Geoffrey's Finest (Inactive)

Game Master CampinCarl9127

No plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

Toramin watches from the hole to intercede if something attacks Rilka.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

"I don't hear anything, but we should appear other than who we are. This place must have guards."

Ianna will cast Improved Sanctuary.

Rilka wonders how many others have tried to break in like this over the years. How successful were they? She lightly steps through the basement, eyes alert for sudden movements.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

I don't think she hears that due to the silence pebble.

Correct, Rilka cannot hear the alarm.

Rilka looks about the room, seeing a dark cellar full of dusty art; paintings stacked in large piles, murals leaning against walls with faint cracks in them, pottery piled in all manners of disarray.

Then she glances at the party and sees them frowning and on edge, Ianna casting a spell. What's got them so jumpy all of a sudden?

Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0

Toramin hears nothing.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Ianna nudges her brother.

"Brother, please go destroy that ladder."

Toramin goes and smites the top of the ladder with his weapon.

Stone Strike: 3d6 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (3, 3, 4) + 10 + 2 = 22 Ignores 18 points of hardness.

FYI, that ladder is the only way up to the next floor that you're aware of. Just wanted to double check that's what you want to do.

Is the loot not in this room? If not, then I don't want to do that.

It is not, it is on display in the main room on the next floor. I have a map of that floor in the header. You are currently in the basement, one floor beneath it.

Something’s wrong...I better get to the ladder. Knowing she’s is silent, Rilka hurries to the eastern side of the room towards the ladder. She wouldn’t be surprised if there are some traps, but at the same time, not anything lethal in case the museum’s staff triggered it. With the dusty boxes, pottery, and paintings, most likely the trap would be a pressure plate in the floor.

Perception for traps: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 26

I thought I should put this down before any combat starts. I indicated the PCs that were given extracts.

Extracts for the day: Six level 1: Ant Haul, Ant Haul (Bjorkus), Shield (Toramin), Shield (Ianna), Blend, and Cure light wounds.
4 level 2: Darkvision, Spider climb, Spider climb (Toramin), Spider climb (Bjorkus)
3 level 3: Invisibility (Bjorkus; used getting Markal), Invisibility, Protection From Arrows (Communal) (cast right before we breached the basement; 9 hours of protection divided: Bjorkus, Toramin, Rilka 1 hour, Dalton and Ianna 3 hours)

Rilka hurries to make her way towards the small room off to the side of the basement. She steps in and looks up to see the trapdoor at the top of the ladder open, and armored boots climbing down the ladder! At least two people, maybe three.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Dalton turned to his colleagues. "Shall we do something to pass the time? We could always leave if things get too heated, but until then, I can't think of much to do besides worry."

Anything violent would draw attention to themselves, and Dalton knew his magic wouldn't do any good to nullify a threat until he knew what it was.

I don’t know what happened to last night’s post. I was positive it was posted, but I was tired. Thus not 100% certain. Sorry.

Rilka hurries back around a pile of pottery and drinks her extracts of spider climb and invisibility. She drops the pebble of silence and begins climbing up the wall, stealthily. If I keep the silence it will signal my presence to the guards. I should warn the others, but the sooner we're out of here the better.

Her plan is to climb the wall to be right next to the ceiling, and then go towards the ladder. Stealth check is +12. You roll for that right, DM Omen?

You can roll the stealth, but I'll do it if we get around to the guard's actions before you get a chance to post again.

The rest of the party suddenly sees Rilka duck back out of the room she was in, drinking an extract before vanishing into thin air. Behind her they hear the clamor of armored boots on stone and disgruntled gnomes.

Currently the rest of the party is standing in the opening in the wall that Dalton made, very exposed and very obviously in a tunnel dug into the basement of the museum.

"Are we the distraction?"

Invisible, just trying to avoid making noise.

Stealth: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32

"It certainly looks that way." The wizard pinched an itch on his nose. "I'm sure they aren't well-versed in this sort of situation; how often do people try to steal art from this museum?"

Dalton looked down the tunnel. "We could say we're a special team that had advance knowledge something like this might happen. My magic would explain our first-to-the-post access."

Though he didn't know how the guards would react, this was a tricky situation, and Dalton didn't know how to formulate a plan that would preserve both their mission and the guards.

Then we should all look like city guards that chased some bad people this way. We will get the guards to help us look for them."

Ianna uses her hat of disguise to give her gnome guise the uniform of a city guardsperson.

Dalton looks at Ianna's costume, then follows suit - to an extent. He puts himself in a robe befitting a wizard in service to the state, keeping the color scheme and symbology to match her.

Toramin sighs and does the same.

Bjorkus does the same. "Let's hope none of 'em get too close to me."

Three gnome guards file into the room, all dressed in medium armor, although one clearly has more decorations than the others and is leading them. It takes less than a quick sweep for them to notice the gaping hole in the wall full of people. The leader gapes in silence for a moment, then goes for his sword, then stops with a puzzled expression. "Hey! Who are you, what are you doing down here!?"

Ianna turns to Dalton, "Explain the situation, Leftenant."

Bluff (Aid Another): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Bluff: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27

Dalton sighed.

"As you command," he turned his attention from the hole to the group. "We are part of a special task force sent to sensitive situations such as this. Because we are privy to exceptional intelligence, we often get to situations as they arise. In this case, we knew there was likely to be a break-in before it happened. However, the single thief down there is very slippery - so slippery, the best way to apprehend her is to leave a honey pot available. Like this museum." He turned to "officer" Ianna. "Don't be too mad at the guards there; this burglar is talented, surely some special abilities aiding her heists, so it's no surprise she bypassed them. It might be best if they kept eyes on the perimeter instead of this room though; she can't come through here, but if she has another exit somehow, surrounding the area is the safest course of action to catch her. Ma'am."

Dalton bowed slighlty and went back to inspecting the edges of his tunnel. Maybe I should've been an architect.

Ianna sniffs. "You are saying it is no fault of theirs that they let a thief tear open a wall in their museum and waltz right passed them?"

Her voice softens with something like approval. "Despite all that, you response time is impressive. And your alarms are clearly topnotch."

First she sets them off balance and then gives them a taste of honey.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

"Special...task force?" The gnomes exchange confused looks. "Wait, you knew that there was going to be a break in? Why didn't anybody tell us!?" The leader cries in indignation. One of the other guards bristles, while the last one starts scanning the rest of the room with a suspicious look. The leader shakes his head. "Who are you? I'll have to inform captain Jezalband that you're here."

"And let the thief escape? I believe my superior's former assessment was more on the mark," Dalton sniffed and looked deeper into the tunnel. "She's a good way in. If those guards are abandoning this job, I'll have to use my wall to box her off somewhat."

"We believe that she has some association with Villichi, and we are having enough trouble with information ending up in his hands already thank you very much. I believe the only really question is why are you wasting our time and hindering our pursuit of a suspect you let walk past you!!"

"She?" The head guard looks angry, but not suspicious. "Bah, you even knew details about the thief! Jezalband will not be happy at all about this lack of communication. Come on, apparently the privileged team has this covered." The leader directs the others and they all go back up the ladder where they came from.

After the guards had departed, Dalton leaned-in to his companions. "I can port us out of here if we're together. Should we go in to get her or wait until she comes to us? Or should we let her fare on her own?"

Dalton will go along with the prevailing wisdom.

I should have made a shrinking extract, she thinks. As she hangs on the ceiling next to the hole, she listens for any gnomes that haven’t come down the ladder. She lifts her head through the hole. After double checking the three gnomes that went down the ladder and into the basement, Rilka attempts to crawl through the hole.

If she gets through the hole without being detected, she’ll approach the Revelation, walking softly. I don’t remember rolling for trap finding when she was sketching in the museum, but looking for likely places to check for traps was partly what that was about. So she’ll check those places now.

Perception (trap finding): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33

"I think we must trust that she knows her business."

The rest of the party waits, unable to see Rilka work. They trust her going about her business.

Rilka sneaks back down the ladder and to the group. As she approaches the group she gives a soft pre-arranged whistle to get their attention and let them know it’s her invisibly approaching. ”There are four guards above in the main room. Two by the front door. Two standing twenty feet to the right of the Revelation.”

See my note in the Discussion thread.

"Good to see you well, Miss Featherfeet!"

Dalton considered Rilka's words a moment.

"I believe our resident priestess is better suited to matters of others' minds if you're looking for something kind. We could simply outpace them too; I could always have you fly off if you feel that's best."

I'm assuming Dalton's level 4 spell slots are essentially exhausted for the stone shapes. He is averse to spending the level 5 ones with the immense danger of seeing their copies. He wants the wall available to ward them off if possible and teleport to escape if necessary.

”Okay Ianna will affect their minds. Dalton, you have the scroll, still?” Rilka’s voice says from her invisible body. ”I have the two tanglefoot bags for the guards by the door ready to go. Once I unleash them, I’m sure the other two guards will attack me. I’ll lead them into the southeastern corner while everybody comes up the ladder. Now’s the time to do this. I’ll get the silenced stone and provide an escort to the ladder. I’ll leave it at the top of the ladder, on the floor, so make sure you get clear of it before casting. Or just kick down here. Someone can quietly count to tell when I’m back, and we can use a visual signal too. Just hold hands and I’ll hold Ianna’s then we can calmly walk together.”

A brief amount of time later, silence engulfs the others. On the floor a chalk circle about the size of an apple is made. A wavy line bisects it.

So, unless anyone has any other concerns, let’s get this heist finished. At the top of the ladder, Rilka will leave the pebble by the ladder. She stealthily walks to the eastern wall and approaches the front door. If she can get behind the guards half way between them, she’ll use a full round action to throw a tanglefoot bag at each guard.

Stealth: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16
Touch ranged attack Guard #1: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
Touch ranged attack Guard #2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Rilka suddenly appears next to the two guards leaning against the main door, slamming them both with tanglefoot bags. One gets doused with it, but the other avoids getting attached to the floor!

INIT!
Rilka
Dalton
Guards 1/3
Bjorkus
Toramin
Guards 2/4
Ianna

Rilka and Dalton to act! The rest of the party is about fourty feet from the the guards, although at opposite ends of the room.

Conjuring his floating disk, Dalton stepped behind Rilka and moved the invisible platform in front of Rilka, brushing her forehead with it so she was aware of its presence.

No map, but I'm assuming him, her, and the disk are in a line on the way towards the enemy now.

I realized after my previous post, that post would have been a surprise round. Rilka should only have gotten one standard or move action, not a full-round action for the two attacks. Should we ignore the second attack then? I prefer doing that since it’s at the beginning of combat and adhering to the rules is only fair.

Appearing like a female gnome, Rilka shouts, ”Villichi gets what Villichi wants! And he wants that,” she draws a rapier and points it at the Revelation, while taking a step back towards the eastern wall.

Move action: Draw rapier while moving 5’ towards the wall.
Standard action: Touch ranged attack guard #2
OR If both attacks were allowed, a move action to move closer to the desk in the southeastern corner.

Touch ranged attack Guard #2: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

I nearly had Rilka claim the attack was orchestrated by the “Non-Bleaching Merry Prankster Society and Knights and Dames of Lord Fluxus.”

Ah you're right Rilka. Well you were successful either way!

The guard that avoided the worst of the tanglefoot bag cries out in alarm. "THIEVES IN THE MAIN ROOM!" He proceeds to draw his long sword and charge forward...running square into the invisible disc. With an Oomph he falls to the ground.

One of the guards to the north draws his longsword and steps forward, pointing it with all the authority he can muster. "You're under arrest, surrender and there will be no bloodshed!"

INIT!
Rilka
Dalton
Guards 1/3
Bjorkus
Toramin
Guards 2/4
Ianna

Bjorkus and Toramin to act!

Do we have a map?

Bjorkus brandishes his disguised sword and speaks an arcane verse that fills his companions with confidence and strength.

Good hope. +2 morale bonus to d20 rolls and weapon damage rolls.

I don't have your figured added to the map, but two guards are at the bottom wall near the center and two are at the top right corner. You all came out on the right wall in the center.

Toramin will swiftly move to the north to confront the guard he demanded their surrender.

Non-Lethal Smack Down: 1d20 + 16 - 4 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 16 - 4 + 2 = 20
Damage: 3d6 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (2, 1, 5) + 10 + 2 = 20