The Red Arm of Absalom - Ongoing Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master GM Red

Uesugi puts his hand on the barbarian's moving him aside and removes his still sheathed blade from his side.

"I DO NOT TAKE to being lied to. If I draw this blade I will strike you down and take your bleeding corpse back to the Corporal. No doubt when the jumpy officer who asked for your papers hears about this he will bury you neck deep in the sand and let you burn in the sun until you speak the truth. So you will tell me the truth now or else."

intimidate: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Gibbs-slap, interesting you mention that.
As i used to watch NCIS every week, and we adopted it in similar fashion and situations, also named the Gibbs-slap. :)

D. takes the chain and pulls it as tight as he can.
"That man could communicate with a gorilla, by his grunts alone."

GROUP A: The Barracks -- The Desert Path

Sirettis

Sirettis realizes that Nadini is disheartened. There's been three days in the heat, and numerous attempts to undermine group morale.

Still struggling with the drills and pushing the sled around, Nadini laughs. "Oh that's a great fantasy. A nice dinner with real food? Maybe some of those sticky honey nut rolls for dessert? Throw in a cool bath and I'm your girl."

Uesugi

A little bit shaken, Varnic's eyes go wide and the halfling raises an eyebrow. "Whoa, whoa! Those are serious accusations. Where's your proof, swordsman? Or do you just cut down everyone you meet who you don't like and damn the consequences? What do you think Enyro would do to someone who cut down a fellow scout for no reason?" He licks his lips as he reaches for his own weapon, watching you carefully. "Maybe he'll even think that you two were jealous of my superior scouting skill."

___
Do you want me to roll initiative, Uesugi?

Mr Peppers gives Teemera a reassuring nod of understanding before having a look at what they'll be working with. He studies the box with his keen arcane sight as they slowly work with the chains. "I can honestly say this is the first time I've work with chains before. They're so... heavy. And dirty. And strong! Lets let Silas take the lead on these D, he seems to know the best way to correctly fashion restraints."

Going to urge Silas to set the chains up in a fashion that allows him to undo them quickly but so they seem secure or maybe have some sort of 'trick' to them?

"Secret Intelligence, huh? So secret you must've forgotten to bring it with you! Put your weapons down, you two. Look here, little man, we're doing the same as everyone here: trying to do our job and guard the convoy. If you wanna try to explain what exactly you're accusing us of, maybe we can sort out who's actually involved."

Bluff: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28

D. nods, slightly amused.

"Very well."

I'll wait to see how he reacts to Gallix before cutting this halfling down another size category hehe

And he'll still come back for you. :D
There is this neat template, 3PP, called Torso.
Useful on undead, you slay them at first, and their torso continues to bite your leg/claw at you anyway.

Silas is more interested in the mages than the chains. "Hang on, I was just going to show you someth... Oh..." he calls after the elven mage as he walks out, then turns to the chains in defeat. "And what would you have me do with these, Mr. Peppers? I thought the serious guy was able to levitate objects and move things around, wasn't he?" Silas looks in D's direction, then turns back to the chains, puts on a grin, and shouts "BUT CAN HE DO THIS?!" While detecting magic, he tries to keep his hands completely still - or at least make it seem like the chains are extensions of his arms as he uses the wide sleeves of his gaudy purple cloak for cover. Before long, two chains are wrapped around the box, and Silas stands tall and bows, awaiting his ovation.

All he gets is a neutral stoic look.

"Peppers-san, i reckon Sirettis-san could do that with her hair, wouldn't you say?"

Mr Peppers and D watch Silas work "I figured you'd be good at dealing with chains and bonds since you did so well yesterday with that trap. Am I wrong?"

He turns to D "Yes her hair has a mind of its own.. it makes me a bit uneasy at times. I hope she controls it and not the other way around."

GROUP A -- The Guard Barracks -- The Desert Path

Varnic claps his hands together. “You’re spies. Always poking around, checking things out. Always the teacher’s pet! Secret meetings. Nefarious doings! Spies!” He grins, a nasty look in his eyes. “So... tell me, spies. What are you up to?”

What do you do?

___

GROUP B -- The Transport Workshop -- The Grunt Factory

The chain wrapping done, Duciar grunts, nods and then brings in others to work assembling locks to bolt them down. He lets you find other jobs to help with, whether it is piling up supplies or doing finishing touches on locks, or aiding those casting spells.

Group B, why don’t you start providing me with your infiltration checks for the day, and tell me how you are using them?

"Heh! Talk about serious accusations! Where did all this come from? Perhaps you're the one jealous of our skills? So let's see, if we're spies, who do you suppose we're working for? Could it be the Aspis Consortium, who have sent agents in to ply some of the guards with bribes or to provide them with drugs to put them off of their best? Or perhaps you think we're working for Prince Zinlo, who seems to be sending gifts to many of the convoy's officers in an effort to dissuade them from their work?" Gallix puts a hand to his forehead and shakes his head. "You idiot! If we've been spying on anyone, it's only on the one's who are trying to mess up the convoy! We're here to help! So if you want this whole operation to go off correctly, why don't you go play secret agent elsewhere and get out of our way."

"Sure! I'll go! Now that I know you're all upright and upstanding..." Varnic gets up ready to go. "I'm sure this was one BIG misunderstanding..."

"....yeah. Before you go, though, besides your suspicions about us, have you noticed anything else that seems unusual? I mean, I definitely just shared some fairly juicy stuff with you. It only seems right you'd do the same. Maybe we can work together."

Seeing as Mr Peppers avoids hard physical labor at nearly any cost, he decides he's most likely to get in good with the boss by assisting his spell casting brethren... or more like giving them a proper education in how they SHOULD be doing things. "Your inflections are a touch off base. Proper enunciation is just as important as the somatic components, don't let anyone tell you otherwise! Here repeat after me...." He spends lots of time examining magical auras, especially whatever the heck that folding flower thing was. Take 10 on Spellcraft, 25.

"Come on now Silas, less flair and more final product! We don't have all day to cast those simple spells!" Making the assumption he catches him failing some UMD checks!

Can we use -any- of our skills, or specific related ones only?

Silas repeats after Mr. Peppers, but being something of an apprentice, he slurs many of the words. "How was that?" He shrugs. "You know, Mr. Peppers, I could show you I'm capable of so much more if you'd just let me peek at that book of yours. Tell you what - I'll read that spell from your book that mages use to clean stuff, and your socks will be freshly laundered in no time!"

Can we use -any- of our skills, or specific related ones only?

You have to justify the skill so that it makes sense in terms of your infiltration, D.

Oh, I don't know how I missed that before. I just saw that Hmm updated our group. Sorry. I'll get another post up.

"Hey, you there!" Silas calls over the elven mage from earlier. "It seems like you could use a little help with folding those things up. Not to worry, Silas the Great here, along with Mr. Peppers the almost great and B? P? What was his name again..." Silas rubs his chin. "Oh, right, Sir D. The serious guy who I should really not mess with! Ha ha.." Cue nervous laughter.

"Anyway, allow me to magically fold those up for you! Better yet, I'll first disappear, and then fold away! Magically, of course." Silas palms the wand of vanish as he'd done many times before, taking care to get it into his wrist sheathe.

SoH: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

Before activating it..

UMD: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

"Ugh, sorry," Silas angrily moves his hands around. Of all times, not now, not now! "It's not working...! Argh!"

There's the 1 Mr. Peppers was waiting for!

GROUP B: The Transport Workshop -- Silas

Silas gets... a complication.

While wandering off to the little wizard facilities to relieve himself, Silas trips over something. When he looks down... He sees a dead body. It's the body of Lin, the helpful half-elf guard that liked Mr. Peppers so much. She's lying in a pool of blood, her pretty face staring sightlessly up at the sky, lying near a slit tent flap that leads right back into the grunt factory.

__
Silas must succeed at a Heal, Survival or Perception check to find the evidence necessary to prove himself innocent to Duciar, or a Disguise or Stealth check to make the death look like an accident and get away. Silas, what are you going to do? If you succeed at this, you can not only net yourself a little more time to find the bastards who did this, but you can also reroll your infiltration roll.

GROUP A: The Guard Barracks -- Uesugi and Gallix

"Um, yes... I noticed those Aspis. Nasty fellows, always sneaking around and bribing people! Who would ever do that when Pashow's honor is on the line?" Varnic looks away from your gaze and licks his lips. "Good thing that I met up with you, so that we can catch these scoundrels together!"

D. makes effort with observation, that day, to determine who is easily distracted, and could be bribed, to make the team's job easier during the heist.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Where's the not favorite button for killing off Mr Pepper's PoA?

Uesugi watches the little halfling and nods. "It is good. With your help we can restore the city of Pashow back to it's rightful place. Let us travel back together."

GROUP A -- Guard Barracks -- Uesugi and Gallix

Varnic sighs with relief. "Of course! Let us travel back together! Comrades in arms! Pip, pip!"

____

GROUP B -- Transport Workshop -- D

While he is trying to look for clues, D also runs into a complication.

One of the artisans grabs D by the arms and says, "Hey Baldy, we just found out it's Toril's birthday! Enough with that frowny-face! Join the party!" D suddenly finds himself man-handled by another group of eager artisans who are sticking a paper hat on his head and bringing out a cake.

♫ For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fel-l-low, that nobody can deny! That nobody can deny! That nobody can deny! ♫

The group is singing and happily settling in right where D wants to search.

D you need to convince the party to relocate with a diplomacy or an intimidate roll, or lose the ability to search the premises. If you succeed on this, you can try your infiltration roll again.

D. isn't in the mood for a paper head.
He makes an attempt to escape the manhandling of the group, after which he glares at the group.

Gather power, add effect of a humming pulse eminating from D.

"Leave me be. If you wish to continue your 'merry' party, this is the last place you will want to be, i'm trying to contain a lethal energy pulse."

Escape artist: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Subsequent intimidate: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Perception, if i succeeded: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

D succeeds in getting the party to leave him alone, but he's so rattled that he fails to seach the premises properly, and does not succeed.

Now... here's hoping that Silas can pull something out of this complication!

As they travel back Uesugi asks the halfling "Varnic you still have not told us who you are working with. I would hear more of your story. Also where did you see these Aspis members you have eyes on all so I would doubt they would be able to escape your notice. If we are able to find these men then the jumpy officer will reward us greatly."

"Uh oh." Silas kneels down, carefully avoiding the pool of blood, and pokes the corpse with the back of a wand. Yup. She's dead. Mr. Peppers is going to be so heartbroken. Wait, what if someone thinks I did this?! He looks around in a panic before he tries to slip back into the grunt factory unnoticed, curling the tent flap around his body and then blending back into the interior.

Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12 I don't suppose I can take 10 on this either! I will use my folio for a reroll.
Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Sials successfully sneaks away, and now may give me a new infiltration roll.

^ Er, "Silas was what I meant, above."
____

GROUP A: The Guard Barracks -- Uesugi and Gallix

Varnic adopts a conspiratorial tone. "I work with Pashow's secret police, in a division under Emir Guldis's spymaster. Don't ask who that is... No one knows, including me. He -- or she -- is that good at the job. You know, you guys don't have to walk me back. I do know the way. I've been back and forth along these trails multiple times today." He looks at you, hopefully.

"Meanwhile, you want to know who the Aspis are? Corporal Chandiver is their leader. As dirty as they come." Varnic breezily names a dozen names of people, including Ishyal.

"Apologies, friends," Silas pants as he comes rushing back. "I needed to uhh, you know, confer with the magical energies of these lands! A true mage is always seeking to harness more power. Right. That's it!" Nice one, Silas, let's hope Mr. Peppers doesn't call me out on that one. "Now, let me try that elusive spell of mine again!" And so Silas goes about his usual routine...

SoH: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
UMD: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Not sure if that will make it, also the DC to actually activate the wand and the DC to pass the test is probably different.

GROUP B: The Transport Workshop

I'll count the sleight of hand for your skill check here, Silas.

The wizards are unimpressed with the spells that Silas attempts to show off, but they school him for a while, the whole time chastising him for not doing the proper training. This training gets interrupted with a scream of "By Pharasma, she's dead!"

Everyone piles out of the tent at once to find the dead body of Lin, lying in a pool of blood. You hear the crowd muttering. "She was so nice! Who would do such a thing?"

____

INFILTRATION RESULTS

Meanwhile... Mr. Pepper's work with the transport mages Helped him discover the location of the transport's secret door, the only means of entering the inner chamber without teleportation magic.

As everyone one runs out to examine the body, Silas gets a moment to identify which locks maintain the door's seal, removing the risk of disabling a decoy lock. He also finds several broken lockpicks and scattered thieves' tools hidden on the other side of the tent slit where he had found Lin's body, suggesting that someone had secretly practiced picking each lock.

Foiled by the surprise birthday party, D does not manage to find any clues this time to help with the heist.

GROUP A: The Guard Barracks

Uesugi, Gallix and Varnic make it back to the main area where Sirettis and some of the others are drilling on Convoy manouevers with Enyro directing them.

What do you do?

Mr Peppers rushes to the scene of the crime with everyone else but stops short once he sees who the victim is. He goes silent and sullen(er). Being no doctor he takes the others word that she's dead This can't be a coincidence. Her? Today? Why must you deprive me of this happiness Nethys?

After a few moments of apparent silence, Mr Peppers bends down to inspect the scene, eyes blazing with an intense blue light as he studies the area intently. I will do better Great One, I will work harder. He looks up from his work to the crowd "Tell me what you saw, we must make this right, for Lin."

See Magic and take 10 on perception for a 22 for any clues and take 10 on diplomacy to gather info from the group for a 16

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

Uesugi nods when Varnic accuses Corporal Chandiver and a dozen other names. "Thank you. We will keep our eyes on those people especially the Corporal."

Once they reach the main area he parts ways with Varnic and let's the halfling go off.

When they are alone he looks at the barbarian "The halfling is lying. We cannot trust him. I would say we should find him tonight and see what he is up to. Possibly Spirit can assist in convincing him to tell us the truth. He was too eager to help us and accuse these random people of being Aspis members. He is likely an Aspis member."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

"You're kidding! Chandiver?! And Ishyal?! Well, I guess that makes sense of why they weren't taking any of the drugs last night..." Gallix falls into thoughtful silence for the remainder of the walk back to the camp, trying to put together the pieces of how he could have missed such prominent leaders in the camp being involved in the Aspis's scheme.

Then Uesugi drops an alchemist fire on his brain and tells him that Varnic has been lying. "Wait. You're serious? So all that stuff about the Corporal and Ishyal and all of them was a lie too? Dammit! The little sneak! Alright, I think you're right. We should see if Sirettis can help us get the truth out of Varnic tonight, or at least see if we can track him to see what he's up to. I KNEW that whole Pashow Secret Police thing was a load of dragon dung!"

As promised, Sirettis begins to look for a fine restaurant to help Nadiri relax. Learn her quirks and customs. Find an easy way to trick her when the time comes. Even though clergy will be on hand after the task completes, it's better to avoid combat in the first place.

Knowledge(Local): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Besides, the news of saboteurs from Aspis put her on alert.

GROUP A -- Guard Barracks

Sirettis, let's use that as your infiltration roll, since you're looking for information that you can use here for your heist.

___

Uesugi and Gallix, I think it is time for your own infiltration rolls... Feel free to fluff out your further investigations.

That evening, Gallix is determined to do some scouting to figure out what exactly Varnic is doing and to whom he might be talking. He finds a outcropping extending from the feet of Barrier Wall mountains on the outskirts of the camp and makes his way up. He had prepared another mutagen upon arriving back in the camp, and decided to use it now to improve his strength for the difficult climb up. A long while seems to go by as he climbs up in the darkness, but he eventually finds a ledge from which he can survey the camp from above and try to track the halfling's movements or any other suspicious activities he might notice.

Take 10 on climb with my strength mutagen for a Climb check of 20. Mutagen also gives me low-light vision.

GROUP B -- Transport Workshop

Most of the crowd tells Mr. Peppers that Lin was awesome. One of the artisans offers, "She greeted everyone, and knew every face that came in or out of the transport workshop by name."

Temeera, who has run out of her own tent, nods. "She knew everyone, had great hearing, and was always alert and focused. She kept watch on this whole area. I cannot think of a better guard."

Mr. Peppers notices the edge of a discarded potion bottle rolled under a tent flap, as well as a small sized slit near the body that leads back into the Grunt Factory. Testing the residue in the potion bottle, he's pretty sure it was an invisibility potion.

Whoever killed her knew what they were doing. There are almost no footprints except a small partial bootprint that trailed some blood.
The dagger was thrown at an upward angle towards the throat to silence the scream.

Silas joins the others at the crime scene. "Avert your eyes, Mr. Peppers! I can't have you being any more sullen than you normally are, if that's even possible, or who am I going to talk magic with?"

Heal: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

"It seems the poor girl was poisoned... How awful."

D.'s observant look goes towards the dead flirty elf's body, as Silas examines her.

He puts a hand firmly on Mr. Peppers' shoulder, as he stands next to him.
"We will find the culprit, and the culprit will pay."

Mr Peppers scans the crowd for anyone of the correct height to deliver the blow, he then whispers to Temeera about someone of small stature likely being the culprit. "Please be vigilant on this, this young girl deserved better."

Afterwards he speaks with D and Silas to share what he knows and to discuss things, both of Lin and of the other events of the day. "This really puts the damper on a fine few days we've had. Thanks for the kind words, but I knew her no better than the two of you I'm afraid." He orders a glass of wine before pulling out his spellbook "Lets get back to work."

sorry all just got to New Hampshire

Uesugi nods as the barbarian explains his plan to him.

"While you search from afar I will go into the camp and inquire about the whereabouts of the men who were offering the dream herbs to the troops. With luck I shall find that halfling."

Going to use Knowledge Local to discover the whereabouts of these Aspis agents or even Varnic

know local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

AREA A: GUARD BARRACKS -- Day 3 -- Desert Path

Sirettis and Nadini have a wonderful time at a local tent restaurant that provides delicacies like lemon smoked lamb and stuffed grapeleaves. The time that Sirettis has spent working with the main convoy team reaps dividends. She identifies the convoy's general route.

With this information, you do not need to track the convoy through the desert, and the guards will not be able to notice you until you come within 60 feet of the transport.

Gallix climbs high and begins his observations. Gallix discovers that most of the time that Varnic has been out 'scouting' he's actually been wandering back to various locations in the transport workshop. However, Gallix's high view point also allows him to find an ideal ambush site along the convoy's path.

You will have 1 hour of time to prepare for combat. You can lay an ambush to automatically receive a surprise round, starting 30 feet away from the transport.

At one point, Gallix uses the opportunity of Varnic being in the transport workshop to search Varnic's bunk. Gallix finds a map in Varnic's bedchamber with observation points marked along the convoy's route.

Gallix, what do you do with this information?

Meanwhile, Uesugi searches out the drug dealers and tempters of the day before. Although he fails to find them, he does find people loyal to Pashow working in the barracks gains a reputation as a trustworthy scout among the guards.

The guards react positively when the PCs appear in the desert, allowing the PCs to begin a surprise round from any position outside the transport.

EVERYONE TOGETHER AGAIN -- Evening of Day Three -- Heist Planning

After dinner, as you are all finishing up your infiltration projects, all of you get approached by messengers directing you to one of the tents for visiting officers. When you arrive, you are greeted by a lieutenant that you do not know who bids you to sit. Then she takes off her hat of disguise, and you recognize her. It’s your sponsor, Lady Ziralia.

“Alright. I have come as I said I would. It’s time for us to consolidate our information and plan our heist. I have brought with me a few supplies that I think might prove useful to you. Tell me, what have you learned?”

She pulls out a large pack. “In addition to these few useful trinkets, I have a budget of three thousand five hundred gold that you may use to make a shopping list of any items you might need for the heist. Write them down for me. I will make sure to have them here before dawn, so that they are ready for you.” The pack includes inside it:

"This lamb is quite tasty." Sirettis chews it down. "I haven't had much opportunity to eat this kind of meat." She raises her glass full of purified water. "To Pashow's future and its future success."

Sirettis spends the evening learning about Pashow's many routes and learns one that will be closed for unknown reasons. Some of the guards confirm they were abruptly reassigned there.

This is it. This is the route.

--

Called to a tent in the dead of night, Sirettis sees the rest of the Red Arm. Lady Ziralia removes her hat of disguise and introduces herself.

"Mylady, thank you." Sirettis speaks quietly. " Please, no need to remove your hat." I admire this woman's heroism but she is so naive.

"There is another force, trying to sabotage Pashow's guards and break their morale. They offer intoxicating, debilitating drugs and speak of sedition against Guldis. I worry they will try to interfere with our plans. Are you certain the clergy will be available to help the guards recover after our job is complete? I worry this will be more than a simple robbery."

"I have made friends with many of the guards here. In particular the mage guard, Nadini. She is not used to physical labor and was disheartened. If I can disable her quietly, we will have time before the guards notice anything."

"The guard dogs are very cute. We have some treats we can use to distract them briefly."

Sirettis thinks carefully. "We need to disable Nadini before she uses magic to send a signal, and we need to dispatch the guards before any of them flee. I believe I can slow the guards down nonlethally for perhaps half a minute. Once we have what we need I can raise a cloud and we can escape through it. It would be best used at a junction." She looks thoughtfully at the horn of fog. "Yes, that will be very useful."