Ragamuffins, a Swords of the Serpentine One-Shot

Game Master Branding Opportunity

Players, feel free to "dot" in here.

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes you have to make your own family. You are a group of pre-teen street urchins who have found each other in the city of Eversink. You have carved out a life for yourself and all live in a half-sunken building in a neighborhood known as Sag Harbor, easily the poorest and most decrepit neighborhood in the city. Here the canals are filled with debris and rotting garbage (or worse!) and the mud-choked streets often flood, even in the dry season.

Let us start the game with everyone introducing their characters with a post, please. You are all friends and know each other well. In your intro, please also answer one (1) of the following questions:

1) What time of year is it? 2) What time of day is it? 3)What's the weather currently like? 4) When is high tide?

The scene is as follows: you are returning to your home after having struck it very lucky at a local greengrocer's in the Temple Market district. Instead of being chased away, the way Pasquale (the greengrocer) usually does, his kind-heareted nephew Marolo was in charge of the cart today. When you showed up to search for discarded food on the streets of Temple Market, Marolo, who was packing up the cart let you each pick several fruits or vegetables that were too bruised or deformed to sell, letting you take them right from the cart. You couldnt' believe your luck! You each are now carrying these treasures and plan to turn them into something delicious when you get back to your cooking pot at home, although if you want to be munching on something in the meantime, that's okay too.

You know your home neighborhood of Sag Harbor (which you are now in) like the backs of your hands, and know that it's best to stay off the streets at this time of day, so you are about to climb an abandoned building to get up to the roof. Many of the roofs in Sag Harbor are connected by planks or ropes that allow the less law-abiding inhabitants to travel across the neighborhood without ever touching the ground.

Description of Eversink and Tone sections copied over to the "Campaign Info" thread.

Gemma looked up toward the rooftop of the abandoned building she is about to climb, adjusting her satchel holding the bounty Marolo bequeathed unto her and her companions. The lithe young woman’s gaze is drawn upward to the dark, ominous, grey storm clouds hovering above the city like a malignant force, occasionally rumbling like an angry beast.

The wind whistles as it is driven through the alleys, streets, and canals of the city, We better hurry, rain and wind are going to make this jaunt dangerous. Thunder roared as if to punctuate her thoughts and lightning streaked across the sky casting writhing shadows from the numerous statues perched in the alley.

She can’t help but take a second to think about Marolo, his broad shoulders, and gleaming eyes. She blushes as she considers the secret sketch she keeps of him, appropriately nestled in between the the fruits and vegetables in her satchel. The slender girl hesitated for a moment and thought about running back to the temple district but wonders, What could he see in me? Gemma takes a moment to consider her appearance. She is a slender girl with short brown hair that curls about her neck, with large, dark eyes, and dusky skin. She adamantly refuses to wear skirts or dresses, instead favoring boys' coats and breeches.

Reaching for a handhold, she looked toward her companions, and uttered, ”Someone give me boost.”

Let's go with this alias for "Ratter", who shall now be dubbed "Skiff". He used to make his way as a cabin boy, but could never quite get his sea legs under him. He earned his nickname from how fast he was always able to run to the side of the boat when he was sick; skiffs are notably fast, small watercraft and are associated with smugglers and pirates for this reason.

Skiff looks around to make sure nobody's paying attention, shivering in the late autumn breeze.

"Why d'you always get to go up first, Gem? The rest of us don't want to catch our death of cold either!"

Nevertheless, Skiff braces against the wall and cups his hands out for Gemma. His stomach rumbles and he licks his lips a bit as he thinks about their new windfall. His face falls once he thinks it through a bit further.

"Them fruits are gonna be good eatin' tonight, but I dunno how long they're gonna last us for. Last harvest should be coming in any day now. We're gonna need to pull together some scratch if we're gonna make it another winter."

Gemma conspiratorially winked at Skiff as she put her hands on his shoulders and prepared to placed her booted foot in his cupped hands, ”Because, ladies first.” She looked to their third companion and raised her voice so the wind wouldn’t carry her words away asking playfully, ”Ain’t that right Luccia?”

Gemma's question catches Luccia mid bite of an apple, "mats wight," she replies with a half full mouth. After swallowing Luccia clears her throat, "sorry, that's right, or that's what they say anyways. Now pay attention to what you are doing!" Luccia girds her dress in preparation for her own climb. Tall and brawny for her a girl her age, she keeps her hair short due to her rough and tumble nature. With food secured and the tide coming in she figures they won't heading out again. "Need a boost?" Luccia asks Skiff

"Right, well, you guys tell me if any 'ladies' ever show up, eh?" Skiff grumbles. He waves off Luccia's offer of help and begins scaling the building.

He quickly regrets this as he starts struggling, but stubbornly trudges on, even as his arms start aching.

”Its talk like that Skiff that will get you another black eye,” Gemma scrunched her face and playfully shook her fist at the former cabin boy.

Helping each other as needed, the three friends clamber their way up the side of the abandoned building by grabbing on to portruding architectural features, their Temple Market acquisitions safely stored. Like the rest of the city, and the buildings in Sag Harbor in particular (hence, the name), this structure has been sinking into the swamp for so long that it is listing to the side at an alarming angle. While this makes it dangerous to live in, it makes it the perfect building to climb, because the exterior walls are far from vertical.

Once at the top, you look around at the vista of Everskink spread out before you and easily spot the chalk markings on the wall that designate in what direction you can find the connection to the next house.

Minutes later, you have just jumped off a plank onto a new flat-topped roof when a nearby door leading to a lower floor slams open and disgorges three members of the Eversink City Watch. Their eyes sweep the rooftops and quickly spot you.

"Hey, you kids, stop right there!" one of them shouts as they begin to move toward you.

What do you want to do? None of the City Watch have weapons drawn (they're armed with truncheons). You always do your utmost to avoid being caught by the City Watch, who are never predisposed to give kids like you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to anything. Because of your size and weight, you have an advantage over these adult men and women when it comes to navigating the "geography" of the rooftops.

Everyone can post their reaction, and please incorporate an answer to one of these three questions: 1) Please describe one or more members of this City Watch troupe (whether your PC knows them or not), 2) Answer why they want to capture you (i.e. is it something you did?), 3) If another player has already answered #2, make it worse, and 4) For Gemma only: Do any of the Watch recognize you?

Once everyone has chimed in, we'll resolve the rules for what happens next.

Gemma can’t help but turn toward the trio of shouting watchman, truncheons raised, and their hard knobbed boots beating an alarming staccato across the rooftop as they moved toward the urchins. Each of the guard was wearing the traditional uniform, a pointed open-faced helmet and padded armor. The armor is worn under a deep blue tabard with puffy, blue and gold striped, mutton sleeves. A white swan is emblazoned in the center of the tabard.

Through the open faced helmet Gemma immediately recognized the swarthy, mustachioed, face of one of the watchmen, Corporal Salvatore Pedorrera, a man with his hand always out for a bribe. Unfortunately, she has had several run ins with the man and last time their paths crossed he threatened to beat her if she ever interfered with watch business. By the gleam in his eye she can tell he recognizes her.

With little hesitation she yells to her companions, ”Run!” Without missing a beat she takes off.

Gotta keep one jump ahead of the breadline
One swing ahead of the sword
I steal only what I can't afford

Luccia darts off close behind her comrade, owing a monetary delay to her hand starting to head for the hilt of her short sword concealed in the folds of her girded dress. Luckily for her her brain and feet were faster than her hand.

Incase something happens, Luccia won't let herself get too far away from Skiff or Gemma

Skiff's eyes widen when the guard corner them, and he guiltily fingers the small bundle in his coat pocket.

As they flee for their lives, he manages to pant out: [b]"I think they're after me, Gem! I thought I got out clean and I didn't thinktheyweregonnacomeaftermefurritand-*cough* *pant*"[b] he starts babbling, then chokes off a bit as panic sets in.

He chances a glance back at the pursuing guards, and immediately regrets it. He's not sure exactly what beef the one with the mustache has with Gemma, but he'd seen some of the other neighborhood kids after the man had gotten done with them. And he looks like he really means business this time.

OK, we've got a Chase! A Chase is run in turns like combat. Both sides make individual chase tests on their turn to stay in the race. A Chase test is a Difficulty 4 test against Athletics (or another ability if that makes more sense). In other words, on their turn, players try to make a Difficulty 4 Athletics test, then describe what they’re doing that round – climbing walls, leaping gaps, ducking into doorways, and the like. If any of the Ragamuffins fails this test, the Watch catches up with that PC and will drop out of the chase to collar the child. The collared Hero must surrender or fight – and actually hurting a member of the City Watch is a bad idea indeed, as it tends to make enemies. If a Watch member fails their test on their turn, they are out of the rest of the chase.

Remember that you can spend points from your Athletics ability to boost your roll. Once the chase is concluded, all of you will be splitting 3 Refresh Tokens to add to any spent General Ability pools.

A character with Flashback can also choose to use Preparedness as a Chase key ability, representing a previously-arranged plan to help their own side or hinder their opponents.

Players can make Investigative spends to gain a +3 bonus on their own Chase test for the round, as long as they describe how the spend is helping them in the chase. Remember that Investigative ability points spent in this manner don't return until the end of the adventure.

The chase ends when all pursuers have dropped out of the chase, or when all quarries have been caught up with.

During a chase, attempting any non-Chase action that helps you or hinders your opponents (such as trying to use Stealth to hide, tipping over a huge pigeon coop with Warfare, knocking away a temporary wooden bridge with Burglary, making a Sway attack, etc.) raises the Difficulty of that action by +2 -- it’s hard to run and demoralize someone at the same time! Successful actions raise the difficulty of the other side’s next Chase test from 4 to 6.

We will going on posting order, but my turn comes up when one of you says I come next. Whoever goes last in Round 1 gets to pick who goes first in Round 2, so if you pick me to go last in Round 1, I will most likely pick myself to go first in Round 2.

Any questions?

Gemma scowls at the young thief as the trio makes their escape, No time to be angry. She smirks as she pumps her legs as fast as they will go, This isn’t the first time the swans have tried to too catch us on our home turf. Aloud she tells her companions, ”To the hole.

It was only a matter of time before she or her crew needed to make a quick escape. That’s why she made the hole. Across the rooftops she ran toward another abandoned building that was three stories taller than the one they were currently on. To the uninitiated it appeared as if they would be trapped against the sheer, windowless, wall. However, there was a perfectly child-sized hole in the wall, that Gemma and her companions could slip through.

1d6+2: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Athletics spend 1 point
Preparedness [Flashback] spend 1 point

I’ll let the watch go next

Athletics spend 1 point

Preparedness [Flashback] spend 1 point

I’ll let the watch go next

I was not specific enough earlier. Using the "Flashback" Talent requires you to make a successful (Difficulty 4) Preparedness test, which you may spend points from your Preparedness pool to get a bonus on (+1 for each pool point spent). If you succeed, whatever preparation you made earlier happens and the entire group can take advantage. Next we have to figure out what mechanical benefit your Flashback actually gives you. Given what you have written, I will say that the child-size hole makes it impossible for the Guard to follow you, which in game terms means that as long as everyone succeeds on their next Athletics test, the chase is over. Normally, the chase would continue as long as you and the Guards made your Athletics tests.

So first make a Preparedness test (that you can spend points on). It succeeds on a 4 or higher. Then make an Athletics test (which you can also spend points on) that also suceeds on a 4 or higher. I would also then suggest that you NOT have the Guards go next, as the Chase will end as soon as all of the Ragamuffins make their Athletics tests.

Preparedness: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Athletics: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

spending 2 athletics & 2 preparedness

Ragamuffins up next

"Got it!" Skiff shouts, then darts left and prepares to dive into their makeshift escape hatch.

I guess if we're Refreshing after this, I may as well just spend 3 points from Athletics to guarantee the roll? Unless I'm misunderstanding how that works.

Athletics: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

I guess if we're Refreshing after this, I may as well just spend 3 points from Athletics to guarantee the roll? Unless I'm misunderstanding how that works.

Since I wasn't clear, you will completely refresh any General Ability points spent after this encounter. In the future, however, there will only be a refresh of a limited number of "Refresh Tokens" that you all have to share. Normally, for this chase, you would have a Refresh Token pool of 3, but as I said, since I wasn't specific, we'll just do a complete refresh. This is also a game of managing the resources, in this case the Refresh Token pools. For combat encounters, each opponent or group of opponents is worth a limited set of points that everyone has to draw from. I won't tell you the amount of Refresh Tokens in a pool until after the encounter is over.

1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
So I will spend 3 athletics to insure we escape and end the encounter, correct?

Luccia slows her pace enough to put her slightly behind Skiff as the dash across the rooftop.

You have climbed this building before and remember the small hole in the wall that the adults couldn't possibly fit through. As one, you dive toward that exit, barely able to squeeze through yourself, and leave behind the cursing City Guards.

Once the sound of the frustrated adults fades into the distance, you take a moment to catch your breath. That was a close one!

This would be where you would normally get to divvy out the 3 Refresh Tokens you get from this scene. As I stated above, because I wasn't clear (and because you're learning the game), you get to refresh all of your General Ability pools to max.

After a brief pause, you head for home, clambering over the roofs and connectors between them until you are within a block of it. Here you climb down the broken pieces of a house that sunk into the very spongy ground Eversink is built on to street level and walk home through the muddy, trash-filled side street, the late-afternoon sun giving a yellowish tinge to everything.

Could everyone please make a short post in which you describe one or more aspects of your immediate neighborhood, street, or the building in which you live? It can be about the physical space (buildings, street, etc), your neighbors who live there, or any other descriptive aspect you can think of. For inspiration, think of what a street in the poorest section of Venice during the Renaissance might have looked like.

I will say that your building would normally be three stories tall, but the ground floor has sunk half-underground and the normally locked front door opens up to a flooded basement. You live in a few rooms on the second floor that you've cleaned and made as homey as you could, entering that space by clambering up the stone wall outside the rooms and squeezing through a gap in the shutters. It’s not much, and normally those rooms feel like a safe, kind, welcoming haven. That's about to change, but I'll get into that once we finish this brief "traveling" interlude.

The young girl sat by the window of their second story hideout and breathed a sigh of relief at their escape, That was close. She looked out at the dilapidated street below, covered in detritus and mud, as well as a a few lost souls rushing home before the sun set. All except poor Milo, he sat in his usual spot trying to sell his blessing stones, hawking his wares until the last minute.

Skiff is still catching his breath by the time they return home, and he's looking forward to crawling into his "nest" and calling this day a wash.

Speaking of, he looks around surreptitiously. Today was wash day for a lot of the neighborhood, and he perks up as he sees all the clothes string up on lines between the buildings, his fatigue suddenly forgotten.

"Hey Gem, you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'? We've needed new clothes for months now, and with winter closing in this might be our last chance for a while."

Gemma thought for a moment on the young thief’s words be fore answering, ”Might be a good idea but first tell us why you thought those guards were after you?

"Oh..errr...yeah, about that. Remember when we passed by that prick Bruno's place and I went off to take a whizz? I kinda...snatched somethin' from him on my way back."

He scratches the back of his head and looks down. "I just wanted to get Luccia somethin' for her birthday comin' up. And when I saw Bruno'd just left his back door open, and I remembered Luccia was lookin' at this when every time we went by and...I know it was dumb. But he deserved it! And I didn't figure the guards'd finger us for it...guess I was wrong. Sorry."

He takes the bundle out of his pocket and hands it over to Luccia. "Uhhh...happy birthday? Even though it's not for a little while yet."

Inside is a dagger in a well-crafted leather sheathe; the hilt is wrapped in a braided steel pattern, with a triangle-cut onyx set in the pommel.

So I'd already planned for this to be a nice knife for Luccia, but wasn't sure how acquiring items went and was gonna Pm to ask for GM adjudication...but turns out Skiff's default character sheet has a "beautiful stolen dagger" on it already lol.

Even though Luccia has not posted, I am moving forward so that we don't lose more momentum.

As you move into your home, you see a few rats scurry into the holes in the walls. Rats are an ever-present part of life here in Sag Harbor, and the best you can generally do is sleep in hammocks off the floor (so as not to get bitten during sleep) and NEVER keep any foodstuff where they can be easily accessed.

Moving into the second-story room that is your communal living area, you realize that the rats are the least of your problems.

All of your belongings are wrecked or missing.

Your furniture, which you had patiently gathered over the course of months, has been broken into pieces. Holes have been punched into the walls (most likely to search what was behind them), loose floorboards have been wrenched up, and even your food stash (carefully hidden in the flooded basement to keep it cool) has been found and stolen.

Most importantly, Gemma's lantern is missing. Gemma is your friend who has been living with you on and off for several weeks. When she first arrived, she brought with her a beautiful oil lantern that she claimed to have stolen from a wealthy household. Whenever Gemma put oil into this lantern and lit it, all the roughness and ugliness about your home seemed to have been smoothed out, and for the first time your house looked like more than just an abandoned shell of a collapsing building, it felt like a real home.

What happened here and who could have done this?

So this now becomes an investigation. All of you have various Investigative Abilities and Allegiances that you can use to figure out how you were robbed and who did it. The way it works is that you tell me what Investigative Ability (or Allegiance, which can be used just like an Investigative Ability) you want to use and I tell you if there are clues to be found with that Ability; no dice rolls needed.

I'll give you an exampled to help get you going. Luccia has the Thieves' Guilds Allegiance, which means she not only has useful contacts in the Thieves' Guilds, but also understands how they operate. Luccia's player could say: "Luccia looks around at the devastation of her home, paying particular attention to what has been broken and how things were left. Does this look like something a member of the Thieves' Guild would do?"

To which I, the GM, would say: "Luccia looks at the haphazard, thoroughly unprofessional way things have been torn up in her house and comes to the conclusion that this clearly was not done by the Thieves' Guild. Sure, professional thieves could have come after Gemma's lantern, that clearly was worth some money, but they woudn't have trashed the place like this."

As always, feel free to ask any questions either here or in the OOC thread.

As she looked around the trashed room Gemma’s face turned bright red with anger. She let out a string of curses, standing with her hands on her hips, while she looked around the room trying to ferret out what the room was telling her. Using felonious intent to see if they were after the lantern or is something else going on here.

As she looked around the trashed room Gemma’s face turned bright red with anger. She let out a string of curses, standing with her hands on her hips, while she looked around the room trying to ferret out what the room was telling her. Using felonious intent to see if they were after the lantern or is something else going on here.

Looking around the shared living room, Gemma can tell, based on how dirt and debris are thrown around, and how the chair is now smashed, that they used the chair to get to the lantern that was hanging from a hook in the main room, and that this was the first thing they did. They did this first, despite the fact that the lit lantern would have provided useful light around the space for them to do the rest of the destruction.

Note: This is the clue you can find in the main living room with the Felonious Intent Investigative Ability. You may use it in other parts of the house (the main door and the flooded basement) to get other clues, or you can use different Abilities in the living room to get other clues.

Gemma continued her investigation throughout the house, following the clues, putting the story together.

Will continue using felonious intent throughout the house, including the basement.

Gemma goes down to the "basement" (Really the first floor, but its more than half-sunk into the ground and almost completely flooded) where the front door is located. The Ragamuffins never use the front door as it swollen shut, as they enter through the windows on the second floor. She finds that the front door has been kicked in. Inspecting the lock, she notices that there are scratches on the outside, leading her to believe that someone tried to pick the lock before kicking in the door.

Subtile, they were not, Gemma thought as she examined the door. Probably not professional either. She looks outside and muttered, ”I wonder if anyone saw something.”

If possible I would like to use her commoners allegiance to see if there were any witnesses.

Skiff holds in his anger. In a certain way, he knows it's hypocritical for a thief to get mad that his stuff was stolen...but what kind of monster steals from poor orphaned children?

"I was just thinkin' the same thing. Let me go ask around." he says, still visibly seething.

Gonna use Scurrilous Rumors to see if I can scrounge up a lead.

Gemma judges by the force needed to kick in their very stuck front door that it was someone with considerable strength and/or bulk who did the deed. This narrows down the suspects quite a bit, and she can think of five bullies right off the top of her head who have the required strength.

Skiff notices the three sets of muddy foootprints coming up the stairs. Two are lighter in frame, a skinny boy and/or girl, along with a large boy or man who is heavy and bulky. All were wearing cheap, bad-quality boots.

They both take this information out into their neighborhood to ask around. Getting a few more details of who was seen around their home in the last several hours, it quickly becomes apparent that two of their prime suspects are a girl and boy couple who regularly bully the Ragamuffins: Corso and Festa. Corso is big, strong, and stupid, while Festa is skinny, cruel, and the brains. Just last month, the pair robbed a sardine seller but refused to take any of his wares, because Festa described them as "disgusting".

Skiff asks a local butcher who is not all that picky with the meat she sells if she has seen someone matching the description of Corso and Festa. The butcher confirms that she saw the two in the neighborhood in the past several hours.

There are several more clues at the house if you like. The clues you have gathered are good, but I would not call them definitive yet. You can also head out with the information you've already got to track down Corso and Festa. You don't know where they live, but could discover that fairly easily by using an Investigative Ability.

”Looks like Festa and her pet Corso need a taking down. Let’s see I’d we can find ‘em,” Gemma suggested to her companions.

She will use the charm investigative ability to talk to people in the neighborhood to track the pair down.

"Oh I geddit! Ha! Good one, Gem." he chuckles for a bit, then fakes wiping a tear from his eye and calms down a bit.

"But I'm gonna have a bit more of a look around. Those two are pieces of work but I'm gettin' the feeling somebody else might've put them up to this. Why would they even rob us? They know we're broke."

Skiff does another sweep of the building and surrounding neighborhood. They might've missed something critical.

Can I use my Ridiculous Luck to just...stumble across another lead?

Can I use my Ridiculous Luck to just...stumble across another lead?

You can indeed.Asking around, Skiff asks around and happens to come across two kids playing in the mud a few streets away. They clearly remember Corso and Festa stopping people in the neighborhood to find out where you all live.

Just a reminder that Gemma's lantern (that was given to her by Father Niccolo) is the only thing in your home that was worth anything.

While Skiff is canvassing, Gemma is able to use her considerable charm on a well-known sneak thief to find out where Corso and Festa live.

You now have a double confirmation that it was Corso and Festa who broke in (along with a third, as yet unidentified child or skinny adult) and where they live.

So what would you like to do?

Gemma really wants her lantern back and is ready to confront the two thieves but thinks better of it, ”Maybe, we should return the favor and break into their place? What do ya think Skiff?”

Skiff rubs his neck.

"I'm in, gem, don't get me wrong, but let's try to go in with a plan, eh? I don't wanna get caught by those goons. For one, it'd be embarrassing. For two...I think they might try to off us for it."

So what do you propose doing?

Gemma will suggest surveilling the place. Try to see what they are up too.

Observing the home of Corso and Festa so as not to be spotted will require a successful Stealth test (Target Number 4). what are you specifically trying to find out? Do you want to catch them while they are at home or not at home? If multiple people are surveilling, EVERYONE needs to succeed on that Steath test. Anyone who fails will be spotted.

She would want to find out how many people are living there and enter when no one is there

She will burn 2 points on the roll

TN 4: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Keeping a low profile, Gemma finds an almost unnoticeable place to case the small shack where she has been told that Corso and Festa can be found.

The two bullies live in an even worse portion of Sag Harbor than the Ragamuffins do, and that takes some doing. Their poorly made shack sits in the shadow of two leaning stone buildings that seem to be keeping each other from falling over, and the air smells of porky sewage. Gemma notices that this is because the area around the shack is an actual fenced-in pig sty with several scrawny pigs inside it, including a large, aggressive male.

While wondering why Corso and Festa are dabbling in animal husbandry, Gemma notices that the pigs start to oink loudly if a passer-by comes too close to their fence, especially the large male, which scares folks away and causes either Corso or Festa to poke their head out from the one small, burlap-covered window to see what is going on.

The shack itself has smoke from a cooking fire coming out of its rough chimney. Gemma never sees the one door into the shack open, but once it gets dark, she can see faint light leaking out of it from around the window coverings, the door, and the numerous chinks in the poorly constructed walls.

I'm going to say that Gemma waited for several hours and is sure that both Corso and Festa are inside. She could wait longer if she wanted to, but it is now between 8 and 10 PM. Neither of them have left during the time she has been watching.

Gemma returns to their abode and informs the others of what she found out, ”Any ideas? It will be impossible to sneak up on them with those farkin pigs squealing at every passersby.”

Well, there might be a way in with the property Investigative Ability spend ...

Skiff gets a dark look in his eyes for a moment. "Maybe we just burn 'em out? Place looks like it'd go up awful easy. Would serve 'em right, and they'd learn better not to mess with us anymore one way or another."

"...Though I guess the guard'd probably come down on us like a sack of hammers if they found out we did somethin' like that." he sighs.

"How fast're we lookin' to do this? It doesn't look like they'll be leavin' anytime soon, and pigs or no I don't fancy creepin' around their little hidey hole while they're up and about."

"If we've got some time, I think I know a guy who could set us up with some rat poison or somethin', maybe that'd put the pigs down for the count if we slathered some corn cobs?"

If I'm understanding the ranks correctly, you only get each Investigative once? Which means I'm pretty much down to SKullduggery lol.

Gemma frowned as she listened to Skiff’s idea, ”I’d rather not hurt the pigs but I think you might be on to something. Is there something we could give them that would put them to sleep?”

Gemma will spend vigilance. She pays really close attention to the pigs and their behavior.

If I'm understanding the ranks correctly, you only get each Investigative once? Which means I'm pretty much down to SKullduggery lol.

I'm not sure what you are referring to. Do you mean an Investigative Ability spend? Those don't reset until the end of the adventure, but you can use your Investigative Abilities as many times as you want.

Gemma will spend vigilance. She pays really close attention to the pigs and their behavior.

Gemma sees Corso come out to feed the pigs while she is watching the shack. The larger boy brings out a bucket of some unidentified slop and is immediately mobbed by the half-starved swine. He kicks them back roughly, except for the large male, from whom he keeps a careful distance, seemingly not wishing to antagonize it. After filling their trough, the large male eats first while the others squeal in frustration. After they have all eaten, the pigs become remarkably quiet and retreat to their small hutch in the side of the yard. Gemma sees that people can then pass near the shack without eliciting a reaction from the pigs.

Irving Skriven wrote:

If I'm understanding the ranks correctly, you only get each Investigative once? Which means I'm pretty much down to SKullduggery lol.

I'm not sure what you are referring to. Do you mean an Investigative Ability spend? Those don't reset until the end of the adventure, but you can use your Investigative Abilities as many times as you want.

Gotcha; I thought when it was used it was spent, so you only got one use of each Investigative Ability type per rank you have in it.

"Huh, wouldja look at that? I figured as skinny as those pigs look they'd still be squealin' for more."