GM Frost's A Fistful of Flowers (Inactive)

Game Master Frozen Frost

Taking the berry, Petal pops it into their mouth. "Yummy. Thanks Bootlespeaker!"

Reaching Rings considers what they have heard about Petalbook. Surely the tavernkeeper is the person to speak to. Most people passing through town stop for a drink, and everyone who doesn't.. will have been seen by someone who does. And someone with a squirming sack... surely would attract notice.

society: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Or so their reasoning goes. "Hello Mr Tavernkeeper!" they start brightly. "I was wondering if you had heard tales of unusual travelers lately... or people with unusual loads?"

I will allow a ten minute rest before you go to gather information in the village. We can retcon if there are things you would want to do.

Bottlespeaker heals Popkorn and Reachy Rings before they continue on their quest of finding the plantknapper. “That sounds like ol’ Darius Wick for sure!” says an old villager. "He's a bit of a strange fellow who isn’t much one for chatting and tends to stay in his store on the south side of town." he adds, pointing to the road where the store he is talking about might be.

Fluff Fang, on the other hand, entertains the villagers with her stories, keeping them at ease, but most of the listeners are children. Meanwhile, Popkorn attempts to coerce by telling an old lady about the man they are looking for. The old lady is somewhat shocked when she finds the barbarian leshy is suddenly next to her. "Good lord! You almost frightened me! A man, you say? With a bag? Hmm. That seems to be Darius. I just saw him a while ago, I even waved at him, but he is a snob. He is carrying something, not sure what's inside it but I noticed something moved but I did not dare ask. I notice him making regular trips to and from the forest to the north these past many days, but he mostly and normally only talks with other townsfolk when he’s making a supply run for food or a new shipment of bee’s wax for his shop down south. It is named Crystals and Candlewax." the old lady then leaves to join the children that are listening to Fluff Fang.

One bitter-sounding tavernkeeper replies to Reachy Rings “That very sounds like Darius to me. You know what, that man is more interested in hosting parties for his fancy friends from the city than he does being a part of Petalbrook — not sure why he sticks around!" He then gets a mug and fills it with ale. "If you are looking for him, go down south, edge of the village, to his Crystals and Candlewax shop, but I warned you he does not like talking unless he needs something. Pfft.” he adds bitterly as his ale.

I assume you will go to Dariu's shop next, but I would like you to discuss this with one another or interact with the responses given to you.

Feeling quite proud of himself for dealing with the fleshys so naturally, even if they are a bit strange, BS returns to the meeting place and quickly blurts out his findings as his excitable companion emphasizes the important (or not so important) bits.

"Darius Wick! that's the man we are looking for, though all I really know is that he lives on the south side of town and he is a bit stand offish."

"STAND OAFISH!" echoes the plant on his head, obviously not knowing what standoffish means.

Bottlespeaker, any chance you can do a quick Treat Wounds on Popkorn or better yet, toss her a Goodberry to get back her last 2 HP? If not, no big deal.

Popkorn also returns to the meeting place and shares what she learned from the old lady. "Darius is man with bag. Need to find him now before our friends disappear from bag. Then make him tell where the rest are if they are not at shop."

Popkorn is clearly impatient to start heading South to find the Crystals and Candlewax shop. She will not stand around talking for very long.

Reaching Rings samples the ale, but only slightly. They does however make sure to pay the tavernkeeper for it.

"Fancy friends from the city eh? Nobles, or ...?" they inquire.

Once everything that can be extracted from the tavernkeeper is extracted, he excitedly heads off to meet up with the others.

"I also heard of this Darius and his candles shop. Apparently he has fancy friends in the city that he parties with... and is not well liked in the town."

Then remembering the last advice he adds "Apparently he only talks when he wants something. Maybe if we pretended we were selling one of us to him?"

treat wounds: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17 to try and cure that last 2 HP for Popkorn.

I will count that healing before you get info about your target. Everyone is now at full health.

Our heroes quickly heads to the southern edge of the village where the Crystals and Candlewax shop is located. Upon arrival, one of them opens the door and as the shop’s door swings open, a crystalline wind chime rings pleasantly. Far less pleasant is the shop’s overpowering aroma of jasmine flowers, which rises like a curtain across the threshold. Crystals of all shapes and sizes are displayed in fine glass cabinets and hung from the ceiling, while colorful candles adorn shelves that line the walls and floor. Their arrival startles the person managing the storefront, Galan, by their appearances.

After openly staring at them, he composes himself and clears his throat, “I’m terribly sorry, it’s just I’ve never seen a walking talking plant before. Are you... customers? Can I help you?”

Without preamble, Bottlespeaker blurts out, "Where is that scent coming from?"

Upon entering the shop, Fluff Fang marvels at the decor, "Ooohhhh...such beautiful crystals. Aren't they lovely!" Turning to the shopkeeper, "Greetings Sir! I'm Fluff Fang. Your store is fabulous! Yes, we're walking talking plants, known as leshys."

Batting big beautiful eyes (one of Fluff's best features), the bard asks sweetly, "Perhaps you can help us. We have urgent business with Darius Wick. Is that you or can you tell where he is?"

Diplomacy (with Shameless Request): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Reaching Rings peers around the shop with interest. In particular, Rings sniffs and tries to find where the strong Jasmin scent is coming from...

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

"Is town really big enough for Crystal and candle shop?" they ask.

This is the first we've heard of Galen. I presume he is not the Darius Wick we're looking for.

Popkorn is a little frustrated by the calm way in which her colleagues are dealing with the clerk. She walks up to Galen in a menacing manner; the little skulls of her war flail flicking back and forth and making disturbing clacking sounds as they bounce off each other. Almost growling at the shopkeeper, she says. "Where is Darius Wick? Bring him here or take us to him. I will not ask again."

Activity: Coerce vs Galen
Intimidation (Coerce): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

They should have put points into Cha for Popkorn given how much she's using her Intimidation.

If Galen proves recalcitrant or slow in locating his boss, Popkorn will initiate a thorough (and quite likely, partially destructive) search of the building looking for Darius Wick and his bag.

"Oh, yes, the scent that's jasmine. It comes from the basement. Darius is making these jasmine candles. Did you know that they are mystically connected with youth, beauty, and vitality? My boss believes that they’re about to become very popular among noble ladies, no wonder he is very busy working as of late." Galan says happily to Bottlespeaker. Reachy Rings can confirm that the scent indeed is coming from the basement even though it is locked (DC 18 Thievery to unlock). He can also sense that Galan has indeed never seen a leshy before and also notices that despite his promotion of jasmine candles, he seems to be sick of the smell.

"Oh, yes! Indeed they are lovely! And colorful too! We have a nice collection here, if you don't mind, I would like you to show them." He moves and tours Fluff Fang to a shelf full of glass crystals of different colors and shapes. "And no, I am not Darius, he's my boss. I am Galan, by the way, I manage the store while he is busy." he continues as now he is partially distracted. He then turns to the leshy barbarian that seems to threaten, "Whoops!" Galan raises his hand, as if surrendering by actually fooling around with the leshy, seeing them odd, but small and harmless, he thinks. "I apologize, but my boss Darius is currently hard at work in the basement on a new batch of jasmine candles, and he is not to be disturbed under any circumstances. After all, it’s hot and delicate work. Why don't I show you instead our collection of different scented candles? We have a variety here actually, you might like it!" he then moves to the farther shelf of the store, picking some big candles of different colors and scents. "Here, we have rose-scented. And this one is vanilla-scented. Oh, how about this one, water-scented, it does not smell anything but it makes somebody feel relaxed...."

Galan is distracted so far, his focus now at Popkorn, showing him different colored and scented candles. The others can attempt to unlock the door's basement and can eventually gain access to it.

Edited because I forgot one of us is a rogue...

Fluff Fang smiles sweetly as Galan shows off the beautifully colored crystals. "Oohh... you're right! They are even more lovely up close."

When Galan leads Popkorn to the far side of the store, Fluff Fang moves to the basement door. Fluff is about to pull out some thieves tools, but sees Reaching Rings approaching and defers to the rogue, "After you, dearie." The dexterous bard stands ready to lend a hand.

With Galen distracted, Reaching Rings reaches out toward the door. Viney fingers work their magic , albeit of a mundane nature, as they try to open the way down to the basement.

"Tell Galen that there were some noble ladies at the inn, and he might want to grab some samples and take them to sell, we can wait.." he suggests as he struggles with the lock.

thievery: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

<click>

Reachy Rings successfully opens the door to the basement. On the other hand, Galan shows more types of candles by moving to other shelves. He turns his back to Popcorn, even not noticing the other leshy heroes are already not around, and begins to scour a bigger collection of candles, hard in deciding which candle would make Popcorn buy.

I assume you have the same Exploration activity for this part as the previous one. You can find yourselves in the MAP. You can arrange your position relative to one another.

As our heroes go down into the basement, they find a wooden table covered with crystals of various sizes, including three particularly large ones measuring nearly four feet in diameter, sitting against the southern wall of this storeroom. Stairs lead up to the north, while a wooden door is tucked into the wall to the southwest.

"Oh, my, looks like the crystals are a magical alarm system. Maybe we should just smash them? Though I believe it would be better if some finesse was used." Can the others open the spoiler to find out how they can neutralize the alarms now that BS has pointed them out, or do either BS or popcorn need to tell them how?

Bottlespeaker readies his staff and if noone else takes action, he will.

When Bottlespeaker points out the vibrating gems, Fluff Fang steps forward and says, "Allow me, dears." The bard focuses on the sound and begins humming a concordant tune to disable the alarm.

Counter Performance: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
Hero Point!
Counter Performance: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

Actions: ↺ Counter Performance. Cost: 1 focus point (and 1 hero point)

Popkorn distracts the clerk while Reaching Rings opens the way downstairs. Then, when Galen's attention is elsewhere, she rejoins her companions and heads downstairs.

Position looks Ok to me. Not sure why there's a spoiler on the claxon given the noise it's making; perhaps it is because we're blocking the view of the others.

When the crystals start wailing, Popkorn enters, and not having the faintest idea of what to do about the noise, ignores it and moves to the door in case someone comes through it.

Reaching rings gives the others a chance to shine before approaching the far door.

"I do hope that shop assistant is nothing more than he appears..."

When he sees FF masterfully deal with the crystals, BS crosses the room.

Others can disable if Bottlespeaker or Popcorn share what they discovered.

I actually need three checks but since it is a crit success, I will consider it as if the crystals are disabled altogether.

Fluff Fang's counter-humming makes a destructive interference against those sounds released by the crystals, in which altogether, they are all simultaneously disabled. Around those disabled crystals are the smaller crystals scattered along the tabletop are worth 50 gp in all. Yey!

Moving forward they can see a slightly ajar door of the next room and the potent smell of flowers in this room which is a spacious laboratory is somehow even stronger than it was upstairs. Long wooden tables along the south wall are covered with candles. A large, unlit stone fireplace takes up the room’s rounded southwest corner. The north wall features two rounded tables, one holding a cauldron of stew and the other riddled with burn marks and covered in wax. Similar scorch marks and splatters appear on the floor at the center of the room, beneath a massive cauldron of gently bubbling wax. Next to the bubbling cauldron, a towering set of sturdy wooden shelves are laden with a hodgepodge of tools for candle making and alchemy. Three doors lead out of this room, two along the east wall and a third in the northwest corner.

Darius is so busy that he does not notice that he has uninvited guests!

BASEMENT ENCOUNTER Round 1
Terrain Conditions: The ceiling of this stone room is 15 feet high. The sturdy shelves are strong enough to bear the PCs’ weight; they can Climb up onto the top shelf with a DC 15 Athletics check. The shelf can be toppled over with a successful Shove (DC 18 Athletics). A character atopcthe shelf when it’s toppled must attempt a DC 15 Reflex save, landing prone and taking 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage on a failed save. Areas with tables, chairs, and stewpots are difficult terrain.
Party Conditions:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD can act!

Fluff Fang HP 35/35, AC 19

Darius

Reachy Rings HP 38/38, AC 20
Bottlespeaker HP 38/38, AC 19
Popcorn HP 53/53, AC 20

SCH1
SCH2

Not wanting to draw attention to the group, in case anyone wishes to attack with surprise, Fluff Fang decides to watch and wait.

Actions: ◇ Delay. Note: FF will likely come out of delay to sing an inspiring tune before the party attacks.

What kind of recall knowledge should we do for the slug creatures?

Arcana or Crafting skill, or Homunculus Lore to Recall Knowledge for 1 action.

Fluff Fang delays. Darius, who is in the process of pouring small candles from his handheld wax pourer, has his attention drawn by them when he finally turns around. "Hey! What are you doing here? And how did you even get past my alarm?! You are trespassers!" he exclaims angrily to our heroes. Quickly, he draws a vial with a sickly green liquid from his bandolier and chugs its contents into his mouth before closing in on our heroes!

BASEMENT ENCOUNTER Round 1
Terrain Conditions: The ceiling of this stone room is 15 feet high. The sturdy shelves are strong enough to bear the PCs’ weight; they can Climb up onto the top shelf with a DC 15 Athletics check. The shelf can be toppled over with a successful Shove (DC 18 Athletics). A character atopcthe shelf when it’s toppled must attempt a DC 15 Reflex save, landing prone and taking 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage on a failed save. Areas with tables, chairs, and stewpots are difficult terrain.
Party Conditions:
ENCOUNTER MAP
Character in BOLD can act!

Fluff Fang (Delays) HP 35/35, AC 19

Darius | –1 penalty to AC and a –2 penalty to Reflex saves, +2 item bonus to Athletics checks and unarmed attack rolls

Reachy Rings HP 38/38, AC 20
Bottlespeaker HP 38/38, AC 19
Popcorn HP 53/53, AC 20

SCH1
SCH2

BS simply casts Shillelagh on his weapon and waits for an opening.

recall knowledge: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (5) - 3 = 2

"Those things? What are they."

Seeing the candle-maker quaff his elixir, Fluff Fang studies him.
FF isn't trained in Arcana or Crafting, so maybe Recall Knowledge on Darius? Society (or Espionage Lore if he's well known in the spy circles). Both at +5.

Concerned for the party, Fluff Fang sings out some inspiration:

♫"Sneaking our way to a lair,
Avoiding alarms everywhere.
How will we handle
One making a candle?
Who knows? But we'll do it with flair!"♫
Inspire Courage: Allies gain +1 attack, +1 damage

Fluff Fang will then crouch near the table and hide.
Secret check for Stealth +9

Actions: ◆ Recall Knowledge, ◆ Inspire Courage, ◆ Hide

When she sees Darius, Popkorn growls and flies into a rage. She swings her flail around and slams it repeatedly into the man before her.

Action 1 (◆): Rage

Action 2 (◆): Strike (+1 War Flail) with Rage and Inspire Courage vs Darius

War Flail Attack: 1d20 + 9 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 1 + 1 = 31 vs -1 to AC
War Flail Damage: 1d10 + 4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 4 + 2 + 1 = 16 bludgeoning damage

Oh wow! I see now about the kind of damage a Barbarian can inflict. I've never played one before.

Action 3 (◆): Strike (+1 War Flail) with Rage, Inspire Courage and MAP1 vs Darius

War Flail Attack: 1d20 + 9 + 1 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (11) + 9 + 1 + 1 - 5 = 17 vs -1 to AC
War Flail Damage: 1d10 + 4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 2 + 1 = 15 bludgeoning damage

PF1 apparently had a rule about not being able to move diagonally through a hard corner (like this doorway). PF2 apparently doesn't have this rule, so RAW would seem to suggest that such movement is allowed (ie. the starting square and destination square are clear, so moving diagonally from one to the other should be okay) On the other hand, my Google searches seem to find a split in opinion, with many (mostly ex-PF1ers) saying it should up to the GM to decide on a case-by-case basis. If it is not allowed, then on the plus side, it means Darius will have to go through Popkorn to get to the rest of you.

I'm going to take a liberty with the moving through a hard diagonal issue above and do so in the hope of getting in a good flank.

Reaching rings squeezes through the doorway and sneaks around the back of Darius. Then, with the alchemist distracted by Popkorns assault, they plunge their rapier into his unprotected rear!

"Take that plantknapper!"

attack, flank: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 10 + 2 = 20
P damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
sneak: 1d6 ⇒ 2
deadly: 1d8 ⇒ 8

*Stride
*interact (draw weapon)
*Strike

Bottlespeaker imbues his weapon with primal energy as he recalls nothing about the tiny moving candles(?) that are with Darius.

Fluff Fang thinks Darius is a madman, using leshy flowers as a fragrance for his candles. Before she hides, she sings an inspiring song for her allies. You become successfully hidden from Darius, unnoticed by SCH1, SCH2 Popkorn rages and attacks Darius with her war flail, bludgeoning him in the head! Wow, that 32 damage is insane from just the first attack! The second one hits him again in the head to knock him down, falling on the floor with a thud.

As for the moving diagonally, well, I will rule it here to be allowed given that you are small and can easily get into the way, for fun. I haven't encountered much about this issue, but I have been seeing it asked in one of the lodges in Discord.

COMBAT OVER! WELL DONE!

Seeing our brave and strong heroes and their master knocked down, the tiny homunculus candles shrieks in fear and hide under one of the farthest shelves they could go. What will our heroes do?

I just made Darius knocked down unconscious instead of being k*lled. You can tie him up without a need for a DC until he wakes up for interrogation. Or you can begin searching the rooms if you want while he is unconscious.

"That was quick. These fleshies are not very sturdy, are they?"

BS enters the room and starts looking around for signs of his lost friends, following the scent of lavandar.

Fluff Fang quickly joins the group in the lab, carefully stepping over the carnage. As she passes Popkorn and Reaching Rings, Fluff claps leafy hands together, "Oh! Well done. You were both fabulous!"

Never passing up a hint from a benevolent GM...
Fluff Fang says, "And now, we'll tie up this misguided soul..." and with a pointed look to Popkorn continues, "...to question him." With skills in thievery, Fluff Fang has no trouble handling a few knots. (GM said no check needed, right?)

When Darius recovers, Fluff Fang tries to play "good cop" before Popkorn comes in with "bad cop". In a sweet voice, "Now dear. I'm not here to hurt you, but I can't vouch for my friend here...." indicating Popkorn. Continuing, "We're just looking for our leshy friends. Won't you help us?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

If Darius is unresponsive, Fluff Fang steps aside for the others to try, and then starts rummaging around to find clues.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

No sooner does Popkorn's rage-filled attack hit home, bringing the man down, than the blind fury falls away from her and she is left standing there panting lightly. Noticing that despite having a good portion of his skull crushed in by her flail, the man was still alive, Popkorn searches him thoroughly; removes all his weapons; and hides them in a corner before returning. She stands over the man and swings her flail menacingly in case Darius tries anything funny when he regains consciousness.

Rings... well, with the mad alchemist taken care of, Rings approaches the two candles. "Hello there... do you understand common?" they ask.

Regardless of the answer (unless it is violence), Reaching starts to examine the room for clues as to whether any of the captive leshy may still be alive.

Yes, Fluff Fang, no DC for tying Darius up.

After Fluff Fang secures unconcious with some good knots around to tie him up in case he wakes up, our leshy heroes begin to scour the rooms in the basement.

Popkorn does what she needs to do and stands guard next to Darius. Reachy Rings asks the tiny homunculi who, out of fear, nod furiously and point to different rooms, their arms crossing one another.

I will post another for Darius after you sort things that you find here with some roleplay. I will hold on to Fluff Fang's Diplomacy and will use it later.

I believe the second spoiler labeled Fluff Fang was meant for Reaching Rings. I'll assume that, and won't comment on it.

Not finding anything interesting in the current room, Fluff Fang checks out the bedroom to the east. Enjoying the feel of the plush Qadiran carpet, the bard studies documents on the exquisite oak desk.

Upon finding one particular manifest, Fluff Fang rushes out to show the others. "Friends, look at this!" Holding it out for anyone to take a closer look, Fluff continues, "It's a recent order for lavender house plants, requested by someone named Lady Constance Meliosa. Apparently, Darius recently delivered it to her manor in nearby Rosentry. Perhaps he'll be more ...helpful... since we have this information." Fluff moves to Darius to have a chat.

Ha! Thanks for pointing that out. I was able to edit it on time. XD

Rings extracts the mutagens with a nod of thanks to the candle.
"Most kind of you." they say.

"Hey look everyone. Mutagens. Cognitive ones and quicksilver too.
Two of each. No sign of our missing friends though..."

"Mutagens? What is a mutagen? Do they make you smarter and faster?"

Bottlespeaker is quite curious about these so called mutagens. Twinsprout is determined to taste one and starts crawling up Bottlespeakers arm and reaches for one of them.

"Smarter?" she asks, which answers which one she is interested in.

Popkorn shows no interest in the new mutagens. "Mind already plenty clear and body needs to stay strong." She toys with the idea of 'accidently' dropping her flail on Darius a couple of times and ending his reign of terror over the leshies once and for all.

After a while, Darius regains his consciousness just to find that he is tied up in both hands and feet, with the rope also wrapped all around his body many times, making it hard for him to even escape. He is like a worm on a cocoon that he starts to wriggle but to no avail of moving away from our heroes. Hearing the bard leshy ask him and seeing that he has no escape at all anyway, he sighs and tells them what he knows.

He rolls his eyes before he responds. "Yeah, yeah. I harvested a number of your kind from the Verduran Forest for Lady Constance Meliosa of in Rosentry, but I did so only under duress. She didn’t even invite me to the party she’s throwing tomorrow to show off her new leshys! That crazy woman! If you want to find your leshy friends, crash to her party tomorrow and see for yourself that she has them. Now I tell you what I know, you can leave me alone here now.” he says with a grunt.

Not willing to let him off that easily, he presses the alchemist/perfumer.

"Hmm. How exactly were you forced? And from the smells here, I take it you availed yourself of Lavender's sensitive parts?"

Popkorn quickly realizes that the man is lying and is in actuality a money-grubbing low-life whose leshy-napping activities will continue unless his source of remuneration is removed. She once again considers finishing off the creature with a quick blow of her flail, but realizes that unless this Lady Constance Meliosa he mentioned isn't also removed from the board, another would just take his place and the leshy's would remain in danger. "He is lying. No duress was involved. Only payment was required. We must convince Lady Meliosa to stop collecting leshies" She waves her war flail back and forth menacingly to indicate the type of convincing that she feels is likely going to be needed in this situation.

Reaching Rings leans forward, face to face with the fleshy.

"And where would we find Lady Meliosa?" they ask.

"What more can you tell us about her?"

Fluff Fang grins at Popkorn's preferred method of convincing people to see the errors in their ways.

When Reaching Rings asks about where to find Lady Meliosa, Fluff Fang holds out the manifest. "According to this document, Darius made a delivery yesterday to Meliosa's manor ... in nearby Rosentry." After Darius mentions the Lady's upcoming event, Fluff adds, "Oh, I do so love parties! But oh dear ... what should I wear?"

Okay. I'm off. I may be able to check in a couple times while I'm gone. Otherwise, back on 11/26. Thanks to everyone for agreeing to slow-play for a few days!

"Fine! Fine!" he says as he rolls his eyes because that is one of the few body parts he can only move at the moment. "I admit it. I am selling them to her in the hopes that by currying favor with Lady Constance, I can eventually buy my way into her inner circle. But no, she still does not invite me to her party! Such an ungrateful brat!" he exclaims fumingly.

He then turns his head to Reachy Rings to answer their inquiry. "You can find her in the nearby town of Rosentry. You can easily see her place just out of this town. Your leshy friends will be a centerpiece for an upcoming gala hosted by that Lady in her estate’s garden tomorrow. If I were you, I'll go there first thing in the morning tomorrow." he says, confirming the details Fluff Fang just shared.

I will move you all to the next part of the story. You have learned everything you need to know, anyway. Everyone is restored to full health, though none is hurt from the last combat anyway. You also have your daily preparations as usual.

The next step for our heroes is the trip to the nearby town of Rosentry the next day. The trip itself is uneventful, and they are able to safely rest and recover to full strength before arriving. The town of Rosentry is little more than a glorified vacation town — pandering to the many nobles who keep seasonal homes away from home in the area is the settlement’s primary industry. The numerous estates that make up the town’s forest-facing borders all have large rolling lawns separating one another but are still close enough that an easy trip on horseback or by carriage can allow neighbors to visit.

The Meliosa estate is a relatively average example of Rosentry’s estates, and there’s very little to bother our heroes as they make their way toward the indicated address. Every insect has been poisoned with a vengeance; every mole and vole that might ruin the perfect lawn has been massacred. Few of the plants in the area are native species, and the only sign of natural life comes from the few stray songbirds who visit the local birdbaths or the distant sight of a horse in tack porting a cart of supplies for one of the local residences.

As our heroes draw near to the Meliosa Estate, though, the sounds of her gala in the expansive garden in her manor’s backyard become impossible to ignore.

What will you do? You can find yourselves behind one side of the 5-foot-tall cast iron fence of the garden in the MAP.

Lady Constance Meliosa’s garden and manor is surrounded by a 5-foot-tall cast iron fence, surrounded by a thick privet hedge. They can hear the chattering of humans enjoying a tea party on the other side, but without seeing over the hedge, they have no line of sight into the garden. The iron gate to the garden is locked.

While Bottlespeaker looks on with horror, Twinsprout is entirely entranced by all the exotic life forms, drops off of BS and pokes her head through the bars.

Are the bars wide enough that she can slip through them?

At the Meliosa estate, Fluff Fang tries to peer through unsuccessfully, and then looks up. "Oh dear. These hedges are awfully high." Not the most athletically inclined, Fluff turns to Reaching Rings, "If you think you can pick the gate lock, I could offer some magical invisibility to help keep you hidden." After a short pause, Fluff adds, "I could also distract the party with ghostly sounds from the other side of the estate."

The bard waits to hear other suggestions.

Popkorn surveys the situation and sees that the walls shouldn't prove too difficult for her to climb over. She looks at her somewhat wimpier colleagues and realizes that they are unlikely to all make it over with her. She decides to wait a bit to see if Fluff Fang and Reaching Rings can figure out how to get them all into the estate at the same time.

"I doubt I'll need the invisibility.." notes Reaching Rings.

"Those humans are all so busy, and the hedge goes right up to the gate. I think I'll be able to just slip up without anyone noticing. Though going through the gate may prove more difficult for the rest of you.."

So saying Rings slides along the hedge until they reach the gate then, remaining as much like a plant as they can, they quietly pick the gate lock.

stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
pick lock: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Of course, Ring's maybe a little over confident...