generic leather armor, and spears.

Spotting you up on the roof, the guard motions the militia to halt on the intersection, and they take up position, scouting all sides.
"Ho, up there on the roof. Are you all right?"

"We're fine fit and fighting. Where do you need us, sir? My friends are inclined to find the Goblin in the fanciest hat and eliminate him. "

"Ha! I like your spirit Ratfolk. You are welcome to join us on patrol. The Gobbos have lost the element of surprise. Not so clever now. Most of them have broken rank and are fleeing. Still can do a lot off damage. So we're flushing them out."

"My friends are inclined to find the Goblin in the fanciest hat and eliminate him."

Oskar turns to Rataji, and silently mouths, "Fanciest hat?"

Taj grins at Oskar. "Apparently, we like hats. Maybe we should ask Justin to clean them for us afterwards... Or, are they all for him?" She points to the ratfolk.

She then leans over and calls down to the guards. "Okay, we'll be right down to join you. Are there any major fires to put out?" Taj calls down to Rodrak. "I'm lowering Justin to you. Please catch him!"

Taj ties the rope around Justin, and swings the rat down. She waits for Oskar to climb down before grabbing the rope and swinging back herself.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Rodrak, having kept his feet solidly at street level moves to catch Justin as he puts his shield and warhammer back in their carrying straps with a speed born of utter familiarity.

"Fanciest hat? Heh. Good one, Whiskers!"

After having put the ratfolk down in a dignified manner he puts the shield back on his arm but keeps his warhammer in its belt loop in order to have his hands free of one of the roofers gets into trouble.

"How ELSE would you identify the goblin nominally in chargWWHEEEEEEEEEE He thinks. "Whiskers... you know you have about 5 pounds of those on your face too right?"

"I'm not. But among humans i make a great projectile, and anyone can fall into a haystack

Mental note, Ratfolk apparently great projectiles when in the company of humans.... might be a tactical advantage at some point. Might require a substantially bigger bow.. or a sling.