[Farol / PF2] Prey for death

Game Master Farol

Seconded! Sien will volunteer to sneak around, unless he's needed for Diplomacy.

You sneak past the gate and head for the docks, being ready to unravel the mystery of who is behind it.

After few hours you reach the docks, they bustle with activity.

Ilizmagorti’s waterfront is a constantly bustling scene, with dockworkers loading or unloading cargo quickly in hopes of avoiding fines for lingering too long. Merchants and hucksters push their wares, pickpockets look for easy marks, and travelers of all sorts come and go. You think to spot dockmaster from the distance, and he sees a middle-aged human man carrying leather-bound ledger that he keeps in a waterproof case on his hip, and he’s often seen jotting notes in its pages about suspicious activities he observes.

Map on slide 1, you can spot your target, position yourself on the map and describe what you do, do you approach them? Hide in the crowd? Pretend to be dockwarker and carry wares?

Before setting out, Ann disguises herself as a dockworker before leaving, applying a fake beard, binding her chest, and wiping an appropriate amount of grime on her visible skin. It's a good thing she's built like a solid trunk; her frame can easily pass for that of a man's with little more than a bit of padding around her belly.

She makes sure to keep herself looking busy as the others approach the dockmaster. Once she's got a good idea of where they'll be talking, she works her way over there so she's mostly within earshot.

Deception: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (19) + 21 = 40

Prior to setting out, Hammid meditates to reduce his presence of his ego, allowing it to disappear into his core. Wearing no disguise (beyond the mask that most have come to accept as his defacto face), he simply sticks to the outskirts of the dock, keeping his eye trained on the action inside...

Stealth (M): 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (17) + 26 = 43

Ketsu-kiba will hide amid the crowd.

Stealth: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (6) + 26 = 32
Same bonus for deception.

Quickly Ann makes herself to look like a dockworker, she makes few rounds moving in and out of range of dockmaster.

Moonlight hides at the edge of the docks. Ketsu-kiba is bold and she tries to hide between the workers, but she kicks one of the barrels, this shouldn't be heard in docks when there are so many sounds and people. But Torvalds turn towards your way and he brisk walks towards Ketsu

"You, you don't belong here. What is your business here!"

Ketsu feels that all of the sudden there is plenty of space around him, like everyone else have moved to some other place...

Ball is yours!

Sien will use his armor's invisibility rune to approach the dockmaster.

Stealth: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (8) + 28 = 36

Before he can get there, he witnesses Ketsu-kiba being made, and he pauses as the crowd clears.

Going to let Ketsu-kiba react, but I'm happy to be uninvisible and start talking, or try to steal that ledger while they're distracted.

Ketsu-kiba "Alright, alright. My apologies, dock work isn't my thing."

Lowering her voice and leaning in "Look, our lumber shipments have been coming up short and was asked to look into it and I wanted to get a lay of the land before starting a formal inquiry."

Bluff: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (16) + 26 = 42

Torvalds look at Ketsu who sounds, honest.

The man sizes her up and says "Lumber shipment? What was the origin of the ship?" Torvalds asks and opens his ledger

"I haven't seen you there, and I do have good memory for faces. Who do you work for?"

You can lie, or if you believe that your PC would know any source of timber - any forest area around would do. Go with it. About where you work, it is up to you, probably you know some companies in the city

Does the rest intervene? Do you try to make a commotion and snatch the ledger?

Sien will let this play out, but he'll Sneak forward to be within range of snatching the ledger.

Stealth (L) +29, Thievery (T) +23

Hammid will follow Sien, in case a failsafe is needed.

Stealth (M) +26, Thievery (M) +26

Ann had purposely tried to avoid looking for her teammates. That way she wouldn't be able to inadvertently give away their locations by an unconscious flick of the eye. She doesn't know how close the others are, but she decides to stay close enough to respond if Ketsu-kiba needs it. Angling herself so she can surreptitiously watch out of the corner of her eye, Ann bends over to re-tie her bootlace about 40 or so feet away from the confrontation.

Speed is 50, so she can get there in a single stride.

Actually Steal is not a secret check, so you could have rolled it, but since you provided stats I will do it, that gentlemen is fairly perceptive so I will make it a team effort: Sien Aids and Moonlight does the steal.

Torvalds speaks for a moment with Ketsu, asking her questions and holding ledger open as he checks some logs. His eyes are scanning the surrounding and you wait for him to close the ledger and put it under his arm so that you can attempt to snatch it.

Ann ties her shoe as she analyze the situation, the old devil seems a bit to self-confident, but she waits for the situation to develop.

Finally he closes the ledger and puts it under his arm and turns to the side ...

Here come your part:
- Ketsu - keep conversing with Torvalds, you need to provide the answers from the previous post
- Sien - describe how do you aid in the steal, do you make a distraction, bump into him, find an object of similar size and weight that Moonlight will attempt to swap?
- Moonlight - how do you steal the thing

Ketsu keeps up the conversation "Come now, I've already said too much."

Ketsu-kiba pauses buying a bit of time and follows up, leaning in closely "Okay... look I can see you run a tight ship and are trying to help so I'll let you in. At least as much as I'm allowed. I'm not supposed to name names, but the older Lumber company that specializes on the Eastern slopes, see there were some hallowed out logs that we think we're being used for smuggling purposes. By the time we noticed, the hallowed out bits were empty. Means we're still out but it's unclear where in the process the drop and the pickup occurred. I'm investigating here, and others are investigating other parts of the process..."

Bluff: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (7) + 26 = 33
Hero Point if that's a fail: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (8) + 26 = 34

Sien will drop a rock into the water to make a distracting splash, just as Moonlight is about to steal it.

Ketsu spin her tale, and Torvalds close his ledger with loud snap and puts it under his shoulder.

He eyes Ketsu in silence after which he begins a monologue about not being able to help everyone who asks question as he is important dockmaster with impeccable work ethic. A line so rehearsed that Ketsu is sure that he expects to get paid to aid.

Moonlight approaches as Sien is prepared to make a noise ...

Letting Moonlight describe the steal

Thievery (M) w/ Ageless Patience (+2) vs Ledger (DC ??): 1d20 + 26 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 26 + 2 = 38
Will Hero Point if Fail

Plunk!

Yoink!

A masked man casually brushes by, clearly busy with some preoccupation and looking at the boats briskly, ignoring the well-rehearsed speech. As soon as he is up one pier, he is back, and already down another...

Ageless Patience

Moonlight waits for the moment and goes in, he brushes by, his hands swift and accurate, as he walks away he hides the ledger into his bag. Ketsu seeing what have happened, she keeps walking away trying to go as quickly as she can without causing any suspicion, when you hear loud yell

"Thieves! Get them!"

Few well built and armed individuals begin to run after you all.

You take a turn into an allye and you run past what looks like Abandoned Warehouse
Here comes the chase: Warehouse
DC 33 Stealth to be seen entering the warehouse but not seen exiting, DC 35 Acrobatics to move through the warehouse without leaving tracks that might be followed

Chase points: 0

Moonlight
Sien
Ann
Ketsu

Bold can go, you can try another creative use of a skill bu DC could be different

Stealth (M) vs DC 33: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (14) + 26 = 40

Like a ghost, Moonlight vanishes into the warehouse!

Stealth (L): 1d20 + 29 ⇒ (10) + 29 = 39 vs DC 33

Sien was hoping to be fancy and afford an additional diversion to help others, but he ends up just disappearing himself and not able to aid the team.

How she was identified as being part of the group is beyond her, but Ann knows when the jig is up. Quickly, she ducks into a warehouse. Turning her clothes inside out and removing the lower part of her beard, she nonchalantly exits the way she came.

Stealth DC 33: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (3) + 25 = 28
Hero Point reroll Stealth DC 33: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (7) + 25 = 32
Sigh.

Ketsu-kiba does their best to disappear through the warehouse.

Stealth: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (13) + 26 = 39

A warehouse offers hiding spots, and by winding through the building, the party can trick their pursuers into wasting hours searching a warehouse that they’re not actually hiding in...

You all go into the warehouse and split up inside, then one by one you try and sneak out of it, only Ann is seen but the rest are not.

Moving to next obstacle

You sneak further and get into a marketplace, there are some open air stalls and passerby interested in wares.

Uproarious Crowd: Overcome DC 34 Thievery to pickpocket a few items and prompt shopkeepers to confront innocent passersby about the crime, DC 36 Performance to conduct a controversial or politically charged act in a
public area in a way that riles locals up and sparks mass arguments

Other skills are on the table with reasonable explanation

Chase points: 3
Ann
Sien
Ketsu
Moonlight

Thievery (M) vs DC 34: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (18) + 26 = 44

Moonlight lifts the purses of the three wealthiest looking people in the crowd, then plants them on the three poorest looking people in the crowd. Then he shouts: "Thief!"

Ketsu-kiba comments "You know, maybe Pathfinders aren't all bad..."

Performance: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (15) + 28 = 43

Noticing that she's been noticed--again!--Ann knows she needs a distraction fast. She quickly discards all the complicated, multi-step ideas that pop into her head and opts for something simpler: starting a brawl or a frenzy. Choosing a mark with a particularly hefty money pouch, she grabs it without fanfare, opens it, and tosses its copious contents into the air.

Thievery DC 34: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (14) + 19 = 33
One shy again! Sorry guys.

Hoping that's enough to get all the people in the area to scramble after the coins in a greedy rush, she dashes away as quickly as she can.

Thievery: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (3) + 23 = 26 vs DC 34

Sien snatches a live tarantula from a cage and sets it loose, but it nearly bites him.

Ketsu begins the discussion about Pathfinders, while Moonlight arranges the pickpocketing so well that the marketplace resembles more of a football field. You are able to run out of there knowing that whoever follows will have way harder situation

3 success were enough so Ann and Sien can repeat their rolls on next obstancle

Obstacle 3: FALSE SIGHTINGS
Overcome DC 34 Intimidation to browbeat locals into falsifying sightings of the party elsewhere in Ilizmagorti, DC 36 Society to single out the best locations in the city to spread false information from The PCs engineer false sightings of one or more of their group that leads the conspirators in a different direction

Bold can go round 2 still
Sien
Ann

Society (L) w/ Eyes of the City, Leverage Connections, Underground Network vs 36: 1d20 + 29 ⇒ (3) + 29 = 32

Hammid finds his old friends are false, looking to backstab and one-up. He vows his own vengeance against them. Later...

Ann grabs a passerby from behind and frog-steps them into an alley. Keeping her mark facing away from her, she deepens her voice to sound passably male and growls menacingly: "You are going to spread the word that you saw the people I'm about to describe to you in the Bilges today." She gives the poor sod the same description of her team that the impostors are using to locate them. "You will be watched. If you fail, your next sleep will be your last." With that, she shoves her victim face-down into a pile of trash and dashes away so they cannot identify her.

Intimidation DC 34: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (20) + 17 = 37

Moonlight, not your round ;) For now it is only for Ann and Sien, as you have passed through the previous obstacle

Ann finds few people who she intimidates so effectively that they could disappear next to a white wall. Trenbling and terrified they disperse and soon you hear voices "I saw them! I saw them! Over there, they passed through that bridge"

Obstacle 3: FALSE SIGHTINGS
Overcome DC 34 Intimidation to browbeat locals into falsifying sightings of the party elsewhere in Ilizmagorti, DC 36 Society to single out the best locations in the city to spread false information from The PCs engineer false sightings of one or more of their group that leads the conspirators in a different direction

1 success needed

Sien to go

Society (E): 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (19) + 25 = 44 vs DC 36

"I heard they're obsessed with Calistria's pleasures of the flesh and found some swanky AirB&B to celebrate in."

Sien is directing some willing individuals to a house, that you may or may not links to. His distraction is also working.

Now that you believe to have gained some ground over the chasers you decide to leave some falls trails

FAKE TRAIL OBSTACLE
Overcome DC 32 Survival to set up fake footprints for the conspirators to track, DC 34 Athletics to leave a trail along walls or over barriers that the conspirators will waste valuable time trying to navigate and investigate

Assassins create a series of false leads through a part of Ilizmagorti that they have no intention of returning to, so that the conspirators end up spending too much time in fruitless searches and investigations.

Chase Points: 6
Ann
Sien
Moonlight
Ketsu

Hoping others whom are better can push through this before Ketsu-kiba, but leaving a roll if needed.

Athletics: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (9) + 22 = 31 vs DC 34

Sien's not great at being chased, but he gives it his best shot.

Now that they're not right on Ann's tail, she climbs up to the rooftops, making sure to leave dented gutters, dislodged shingles, and other signs that a heavy, strong person in a terrible rush fled above the crowds toward a part of the city far away from their safehouse and other areas the crew intends to investigate.

DC 34 Athletics: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (10) + 28 = 38

Moonlight tries to throw them off their tracks.

Survival (T) vs DC 32: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (16) + 22 = 38

Moonlight, and Ann have no issues to leave false trails, but Sien tries hard but he is not effective.

It takes Ketsu two attempts to mislead the pursuers.

You run further and get to a collection of side allyes. Alleyways contains stacked crates and rubbish that can be rigged to appear to accidentally collapse, throwing any pursuers into disarray or perhaps even injuring or killing them.

TREACHEROUS ALLEYWAY
Overcome DC 32 Ilizmagorti Lore to know of the perfect alleyway to set up the traps, DC 34 Crafting to create dangerous hazards out of existing material, + other skills if you explain it well

Chase Points 9
Moonlight
Ketsu
Ann
Sien

Recalling the stone-stacking games she played as a child, Ann tries to rig a tower to collapse at the slightest brush or bump.

Crafting DC 34: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35
Well, that was unexpected.

Oh my gosh! It's staying... Certain that had to be more luck than skill, Ann nevertheless takes the win and carefully tiptoes away for fear of knocking it over herself.

Recalling the stone-stacking games he played as a child, Sien tries to rig a pile of bricks to collapse on any cat that might be following him.

Crafting: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (19) + 27 = 46 vs DC 34

That will teach those cats to follow me around.

No actual cats were harmed in the making of this post.

A good assassin always knows their escape route, and can spot a good pile of crates to knock over, even at the last moment.

Assassin lore: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (13) + 22 = 35

Ilizmagorti Lore (M) vs DC 32: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (3) + 25 = 28

Some of his contacts compromised, Hammid's tried-and-true escape routes have apparently changed...

Both Ann and Sien set up some traps in the alley and you are free.

Nicely done! You won the chase by large margin and can enjoy the freedom

You zig-zag your way towards the place where you set up your yurta and finally you look into the ledger

Torvald’s ledger contains names and descriptions of several visitors to the island. You easily discover that Torvald often reported suspicious activity to two different contacts—one being the city authorities (as expected), and the other being to Sister Maeri, whom Ann met and you knows the Abbess of the local Hospice of Serenity.

Tucked into the back of the ledger is a letter from Sister Maeri, written in a cypher that uses characters in odd languages.

The languages are: Diabolic and Empymreal. To read the letter, a character must be able to understand both languages, spend 10 minutes examining the text, and then succeed at a DC 30 Religion or Society check to Decipher Writing.

Ketsu-kiba looks at the ledger "I suppose we could get a scroll of Translation, but can any of you read or magic it before we risk a shopping trip?"

Ann folds her arms and leans back, glancing at Moonlight. This is definitely not one of her strengths, but he's got all kinds of tricks up his sleeves.

Sien can use his arcane powers to read a scroll, and then has Society +25.

Seeing that you cannot read the document you go to find a magician that would sell scrolls. That day there were patrols swarming all around the town, but you were able to slip past them to the small shop that you hope will not be to busy.

You are able to buy the scroll without much issues, but you do realize that the shopkeeper gave you odd looks. You know better to depart from that place rather quickly. Unlucky roll so your presence was spotted, but since you are doing relatively well, and have not fought so far in the city, no penalty for now.

With the scroll Sien tries to decipher the document, it does not take to long and you write down the translation and meaning.
The letter provides extensive details about you and your appearances, and suggests that Torvald keep an eye out for you, warning him that the fugitives may attempt to enter the city via the sea. The letter concludes, “If you catch them, the new blood mistress will doubtless be pleased and may well grant you an early reprieve from the servitude terms in your contract.”

You do know that there is no new Blood Mistress, at least officially, so it could be that someone is preparing transition of power - a coup

So now you have the options to try and find:
- Riot Twins at the market
- Visit docks with Dockmaster, and see what he knows
- Go back to the 'hospital' and talk with the people defending it with swords and spells
- Go and look for the leshy druid - Mantis Keeper

Two votes win!

"I'd like to give the 'hospital' folks some more time to lower their guard after my botched infiltration. Let's visit the Riot Twins at the Market next," Ann suggests, managing to avoid sounding sheepish.

Ketsu-kiba nods "Lets do it."

Ilizmagorti’s economy is a bustling scene driven by the spoils of piracy, luring shoppers from distant ports who wish to seek out wares that are difficult to find (or otherwise illegal) in their hometowns. Many merchants maintain small empires in Ilizmagorti, several of whom have strong ties to the Red Mantis, so anyone shopping in the city would do well to watch what they say about the island’s rulers!

Among these influential merchants are two brothers known as the Riot Twins.

You can attempt a DC 29 Mercantile Lore, DC 32 Ilizmagorti Lore, or DC 34 Society check to Recall Knowledge about the twins. Alternatively, you can try to Gather Information with DC 34. I know that Moonlight have sea of features that could be useful here ;) For eveyrone else I can do the roll based on skills