Motteditor's Strange Aeons PBP (Inactive)

Game Master motteditor

Kyffin very nearly joins Tristain in his bonking. He hopes Albert can step in again and bring some sanity to the proceedings. He feels adrift. Is this woman the enemy? Or is she just clueless? Dangerous either way. he fears.

He tries another tack.

"The Count hired us to do a job, and we've done it. I guess. We need to report to him immediately, and if he's unavailable, we should probably report to you. Open the door, it's important!"

Intimidate: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

"The count isn't here. You can report to me through the door, but I'm under strict orders not to open it," she replies, seeming unconcerned about the half-orc's commanding presence. "I'm sure you understand what would happen if I disobeyed, and without the count or magistrate here, I'm afraid my hands are tied."

"Okay then, now that that's handled, I'm going to go back and take care of that door. I'm not going to be of much use to you going on now," Tristain says, wishing the party well and meaning to get that door off it's hinges.

He goes back to get his hammer and then back to building a fire to burn down the door, which is a great idea.

Tristain stops his bonking, thinking about things before and the proper solution to doors.

"They aren't being helpful. We should burn the door," Tristain says. "If they won't open it, we should burn it down."

Tristain feels he's making a very good point that he recalls making before. Then he goes back to bonking. But he thinks burning down the door so that they can get inside is a good idea.

Heinrich stares of the bonking mad man. "Ignore him. He's still not recovered from our stint in the lunatic asylum. Makes him edgy, you know. What would happen if you disobeyed?"

Tenebrynn shoots Tristain a look, "What is with you and always wanting to burn doors?" The gnome then tugs on Winter's pant leg, "You know Omari, right? Cesadia mentioned her, but all I can really offer the lady behind the door is a name."

The constable's words then seem to catch up to her and Tenebrynn's head snaps toward the door, "Wait, the magistrate is missing too? What happened to the magistrate?"

Tristain knows he's right. Fire. Burn the door with fire. He keeps bonking, waiting for others to realize he was right, like he was before.

*bonk*
*bonk*
*bonk*

*bonk*
*bonk*
*bonk*

Albert listens to the questioning and gets suspicious of the lady. He steps closer and sniffs in her direction.

detect evil

"No Count, no Magistrate, and no Omari. Are you sure you don't know anything about their whereabouts?"

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

"He's not missing, he's simply not here. He had to leave town on an important errand," she replies, as Albert's first sniffs do detect some evil in front of him. "And if I disobeyed him, I'd probably suffer his wrath when he returned, which I hope you can understand I don't wish to do."

You can see she's shaking her head at Al's question.

"I don't know this Omari. I'm sorry if someone told you she came here but they must be mistaken. Or perhaps she came but I didn't hear her knocking and she left. Now, I'm afraid I really must be about my own work..."

"I don't think either of those things are what happened to Omari, Constable." Tenebrynn's voice is low and worried as she glances up at Winter. She shakes her head, the gesture small and subtle, as she offers a helpless shrug before turning back to the door and the woman beyond. "Are you the only person who answers the door? Maybe someone else let her in?"

Tristain listens to the conversation, rolling his eyes up in his head. Fire. Burn the door with fire.

*bonk*
*bonk*
*bonk*

*bonk*
*bonk*
*bonk*

Heinrich listens and looks at the bonking man. 'Maybe he's not as mad as he seems...'

How heavy does the door look? Does Kyffin think he'll be able to knock it down with effort, or is it more solid than that?

Kyffin looks on and considers ways into the compound. He looks for places ropes might be lashed where they could climb in if the door is as solid as he suspects.

Doesn't look like she's going to let us in.

"Thanks for your time Constable. We'll be back to see the Count. Thanks." he looks at the others in the party, "Let's go." He starts to walk away, and will walk over the next hill, clump of trees, any reasonable cover from the fortified building before stopping.

"OK. Anyone have any ideas for getting in there? I don't like that woman - somethings going on. I think if we can get in there, we'll find out more about our pasts, and what's going on with all these missing folks."

Is the smiley face on the village map the fort?

Yes, that is the fort, Tenebrynn. The doors look heavy -- unlikely to open with a single blow, though you suspect you could get them open in time. Possibly by burning them down, possibly some other way. Shutters are closed on upstairs windows, but again, you could potentially find a way in through there.

"I don't think that's likely," the woman says, voice growing tense. "Now, I really do have things I must be doing. Good day."

She closes the peephole as you retreat.

Albert continues sniffing for evil through the tense conversation and even for several moments after she closes the peephole. He thinks he understands Kyffin's plan and follows with the party over the hill. Al will tell the party the results of the detect evil when they get over the hill

"She ain't a good one, that's for sure. Do we smash and burn our way in there, or do we look for a sneaky route? She likely had guards watching us during that exchange, and they may be expecting we're coming back for them. I say we move quickly, before they can hide anything." Al gives Tristain the nod that says lets burn that door to ashes.

Tristain follows Kyffin away from the fort, his needs to head bang diminished after his recent efforts. Like Kyffin, his mind is now more focused on getting into the fort.

"I think there is something wrong in there. They should have been nicer and probably should have let us in," Tristain agrees with himself, nodding vigorously with his own words. "What we need to do is burn down the door. With fire. Fires are very good against wooden doors, you see."

Tristain ponders a bit more, staring at the small halfling, Tenebrynn.

"If you thought for a moment you could fit through one of those slits, I'd make you invisible for long enough to open the door for us, maybe. Probably. If you moved quickly, you probably wouldn't die horribly chopped to bits by the guards inside. Or fire. We should use fire."

Al detected the faint presence of evil.

Winter looks pained at Tristain's words.

"Getting in would certainly be helpful," she says, "but maybe fire would attract too much attention?"

Tenebrynn nods energetically at Winter's words, "Exactly! What she said! No more burning down doors, Tristain!" She then shifts tone and offers, "If we have rope it would be easy for me to get up on the roof or the second floor. If we find a good spot, I could tie the rope off and everyone could climb up!"

"If we have rope it would be easy for me to get up on the roof or the second floor. If we find a good spot, I could tie the rope off and everyone could climb up!"

Tristain seems really excited by the plan. He nods his head vigorously.

"Once you're on top, then we start burning the door down?"

Whatever works. Happy to apply vanish to you going up the side or going in through a slit.

"I can apply an alchemical solution that would allow you to climb like a tree lizard, granting you the ability to scale surfaces with ease, Tennebrynn. It would only take me a minute of preparation to create, if you consent." Heinrich is already mixing chemicals into an infusion of animal aspect.

"Oh?" Tenebrynn seems excited by the thought of sticking to walls. "I've never climbed a wall like a lizard before - that sounds fun!"

How high are the walls to the fort, mott? Tenebrynn can hit a 35ft vertical leap by taking 10.

The main area of Fort Hailcourse is 20 feet high, with the five round towers and the donjon reaching a height of 40 feet. There's now a map on the village map link.

Winter looks nervous.

"This plan ... it may work, but I'm not a good climber," she admits ruefully. "I don't know if I will be able to get up, even with a rope. Unless you have enough solution for two of us..."

She doesn't know Tenebrynn can leap up on her own.

"Oh, you can take the lizard drink then, Winter. I'll just jump up." Tenebrynn then slings her pack off her shoulders and starts rummaging around inside, almost vanishing into depths of the bag. She comes up a moment later, somehow now with a brightly mottled leaf and a length of vibrant blue string caught in her hair, and shrugs, "I don't have any rope in here. Maybe we could buy some in town and come back? Plus, then the constable and anyone inside could see us walking back into town and we can sneak back later!"

Added an arrow to the map for the point of entry that looks best

Heinrich nods and stows the infusion once done. "Your mind has a natural criminal bent, Tenebrynn. I wonder what your previous life was like."

Tristain nods at the plan.

"We go back into town to buy some rope...and then we scale the side? Sure, that's a plan that won't have any issues."

Tristain follows the party back to town to buy rope, then to where Tenebrynn and Lady Winter are going to begin their scale. He will knot the rope so that he can climb it more easily.

"Danged kids, what were you'all doing back there at the market, ain't none of you have the sense to get some gear? I've got rope and a grappling hook right here." Albert shoulders his backpack to the ground and show the party what a pack should look like.

"Now lets get in that fort before they do anything with Omari, 'cause I'll bet a platinum crown she's in there. Should we run a diversion at the door, or just all of us sneak up on the side?"

Tenebrynn shrugs, both at Heinrich's question and at Albert's. All she really has to show from their time in the asylum, apart from her own discarded belongings they'd found in the room with the starting corner, is the magical backpack she wears and the minor charm hanging from her neck. "Haven't needed anything else, I guess."

"Good man Albert. I have a few things, but rope slipped through the cracks. Let's head into town anyway as Tristain suggests. I'll get some rope and a grapple for myself, silk if I can get it, so we have more than one rope going during our climb."

GM, can I get a 50' length of silk rope and grapple?

Whatever rope he can get, he buys, and knots - ready for action.

When everyone has gotten what they need, he heads back to their target and wonders if they can approach unseen...

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 looking for the best way to close, though apparently the main road looks good.

You can get rope and grapple.

Kyffin doesn't find any other easy approach. However, as you're looking around, you see a couple figures walk by on the roof and realize that it's open battlements. Sorry, my bad reading on the map; you can climb up onto the roof, but it's not completely empty.

Kyffen, on spying the guards, suggests, "They may yet be innocents. We should try to leave the guards alive if we can. Just unconscious."

"Let's watch and see how often they come by. Maybe we can avoid them entirely with a little luck and speed."

Kyffin will watch a few guard rotations to see if there's a pattern - but not longer than 15 minutes or a half hour. Then he'll suggest rushing the fortress just after they walk by during the longest duration in the pattern (if any).

Tristain is happy to be swimming in rope now, but still thinks that burning down the door is the better idea: it always is. He follows Kyffin in his scoutings and tries to help.

When others are ready, he will wait for Tenebrynn to do her thing, then scramble up the knotted rope (taking 10).

You return to the fort that afternoon, new rope and grapple in hand, Winter having now arrayed herself in her combat gear: a chain shirt and fine dagger hanging that hangs off her hip.

Kyffin waits for the guards to come back, and after 30 minutes, he hasn't seen them make another rotation -- they certainly don't appear to be patrolling constantly.

So I'm assuming Tenebrynn is going to jump up at the indicated spot, secure the grapple, and then you're going to each climb up? What order are you going? Any other preparations?

Kyffin will climb first on one rope. He will cast Bull's Strength on himself just as he begins to climb (taking 10 for a 16 total).

Tenebrynn giggles softly from her position in cover, "This is going to be fun!" A moment later, and she leaps the distance to the foot of the wall in one bound, then straight up onto the edge of the roof in another. She stays low, trying to stay out of sight as she secures the knotted rope and grapple for the others.

Stealth: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24

Heinrich climbs as well, taking 10 for a result of 12!

Tristain climbs up last, also taking his time on the knotted rope.

Take 10 for a 9.

1d3 ⇒ 3

Tenebrynn leaps up to the room, which turns out to be largely wide open, though her view is largely blocked by a room that rises above the floor of the level. Setting the grapple, she watches Kyffin scramble up, followed by Heinrich.

Before Al, Winter and Tristain can make it, however, Heinrich suddenly sees a figure on top of the turret to their left. Worse, it's turning a ballista mounted up their in your direction! A massive races past Tenebrynn's head, slamming into the building right behind her!

[spoiler=Surprise Round]
1d3 ⇒ 3
Ballista: 1d20 + 7 - 4 - 2 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 7 - 4 - 2 - 2 = 6

Hentrich can act in the surprise round, then everyone is up for Round 1 (it's going to start reloading the ballista). Notice that there are other towers on the "village map" but I'm trying to zoom in a little in the combat map. Al, Tristain and Winter are still on the ground level. Also, he's technically up another story that's not apparent on the map.

"WARE!" Heinrich shouts, taking the time to pull a bomb from his supplies!

Heinrich pulls his bomb as you can barely see the man start to reload the ballista you can see him moving around there, and it seems a safe assumption that's what he's doing.

Entire party is up for Round 1

Heinrich flings his bomb at the ballista loading man!
Bomb!: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13 for 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 5) + 3 = 10 fire damage and 5 splash (Reflex DC 13 halves). Miss direction: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Al scrambles up the rope to join his companions.

climb: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

Round 1, Init 15

Tristain double moves, climbing up as fast as he can.

1d20 - 1 ⇒ (8) - 1 = 7 Climb vs. DC5
1d20 - 1 ⇒ (10) - 1 = 9 Climb vs. DC5

I'd say Tristain was able to make it to the top, eh? Place him where he can cower effectively.

Round 1, Initiative: 11

Not wanting to engage the ballistae, he heads to the eastern side of the building and looks to open the door (move and open if it’s unlocked). If it opens, and he sees the stairs, he calls out, ”Quickly, this way!” if it doesn’t open, he’ll try to batter it down (move and bash if it’s locked).

Strength: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

First of all, grr. I hate losing posts, like I just did with this one.

As Tenebrynn rushes toward the tower -- hoping to stop the attack from firing the ballista again -- Kyffin heads the other way, pushing open the door to discover two wide cabinets with reinforced doors standing against the north wall and an ascending stairway. A perforated metal bin sits near the fireplace in the northeastern corner.

Heinrich flings a bomb toward the attacker, but it falls well short, exploding with a small boom against the fort's wall, as Al, Tristain and Winter scramble up the rope. The latter, unfortunately, only manages to get about halfway up.

Party is up!

I thought Winter popped that infusion of Heinrich's to get a climb speed?

With having narrowed the distance to the tower, Tenebrynn bounds up into the air, somersaulting once before landing beside the ballista and the figure manning it. The air whips violently around her, her hair pulling free from the string she used to tie it up, and she wags a finger chidingly at the guard. "Hi. Time to stop shooting at my friends!"

Acrobatics (jump): 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (16) + 24 = 40

Double move: up 4 squares, left 2; draw dagger as part of the move

Oh, wasn't sure if we still wanted her to do so. If so, she's at the top. Feel free to retcon that in.

Round 2, Init 15

Tristain draws his new wand, 5' stepping to the right. He fires at the man operating the ballista, trusting the magic of the wand to find the target.

"gad-ZOOKS!"

Wand of Magic Missile (5): 49/50 left
3d4 + 3 ⇒ (2, 1, 2) + 3 = 8 force damage

Wanting to support the brave Tenny, Al races forward along the wall seeking entrance to the tower of the ballista.

double move puts Al in the square between the tower and inner courtyard. If Al can get one square further and be next to the door of the tower by acrobatically jumping the gap 15' in front of him, then he'll do that with an acrobatics +9

You tell me if you want to try to jump that, though you certainly could potentially leap that distance; it will be difficult because there is a wall there, so you'll be leaping over the wall too.