Of Kings and Commoners - Kingmaker AP

Game Master RPGGGM

I'm done I assume with move and standard actions

Scarlet's blades's hilts seem unusually greasy (Reflex DC 14 to hold on to each weapon)

Posh shakes his head as something doesn't seem right about this situation as he steps out of the tent with Zokon, ignores the sound and tries to focus on any other movement or sound he can percieve.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

"We are dealing with illusions. There is no beast, but there is someone out there..." he states, knowing this sound must've come from someone or something.

Thought about countersong, but a few issues. 1: has to be a sonic or language-dependent effect that allows a will save 2: Must be with Perform (keyboard, percussion, wind, string, or sing), but if 1 is true if the GM will allow, Posh did state he was spending time with Esme to learn some vocal practices and might be allowed to do perform sing untrained?

Reflex Save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Scarlet keeps her eyes peeled, but suddenly loses her grip on her swords. She juggles them briefly before dropping them.

"Ugh. Come on out, you magician! Your stupid tricks ain't gonna save you now."

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Zokon will look around seeing if he can any clues about their visitor

Visitor? Even if the sound is trickery, greasing Scarlets blades does not bode well. I'd rather consider it an "assailant" than a visitor. Also, do I get to re-roll a Will Save with Poshment pointing out something's wrong?

Visitor? Even if the sound is trickery, greasing Scarlets blades does not bode well. I'd rather consider it an "assailant" than a visitor. Also, do I get to re-roll a Will Save with Poshment pointing out something's wrong?

Go ahead. Speaking of which Scarlet you can have a save for you left hand too.

Zokon looks about quickly and notes someone had tied a bit of string around the arrows in his quiver.

Oh yeah, I guess the Reflex Save is for each hand.

Reflex Save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

I guess it didn't matter, there.

"I'm all slippery here."

Hearing Scarlet, Alia blushes, although she does not know why.
Will Save Re-Roll: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19 23 if +4 bonus

Celyne and Luna draw themselves up ready for a fight. Just then from out of the underbrush bursts--a squirrel!

"Cheeble." It says and one of Numalar's scroll cases drops from its mouth.

Zokon unties his arrows.

" Anyone have any idea, what this could be? I just found some string tied around my arrows. We better all check our weapons for usability after we leave here"

Numalar gets up and rubs his eyes. "What? What is it?"

Just then from out of the underbrush bursts--a squirrel!

"Cheeble." It says and one of Numalar's scroll cases drops from its mouth.

Numalar looks at the case, and then at his belongings. One of his cases is missing!

"Hey!" he says, looking at the squirrel. He approaches cautiously, and if the squirrel makes no hostile moves, he picks up the scroll case. "Cheeble indeed," he says as he eyes the squirrel quizzically. He looks over his belongings to see if anything else is missing.

"Deucedly odd," Numalar says. "Maybe there's more to you than meets the eye, eh?" he says to the squirrel.

He produces his symbol and makes a few passes with it, and his eyes seem to turn solid gold.

Casting detect magic and looking around.

Spellcraft (just in case): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
Knowledge: Arcana (likewise): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Numalar, this was the case your copy of the charter was in. It is now empty.

Currently, the only out of place magical effects are centered on Scarlet's blades and out in the woods (east, northeast and southeast).

The squirrel tilts its head to one side. "Cheeble?"

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

"It seems to be an ordinary squirrel." Celyne says.

From somewhere out eastward the party hears laughter.

Celyne and Luna draw themselves up ready for a fight. Just then from out of the underbrush bursts--a squirrel!

"Cheeble." It says and one of Numalar's scroll cases drops from its mouth.

Posh looks at this Squirrel for a moment, takes a moment to move a little closer to the creature and then casts speak with animals.

"So, who sent you to us?" posh asks, ignoring the laughter and just watching the animal.

Numalar, this was the case your copy of the charter was in. It is now empty.

Numalar looks in the empty tube, and tries upending it just in case he is not seeing it. Nothing comes out.

"Macrathane's Codpiece! My charter was in there."

Currently, the only out of place magical effects are centered on Scarlet's blades and out in the woods (east, northeast and southeast).

The squirrel tilts its head to one side. "Cheeble?"

From somewhere out eastward the party hears laughter.

"Friends, this little fellow seems to lack direction. His enchanting presence might head to the west, or northwest or southwest, if he continues on his journey."

Bluff (to pass a secret message) Take 10: 10 + 13 = 23

Numalar continues to gaze vaguely eastwards. Continuing concentrating on dispel magic.

Sir Didymus gets up, and sniffs the air in the general direction of the squirrel.

"Woof?"

He begins to move very slowly towards the squirrel (but will surely give chase if the squirrel bolts).

Squirrel, do you want to be a familiar? Because thats how you become a familiar!

Alia vaguely gazes in the direction of the laughter, shouting "Show yourself!" in the general direction.
Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Sir Didymus gets up, and sniffs the air in the general direction of the squirrel.

"Woof?"

** spoiler omitted **

He begins to move very slowly towards the squirrel (but will surely give chase if the squirrel bolts).

Posh shakes his head and turns to the Dog.

Are we still in rounds? If not:

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Scarlet takes a quick glance around, then ducks back into her tent to get her hammers.

Technically we are still in rounds. However you can reach into and manipulate items in adjacent squares though technically I am going with the flat side opposite the point being the side of the tent that opens.

Numalar, I assume you mean detect magic and I roger that. Celyne casts detect magic as well.

Luna edges forward. Celyne tries to hold her back. but....

handle animal (heel): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Vega paws the bars of his cage while ducked.
You just watch those two, little one. If it was not for these iron bars holding me, I would pounce you...

Zokon will range around a bit outside the camp looking for tracks/sign

Survival tracking: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

** spoiler omitted ** The squirrel's beady, black eyes dart among the party but linger over Sir Didymus and Luna suspiciously. It makes a face-washing motion with its tiny, little forepaws.

...I'm not sure if that's an insult or just a very astute observation...Maybe I'll need to get Naleska a bath...

Posh raises a eyebrow and then asks
"Who are 'The Sarkly Lords'that you mentioned? Are they nearby and are they dangerous to people like us and Smells-of-burnt-dog? Posh asks getting more and more confused at the situation.

The squirrel wipes its face again.

Celyne again tries to get Luna to return and guard her.

handle animal: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Then goes back to diligently watching around the perimeter of the camp for any signs of danger.

Looking about within the camp, Zokon does find some strange tracks.

With her weapons ready, Scarlet notices Posh is talking to her. "What are ya talking about, Posh? Who asked you about Sarkly lords?"

Scarlet decides to double up with Zokon and search the tracks.
Knowledge(Nature): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
"Oh! Is it a...no, it can't be...um...what was I thinking about again?"

Aid kn nature Scarlet: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Celyne, with Luna right behind her, guarding her as ordered, tries to help zokon with the tracks...

know nature: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

"I believe they are grig tracks... they are little fey creatures... faeries with the bodies of grasshoppers and relentlessly mischievous as I recall..."

" Seems we have a culprit then, how can we get it to go away and leave my arrows alone?

"Fey?", Alia still seems on edge, scanning the area the laughter came from..."The good kind, or the bad kind?"
Looking at the empty scroll case with the charter missing, she relaxes visibly:"Not the bad kind, it seems. Those wouldn't find satisfaction in such childish mischief", but she keeps her blade ready and quickly looks towards Celyne, with a questioning look on her face asking for confirmation - before turning to the others "Sorry for the not-quite-necessary alarm, I guess...at least you know it's not me and posh pranking you while you sleep."

"No, they're not bad, just with a wild sense of prankish humor... but they can become pretty dangerous if vexed, so let's not provoke them too much."

Celyne calls out in sylvan...

"Hence my slippery swords. Well, no harm done I guess." Scarlet holsters her hammers and then returns to collect her greased up swords.

Posh shakes his head and turns to the Dog.

"No, you cannot eat him." Posh states simply, looking to Numalar for support "Right?"

Numalar looks over at Posh quizzically. "What?"

He looks over at Sir Didymus as he eyes the squirrel. "Oh, right. Down, boy. That's not for you."

*snort*

Sir Didymus plops down on the grass dejectedly, decidedly not looking at anyone.

"I believe they are grig tracks... they are little fey creatures... faeries with the bodies of grasshoppers and relentlessly mischievous as I recall..."

"Seems we have a culprit then, how can we get it to go away and leave my arrows alone?

Numalar turns to the others, whispering. "I don't think the grig is alone. I detect three magical signatures east of us. Nevertheless... they are not hostile. But perhaps... they like stories?"

Numalar turns and faces east again. He begins to speak in a firm, clear voice.

"*Ahem.* A Grig you say? That reminds me of a story. There was this Grig named Ableena, who very badly wanted to visit the Guacamole Mountains..."

Perform (Oratory): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

Numalar spins a whimsical yarn in the style of his Bard friend Ableena Gampoodlajist. The story will be madcap and goofy, and he'll keep going until something emerges or it looks certain that this plan is not working.

"Posh... if that doesn't work, maybe try some jokes?"

Alia looks at Numalar, somewhat puzzled until she remembers all the cliches about Gnomes she heared: "So, no more sleep? If you mean to take over my watch shift and spend it entertaining the creatures who disrupted your sleep, I won't say no-", she shrugs before sheating her blade and returning to the fire, while remembering some old saying that nothing good will come of dealing with tricksters...and all fey were, to some extent, in good or bad ways...but then, gnomes had mostly inherited that part of their nature and so far, things were fine with those she knew - one gnome popped back from the dead, the other seemed to be after every female he ran into, but otherwise, they were normal people.
Glancing at Numalar starting up a story, she shakes her head disapprovingly one last time before entering her tent - Still, they had their fun, best to let it go...not encourage them by rewarding them for their pranking - or they'll be back until they tire of us.

Alia of the Blade wrote:

Earlier during the watch:

"It is a strange question, mostly because I think it's difficult to answer. I feel one would need to know both sides, to be aware of the difference...but I can try. It is safety. Warmth. Unconditional love. All things one can never cherish while young, because it's always been that way. You only notice when you strike out on one's own path in life, far from family...I understand you grew up without parents? Siblings?"

______________________________

Later during the watch:

"Something's coming!", Alia states as she stands and throws the stone she cast light on earlier towards the western underbrush, readying her Estoc:"Posh, wake up Zokon!"
Stone Light duration remaining: 20-1d20 minutes

Earlier during the watch:

Posh simply shakes his head.
"No Siblings or parents. There were a group of people I worked with and often called themselves a 'family' but it had none of those things. Possibly safety when we were hidden from authorities." he thinks very hard for a moment as to what else he should say on the matter. "As stupid as this may sound, I feel more at home here with you and everyone than back then, even at the point when I was living in noble attire, large bedroom, any woman I wanted and more gold than a Dragon's horde I still felt something was...wrong? Missing? I still never felt safe, just alone."

______________________________

Later during the watch:

At this Posh gets up and heads for Zokon first and attempts to wake him up best he can.
"Zokon, something is coming. I didn't see it, but Alia's got her blade ready!" he shouts, attempting to wake up Zokon, but also hoping to wake up everyone else with his shouting.

in all the excitement it seems both me and Alia forgot the conversation that was supposed to happen before these fey arrived.

in all the excitement it seems both me and Alia forgot the conversation that was supposed to happen before these fey arrived.

To avoid too much temporal divergence we'll just say that your 'earlier that night' bit got crashed by the squirrel at the last point you spoke. This of course gives you both a good reason to live long enough to make it to your next watch and finish the conversation. Positive reinforcement!

Numalar, I'm going to assume you hold off on starting your story for at least 2 rounds (12 seconds) so that you can continue to concentrate on detect magic. Celyne had detect magic up at the time as well.

Assuming Numalar doesn't say different the tale takes a minute (10 rounds). That said you are all still in camp and near a fire so it doesn't take much visual acuity to note your actions.

Scarlet grabs her weapons, wipes the gunk off of them as best she can, then sheathes them.

When Numular starts recounting a tale, Scarlet can't help but join in.

Perform Assist: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
"Is that the same waterfall that looks like a rainbow? I heard it tastes like cotton candy!"

Zokon approaches Numalar and Celyne with an idea

"Hey guys, you seem to be looking for signs of magic, well aren't the charters magical? If so you might be able to find where it is via your detections."

Numalar, I'm going to assume you hold off on starting your story for at least 2 rounds (12 seconds) so that you can continue to concentrate on detect magic. Celyne had detect magic up at the time as well.

I thought I could talk and still concentrate on a spell? I had planned to maintain the spell the whole time, but if that is not possible Celyne can do it.

"Is that the same waterfall that looks like a rainbow? I heard it tastes like cotton candy!"

"The very same! Though it tastes like anything you want it to taste like, as long as it is sweet."

A story can take longer than 1 minute, so as I said above I will continue for a while until there is either some response or I feel I am not getting anywhere. I will finish with:

"She had nowhere to go! So to escape the Iron Hag, the Grig Ableena jumped off the cliff! She fell and fell, but managed to catch herself on a tree branch sticking out from the cliff. So there she was, dangling over a 1000-foot chasm, hanging by a little twig!"

"What happened then? Well... that's a story for another time."

A literal cliff-hanger. :)

"Hey guys, you seem to be looking for signs of magic, well aren't the charters magical? If so you might be able to find where it is via your detections."

"A spell was used to create duplicates of the original," Numalar whispers, "but our charters themselves are not magical, as far as I have been able to discern."

People talk and do not concentrate on what they are saying all the time, but actually telling an entertaining story (or conducting any other sort of performance involving actual time and dice rolling) requires some concentration (a standard action or better) to pull off. It would be the same if you were attempting to influence them via Bluff, Diplomacy or Intimidate. They all take time and concentration.

A story can take longer than a minute. I just wanted to set the minimum length of time that it would take to influence your audience with your tale this time around. That said during that first minute what would folks like to do? Direct 'call outs' don't seem to work or at least haven't so far. During the course of the telling there are hoots, guffaws and giggles in all the inappropriate places, that seem to emanate from woods.

The charters do actually have the equivalent of an arcane mark upon them making them sort of oaths given paper form. This was determined some time ago by Numalar and he would recognize the mark again should he see it. The magical copying effect was accomplished via an effect similar to fabricate.

At some point during the performance there's gasp from the east. "Cor! Says here that I can hang bandits!"

"What's bandits. Is they like pictures or clotheslines?" Says another high-pitched voice to the north.

"Nae they's like thieves. Y'ken, people who takes stuff wot's not theirs."

"You mean like pretty stones, and flowers, and air, and radishes, and baths, and liberties, and such?"

"Aye! Heheh!!"

"I'll need a pardon then."

"Oh? And why's that lass?"

"I took a nap yesterday."

There's a long fit of hysterical laughter from three spots along the east side of the camp.

Celyne laughs, enjoying the jest a little bit more than she should. "Oh come now... that was funny... a bit of a reach, but funny..." She continues to look for the sources of the laughter...

Zokon smiles, but manages to keep his facade of calm wearyness

Celyne laughs, enjoying the jest a little bit more than she should. "Oh come now... that was funny... a bit of a reach, but funny..." She continues to look for the sources of the laughter...

Posh laughs at the joke and looks to Celyne.

Celyne laughs, enjoying the jest a little bit more than she should. "Oh come now... that was funny... a bit of a reach, but funny..." She continues to look for the sources of the laughter...

From your current position you do not see anything.

The moderate magical aura to the south moves out of range.