PFS # 6-09: By Way of Bloodcove, with GM Pendrak (Inactive)

Game Master Pendrak

Woodthorne calmly waits for the others to arrive so they can go escort the shipment.
"They'll be here. Show some patience."

Do we need to roll to avoid being noticed again? If so...

Stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24

With their work at the warehouse done, Kahwen bows to his companions then fades into the crowd.

"What are we looking at?" he asks, suddenly standing a pace or less behind Thaia and staring up at the sky, too the next time anyone who knows he exists sees him again.

Haska becomes his assumes his more merchant like demeanor and heads for the square. He stops after a few steps, "Are you coming friend, I would like to discuss a business arrangement. Perhaps we can salvage something from this half day of manual labor." "I tell you what I am never doing that again."
appraise: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
If it is needed, here is my roll.

With their work at the warehouse done, Kahwen bows to his companions then fades into the crowd.

"What are we looking at?" he asks, suddenly standing a pace or less behind Thaia and staring up at the sky, too the next time anyone who knows he exists sees him again.

perception (DC 24): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

if sucessful, spin round, concentration: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19 burning hands (Reflex DC 15 (intense): 3d4 + 1 ⇒ (2, 4, 1) + 1 = 8

"There you are. And what have you been up to all day, hm? Swanning about no doubt, while everyone else does the heavy lifting. Don't explain. There isn't time."

"We have to go guard a shipment. The last few have been stolen. I'm sure it will the easiest thing."

"We met with Nevaria and agreed to a favor for a favor."

Velinov proceeds to summarize the discussion with the rest of the team.

I am not going to lie, I think I am lost. Is the warehouse team back with the rest and working on the defense mission? I don't know if I having a dull moment but I just wanted to get clarification. Also, we we need a blend check? Lastly, if we are all together, what is it that you need from us to move forward with the defense mission?

"Defending a shipment? Caravan guard now...I was just getting used to being a merchant." "It beats stevedor worker, though." "How are we supposed ro protect this shipment?"
Haska quickly checks his gear and puts on his chain shirt again.

I am not going to lie, I think I am lost. Is the warehouse team back with the rest and working on the defense mission? I don't know if I having a dull moment but I just wanted to get clarification. Also, we we need a blend check? Lastly, if we are all together, what is it that you need from us to move forward with the defense mission?

Ditto.

The way it works out in my head is that both teams went on their missions. After that we meet up. Now we're caravan guards.

That is what I understood as well, but I would think we would meet at the square place from the message. However, as we finished early, we might head to the bar we first went to and then go to the square more in line with the work shift end.

Guys, really sorry about the slowdown. Had some stuff come up at work last week, and then had to go out of town unexpectedly for the weekend (when I planned to catch up) and didn't have internet access. Things should be back to normal now, but I do apologize for not giving you guys notice.

For simplicity's sake, let's say that by sheer luck, you all happen to run into each other in the streets not far from Free Trade Square after completing the first stages of your mission. You don't need to make your final Infiltration roll until you go to investigate Lot 342 at Free Trade Square.

As it happens, just as Haska, Kahwen, and Nigel are towards Free Trade Square after their successful sabotage mission, they nearly bump right into Thaia, Velinov, and Woodthorne. By Thaia's estimate based on the sun, the group has about an hour before they need to meet the caravan that they are to guard at the behest of House Cartahegn.

Wow what luck. I am not a warshipper of the Lady Luck, but I believe she smiled upon us today! So we need to defend a caravan to win over the houses favor? Seems simple enough. Do we know where the ambush is planned? We can set up a watch point near by.

You don't know exactly where they'll ambush, but they usually do it somewhere near Free Trade Square as the caravan approaches through the narrow, busy streets. When you travel with the caravan, you'll be able to make Perception and Sense Motive checks to look out for the ambush and prevent their surprise round. Unless there is anything anyone wants to purchase or do, we can proceed to escorting the caravan.

"Do we know anything about the composition of the caravan? Is it camels laden with goods or wagons?" "I will bring my sling and bullets and get my rapier and hide it close by maybe in a wagon."

Haska finishes putting on his chain shirt and starts checking his gear. Sticking several clay balls in this belt pouch. He also sticks a set of vials in his upper breast pocket of is overshirt. One with a yellowish goo in it and the other a metallic gray.watery liquid.

"This aught to be interesting at least." "Did they have any estimate on the number of thugs that are used to ambush these shipments?" "No matter, I think I am ready now."

Thaia looks for a high point with a good clear view of the area.

What's our strategy then? Do we want to camp out at different spots on the street or are we all going with the caravan itself?

I have no shopping and I think moving with the caravan would be our safest bet.

Woodthorne will also travel with the caravan.

Kahwen watches Haska get ready a bit jealously. His preparations are much more simple. He just makes sure he has his weapons.

"We should definitely stay close to the caravan, since we don't know exactly where they'll attack," he says.

He'll move to the front, his keen eyes searching the crowd for malcontents and ruffians.

... they usually do it somewhere near Free Trade Square as the caravan approaches through the narrow, busy streets.

Is there a map of the presumed ambush site--Free Trade Square (possibly with listed elevations)? Depending upon the scale of the area Thaia sets up somewhere there.

"Who has the map?"

"My Da' used to run caravan escort services when I was young." "Until he just didn't return from one trip." "His men would ride in a diamond formation around the wagon of payroll or valuables with one person on the vehicle as a final defense." "We could do something similar." "I will take the rear guard eating all the dust."

I am not the best seaker, I have a friend who normally can find anything for me, but I think she would draw too much attention here. I okay being placed one of the sides of the caravan since that seems like the least important spots.

”Is there room on the caravan? I will make myself invisible and keep an eye on things from the higher vantage point.”

The group makes their way to House Cartahegn's supply depot, and finds the wagon being prepared for the shipment. It is a simple wagon pulled by two horses. Large, sealed wooden crates are being loaded into the back.

A pair of teamsters will drive the wagon. They explain the route they plan to take, which takes a winding path with many turns to hopefully throw off any ambushes. They explain that usually the ambushes have been undertaken by around a half dozen Mwangi.

See the addition to the Google Slides to get an idea of the size of the wagon.

Thaia finds a building with rooftop access, but she soon discovers that observing the streets from above is difficult due to the preponderance of awnings and catwalks over the streets in places. One can only really observe the immediate vicinity when on a rooftop. However, it would be possible for someone to follow the wagon from the rooftops, as it travels through the city, though it might require some climbing or acrobatics.

Nigel chooses to walk next to wagon, No way I could make those jumps!

Nigel, how are you going to keep up with the wagon with a move of 20'? Most wagons double move at the speed of the things pulling them.

On that point, Thaia might as well buy a scroll of two of expeditious retreat.

Is there room in the wagon for Woodthorne to ride along?

I did not think about that. Though it isn't moving from town to town, it is staying within the city so I am sure they aren't moving full speed. Right? Either way, I agree with Woodthorne, how much room is inside of the wagon?

A double move (which isn't really full-speed, just hustling) for something with a move speed of 40' is only about 9 mph. Horses have a speed of 50' so even a single move from a zombie horse outdistances Nigel at a trot. And remember we don't want to move too slowly since that just makes ambushing us easier.

My assumption is that the horses pulling the wagon will be walking, at best, given the fact that they're taking a winding path with many turns and going through busy city streets which are probably crowded with pedestrians. I mean, if the horses can just be put into a trot or run to outpace us, how are they getting ambushed by other people who are on foot who would be left in the dust just as easily?

When the wagon is ready to leave, Kahwen moves out ahead of it, not going so far as to lose sight of it, but far enough away that he can convincingly blend into the crowd and someone would have to know what he was doing or study his movements to notice that he is following it, in advance.

Haska looking at the wagons, searches for a place to hind in one. He would like a place with concealment but with a view of the crowd between boards or something.
perception for hiding place: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
"You know Nigel, my Da' did use horses for the guarding. He also once told me of an ambush where the guards hid as the cargo. It was a big shock to the ambushers to say the least."

"Perhaps we could do something similar"

Thaia is able to find a magical emporium run by an old Zenj woman where she purchases a wand of jump with 50 charges, a slender piece of baobab wood. When she explains the need for discretion to the shopkeeper, the merchant laughs and disassembles a colorful, red and yellow parasol she happens to have on hand, attaching the cover to the wand. It won't be able to open, but it certainly will obscure the fact that the item is a wand.

I'd say that four people could ride in the back of the wagon, though not comfortably, and they would have to be sitting on crates. The wagon will necessarily be traveling at a snail's pace through the city, due to the huge number of pedestrians in the busy streets, which is what makes it so vulnerable to ambush.

The crates are packed fairly tightly, so it would be difficult to hide in the back of the wagon, unless Haska added a crate and hid within, or covered the crates with a canvas or something and hid under.

Nigel is content walking next to the wagon then.

The diamond might work. Haska behind, Nigel and Woodthorn on the sides. Kahwen in front. Velinov riding invisible. Thalia jumping around on the roofs.
"Well, hiding in the cargo won't work. Back to plan A. I will bring up the rear."

Once everything is settled, the wagons sets out. The tiny caravan winds through the northern half of the city while sticking to the sturdier streets, which are increasingly crowded as the procession approaches Free Trade Square.

New map is up.

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

Kahwen watches the wagon being loaded and the rest of the Pathfinders ready themselves and heads out.

He keeps a keen eye out on the crowd, searching for any malcontents. Well...those with ill wishes for the wagon. There are probably lots of incidental malcontents in the crowd.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21

He tenses as he sees chaos brewing ahead.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Typical for Nigel, he is unable to see much, Hard to get a good view from this height... . He just keeps walking, ready for any impending combat.

perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

This is quite uncomfortable here amongst the crates...

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

'Boy, it sure is dusty back here.'

"Look out ahead! A barricade!"

Haska, (in the surprise round) drinks his shield extract he had taken out during their preparations.
AC 21 (10+4 armor +3 dex bonus +4 shield)

The trap is sprung. Several Mwangi rise up from the rooftops or emerge from alleyways, armed with longbows, with longswords at their hips. A dark-skinned woman with a shortbow shouts orders in Polyglot, but her words are lost to the Pathfinders over the panic of the crowd, which immediately begins to disperse. The ambushing brigands fire shots at the Pathfinders, taking advantage of the element of surprise.

Shots whiz past Haska, Woodthorne, and Kahwen, but the shots fired at Thaia and Nigel are true. Nigel takes an arrow to the shoulder, while Thaia takes one in the thigh.

Thaia takes 10 points of piercing damage, and Nigel takes 9.
Kahwen can act in the surprise round. Then Kahwen and Haska can act in the first round. Until the beginning of the second full round of combat, the street (not including the alleys and area south of the barricade) is considered difficult terrain and provides soft cover for all attacks against non-adjacent targets unless the attacker has high ground, due to the panicked pedestrians.

"BLAST! TAKE COVER!"

Not having any idea how wide of area Thaia has had to traverse on rooftop nor how incredibly slow the cart has been moving (why can't we just let Thaia clear the crowd with her boomstick, and then travel through the city like they do in The Kingdom--okay, maybe not exactly like in The Kingdom, but you get what I mean ;)) I'm not precisely sure how many charges Thaia has used from her wand of boing! thus far. If all the jumps are DC 10--possibly it might possibly none, because she would just take 10 for 13. Or if we're really slow, she might just be taking the stairs.... ;) The jump spell has a duration of 1 minute (from the wand).

Likewise, I'm guessing minimally 6 charges to disguise her weapon with the wand of disguise weapon, but again that's a guess.

Everything seems to slow down for a moment as Kahwen sees what's coming. He is already reaching for his sword when the Mwangi's appear, though the arrow that comes at him misses more because of poor aim than anything the tengu does to avoid it.

He is tempted to rush the man closest to him, but there are too many pedestrians in the way for him to get close before the man will be ready for him.

Instead, he rushes the barricade.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

Leaping over it (I hope.) He moves so that his quarry is pinned between him and the barricade, drawing his sword at the same time and taking a slash at the man as he gets close.

Elven Curve Blade: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Slashing: 1d10 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

"BLAST! TAKE COVER!"

I'm not precisely sure how many charges Thaia has used from her wand of boing! thus far.

...

Likewise, I'm guessing minimally 6 charges to disguise her weapon with the wand of disguise weapon, but again that's a guess.

I'd argue that she probably only had to use 2 charges from the wand of jump in particularly hard to traverse areas, and if she is disguising her weapon all day long, then 6 charges is reasonable for the other wand.

"We need obscuring! Smoke stick, spell or illusion, something... or they can pick us off." "We are sitting ducks." "Obscure us and they have to come to us."

Haska, seeing the archers on roof tops on the left, breaks for the cover of the wagon on the right pulling out his sling as he does so.

Double move behind the wagon and draw weapon as part of move action. It's the shoot out at the OK Corral!

Kahwen moves up, shouldering and edging through the crowd, and vaults the barricade, rushing forward to slice his sword into the surprised brigand's torso.

The leader of the ambuscade carefully observes the battlefield, and seeing Kahwen's acrobatic attack she targets him, pulling out an arrow with a black arrowhead tipped in green and firing it at the tengu, and then following it up with another rapid shot with the shortbow of a more mundane looking arrow.

Both arrows strike their target, and the Mwangi woman smiles a wicked smile.

Kahwen takes 13 points of piercing damage, and needs to make a DC 11 Fortitude save or take 1 point of Constitution damage. Woodthorne, Velinov, Nigel, and Thaia can act.

Thaia drops prone (+4 AC v ranged) on the rooftop, and pulls the trigger on the woman doing all the hitting with her bow.

BOOM! (ranged touch): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23 damage: 1d12 ⇒ 12