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Ok several options have been put on the table.
1) steal it tonight
2) try to buy it
3) break in and look at it
4) ask to make a copy.
1 and 2 are options that ful fill the mission we have been sent here for. 3 and 4 are likely partial failures.
If buying fails Dwight will steal it himself if need be the following day. We should vote and make a move.
Dwight votes steal the map and return it to the people to whome it rightfully belongs.
Vote 1
Well let us pay then.
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Still uncertain the best way to acquire the map (or a copy of it), the Pathfinders discuss late into the night, while Dwight keeps a solitary watch with his steed on the roof.
At first, he was not certain but he thought it could have sworn he saw some movement. But a brief while later, it becomes clear. A figure dressed in black leaps down from a window on the second floor of the main hall. Despite the distance, Dwight makes out a flutter of orange silk clutched in his hands. Someone is stealing the map! He bolts across the school grounds!
Hero's wings beat loudly against the cool still night air. If the thump did not wake the party this surely would, as the air thurms against the roof. Hero accelerates to a speed that would cause whiplash in all but the most seasoned riders.
Fly check for aerial maneuvers to cut off the theif.
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As I am a poor sneaker I would rather stand in front of the building and keep watch. What do you think?"[/b]
As Toral wanted to keep watch he darts to the front door and tries to see where the thief has vanished too. He especially tries to check for the natural colors of the gardens and buildings to identify the thief's clothing.
Dwight tries to get a good read of how the burglar intends to run but he ducks behing some bushes and he loses track. His heron, however, leaps off the roof, catching sight of him again. Dwight quickly signals his location to the rest. Toral burst out from the guesthouse, while trying not to make too much noise, and give chase. The burglar spots the group and again ducks through some bushes, but Toral's sharp dwarven sight spots where he exited. Vayon, getting the signal from him, leaps off the balcony directly, closing the distance. Inira attempts to read how the burglar will run, but again, the intervening obtacles foils him. So instead, he summons his internal ki to boost his speed and give chase. Yama, having spent time to study the grounds earlier the day, figures out how that the burglar will duck behind the classroom block and dashes past a shortcut to cut him off.
The black-garbed lithe burglar is still some distance off, but the Pathfinders are closing in rapidly.
Running after the fleeing man Kyra dashes forward and tries to get an idea how the people will move to better weave through the crowd.
She then yells that the others make space for her.
We can just say I failed an intimidate check
Heron tries to position dwich for a steal or grapple combat maneuver.
With the Pathfinders closing in, the dark figure is forced to focus less on speed and more on getting under cover to shake his tail. Dwight and his heron flying overhead prevents him from staying too long in the open, and instead, he attempts to circle around and under cover of buildings and through bushes. However, whichever way he runs, Toral, Yama, Kyra and Inira are able to anticipate the direction he intends to run, or to spot the most optimal path for his escape to move in and cut him off. With no other feasible route, he dives into a small grove of trees in the school ground, hoping to lose you in there.
Hero will use a skirmisher's tirck to readjust trajectory with nearly supernatural speed (Surprising shift) to optimize attack angle or dodge an obstacle.
Kyra follows into the woods.
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Even as the Pathfinders are closing in on all sides, from the distance, you can see another figure chasing after you, or perhaps the burglar. He looks faintly familiar but with the darkness, the distance and the intervening trees, you can't quite make out who it is.
Not wanting the quarry from getting away, you shift your attention fully back onto the fleeing man. Vayon's call makes him pause momentarily. He recovers quickly, but not before Toral manages to anticipate his intended route and cut him off. He attempts to leap up a tree to jump over the dwarf but Dwight and Hero dives from above and he quickly aborts his attempt. This gives the rest of the Pathfinders time to come up behind. Finally, the veiled burglar is corners on all sides, including from above!
The burglar pants heavily, the orange silk map still clutched tightly in his hand. He does not appear to be carrying any weapons, and turns to look in turn at each of you to see if you intend to attack. You also hesitate briefly, in case he decides to damage the precious map. By then, the figure in the distance closes in and finally you reconise him. Zheng, the grizzled bodyguard of Jianghong! He stops a short distance away. Seeing that none of you have your weapons drawn, he keeps his hands away from his heavy flail.
He calls out to you. "Please, he is just a foolish young man. There is no need for violence." Then, he quickly calls out to the burglar. "Young Master, please stop this foolishness. There are better ways."
The cornered man looks at Zheng for a brief moment, then with a deep sigh, he removes the black veil revealing, to no surprise by now, Jianghong. In all seriousness that is very uncharacteristic of the young man you met earlier in the day, he intone, "I suspected you were interested the map as well, and you forced me to make my move earlier than I am ready." He stares at the map in his hand for a while, then finally lets out another deep sigh. "Fine, you have bested me. Here, you can have it, but I beseech you to not turn this matter over to the guards. My family could not take the shame. And I know it is not much, but I will owe you a favour." He holds the orange silk map towards you.
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"No, we are Pathfinders and we have been given the task of correcting a historical wrong. With all the grave robbing and killing an organization, to which you belong does, you will forgo the chance to give a relic back to whom it belongs. My morality is not so simple as to join an organization that kills people daily but not know good theft from bad."
Huffing Dwight finishes, "If you did not want to steal you should not have come on a mission that clearly stated steal a map."
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Vayon takes the map over the Jianghong who hands it over with some reluctance. Taking a couple of minutes to study the map, he finds it not enchanted in any way. However, as much as the poor lighting allows, he can tell that it is a very detailed map, clearly of better quality than the replica on display at the ground floor of the grand hall.
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Inira never bluffs. She never lies. And she is appalled by statements Dwight is making.
"Kills people every day? Whatever are you talking about? The Society is about the preservation of things: history, life, liberty and happiness. Of course, sometimes in life there is death, and there are plenty of people - good and bad - within any organization. But to try and justify theft and murder because 'that's what Pathfinders do' is not what I am about."
You realize this is probably the most this girl has ever spoken to any of you.
"However, I agree with Dwight on the issue of the map. It is to be returned to its rightful place, and that is not this school. We have come to retrieve the map, and we have done so. I do not think this makes us thieves, Vayon, any more than a warrior is not a murdered when he must kill in battle. I do not think there is another way about it. You, Jianhong... I don't agree with your approach regardless of your motives, but in truth, this school and its guards are not friends of ours, and I see no need to turn you in. But remember how we helped you this night, should our paths ever cross again."
"For the rest of us, I say we leave immediately and make our way back to Mai Chun."
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"I did not justify murder or theft. Those that kill and steal in the name of the Pathfinder Society, which is run by a hidden nameless shadow governement should not hesitate to steal to return stolen goods that is simply equivalence. I would love to hear about the virtues of our fine organization Mai's"
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Toral listens to the discussion and sees that here it is better to stick to decisions and not make any statements that heat up the discussion.
"Listen, let us take out the drama and make a simple business transaction. Dear Jianghong, I would propose to stay silent regarding your actions and hope that you will stay silent about ours and leave this map with us. Would that work for you?" he asks.