☠ Season of Ghosts w/ DM rainzax ☠

Game Master rainzax

Sounds like we need to figure out a rescue plan.

Sigurd is loud and not stealthy, so he can take Miyuki back to safety.

We also need to look for Kazuki Sato's family.

I think most of this party is not stealthy, unfortunately. We may want to think about that the next time we get a skill increase or feat choice that could get us trained in Stealth.

We are at a Crossroads.

1) You can attempt to quickly tail the Noppera-Bo, but the difficulty will be high, because with their hostage, you incur mortal risk of failure.

2) You can attempt to slowly tail the Noppera-Bo, at a moderate difficulty, but sacrifice time, impacting the Missing Person skill challenge proportionally.

3) You can head back to Willowshore to take Miyuki back to safety, regroup, and head back out. Again here, time is the issue.

=)

Quorum of three!

I pick option 2. I can't risk that mortal failure.

Lan will vote however Auntie Wu votes.

Vekka would also defer to Auntie Wu's wishes. If she's unsure he would suggest #2.

Option 2.

We are at a Crossroads.

1) You can attempt to quickly tail the Noppera-Bo, but the difficulty will be high, because with their hostage, you incur mortal risk of failure.

2) You can attempt to slowly tail the Noppera-Bo, at a moderate difficulty, but sacrifice time, impacting the Missing Person skill challenge proportionally.

3) You can head back to Willowshore to take Miyuki back to safety, regroup, and head back out. Again here, time is the issue.

=)

Quorum of three!

Or Option 4:

"I could go after them... alone. Trail them to where they're going and come back. I will not engage in combat unless strictly necessary."

How I would run this would be Solo Skill Challenge w/ something like:

Critical Success = As Success, plus a whole-party bonus to future interactions (initiative, stealth, etc)
Success = Learn information like where they are going, how many there are, features of location, info to allow party mates to Recall Knowledge, etc
Failure = No information, and minor consequences like whole-party penalties to future interactions (initiative, stealth, etc)
Critical Failure = Kazuki's player is rolling up a new character...

The difficulty would be comparable to the difficulty of the previous Skill Challenge (which was comparable to the difficulty of actually fighting them) but scaled to a single PC.

=)

Ooooo. Kazuki is up for that skill challenge, unless any party members stop him from trailing them.

Two people to defer to Auntie Wu's pick.
Two people choose Option #2.
I called quorum of three so we are waiting for Auntie Wu, who essentially decides what we do (with her two riders).

Kazuki, I think their ultimate choice is separate from your decision to scout and (hopefully) return. I'm going to go ahead and cook up your Scout Quest while we wait for Auntie Wu to cast her vote. I'll remind you here that die rolls you make are binding! (And, upon seeing your chances, you are welcome to change your mind / be talked out of it, so long as that happens before you roll!)

Auntie Wu votes option #4.

Kazuki, I think their ultimate choice is separate from your decision to scout and (hopefully) return. I'm going to go ahead and cook up your Scout Quest while we wait for Auntie Wu to cast her vote. I'll remind you here that die rolls you make are binding! (And, upon seeing your chances, you are welcome to change your mind / be talked out of it, so long as that happens before you roll!)

I'm all good. I have some of those feats for synergy & trained in the skills listed.

I'm busy tonight but will post tomorrow!

Sweats nervously for Kazuki.

So, Kazuki is off.

We anticipate his spoilered rolls, "secret" until (if) he returns.

The rest of you, once you arrive back in Willowshore, do you want to escort Miyuki to safety, and then immediately head back out?

Or do we want to wait for Kazuki to return before heading back out, busying yourselves with something else (perhaps continuing to locate the Missing People)?

If so, how long will you wait for Kazuki to return? 1 day? 2 days? 3 days? Half a day?

The outcome of his rolls will determine if and when he is able to return... as his destination is unknown, there is no reasonable way to estimate.

It may be worth hashing these details out before he rolls. Else, we'll just go with what we got.

=)

Yes, let us bring Miyuki back to the estate, and then we will return to this spot to hopefully meet Kazuki.

Regarding the pursuit of the faceless ones, I forgot to mention in my post...

You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Perception checks when you Seek your prey and a +2 circumstance bonus to Survival checks when you Track your prey.

I did mark Red baddie as prey earlier, if it matters.

Auntie Wu would want to drop of Miyuki and rush back to the spot where they separated from Kazuki. Then she'd want to follow his trail to catch up to him because she doesn't want Midori to be sacrificed while they're dithering. She's hoping the location is close enough that the team will intersect with Kazuki as he's returning and is deliberately not thinking about what a mess it will be if he takes another route back. She said so in her post here, though I may not have composed it clearly.

Kazuki would definitely take the same route back. He'd create signs to find his way back; bent branches, stones placed on the trail, etc...

Double rendezvous, gotchu.

Kazuki, I forgot about Hunt Prey. We’ll go ahead and give that synergy, and add it to any Survival checks you rolled. I still haven’t looked myself yet…

If Auntie Wu succeeds at the Survival check, and Kazuki survives the scouting mission, things should pop off without a hitch!

=)

I think we're agreed, but Lan would also have voted for dropping Miyuki and going after Kazuki.

Lol okay I give. It would seem I've hit the end of this NPC's dialog tree.

Maybe my Diplomacy check will open him up more...

If it comes to it:

You can still invest and gain passive benefits from an item you have not identified, but you will not be able to use activated powers.

If everyone fails (and skips using hero points), people can try again when they gain a level.

=)

Did I see right in one of Aunti Wu's spoilers that she might've somehow pushed one of Vekka's checks over the edge?

That's what This post for the Left Hand (skin-colored cloak) says. Unfortunately, the link for that item in the original post is broken, but appears would go to the Traveler's Anytool, rather than an item of clothing.

Auntie Wu isn't certain she can trust this guy, and is waiting for Ho Lan and Kazuki to weigh in on the matter before saying anything.

That's what This post for the Left Hand (skin-colored cloak) says. Unfortunately, the link for that item in the original post is broken, but appears would go to the Traveler's Anytool, rather than an item of clothing.

Auntie Wu isn't certain she can trust this guy, and is waiting for Ho Lan and Kazuki to weigh in on the matter before saying anything.

Broken link!

Noppera-Bo Hood

Lan would like to wear the Noppera-Bo Hood. I believe he'd be the most likely to try infiltrating the camp, with Deception +11.

Sounds good to me.

I'm good with Lan wearing the hood.

I am seeing a couple of ideas kicking around in Gameplay.

1) Lan wears the hood and talks his way in...
2) ...with "prisoners"...
3) ...while someone looks for and clears any traps...
4) ...and Kazuki scales the walls and sneaks onto the roof of the Warehouse...
5) ...did I miss anything?

If this is loosely the plan, I need to know who is going to try what!

Then, we can place Tokens on the Map and roll Skill Checks!

Please hold off on rolling for now until you know the stakes!

I agree with this plan.

Team, what should Sigurd do? He is not deceitful, nor stealthy. He can climb up walls decently (Athletics +8).

He could be a prisoner, but you'd have to disarm him at the very least. Unsure about armor, you could claim you had no time to strip him before the town guard arrives.

He could be a prisoner, but you'd have to disarm him at the very least. Unsure about armor, you could claim you had no time to strip him before the town guard arrives.

The more outrageous the Lie, the higher the DC Adjustment!

Lan, I imagine you are looking into using your abilities, which requires 1 hour of "study" if memory serves?

You guys get the most recent Anchor Post info for free - anything else you would like to learn (including "studying") would be risky - meaning rolling dice with failure looking like getting caught.

Waiting to hear from others before formalizing the challenge... my gut says parallel Social / Heist skill challenges, maybe preceded by a full-team Casing...

While we continue the tactical discussion as well, I'd like you all to order the following strategic priorities for me:

~) Avoid Combat
~) Rescue Midori
~) Rescue Other Prisoners
~) Destroy the Ritual Stakes
~) Refrain from Directly Alerting the Camp to your Presence

You can give them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Btw - I understand nobody wants to risk wearing the unidentified red cape - lemme know if I am wrong

=)

1: Rescue Midori
2: Refrain from Directly Alerting the Camp to the presence of infiltrators
3: Destroy the Ritual Stakes
4: Avoid combat
5: Rescue other prisoners, prioritizing children who can keep quiet when necessary

Auntie Wu thinks the best chance for success is if they don't realize there's a threat to their operation until the party is long gone with their rescued captive(s).

---------------------------

She would rather not wear any magical thing she hasn't identified, so she won't wear the cape for now.

---------------------------

1) Lan wears the hood and talks his way in...

2) ...with "prisoners"...
3) ...while someone looks for and clears any traps...
4) ...and Kazuki scales the walls and sneaks onto the roof of the Warehouse...
5) ...did I miss anything?

This sounds about right. I would put trap location/clearing first, in case we need to make a quick getaway.

Is Kazuki the only one trained in Thievery? Because if so, that would put him on #3 & #4. Auntie Wu can pretend to be a prisoner. She has some rope in her pack that we can use to tie slipknots around the prisoners' wrists.

I think Sigurd should keep his armor on and try scaling the wall with Kazuki. Maybe whoever gets up there first can drop a rope down for the other. Perhaps Auntie Wu can break down into hysterics at a prearranged signal (specific bird cry that we practice long before we arrive, perhaps?) to help cover the sound of armor clanking (Aid to Stealth). Thoughts?

On a tangential note, I'm glad the Remaster reduced the DC for Aid actions to 15. At early levels, 20 is ridiculously unattainable most of the time, and doesn't lend itself well to cooperation/teamwork.

While we continue the tactical discussion as well, I'd like you all to order the following strategic priorities for me:

1) Destroy the Ritual Stakes - If this is all we do, the camp will be delayed for weeks. If we don't do this the other prisoners will be sacrificed.

Sigurd isn't too concerned about combat. But he is aware they may be overwhelmed quickly.

Alright gang, I have what I need to proceed.

There will still be time to decide on exactly which Objectives are more important.

Go ahead and hatch "Part A (only)" of the Skill Challenge in Gameplay!

Edit: Going to grant everyone with less than 5 Hero Points (sorry Lan!) a Hero Point!

Is it time for an infiltration mission?

I'm super excited for this.

Had a bit of a long evening that delayed posting but I'm on board with the plan so far.

Lan, I imagine you are looking into using your abilities, which requires 1 hour of "study" if memory serves?

Yes! LINK to archetype.

Requirements You've spent at least 1 hour studying a creature whose role you intend to copy and have done so within the last 3 days. This could include meeting and learning from someone in that role, tailing and spying on someone, using magic to observe them at work, or some other method, as long as you have a visual source of information; Effect You quickly and accurately learn how to do mundane jobs or at least copy the movements enough to appear as if you do. A chosen role can take many forms—from cook, cleaner, or librarian to cult member, priest, or duke—but it's always a role and never a specific individual.

You perform the Impersonate activity to pass as a member of the role you observed and gain a +1 circumstance bonus to any Deception checks you attempt in your impersonation. This takes the normal amount of time it takes you to Impersonate. You also choose one Lore skill relevant to that role (such as Farming Lore for a farmer). While in your role, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to checks for that Lore skill, and if you're untrained in it, you can use your level as your proficiency bonus. You stop assuming the role after 24 hours, if you start studying for a new role, or if you choose to.

I'll leave it to the GM for what Lore skill I pick up. Modifier would be INT+Level = +4

~) Avoid Combat

~) Rescue Midori
~) Rescue Other Prisoners
~) Destroy the Ritual Stakes
~) Refrain from Directly Alerting the Camp to your Presence

You can give them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I will vote with Auntie Wu on Midori.

1 (by proxy). Rescue Midori
2. Rescue Other Prisoners
3. Destroy the Ritual Stakes
4. Refrain from Directly Alerting the Camp to your Presence
5. Destroy the Ritual Stakes

Reasoning: I think getting all the prisoners should delay the ritual as much as destroying their ability to perform it.

EDIT: I just saw Gameplay, the order posted is fine.

Let's go with Noppera-Bo Lore.

It can function in the "Part B" skill challenge as: Noppera-Bo Lore (easy)

I'll also give you "Synergy" for Part B using "Assume a Role"

=)

Thanks for the Hero Points!

@Lan: Would you consider using a Hero point to bump us up from a Failure to a Success, if necessary?

@Lan: Would you consider using a Hero point to bump us up from a Failure to a Success, if necessary?

Kazuki also has a Special Hero Point which expires at the end of this Part of the Skill Challenge!

Waiting for a 2nd on Sigurd's post.

Then will move us along.

I'm good whatever order of operations is chosen.

Going to move us along this evening, now that I have your requests for info.

=)

Do we know about how many stakes there are? Are they located in the oval-shaped bunch of brown lines to the left of the fire in the center?

Severalish, in various stages of "done".

The raw materials to make more are South of camp outside of walls - those log piles.

Edit: Going to grant everyone with less than 5 Hero Points (sorry Lan!) a Hero Point!

Missed this earlier, but no problem at all. I think I've mentioned this before, but I've been intentionally semi-hoarding his Hero Points, and had intended to save them for a more heroic part of the story. I'll probably use quite a few during this rescue.

I'll also give you "Synergy" for Part B using "Assume a Role"

Thanks! So, I didn't include this synergy with my roll, because I wasn't sure how big it was. +1? +2? I didn't mention it because I hadn't noticed the base DC, but Lan might crit this with a 26-28.