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Den, make Stealth and Perception checks.

The radishes taste nice, with an almost smokey aftertaste, but mostly they just taste like... radishes. If there's a significant difference between these and normal radishes, you can't taste it.

On another note, if Syn doesn't post soon, I'm going to assume she slept through her watch...

The bandits' trail is not too difficult to follow. They had several horses, and weren't making any effort to hide the trail... almost as if they wanted you to follow it. Your tracking proceeds without incident for about twelve hours. At that point, darkness is beginning to set in, making tracking more difficult. (Yes, even for the demi-humans...)

Do you want to push ahead, and get to the camp as quickly as possible, or make camp for the night and pick it up in the morning? You can still track, but even the horses are getting tired at this point.

So, quick survey of the team:

* Are you all headed toward the bandit camp, following the directions you "extracted"? And, if so, do you intend to head at best speed, or to explore the area along the path?

* Are there any other supplies you want to pick up before you head out?

* And, what are your travel arrangements going to be? Who's riding, who's walking, who's scouting ahead and who's driving the pack horse(s).

Also, a note on exploration. You will note the blank hex grid in the back of the Player's Guide. Your objective is to scout all the hexes in your assigned area, and I'll fill them in as you go. Scouting a hex is more than just riding through it, though. You also need to spend a few days in each hex exploring off the beaten paths, and hopefully surveying and unusual features or resources, as well as making up a proper map for later.

Yes, but off to where, exactly?

It takes you between 11 - 16 hours to travel roughly 12 miles (8 - 12 hours if you mount the little people on horses). That's just to travel, though. To full explore each 150 sq mile "hex", and just properly survey the area, takes 2 - 5 days.

The bandit's described a vague location for their camp, but, unfortunately, you don't exactly have a guide, meaning you can't just go in a straight line (unless you want to back-track the bandits - if so, someone make a roll).

When asked, Svetlana tells you there is a large patch of "moon radishes" to the south, which might be what the bandit is talking about. A local delicacy (Matius, you foundly remember the taste from childhood), Svetlana offers to buy any you might bring back, at a good price per bushel.

If you want to set off, you need to decide as a group what exactly your plan is.

@Fenna: You don't find anything else with intelligence value other than the silver stag broach previously mentioned. The items of value are:

6 medium horses (4 with riding saddles, 2 with pack saddles)
Happ had two earthenware pots, tightly sealed, as well as a nice composite longbow (+2 Str draw). Other than that, you find 65 gp in coin, three longbows, 80 arrows, 3 shortswords, 1 dagger, and eight days worth of rations for one medium-sized creature.

Well, looks like you guys need to decide what, exactly, you are going to do with the prisoners, and then make a plan for how to proceed with exploration according to your charter, and whether and/or when to try and find the bandit camp.

That was brutal, and with only a party of six actively participating. Don't expect every combat to be that simple, though.

The leader is dead. One of the bandits is stabilized at 0 hp, and two are entangled and trying to surrender, though Oleg doesn't look like he wants to take prisoners...

As the time you expect the bandit's to arrive draws near, you each go over your plan one more time, then move into your positions.

Would each player involved please make an ooc post stating where you will be as they arrive, what your "trigger" will be to attack, and what you intend to do (i.e. your action in the surprise round, and expected actions thereafter).

Please also include all pertinent rolls, including initiative, attack and damage, etc. Anyone not standing plainly out in the open, please make a stealth roll.

Thanks... and good luck...

We're closing in on the time the bandits are due to arrive. It will speed up the combat immensely if you can work out a battle-plan and a series of if/then statements for what you plan to do. I'll still give you the opportunity to adjust to changing events, but unless you intend to just hang out in the open waiting for something to happen, now is the tiem to get your moves in.

Um, just to be sure, do the bandits normally arrive within hours of sunrise, or early afternoon?

Early afternoon, so far.

Assuming no one has any strenuous objections, here is what you are able to find out over a hearty stew, warm bread, and a bottle of homemade mead:

• The bandits’ first visit was 3 months ago—they threatened to burn down the trading post and abduct Svetlana for their own amusements back at their camp if the Levetons didn’t agree to hand over all of the furs and trade goods they’d accumulated over the past month from hunters and trappers.
  
• Since then, the bandits have returned twice more, each time within an hour of sunrise on the first day of the month. The Levetons have learned to have their “taxes” ready and hand them over quickly—the bandits usually seem eager to return to their camp somewhere in the Greenbelt, which makes Svetlana think their camp is about a day’s ride away.
  
• The first time the bandits visited, there were a dozen of them— 10 lower-ranking thugs led by a cloaked man armed with a bow, and a woman who carried two small hatchets. The woman did the majority of the talking on that first trip, and her black sense of humor and the way she smiled when she spoke of what fate would await Svetlana if the Levetons didn’t comply frightened Svetlana all the more. The woman also seemed to be particularly sharp and observant, whereas the man seemed to be a bit more crude and foolish. This, plus the fact that the woman quite nearly lopped off Oleg’s right hand with one of her hatchets in a cruel bit of mockery, convinced the Levetons that she was the most dangerous of the bandits. As it was, the woman took Svetlana’s wedding ring right off her hand and tossed it to one of her men as payment for “not shortening Oleg’s reach.”
  
• On the second and third visit, only the crude hooded man accompanied the bandits. The second visit, he came with only six other men, while on the third he only came with four. The Levetons suspect that the bandits have let down their guard and think the owners of the trading post are completely cowed. Hopefully, when they visit tomorrow they’ll be even fewer in number, and hopefully the the scary woman with the hatchets won’t be with them.

You'll have the rest of the evening and probably next morning to prepare for the bandits, as they don't normally show up until the early afternoon. I'm going to slow down the game a bit to give everyone a chance to put in some input and conditional moves before then. In other words, other than answering questions and adjudicating things you may do before then, I won't be moving the plot ahead until Tuesday afternoon.

For those who haven't posted by then, I'm just assuming your characters are coming down from Rostov separately, and haven't arrived yet. Feel free to post whenever you do want to jump in, though. That'll just be when you show up.

The "trading post" is located at the edge of the forest. It is on a slight rise, more for drainage reasons than defense, overlooked by the large hill you crossed. The placement seems to be fairly haphazard, as if the builders built it close to their source of lumber, rather than having to drag all those logs uphill.

Aside from the two middle-aged pioneers in front of you, there doesn't seem to be anyone else inside the palisade, unless they're in one of the buildings. The inside is rough, but fresh paint and signs of repair are obvious. The interior of the outer wall itself, however, is in even worse repair than the outside, with the stairs to the catapult towers collapsed, and a few of the supports almost rotten through. Anyone with any experience in such things could see there's no way it could stand up to a serious siege.

Neither Oleg nor Svetlana are openly armed, but Syndessa notices a large axe stuck in a log within arm's reach of the outdoorsman.

Yes, it's daylight. Late afternoon, in fact
Karth, you hear the sound of a rock falling behind the broken wall
Orin and Fenna, you also hear the falling rock, and see a moving silhouette in a shadow cast from the wall. The sun is at your back.

As our heroes cautiously approach, weapons at the ready, Orin and Karth suddenly stop, alerted by some unseen queue.

The hair on the back of their necks rise; this is obviously an ambush. Whatever is crouching behind the parapet of that wall, however, has not yet decided to spring the trap.

Den, your initiative is 10

From here, there are no obvious targets. The two weather-beaten statues on either side of the broken gate would provide some cover. Otherwise, this is a killing ground.

What now, true believers?

While i'm still preparing the game proper, I'd like to run a quick, practice combat to gain some idea in how to run PbP.

This is entirely optional (in terms of the main game... I suppose no one is ever going to force you to play Pathfinder), but feel free to jump in.

"Sitting squat at the foot of an imposing mountain, a ruined monastery comes into view between ancient gnarled trees. Made of simple
stone blocks, worn smooth with the passage of time, the stout building is falling apart. Sections of the slanted shale roof have collapsed
and portions of the outer wall have crumbled. Weeds and wild thorn plants run rampant across the field leading up to the place, leaving
only the slightest indication of a path that ends at the ruined front doors. Beyond, an overgrown yard sits in shadow."

The battlemap can be seen here. You are all standing at or around the point marked "1" on the map.

This is only meant to trial combat. My real adventure won't be anything like this. Don't worry about plot, here. Your motivation is: search and destroy.

So, what do you do?

Quick survey:

how many people wold be interested in moving the game to Google Wave?

I've got a some invites (if you don't have it already). Google Wave not only works as a forum, but also allows features like a dice roller, editable maps and counters, and a more robust messaging system. It's a little tricky to get into at first, but there's some great tutorials, and it's pretty straight forward.

I like it, but if anyone doesn't want to use it, I am more than happy staying where we are.