Look what I found! It's a ring that will help protect you from being hit by an attack. Do you guy's mind if I keep it?
Tolbold examines the ring's workmanship (maybe what kind of creature made it or whatever you might impart, or nothing) and tries to figure out what type of ring it is.
[b]Look what I found![b]
Tolbold examines the ring's workmanship (maybe what kind of creature made it or whatever you might impart, or nothing) and tries to figure out what type of ring it is.
[dice=Craft: Jewelry]1d20+6
[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+6
The ring is probably of human origin, though you cannot pinpoint a specific artistic style - it just doesn't look Elven or Dwarven.
Through studying it with your spell you are able to identify it as a Ring of Protection +1.
Khazak whispers to Grifo, "You might just have to put the poor critter out of his misery."
" There not much I can do. He's already gone... " Grifo lays the dog back down and stands up. He looks upset and angry at the same time. He turns to Peony
" Which way did they go? "| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Peony hangs her head low, sheathing her sword to string up a longbow. She turns to the others with a militant inflection in her voice.
"There were three creatures of hobbit stature, though I can declare with certainty that they were not hobbits. They came from the north, and that is where they have gone now. If we move with haste we could catch them."
"...A magic ring? How peculiar..suspicious, even."
Khazak says to Peony, "You're better at tracking than I am so I'll let you take the lead this time."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
" It is a bit weird to find a magic ring on the side of the road... But we don't have time to wonder. Maybe one of these beasts dropped it. "
Grifo shrugs gesturing to the tracks on the ground.
" We should hurry, I'd like to know what they are and what they're doing in the shire! "
Nodding in agreement, Peony puts her education to use
"This way, quickly. Be on your guard"
Not hearing any objections, Tolbold puts the ring on and follows Peony.
Khazak follows Peony as quietly as he can.
Tolbold tries to be quiet as well.
Knocking an arrow, Peony sniffs the air
Grifo moves off after the others wishing on his stars to be as stealthy as a mouse.
He keeps a look out ahead for any sign of the creatures.
North Farthing
The party head North. Following the trail Peony reports that these three made a fairly direct route to where you caught up with them.
After a few minutes Grifo calls you to halt. He has spotted three goblins on a small bluff just ahead. They are bickering with each and warily looking to the North and occasionally to the South. Suddenly one of the three points at you and alerts his comrades. They turn tail to run into the thicket of trees immediately behind them.
The chase is on!
OberonViking's Chase Rules
We will use a base speed of 20' between obstacles. Creatures with a speed of 30' gain a +2 to overcome the checks at each obstacle. Creatures with a speed less than 20‘ suffer a -2 penalty to overcome the checks.[/b]
At the start of a chase, each participant makes an Initiative check to determine the order in which he moves. This order will be important to actually catching up with your quarry.
It takes a full round to move through each obstacle.
A character can attempt one of that obstacle's two options.
Success means the character has overcome that obstacle, while failure means the character must face the obstacle again on the next round.
Instead of attempting to overcome the obstacle, a character can choose to take another action not directly related to navigating the chase's course, such as casting a spell.
A character who wants to attempt to move through two obstacles during his turn can do so by attempting one check from each of the next two obstacles.
As the character succeeds at these checks, he moves forward one obstacle. However, if he fails either check he does not progress at all. If he fails both checks he becomes mired within the first obstacle and can only move through one obstacle on his next turn.
When a character is at the same obstacle as his quarry he may use melee attacks, or other similar actions.
You can only make melee attacks (or similar actions) when you're at the same obstacle as your quarry at the start of your turn. You are considered to be engaged in combat with your enemy at the same obstacle. If they attempt to overcome the obstacle you do gain an Attack of Opportunity against them.
The Obstacles
These must be overcome in this order.
The steep hill is about 15' high but quite steep, only the bravest children go sliding down this hill.
Climb DC 10,
or
Just charge up and hope to keep your feet, Reflex DC 17
Pick your way through carefully, Acrobatics DC 14
Or
Just run through it, Reflex DC 18
Not only is it narrow but some of the low branches are very difficult to see, Acrobatics DC 13
Or
Find the local animal's path for an easier route, Perception DC 16
The moss grows on this side, Knowledge (Nature) DC 9
Or
Follow the game trail, Survival DC 12
Look for the dry spots, Perception DC 17
Or
Power through, Strength Check DC 10
Initiative order (bold is up)
Peony 23 (The Small Bluff)
Tobold 20 (The Small Bluff)
Goblins 20 (Brambles)
Khazak 18 (The Small Bluff)
Grifo 18 (The Small Bluff)
Not wanting the goblins to get away, I'm going to climb the small bluff and race to the brambles. Hoping to catch the Goblins off guard and then catch them in a color spray.
And fail miserably.
Sneering Peony darts off in a full sprint, a predator's gleam in her eye. She darts up the hill, snaking her tiny hands into hidden holds in the hillside.
But, upon sticking her wiry fingers in an especially dank hole she feels something big and crawly squirm all about her hand, with a face of disgust and a jolt of terror she freezes mid-climb.
Peony and Tolbold charge up the bluff but make little progress and still have this obstacle to overcome.
The three goblins, Jadaxeez, Roginkle and Kleemiz, start to pick their way through the brambles.
Only Roginkle makes progress through the thorny undergrowth. He now faces a narrow track to navigate.
Initiative order (bold is up)
Peony 23 (The Small Bluff)
Tobold 20 (The Small Bluff)
Goblins 20:
J (Brambles)
R (a Very Narrow Path)
K (Brambles)
Khazak 18 (The Small Bluff)
Grifo 18 (The Small Bluff)
" You can do it Khazak! " Griffo says energetically, placing his hand on the dwarves shoulder and giving him a slight shove in the direction of the cliff." Get after them! "
Khazak starts up the bluff.
But the slope is just a little too slippery and Khazak's backpack encumbers him.
The dew has settled on the long grass that covers the bluff and the hobbits and dwarf are struggling to get up and over it.
Initiative order (bold is up)
Peony 23 (The Small Bluff)
Tobold 20 (The Small Bluff)
Goblins 20:
J (Brambles)
R (a Very Narrow Path)
K (Brambles)
Khazak 18 (The Small Bluff)
Grifo 18 (The Small Bluff)
Once more into the breach. Tolbold backs up, gets a long running start and races up the hill, yelling For the Shire! and dances a jig at the top and yells to the others: Come on! You can do it!
Scowling with a wicked rage building up inside her Peony clambers up the wee bluff with all her might.
Sprinting past the dancing magician the young ranger draws her bastard sword, cleaving through the brambles
Falling upon the two goblins Peony lets out a wicked battle cry, snarling with hatred.
"Have at you, bastard sons of Mordor! Behold the fangs of The Shire!"
Peony and Tobold push and pull each other up the hill and the two goblins are now tantalisingly close but moving away from them. The goblins curse and spit at the hobbits.
The Brambles:
The very narrow path:
Kleemiz finds a clearer pathway through the thorns than Jadaxeez. Roginkle comes to a dead end and doubles back hoping to find a better way to go.
Initiative order (bold is up)
Peony 23 (Brambles)
Tobold 20 (Brambles)
Goblins 20:
J (Brambles)
R (a Very Narrow Path)
K (a Very Narrow Path)
Khazak 18 (The Small Bluff)
Grifo 18 (The Small Bluff)
Grifo looks to Khazak, " Come on you can make it. Drop your pack we can always come back for it... " then he attempts to run head long up the hill holding to keep his feet under himself.
Khazak gathers up his strength and tries again.
And once again finds himself sliding back down the hill muttering bad words in Dwarven.
Grifo slips on the wet, dewy grass, and sliding back down, gets in the way of Khazak.
Initiative order (bold is up)
Peony 23 (Brambles)
Tobold 20 (Brambles)
Goblins 20:
J (Brambles)
R (a Very Narrow Path)
K (a Very Narrow Path)
Khazak 18 (The Small Bluff)
Grifo 18 (The Small Bluff)
Peony takes a deep breath, cursing her wee little figure. She reaches out, nearly towards the top of the bluff.
Sighing with relief, Peony lifts herself to the top of the bluff, reaching over the edge to help pull her companions up. (Aid another?)
Tobold finds a spot a little away from the others and tries picking his way through the brambles.
And finds his way through.
Peony manages to find her way up the bluff, and Tolbold finds a way through the Brambles.
Jadaxeez finds a way under the worst of the undergrowth, pulling himself along like an alligator to rejoin his comrades in arms.
Roginkle and Kleemiz confer quickly in their vile language. Roginkle pushes ahead along the path while Kleemiz turns to attack Tolbold with a short, rusty blade.
The sorcerer ducks around a tree making it very hard to hit him.
Initiative order
Peony 23 (2 Brambles)
Tobold 20 (3 A Very Narrow Path)
Goblins 20:
Jadaxeez (3 A Very Narrow Path)
Roginkle (4 A very tangled undergrowth)
Kleemiz (3 A Very Narrow Path) attacking Tolbold
Khazak 18 (1 The Small Bluff)
Grifo 18 (1 The Small Bluff)
Tobold takes a stab at the running goblin and taunts him.
The goblin dodges the longspear, kicks dirt and leaves at Tolbold and runs off into the dark.
Khazak mutters under his breath and again attempts to climb the hill.
Khazak, two goblins are engaged in melee with Tobold about 20' away. They have Cover (+4 to their AC).
Grifo tries to run up the bluff again but finds himself stumbling over his feet
" You guys go on I'll, I'll catch up in a minute! "
Tobold takes a step away from the goblins. His right hand come off his spear and suddenly you then see a balloon size bulb in his hand which he squeezes and a stream of acid shoots at the goblin on the left.
Khazak makes a determined dwarven March up the hill. Grifo thinks of returning to Bilbo's party.
Initiative order
Peony 23 (2 Brambles)
Tobold 20 (3 A Very Narrow Path)
Goblins 20:
Jadaxeez (3 A Very Narrow Path)
Roginkle (4 A very tangled undergrowth)
Kleemiz (3 A Very Narrow Path) attacking Tolbold
Khazak 18 (1 The Small Bluff)
Grifo 18 (1 The Small Bluff)
Nodding to Grifo, Peony darts across the tiny plateau, actually drawing her bastard sword and cleaving through the brambles this time!
She swings wildly at Kleemiz, leaping between Tolbold and the Goblin.
Peony races through the brambles and jumps into the fray to protect the sorcerer. Tolbold conjures a ball of acid and melts the face of the goblin Kleemiz, acid which also eats through his air pipe and the goblin dies quietly though thrashing wildly and gasping for breath.
Roginkle continues to make good his escape on all fours having found a boar trail heading in his general direction.
Jadaxeez is now faced with two hobbits and so his bloodlust gets the better of him. He attacks Peony, thrusting his oversized and rusted knife at Peony.
...but her chain shirt is too tough for the weapon.
Initiative order (bold is up)
Peony 23 ( A Very Narrow Path)
Tobold 20 (3 A Very Narrow Path)
Goblins 20:
Jadaxeez (3 A Very Narrow Path)
Roginkle (5 A muddy slog)
Kleemiz (3 A Very Narrow Path) killed by Tolbold
Khazak 18 2 Brambles)
Grifo 18 (1 The Small Bluff)