GM Doug's Tarnbreaker's Trail (Inactive)

Game Master Doug Hahn

"Spotted Cow!" Colin say to himself, "Didn't expect to see that here."

Colin try to start a conversation with Two Houses with his favorite drink, Spotted Cow.
Colin's Diplomacy (U): 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (5) + 0 = 5

I think that's a crit fail and I'm going to use hero point to reroll
HERO POINT Diplomacy (U): 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (19) + 0 = 19

"Sir, I was told that one can judge how great someone is by their choice of drink. And that Spotted Cow right there, is the best of the best."

The Duchess attends the Wyrding Wayfinders's epic workshop. She will attempt to help inspire the bard with a recounting of lineage lines related to Faegrim's family.

I'll roll Genealogy Lore assuming you'll allow it. I have the same bonus for Society, or subtract 3 to make it a Diplomacy check.

Duchess's Genealogy Lore (T): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Who to talk to? Hmm

Gri considers talking to Without Trace or Fail, but considering the sabotage, she decides maybe it’s best to keep some distance. Instead she just spends the night talking to the Fangs of Remorhaz, watching their swing kicks.

I think they’re already helpful so this is more for flavor than anything else - but also we’ve already got people doing diplomacy for the others. Let me know if you still want me to roll though.

Seeing further signs of sabotage during the challenge, Tumarea stands watch near the sled while the others are out making friends, lest they return to find more sheared bolts or the like.

No diplo, and the team Tumarea is most likely to influence otherwise is already helpful.

Estelia takes a long hard look at the Bear pelted Gruen. "This... this group must be what my fortune warned me about. Cooperation is the key to our overwhelming success. As much as I hate to admit it."

Estelia realizes she has a tough nut to crack, but sacrifices must be made for the greater good of the Pathfinders winning their race. If anything, she hopes to at least make them feel guilty for the sabotage.

She steps up to Gruen and the rest of team "Without Trace or Fail" and tries to put on her biggest smile and charming look.

"I know you have little interest in making friends with me, but I find your work and flair and experience in this race absolutely impressive. You're right that your traditions are doing wonders for you. That bear pelt seems a key to your success, I can just sense that from the aura around you coming from it. Would you be interested in knowing the great history of that bear it came from, and why it deems you worthy of such a magnanimous creature? I can read its history and its fortunes if you'd like."

Fortune Telling Lore: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
Or if you'd prefer Diplomacy treat that as a +4 rather than +7

Colin waxes poetic about the Spotted Cow with Two Houses, who now seem friendly to the group. They love talking about food! Oluf poses. "If you run hard every day, you can drink all the spotted cows you want at night and still maintain a good physique!"

Success! Helpful!

______

The Duchess corrects the bard. Fargrim's lineage is connected to Sweyn Forkbeard, not Bjarni Herjolfsson. Faegrim nods. "Of yes that must be true, dearie. Grandpappy had a forked beard too. It grew every which way. It must have been in the blood. Sassa dear… I think it's best we start over from canto eighty-seven."

The bard sighs loudly and tosses a dozen pages into the campfire. She glares at the Duchess. but Faegrim smiles. Helpful now!

______

Gri tries to cheer up Fangs. They appreciate her efforts! Some of the others in the camp, seeing them as less of a threat, join her.

______

Tumarea stands guard; he doesn't see anything.

______

Gruen just stares Estelia down. "No thank you. I can tell you the story. My family is known to be blessed with lycanthropy — this bear pelt is from a beast I hunted and killed myself; I wear it as an homage to my ancestral benison."

While he doesn't seem amenable to the reading he seems pleased Estelia has taken interest in his lineage. Unfriendly -> Neutral

______

DC 15 Diplo or sell the GM to influence teams in camp

Filensta
Estelia SUCCESS
Colin SUCCESS
Duchess SUCCESS
Gri PASS
Tumarea PASS

Filentsa, not much of a diplomat, chooses to work on the sled, making sure that it is in good working order.

1d4 ⇒ 4

The balgirdtrek is PUNISHING this year. You wake before dawn to the drumbeat of sleet banging on the sides of your tents. It's a miserable wet morning, and the black clouds overhead promise more suffering.

Whatever joy and humor in the camp is gone; the Balgirdtrekkers break camp and get ready for a slog — for waiting for you at the end of this wretched day is the crossing of the Whitegold river.

Somewhere in the distance, you hear a creature roar.

Or was that distant thunder?

The Worst Day yet

DC 16 Athletics, Nature, Survival to travel overland.

Filensta
Estelia
Colin
Duchess
Gri
Tumarea

"If you don't think it is suffering, then cold is not suffering. It's all about mentality. Come on, we can do this!"

Colin's Survival (T): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

We goy hail here this afternoon and it knocked out the internet of my apartment.

Colin finds the ways around icy gullies and creaking ponds. Success!

The Worst Day yet

DC 16 Athletics, Nature, Survival to travel overland.

Filensta
Estelia
Colin
Duchess
Gri
Tumarea

Daisy wraps a scarf around her neck. She keeps her head down against the sleet and attempts to push ahead:

Duchess's Athletics (T): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

This is a sign. For such a storm to hit in the middle of this has definitely got to mean something. But what? Gri shakes her head and presses on. With conditions as difficult as they are today, it’s going to be tough enough to keep up without getting lost in the meaning of things.

Athletics, overland travel: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Oh, do I want to hero point that? Hmm, I guess I have enough of them to take a risk, but crit failing would be pretty bad. I'll hold off for now, maybe save one for once we get to the river.

Despite that, Gri finds herself getting distracted and with the weather has to put in extra effort to keep up.

Daisy's scarf protects her and keeps her focused. Gri finds the weather bad — even for a Frostfur!

2 successes…

NAture: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

"Ah! The key today is to watch for the little holes where the animals have burrowed in the snow."

"This blasted weather." Tumarea mutters to himself as he slogs forward, hauling the sled.

Athletics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Results are mixed… can Estelia do as well as she has on previous days?

The Worst Day yet

DC 16 Athletics, Nature, Survival to travel overland.

Filensta SUCCESS
Estelia
Colin SUCCESS
Duchess SUCCESS
Gri FAIL
Tumarea FAIL

Estelia tries to navigate her and their sled through the snow pack as best she can.

Survival: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (5) + 0 = 5 Since I haven't used any of my hero points yet I'll try not to crit fail us here...

Survival: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (20) + 0 = 20

She manages to find an extra trail to drag the sled treads through!

5 successes for the day!

Estelia makes your day more productive than you thought possible. You notice footprints in the snow throughout the day — something large is keeping pace with the race. Unfortunately, the howling wind makes it impossible to tell what manner of creature it is.

As you pull into camp Bluetongue's is right behind you, with Fangs not far behind. The others aren't even close.

Steam and spray from the Whitegold River hang in the air. The wet air carries a cold sting. The snow on the trees drips, plopping heavily to the ground and the snow and frost seem to be clinging only in shadowed nooks and slick patches, despite the frigid air. Race officials prepare fish caught from the banks of the river near the camp. South of the campsite, another official stands near the riverbank. Several long poles lean against a mossy rock. Across the river, the course stretches away from the river and through the thinning trees into the snow-dusted hills beyond.

A race official walks up to you. "This is an important part of the Balgirdtrek. After spotting the tarn linnorm, Balgird gave chase to the beast. The linnorm slipped through the trees and made its way across the Whitegold River to evade Balgird. The rushing river was frigid and cold, and as Balgird approached he could see the tarn linnorm lurking in the trees on the other side, waiting to pluck his exhausted body from the shore if he swam across. Balgird felled a tall sapling from the riverside and vaulted across the river with as much of his gear as he could carry, foiling the linnorm and chasing it further into the wild."

She gestures to the river. "You can swim across, or — she gestures to several 15' long poles "— vault across, as Balgird himself did."

Each fifteen-foot long pole has a small plate affixed to the base, just below the tip to prevent the pole from simply sinking into the mud of the river.

Duchess thinks there's something odd about the poles set aside for your team… prompted by this, Estelia takes a closer look and discovers that plates on the bottom of the poles used for crossing have been loosened. This might cause the pole to get stuck in the upright position when plunged into the soft mud of the river. Considering the weather ad freezing rapid water, it would be a very bad idea to fall in.

Is there anything you want to do about this before you attempt your checks?

"Do we also have to vault with as much as our gear as we could carry, and left the rest of them here, just like Balgrid once did? " Colin ask the race official.

We’ll get your stuff across if you can make the vault. Don’t overthink it!

Estelia holds up an arm to hold back her racing companions and steps up to the pole, giving it a good tug, and looking down at the plate. "It appears this pole has come just a tad bit loose, I'll see if there's anything I can do to snap it back properly into place."

Crafting: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Estelia finds the plate is still loose. The guard looks at your group. Excuse me. Is there something amiss?

Darlington takes note of the footprints in the snow as they travel throughout the day. Setting the large footprints in the snow as my second lead to investigate.

At the river, as the official approaches Estelia, Daisy speaks up. ”Pardon! We are just checking that this plating is secure before we all consider the vaulting. I am sure Balgrid himself would want to make sure he did not end up falling into the river halfway across, no?” Daisy suspects her first lead might have a hand in this and investigates for evidence of bear pelt or other signs that Gruen might be involved.

Happy to roll an appropriate skill check and CLUE IN anyone else investigating if it's appropriate.

If Daisy finds anything of note, she will point it out to the officials in a curious, non-accusatory manner.

The Duchess does indeed find a bear-pelt fir tangled in one of the plate's screws. Gri can corroborate this.

The judge gets impatient. Look if you want to use another set of poles, I can get you replacements. It's not a big deal. Just ask.

Estelia laughs awkwardly. Of course, why didn't she think to just ask? Duh.

"Right. I noticed these poles were slightly loose is all. If you have suitable replacements available then it would be appreciated. I should have expected you'd all be prepared for any slight malfunctions in the equipment."

Oh, of course. Apologies, we want the tests to be fair.

You get new poles.

______

With your new poles, none of which seem to be sabotaged, you can attempt a DC 15 Athletics or Acrobatics to vault across.

You can also try to swim, but the current looks fast and it's very cold.

Pole Vault!

DC 15 Athletics / Acrobatics to cross

Filensta
Estelia
Colin
Duchess
Gri
Tumarea

Tumarea examines the poles, shrugs, and drops it back to the ground. "I'll use my own, thanks." He walks calmly to the water's edge, crouches slightly, then plants his staff in the ground and leaps, flapping his wings once, hard, as he propels himself across the river, easily clearing the far edge of the water.

Leap action (normally 10 feet horizontally), distance increased 5 feet each by vaulting with his staff (Staff Acrobat dedication) and wings (Strix ancestral ability) for a total of 20 feet.

Daisy rolls up her sleeves, picks up a pole, and gives vaulting a go:

Duchess's Acrobatics (T): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

...eventually coming back down onto the same side of the river. "C'est la vie."

Estelia, suddenly remembering her abilities the teachings and training of her profession and takes a moment to contemplate her cards and give her an edge in the jump. Casting Guidance

She steps up to the pole and tries to swing.
Acrobatics, Guidance: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 1 = 16

She just manages to land and slide across the dirt on the other side.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

"This is a fun game!"

Tumarea launches himself across, gliding with ease and impressing race officials.

Duchess launches herself up, wobbles a bit in the air above the freezing rapids, and falls back to the shore.

Estelia uses her psychic abilities to boost herself across!

Filentsa gets the furthest of all so far, easily making the jump.

Pole Vault!

DC 15 Athletics / Acrobatics to cross

Filensta SUCCESS
Estelia SUCCESS
Colin
Duchess FAIL
Gri
Tumarea STRIX CIRCUS SUCCCESS

Never a big fan of pole vault....

Colin's Athletics (T): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

Colin makes it! For someone who's not a fan he does rather well.

Duchess & Gri gotta go!

Daisy eventually deducts that she must keep trying until she is either on the other side of the river or she falls into it trying.

Duchess's Acrobatics (T): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

She wobbles yet again in the air above the freezing water... then falls back on the same bank once more.

"Une fois de plus."

Duchess's Acrobatics (T): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

Dieu merci!

Time to give it a go! Gri thinks as she grabs a pole and tries to vault.

Athletics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Landing on the other side, she lets out a big cheer. "That was fun! Glad we got new poles."

Gri gets a new record! 2 PP lol

The judge whistles. As far — or farther — than Balgird himself!

______

That evening the campers gather… only Bluetongies and Without Trace or fail have made it this far.

Bluetongues is entertaining themselves with Extreme Ironing. Yes, they apparently traveled with large boards and irons (sled-shaped hunks of thick metal with long wooden handles, which are heated over the coals and then rubbed on wrinkled clothing). They iron their laundry up high in trees, on a cliff, balanced on ice floes tumbling across the river, and attempt ever more ridiculous feats of ironing strength. It's the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt.

"We're PRESSING for victory tonight! HAHA!!"

______

Without Trace of Fail keeps to themselves, chanting traditional songs and eating their berries.

______

Making Friends

Anyone in the party can attempt a DC 15 Make Impression to increase the attitudes of Without Trace or fail. You also have evidence of 2 sabotages and might try to expose them — it's up to you, whether you want to win them over, try to get them removed from the race, or ignore it.

Mon Dieu! How have I gone this far in life without knowing about such an extreme discipline!?

The duchess pulls out a dress blouse from her supplies and starts climbing up towards the Bluetongues and their iron. The Duchess did in fact bring fine clothing on the Balgirdtrek in case an occasion presented itself.

”Pardon, Sigrud, could I borrow your iron? I have a blouse and would like to test my metal, but as you can see - I have an iron deficiency.” Darlington attempts to press her shirt up against a cliff face while balancing on a tree limb, pointing out a stubborn wrinkle to Sigrun, ”You see? I have a pressing concern here.”

Duchess's extreme ironing Acrobatics (T): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Daisy looks at her freshly ironed shirt in the frigid tundra with great pride. "This sport, it is interesting - the more you increase your skill the more you de-crease. It is indeed ironic, no?"

Tumarea rolls his eyes at the duchess's awful puns, opting to get a workout in while he keeps an eye on the sled.

No impression check from me.

Colin smiles to acknowledge the fantastic pun, but decided to not to deal with Without Trace of Fail. He would rather guard their sled so that there's no more sabotage.

No impression check from me also.

Estelia sighs, well she did say she was going to try and make an effort. And maybe she could find a way to squeeze some kind of remorse out of Without Trace or fail. She doesn't bring up the sabotage to them directly, but does make an attempt at talking in such a way that the team knows she has seen signs of their bear pelt wearing member trying to sabotage them.

"You know it's impressive to see Ulfens of such strong lineage who do so well in a fair race. It's really a testament to how much better at this kind of thing Ulfens are when they can do so incredibly well with the elements as the only handicap foreigners need to hold them back."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

Gruen actually blushes. He nods at Estelia. "Aye. We understand. And you've acquitted yourselves like true Ulfens. I'll admit it." He seems relieved that you didn't tattle on his group — and more than a little respect you've made it so far.

"To Meatloaf. Who're Balgirdrtekkers, through and through." He pours you some lightly fermented mead.

"But may they still LOSE! HA!" While he cannot help but put a jolly barb on his toast, it seems you've won them over.

1d4 ⇒ 1

The next day the miserable weather continues. It's all d"downhill" from the OICeflow, though! There is a final challenge today, then a short sprint to the finish line… warm dry beds at the Linnorn's Curse in Iceferry await.

SNow falls.

Snow. More Snow

DC 15 Athletics / Acrobatics to cross

Filensta
Estelia
Colin
Duchess
Gri
Tumarea

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Filentsa struggles through the slush.

Athletics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Buoyed by his success crossing the river, Tumarea awakes energized, plowing ahead through snowbanks hauling the sled behind him.

Estelia shivers at the cold but hopes her streak of lucky path finding keeps up.

Survival: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (19) + 0 = 19

Colin's Athletics (T): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Colin try so hard to plow through the snow that he almost fall, almost. He really want to finish this race so that he can escape from this frozen realm. His father just brought a ship(my 1e character by runnning Skull and Shackles), and he would rather be in sea water than SNOW.

Invigorated by a love for a newfound sport and the satisfaction of a crease-less shirt, Daisy presses ahead:

Duchess's Acrobatics (T): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Athletics, overland travel: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Gri puts her all into a push to make it to the last challenge. Unfortunately for her, the slush pushes back just as hard.

With three successes today you make a bit less progress than the other days but still manage to keep ahead of the pack.

Here is the last challenge. A wide of exposed ice is marked by race banners. In the middle of the ice, a delicate ribbon lies partially frozen within.

A race official recounts this part of the Balgirdtrek for you:

"While camping in the tundra, Balgird lost some precious equipment to the wind in the night. The following morning, he followed a trail of gear to discover one of his scrolls frozen in the ice. With great care, he moved across the thin sheet to where his scroll lay trapped. Balgird created a lens from a piece of the ice itself, focusing the sunlight on the ice to slowly melt it away from his scroll until he was able to free it."['/b]

[b]"Your goal is to extricate the ribbon without damaging it. Note that the water isn't deep enough to pose a drowning threat, but it is cold and you will have to rest before being allowed to continue on the last sprint to the finish.

The goal of this trial is to make it across the ice to the center and free the ribbon from the ice without damaging it. To do so you must attempt a DC 14 Acrobatics check to balance, If you fail you fall and must start over. If you succeed, you can then attempt a DC 15 Nature or Thievery check to extricate the ribbon. More than 1 PC may attempt the check.

Ice Flow!

DC 14 Acrobatics to Balance, then DC 15 Nature or Theivery

Filensta
Estelia
Colin
Duchess
Gri
Tumarea

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Filentsa immediately slips on the ice.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Her second attempt goes better.

She takes out her clockwork mouse, Dickory. "Dickory, make steam!"

The small creature starts creating puffs of steam that she angles carefully to just melt the ice around the ribbon, then she pulls it out carefully.

Thievery: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Hero Point!

Thievery: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 6 + 1 = 11

Dang.