Gambler's Quest (Game #2)

Game Master Adaram

I was trying to figure out if your Evasion skill would reduce the damage (this is a FORT save, not a Reflex, so I wasn't sure, mainly because the description of Evasion seems to imply that you have quick enough reflexes to get out of the way) . I put a pic of the trap information in the Map Slideshow. Can you let me know if you know? Sorry for having to ask something that is probably quite basic ... :-/

Evasion: At 2nd level and higher, a rogue can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the rogue is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless rogue does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Reflex save normally means you're jumping out of the way to take less damage, hence Evasion only applies to Reflex saves. A Fort save normally means you've been hit with something (disease, poison, etc) already, so now the question is can your immune system fight it off.

Fort: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 Fail
Fort: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23 Success. If I had failed, I would take a second point of Con damage and rolled up to 2 more times.
Side note: For saves and attack rolls, 1 is always a failure/miss and 20 is always a success/hit.

So I just took 1 damage and 1 Con damage.

Kat winces as the needle shoot out at her. Damnit! I should've been more careful. And poisoned to boot. She eyes the bag warily, wondering what the chances were that someone was smart enough to double trap it. She considered trying to dump its contents out on the bed, but the entire reason she had avoided that before was in case there was something fragile inside. Sighing, she instead pulls out an arrow and starts using that to carefully sift through the bag's contents.

I still think that a "dart trap" should start with a reflex save to see if you can avoid being hit by the dart at all, but the description in the pre-made adventure and the one in the book don't support my thinking! :( Do you need to update your character sheet with the effects of the damage and -1 to CON? Does that mean that all your skills, abilities, etc. that are impacted by CON also take a hit due to the -1?

Your arrow deftly opens the neck of the backpack and starts to drag out the items one by one. When the bag is emptied, you find the following laying on your bed:

• Vial of oil of taggit poison,
  
• Vial of small centipede poison,
  
• A 2 ft. long wooden box containing a bundle of 12 black tulips.
  

Well, the "avoiding getting hit" is AC, which includes your Dex as part of it. Also, none of the skills are based on Con. I do lose some extra HP (1 per level), and that's been reflected in my total HP in my status bar.

I wonder why someone just left their poison under a bed in an unused room. Especially an unlocked one. And what's with the black tulips? Do they signify something? Kat tilts her head thinking. Actually, I think the table in the room had a black tulip on it as well. A signal, perhaps? Maybe I should remove it...

Kat stashes the poison into her backpack quickly, tossing the backpack with the roses under her bed. In a brisk manner, she returns to the room she was in, still making sure to lock the door behind her, but this time not adding in her hair trick; she'd only be gone a minute or so anyway. Once back in the other room, she takes the black tulip and stashes it up her sleeve before returning to her room.

Once safely back in her room, she stashes the flower with its companions. She wasn't sure what this Black Tulip person wanted, but the poison suggested an assassination. But of whom? Lord Kent was the most likely target. And the thought that he might be the one tempted her to put the poison back: after all, his death might make her job easier. One the other hand, she couldn't risk him being killed and the possible lock down and increased suspicion if he were to die before she got her job done. Plus the poison might come in handy. Even though it generally wasn't really her thing. Of course...if I get caught, this could provide an excellent excuse. 'Lord Kent, I have reason to believe your life is in danger. I've been looking for the culprit but have not yet had any luck finding him or her.' And really, if the assassin was any good at their job, they wouldn't need the poison.

Sighing, Kat got up and left the room, once again placing a single hair in the door frame. By my calculations, I still have a little time before the first round. Perhaps not enough to check behind locked doors, but I should have enough to make sure that backpack was the only thing left in that other room.

Spending the 10-12 minutes to do a good search of the room that had the black tulip. If I don't find anything else, feel free to fast forward to first round of the tournament at noon since I won't have much time to do anything else before it.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 10 = 25

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27 +10 = 37
Your careful search shows a small peephole in the north wall of the room.
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
You can see only darkness as you peer through the hole. You find nothing else of interest in the room and turn to leave.

As you step into the doorway to exit the room, you find yourself almost running over a beautiful halfling girl who is blocking your path. She is wearing skin tight leather armor with dark purple, almost black accents at the shoulders and elbows. A long rapier hangs at her side, intricately made with a leather wrapped handle that juts out above the belt holder.

A look of anger crosses her face, briefly, but is replaced quickly by a calm--almost too calm--demeanor.

"Why are you in my room? You better not have taken any of my things!"

She doesn't move, essentially trapping you in the arch of the doorway, while she waits for you to respond.

It is 11:55pm on Day 1

A look of surprise bordering on genuine shock crosses Kat's face, and she does nothing to try to mask it as for a change, it was probably to her benefit. "This is your room? Why wasn't it locked? I was told we were free to enter any place that wasn't locked." She allows her confusion to let her frown briefly as she thinks, looking about the room. "Are you sure this is your room?" It doesn't look like it has been inhabited. But then, given that I only just arrived, that's not too surprising.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11 I'll take anything I can find, but I'm especially looking for is this actually her room?

"Were you told, in addition to entering anywhere that was not locked, that you should take the time to search around for and steal hidden items? I only left a few things in there; my backpack being the prime one. It was hidden under the bed. Why don't we go in and look under the bed. If it's still there, then I guess you will have nothing to worry about, right?"

The small woman moves to go past you and enter the room, but noticing you still in the way, simply stares up at you, tapping her foot and waiting.

Before you have a chance to reply, another figure enters the hallway.

Kara comes to the hall, and the halfling turns at the sound of her footsteps.

"Excellent. There you are. You are the last two I needed to find. Lord Kent will not be please if everyone is not there on time for the first session of the Tournament. Come along. There is no time to waste."

Kara turns back on her heel and starts heading toward the stairs.

The halfling turns back and glares at you, then mutters angrily, "This isn't over! My backpack better be there when we get back after the meeting."

She strides purposefully down the hall in Kara's wake, leaving you standing in the doorway.

Kat grits her teeth in annoyance. Of all the unreasonable... Sure, she could quickly try to replace the backpack right now, but with the sprung trap, it'd be obvious that it had been opened, and she couldn't deny that she'd be the obvious culprit. Plus no doubt doing so would make her late and only earn the ire of yet more people. So instead, she strode after the two, trying to quell her simmering rage.

Do I think she was telling the truth about this being her room?

You sense that she is telling the truth about the room.

Kara leads the pair of you back through the stairs and hollway and then into the northern most door on the eastern wall of the courtyard. You follow her inside, awkwardly keeping a short distance between yourself and Sariah.

The tapestries depicting Lord Kent’s coat of arms, a rearing black dragon atop a blue backdrop still line the walls, but somehow seem small with the additional people and tables in the room. Several tables, no doubt usually reserved for banquets, now serve as areas for dicing. Along the eastern wall is a long table topped with dozens of delicious-looking foods.

Kara walks to a table near the front of the room and starts rustling through some papers. While you wait beside her, you note that there are others already here, mostly seated. Some peer at scrolls, and yet others are just stare blankly ahead. Sariah stalks over to a table and seats herself beside a middle aged man. The room is deadly silent other than the occasional sound of dice rolling on a table.

"Here we are," says Kara, handing you a scroll. "Why don't you have a seat somewhere and have a look at your draw for the tourney. We are just awaiting Lord Kent's pleasure before we begin."

Kara walks quickly toward some of the others in the room, talking indistinctly to each of them in turn.

There is a new link in the text above, as well as in the Campaign Header. I will put your tourney information in that presentation. I will try and keep the "standings" up to date at least once per "in game day" so you see where your character is at any time.

'Await his pleasure' Such a weird phrase. Sounds so creepy. Or just stuck up. Probably both. Sighing, Kat looks around the room, keeping one eye on the halfling girl. The other eye scans the crowd, sizing up her competition.

How many women are in the room other than me, Sariah, and Kara? If there's only one, Kat will go over and sit next to her.

The assembled numbers six people, plus some servants, and Kara. You sit down beside Brigit, a young with blonde locks pulled into braids that frame her face. You don't realize when you do, that you have seated yourself at a table with your first competitor. When everyone is seated, Kara steps to the front of the room. "Uhhh ummm," she clears her throat, "please give me your attention. Lord Kent will be arriving at any moment."

Kara looks toward the door expectantly, and right on cue, it starts to open.

The door opens and a medium sized human walks through. Obviously Lord Kent. As he strolls to the front of the room to stand beside Kara, he waves his hand over his head, as though he were shooing a fly away.

Please roll a Perception check

"Hello everyone," he states in a nasal voice. He takes a moment to look at each person in turn. You note that he pauses a little longer when looking at the very beautiful halfling named Sariah that you now know.

"Welcome to my Keep. You are my guest here for the next four days. Everything you desire will be provided; well, almost everything. You should all have had a chance to spend time in your rooms by now. Those are your private domains, and I would encourage you all to keep them locked. Kara should have given you the details about your ability to wander the grounds, but to be clear, if something is locked, you are to stay out. Pretty simple, no?"

He pauses for breath, and reaches to a wine cup behind him on the table. "I want to raise a toast to good and fair competition. Kara will have given you your tournament draw scroll. She will be giving you the tournament and game rules momentarily. I will be at the front here for a time. After Kara is done her debrief, I will remain available for questions. I look forward to having those of you who draw my name try and best me at my favourite game; doing so will certainly impress me.That is all, for now, and may the best gambler win!"

Lord Kent sits down at the table.

"Thank you, Lord Kent. I have scrolls at the front that will provide you with the Tournament rules, as well as the rules for the game of Skulls. Please come and get them after my brief introduction so that I don't have to explain myself twice.

That is all."

Kara walks around the table and sits down beside Lord Kent, waiting to see if anyone needs any questions answered.

[ooc]In game Mechanics of the Skulls game are descrice at the following link. Also remember that the link to the maps and the "Additional Information" containing all these rules, etc., are located in the campaign header

You sit down beside Brigit, a young with blonde locks pulled into braids that frame her face. You don't realize when you do, that you have seated yourself at a table with your first competitor.

Actually, that's specifically why I was asking about other women; I was trying to sit next to my first competitor (she was the only obviously female name other than Sariah). :-P

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

Kat makes a tsking sound with her tongue. Damn, dice? I was really hoping for a card game. More skill involved. She smirks to herself. Of course, all games I play have skill involved, even if my opponent doesn't know it.

Giggling slightly, Kat leans towards the woman next to her. Softly she says, "Did you see the way Lord Kent looked at that halfling girl? Looks like he may have a crush~" The second sentence it uttered in a slight sing-song tone. "Do you think they know each other?"

Couple of questions:
1) Are matches done one at a time? Like, am I playing against Brigit at the same time Sariah is playing against her opponent? Or are we going one at a time?

2) When must we declare that we're cheating? Before we roll? After we roll but before we know what our opponent rolled? Or after our opponent rolls?

For speed, you can roll your rolls for all 3 rounds of your match at the same time. I will roll for your competitor, and then we'll decide who won.

As for the other competitor matches, I can just handle those offline, unless you want the roleplay opportunity to watch/heckle, etc. Then let me know and I will roll those and wait for you to reply. If you want to cheat, let me know before you make your rolls for an individual round. We'll resolve and then move on to the next round.

The pre-made is pretty light on wording about this stuff, so I am making it up as I go along. We'll figure out together if something doesn't work, and fix it on the fly (like the other things I've been learning ;)

I think for the other competitors, in general I'll want to at least watch for cheating (things may be a bit different this round because Sariah, so I'll at least want to know if her round is before mine or not). I imagine a good way to handle that would be that if they cheat, you roll my perception check in secret with their slight of hand. If I don't see anything, we skip over it. If I do see something, I'll decide then if I want to have Kat say something about it.

I think I may have been unclear on what I meant by "before" rolling for cheating: I meant in regards to before/after rolling the 3d6, not the slight of hand check. Like, if I say I'm going to cheat and then roll three 6's, do I still have to cheat and re-roll at least one of them?

Cheating: I hear your point. How about this. Roll your 3x3d6. Review your results. If you don't like them, then decide which round of the three (or 2 or all 3 of the 3) that you want to cheat on, tell me, and roll your Sleight of Hand - one for each cheat. I will run separate perception checks for each time you cheat and for each person watching (there will always be at least two - your opponent and the moderator). The more cheat checks I do, the more chance you will get caught! :) That should work better than declaring up front and then having to re-roll when you got a good result.

I'll have to do a bit more prep to actually set up the rounds for all of the other opponents. I think what I will do it make your game vs. Brigit last. That way you can watch all the other games, decide where you want to be a tattle tale (if you want), and then I will perform the roles.

Need to think about what will happen if they catch you being a tattle tale - this scenario not covered in the pre-made, but I like it!

If I'm last, can I tell ahead of time what the order will be? Specifically, I'm wondering where Sariah is in the order. Although I suspect that even if she were right before me, I still wouldn't have time to replace her bag properly.

And the cheating sounds good. I imagine when we get to it, Kat will want to know how many people are watching.

Still at work and need to do a little prep. Hope to have something tonight.

That's fine. I'm also still at work and Thursday is my IRL game, so I have limited time to update anyway.

I have updated the Additional Information with a Tournament Schedule. My mind doesn't process those sorts of matrices very well or quickly, so that's all I could get done tonight. At least you won't face Sariah until the last day! I'm off work for Easter Weekend starting tomorrow. I am not sure if that means I will be posting more, or less - it just depends on what my family has me planned to do -- I do what I am told!! :)

I think things are ready for you to make your next move now. I will stagger the matches by 5 minutes each, so that will allow you the opportunity to watch the other matches before or after yours. This will allow for a tattle tale option, and also, some roleplay opportunities. As well, then, in total, all of the tournament matches will take a minimum of 30 minutes from your other activities :)

That's fine re: Easter. Between seeing a movie with coworkers yesterday and trying to level up a ridiculously complicated character, I've been busy.

Do I have any idea of how long it would take to re-arm the backpack trap? Or what kind of a check it would be? I'm still trying to decide if it would be worth it to run off and do that while waiting for my turn at the matches since I'd have about 15-ish minutes to do it.

Also, Kat actually asked Brigit a question:

Giggling slightly, Kat leans towards the woman next to her. Softly she says, "Did you see the way Lord Kent looked at that halfling girl? Looks like he may have a crush~" The second sentence it uttered in a slight sing-song tone. "Do you think they know each other?"

What movie did you see? No reset is available on the Poison Dart Trap, sorry. Also, sorry I missed the question. I'll address that now.

"I have not met the man yet, but a man he is. Of all creatures, they are certainly the most predictable, no? I noted he took a little pause as he crossed over you as well! She does not hold a candle to you, after all," she says with a smile. "My thinking is that he is a pig, and has a crush on anything that is female. She shakes her head slightly.

Would that there were men out there that were as random as my favourite dice.

Batman vs Superman. It was better than I was expecting, but that's not actually saying much given that my expectations were pretty low. But I'm a total sucker for movies based on comic book heroes.

And I guess this means I'm going to have to bluff or diplomacize the halfling.

Kat nods. "Ahh, you flatter me. But as far as men go, I fear that is too often true. While boring at times, it does make them easier to manipulate, no?" She winks at the girl.

"Anyway, I just recently got here. I've only had a chance to do a quick look around. Seems the place is rather dull thus far. I'm not sure what exactly they expect us to do during the four days minus 3 hours that we're not doing the tournament. Any ideas?"

I have been watching all the Batman and Superman movies with my daughter. We are planning to go see that movie when we finish them all. We got through the Batman movies, so now it's on to Superman. I think Diplomacy would be the more appropriate of the two in this circumstance.

All as in including the older ones like with Jim Carry as the Riddler? How many movies is that?

Well, I was debating if I wanted to get Sariah to be reasonable or if I just wanted to try lying to her about taking the bag. But I guess I have some time before I'll actually be interacting with her, so... *shrugs*

"Yes, men are indeed easy to manipulate. All the better, although still kind of sad. I still yearn for that strong, unwavering, yet unpredictable in a fun way, man, but have yet to find one even close. My dice suffice, for now. Danu is always close at hand as well."

"I do not get to spend much time in large Keeps. Mostly I wander from place to place, seeking adventure and growing my courage as I learn more about Danu and the world. Personally, I plan to relax, spend time in meditation, explore the grounds a bit, and then spend the other eighty percent of my time looking for matches here in the hall!"

"What brings you here, and what do you plan on doing with your spare time? Perhaps we can dice together for fun, after our official competition, that is.

Danu? From the way she speaks of him/her, I suspect that's her god. Interesting.

"From what I can tell, there isn't much of the grounds to explore. But to be fair, I also wasn't looking too carefully. In fact, it turns out the one place I did take my time looking around was the room of another guest." Kat sighs heavily. "I'm afraid she walked in on me and was rather understandably upset. But given that she left her door unlocked, I'm not really sure what she expected. We were told after all that any place unlocked was free for us to roam. That was actually right before I was brought here."

She wasn't really sure how much telling Brigit about the run in with the halfling would help her case but it probably wouldn't hurt to have a slightly more friendly ear hear her half of the story. At least then that might counter any negative rumors that might spread about her. It really was quite frustrating given that this was one of the few times that it actually had been an innocent mistake.

She leans in to whisper conspiratorially, "I'm really not looking forward to the rest of that conversation; she seemed rather unreasonable. Though hopefully she will have calmed down after this first round of gambling. I'm afraid you're the first friendly person I've thus far interacted with. Hopefully the rest of the tournament's players are sociable as well, but going on how Kara treated me, I suspect they may have already tried her patience to some degree. Have you talked with many of the other people here?"

She wasn't sure how much Brigit had interacted with the others here-- or even how much she'd be willing to divulge (after all, she might appear friendly, but they were enemies in a sense)-- but it wouldn't hurt to ask. It was always much easier to manipulate people if you had some idea about how they ticked.

Kat leans back, returning to her normal talking voice. "As to your question, I like gambling. Although admittedly cards are more my speed than dice, so that's a bit of a disappointment. I might take you up on your offer of a few games, but I wouldn't want to roll out all of my sixes with you leaving me with naught but skulls for the tourney." She gives Brigit a grin.

"I enjoy a card game almost as much as dice. They have their own particular patterns, and a certain degree of randomness that is exciting as well. I'd be up for a game or two in between tournament matches; dice or cards, it matters little. I am more interested in the Purse associated with the Tournament than anything else, were I to be honest."

She smiles and pauses to take a sip from a cup on the table in front of her.

"That's a bit of a situation in regards to the other guest, and since she's the only other female guest, I assume you are talking about Lord Kent's 'crush'?"

Brigit winks conspiratorially.

"I haven't met her, but I think honesty is probably the best policy. An unlocked door could be justification for an open invitation, I suppose. You didn't take anything from her room did you? Probably nothing to worry about, then."

"I am surprised by your comments about Kara. I find her ... umm ... " she pauses, looking up for a moment while she searches for the correct word " ... efficient. Yes, that's the word. Perhaps it came off as rude, but I think she's just busy. Lord Kent, after all, has her doing almost everything around here. Did you know she even cooks all the food? It's a big job, and I suspect, pretty thankless. What did she do or say to you? I arrived yesterday and I believe I was the first. Maybe that's why she seemed so kindly to me."

Kat nods. "Yes indeed. Hopefully she will listen to reason, but I find that anger can often cloud even the most reasonable person. As for Kara, yes she was a bit curt. Although it also struck me as odd that she acted like she thought I might hit her when we first met, which would seem to bode ill. It was an odd combination. Ahh, but it appears the first match may begin soon. Care to come watch it with me?" The more eyes the better. Except on my matches of course.

Kat's pretty much out of things to ask Brigit, so I'm fine with moving forward to the first match. I'm also fine fast forwarding through the matches with you rolling for Kat's perception and just pausing if she actually sees any cheating going on. Although I would like a brief description of the people in the matches.

OK I will hopefully get to doing that tomorrow. Today was a write off. Your first match is actually against Brigit so I can't imagine she'll want to help you watch for cheaters :)

Kat didn't actually say anything to Brigit about watching for cheaters. That's just her internal motivation. :-)

Going to give them to your linearly. We'll suppose that you can watch each game for a few minutes, and during that time, I will roll the perception check and let you know if anyone is cheating if you notice it. I'll try and give you a bit of flavour about the people sitting at the tables, but the "pre-made" is light on the details (which allows more freedom, so not bad), so I need to spend some time building that in.

Table 1

A larger crowd than you knew was in the Keep has gathered to watch the inaugural match with Lord Kent. Perhaps they are servants, or retainers, or maybe some of the other gamblers brought an entourage.

You focus on the players at the table with special interest as this is not only the first match, but it is also a match that features the Lord of the Keep himself. You note that he is a bit overweight, although that may be more muscle than fat underneath his robe. His hook nose is a stark feature that dominates his face, and also explains his nasally voice. He stares with dark eyes across the table at his opponent. "I am Lord Kent, as you already know," Kent says, "and who might you be?"

"I be Jorgas," says the dwarf with dark hair and the ever present braided dwarven beard simply. "Noice ta meet ya, sir. Do ye wunts me ta go first, or should I leaf dat honor fer ye?"

"You may roll first," replies Kent.

As he shakes his small dice box, you hear the rattle of the dice, and Jorgas grins. "Aye. Here we go!" he replies as he throws the dice to the table.

Jorgas Skulls Match 1 Rolls: 3d6 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (4, 3, 2) + 5 + 1 = 15 = 18

"Argh. Not the best rollin, but maybe ye'll roll bad too!"

Lord Kent smiles and throws his dice without comment.

Kent Skulls Match 1 Rolls: 3d6 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (5, 2, 1) + 7 + 1 = 16 = 17

"Good roll," comments the dwarf. "I just got lucky to be sure." A small murmur runs through the crowd.

Lord Kent nods and Jorgas rolls his next turn.

Jorgas Skulls Match 2 Rolls: 3d6 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (2, 4, 2) + 5 + 1 = 14 = 18

"You are consistent, Master Dwarf," says Kent as he rolls his next turn.

Kent Skulls Match 2 Rolls: 3d6 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (1, 4, 4) + 7 + 1 = 17 = 21

A small look of relief passes over Kents face. "Ack. Well done lad! says Jorgas. "This one be fer all de marbles!"

Jorgas Skulls Match 3 Rolls: 3d6 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (6, 1, 2) + 5 + 1 = 15 = 19

Lord Kent's dice were already rattling in his hand before Jorgas even had time to count. You note that Kent is felling confident.

Kent Skulls Match 2 Rolls: 3d6 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (3, 5, 4) + 7 + 1 = 20 = 22

A smile creeps along Kent's face and he leans back in his chair. "Good game." he says and he gets up and leaves the room before Jorgas can even reply.

"Damn. Ah well, I guess it be good dat I didn't beat de Master right?" Jorgas raises both his arms in what looks to be both a celebration and a plea for some love from the crowd. Most of the people scattered, probably the servants who had work to do. A few started walking over to the next Table to see how that match was coming.

You do not notice anything unusual in that game

I'll give you details on the other players as you see them outside the great hall, or during their matches with Lord Kent.

Table 2 - Llewellyn and Medifir

Llewellyn Skulls Match 1 Rolls: 3d6 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (5, 4, 5) + 5 + 1 = 20 = 22
Llewellyn Skulls Match 2 Rolls: 3d6 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (6, 5, 3) + 5 + 1 = 20 = 23
Llewellyn Skulls Match 3 Rolls: 3d6 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (6, 1, 5) + 5 + 1 = 18 = 21

Medifir Skulls Match 1 Rolls: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 3) = 8 = 9
Medifir Skulls Match 2 Rolls: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 5) = 10 = 12
Medifir Skulls Match 3 Rolls: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 5) = 12 = 13

Table 3 - Bredwir and Sariah

Bredwir Skulls Match 1 Rolls: 3d6 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (5, 4, 2) + 4 - 1 = 14 = 17
Bredwir Skulls Match 2 Rolls: 3d6 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (4, 4, 6) + 4 - 1 = 17 = 24
Bredwir Skulls Match 3 Rolls: 3d6 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (1, 5, 1) + 4 - 1 = 10 = 10

Sariah Skulls Match 1 Rolls: 3d6 + 5 ⇒ (4, 4, 1) + 5 = 14 = 18
Sariah Skulls Match 2 Rolls: 3d6 + 5 ⇒ (4, 3, 5) + 5 = 17 = 19
Sariah Skulls Match 3 Rolls: 3d6 + 5 ⇒ (2, 3, 5) + 5 = 15 = 16

Table 4 - Brigit and Kat

Brigit Skulls Match 1 Rolls: 3d6 + 7 + 3 ⇒ (4, 5, 3) + 7 + 3 = 22 = 24
Brigit Skulls Match 2 Rolls: 3d6 + 7 + 3 ⇒ (2, 6, 2) + 7 + 3 = 20 = 25
Brigit Skulls Match 3 Rolls: 3d6 + 7 + 3 ⇒ (5, 2, 4) + 7 + 3 = 21 = 24

You roll next

Kat was surprised by the rounds thus far. Mostly in that she didn't catch anyone cheating. I mean, she was sure there was cheating (she'd have been a fool to think everybody was on the up and up), but it was a tad disturbing to see just how apt the given cheaters were. So not only was she unable to move some opponents towards disqualification, but also she had no idea who the cheaters actually were.

Before picking up her dice Kat stretches out her arms and fingers. Really, this is just an excuse to try to gauge how many people were watching her match besides her opponent and Kara.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

The above might change whether or not I choose to cheat.
Roll 1: 3d6 + 7 ⇒ (1, 1, 3) + 7 = 12 10
Roll 2: 3d6 + 7 ⇒ (2, 5, 6) + 7 = 20
Roll 3: 3d6 + 7 ⇒ (5, 1, 1) + 7 = 14 12

Whelp, those were some crappy rolls.

Edit: Wait, I just realized, are we using different rules? It looks like you're adding half the value again for all even numbers, when I thought you only did that if you rolled the same even number 2 or 3 times?

UGH! I misread the frickin rules. You are correct, but since I get to make up my own rules, I am going to change them to say you get to add 1/2 of all EVEN numbers! :p Well .. .maybe not. I need to head to bed I will decise in the morning!

So the bad math/reading didn't change who actually won the matches. I will correct myself for next time and thanks for catching me :)

Thank you everyone for coming today. The Great Hall is open twenty-four hours a day for those that wish to play or just enjoy each other's company.

I was still actually deciding if I wanted to cheat. But I guess there isn't much of a point; I could probably win one of the three, but the other rolls were pretty bad.

Kat shrugs. "It seems the dice heard my comment about preferring cards."

She stands and looks around again. Generally looking around to see who still here. Specifically if Sariah is still around or if she left.

Sariah is still seated at the table where she played her match. She seems to have hit it off with her opponent; a middle aged human with a balding pate. He is leaning back in his chair, listening and occasionally nodding. Sariah is speaking using her hands and her voice. You cannot hear what they are saying from where you stand.

The other contestants are all gone, except for the dwarf that lost to Lord Kent. He is standing near the food table, a wine cup in his left hand and a roasted leg of something in his right. He is alone.

"I enjoyed our match," Brigit says to Kat over her shoulder. "I am off to have a nap and then I think I will look for a chapel of some other place to worship." With that, Brigit leaves the Hall as well.

I'm a little surprised she didn't immediately run back to her room. Oh well.

Kat smiles and nods at Brigit as she leaves. She follows Brigit out into the courtyard, far enough behind to make it clear that she is coincidentally also heading in the same direction rather than actually following her. She does, however, try to make note of where Brigit heads, so that she knows where her room is.

Kat keeps her pace even and measured, careful to make it appear as though she isn't rushing. She hastily enters her room with a quick glance behind her to see if she was followed, not taking the time to check if her hair is still there. Closing and locking the door behind her, she grabs Sariah's bag and dumps the poison back in it; it's not like she had much use for it anyway.

Did Kat notice any elves as competitors? Or as staff members?

She quickly scrawls a note: "Sloppy. Sloppy. Be more careful in the future." There may be two notes with one written in Elven depending on the answer to the above question. Kat's basically going to slip the note in last minute, using the Elvish script as a misdirection if she saw elves. But she if she's caught replacing the bag, she doesn't want to give away that that's what she's doing, hence putting it in last minute.

She carefully opens her door, keeping the bag well out of sight. If the way is clear, she goes back to Sariah's room, tosses the bag under the bed, and then returns to her room, keeping one ear open at all time for people approaching.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

I'll wait to see if I get caught replacing the bag before doing more. Next step will be checking out that passage in my room.

You follow Brigit back up the stairs. Brigit turns into the second room on the left on the top floor, and nods in your direction as you walk past her on your way to your room.

No elves anywhere in site, sorry

You make it back to your room, unseen by anyone else. You do not see or hear anything unusual in your travels.

Ok, then Kat's just writing the note in Common and using that. So I assume at this point I have successfully replaced Sariah's bag, so I'll continue onwards.

Once safely back in her room, Kat locks the door once again. She rubs her hands together in excitement as she contemplates the hidden passage in her room. Time to start with the interesting things. Got to be more careful this time.

She checks the panel for traps.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 7 + 1 = 9 Ouch

Presumably Finding none, she carefully opens the panel, making sure not to stand directly in front of it less something come shooting out of the opening. She then sticks her head in and looks around.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
I don't remember if there were any torches in the room/what the source of light was, but if necessary, Kat will also grab one.

Thankfully, no trap springs as you open the panel.

The panel is above the fireplace. Inside the small alcove behind the panel, you find ancient silver and moonstone pendant worth 50 gp, a potion of cure light wounds, and a stack of passionate love letters from days of old addressed to “Aloria of the Emerald Eyes.”

You do not find anything else of interest.

Kat blinks and pockets the stuff. Huh, was kind of hoping for more. But I guess it's good there isn't a secret passage in my room. She clicks her tongue against her teeth. Let's see, there were 4 other gamblers whose rooms I haven't identified. There are two more rooms up here. That least two rooms downstairs that are probably guest rooms. I could try the doors off the courtyard, but those are probably best left until I have some cover of night. So I suppose I'll pick a random room downstairs?

Leaving, locking, and hair tracking her room once again, Kat heads downstairs and to the off to one side hallway. Picking the door at the end, she presses her ear against it, searching for sounds of living beings on the other side.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Regardless of if she hears people, she will also check the door for any obvious traps.

Perception for traps: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 1 = 13