The Order of the Post - IC

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

CAST (so far)Kizzak Smalltooth, Half-Orc Tracker! (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=180584) His hatred for the undead is bolstered by his Orcish rage and angst! (Slamexo)

"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me. Really."

Captain Hawke Silverhand! (http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=33976) Swashbuckling rogue and master treasure hunter! (Dresil)

"Hey! I'm no treasure hunter! I'm a thei.. nevermind. I got that mixed up."

Seth Redblade, Druid! (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=180485) Sworn to protect the natural world, he carries its power along with him! (4is11)

"It's really more of a day job, but I appreciate the sentiment."

Barend Bronzebottom, Dwarven Duskblade! (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=181022) Master of the latest arcane combat techniques! (V for Victory)

"Whoo! I ga' in!"

Thomas Magewright, Sorcerer! (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=180686) His very blood parts the cosmos to his will! (Jade Tarem)

"You make it sound like skill has nothing to do with it. Well, I suppose that is true..."


Amy Mistriver, Barbarian! (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=180420) A warrior princess who packs a lot of strength into a small package! (Freshmeat)

"Rawr. ...Wait, let me try that again."

*puts on fake crown*

"Rawr."

On the outskirts one of the Northern Kingdoms, Wherever, runs a deep yet gentle river. On the river delta, where it meets the enormous, sparkling Lake Turquoise, the bustling city of Frontwater acts as a port to a number of other towns and kingdoms.

Traveling eastwards, up the river, we find a series of small farming communities between stretches of wilderness, coming at some point to Midwater, a town full of hardworking craftsmen and merchants, collecting wares of various sorts from the nearby towns and sending them back and forth down the river.

Further east, the rows and fields of irrigated farmland gradually peter out. Finally, right on the edge of the Redmountain Hills, we come to the last community in the line.

Be it because they didn't know any better, couldn't afford a night in Midwater, are fleeing as far as possible from their previous lives, or were just bored, the PCs now find themselves here. Backwater Village. The crappy town where, apparently, everybody's a hero.

It's pouring rain outside, to the point where it's tough to tell whether it's night or day. So, we now enter the only remotely hospitable establishment in the village:

Lucky Seamus' Ye Olde Tavern & Grille

Granted, it's raining inside as well, but no more than a wooden bucket, a frying pan, and a dirty pitcher can catch. In terms of seating, there are about five big, round tables, plus the bar stools. Left of the bar is a rickety-looking wooden stairwell, and to its right is a door, presumably to a back room of some sort.

The bartender, a man with red hair on his head, chin, arms, and inner ears, keeps busy with his bar-tending duties, which basically amount to holding one of his two wine glasses and drying it continuously. Except for themselves, the arriving PCs can see no other occupants in the room.

[4is111]

Well this is a tavern. I guess this is as good a place to start as any. Pretty empty, I hope I can find an adventure hook.
"Barkeep! I could use a drink. How much are you charging for ale?"
Seth sits at the bar.
"Is it usually this crowed this time of day?"

[Jade_Tarem]

Tom walks in, eager to be out of the rain and its assorted penalties. "Ah, civilization... such as it is." He takes a place at one of the tables.

[Dresil]

Hawke

The young human stalks down the stairs, and takes an empty seat. "Like last night, I'll have the biggest, strongest, cheapest drink."

After noticing its raining he thinks to himself, Good, maybe something will finally happen around here.

Although he is trying to maintain a low profile, he never goes anywhere without his three-corner pirate hat, which he begins to fiddle with while waiting for his booze.

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Looking around the room he found himself in, Kizzak realised he had unwittingly wandered into a tavern. Hearing the ping go off around him, he took the oppurtunity to look over himself.

"Oh, look at that: I finally got my first level. And it's even a level in ranger; Gods forbid that I don't finally get that level in fighter I've been angling for for years. No, that'd be far too easy."

"Stupid hunter backstory."

Frowning his typical frown, Kizzak took the oppurtunity to approach the barstool, two seats down from where Seth sat. Observing the human for a moment, he let out a sigh to himself.

It could be worse.

Returning to his thirsty, frowny nature, he addressed the barkeep:

"Normally, I'd ask for a head of pig's blood for a drink when I'm thirsty, but sadly my Orc half doesn't seem to be in the mood for giving you a reason to kill me and gain XP. So instead, I'll act on my human side and just get drunk with the rest of you. Something alcoholic, barkeep.

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"...and then the halfling druid says: but I thought you knew how to cast Rope Trick!" Almost immediately after delivering the punchline to the classic "Dryad Grove" joke, Amy bursts into the kind of loud laughter that makes everyone else both embarassed and uncomfortable.

Oblivious to any reaction, she finds herself a place to sit down while telling the barkeeper "I'll have whatever the pirate's having, but stronger."

[Dresil]

Hawke

"Oi! Now who are you calling a pirate, doorstop? That's treasure hunter to you!"

The nerve of some people. Thinking he was some sort of... rogue or something.

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"Doorstop? Huh? Because I stop...doors? That doesn't even make any sense!"

[Dresil]

Hawke

"Don't put too much thought into it then. Barbarians... "

He shakes his head dismissively.

[V for Victory]

Barend walks in the bar and tells the bartender "Allo tha sa I's wanderin ifs ya could find me tha cheapest beer on the ba'"

[4is111]

Seth turns to Kizzak. "Now that you mention it, goat's blood does sound kind of nice right about now. I haven't had a nice drink of goat's blood since... almost a year now. Oh wait, you weren't actually considering ordering pig's blood. You were just jabbing at us humans because you think we're racist, and you go on to call us drunks just because we distill our beverages. Keep up that additude, and someone will kill you for the XP, green skin."

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Turning to look at Seth, Kizzak frowns some more.

"I was wondering how long it'd take for someone to get annoyed. As per usual, it took all of five seconds. Since I doubt a charismatic person like yourself invested much in the way of an intelligence score, I'm going to go back and wait for my drink now."

Turning back to the bar, the half-orc resumed waiting for his alcholic drink with an upside down smile slapped across his face.

[V for Victory]

Barend walks over to the disgruntled half-orc Whas the madda frein'

[4is111]

"I'll admit I don't know much about orcs, but it is general human practice to take offence to insults, be they personal or general. What's more you're one to talk about intelegence if you couldn't even qualify for fighter."
Seth glances at Barend breefly, "Is this brute a friend of yours? I can't say I envy you," before turning back to his ale.
What are you thinking, Redblade? Don't you have enough enemies already?

[V for Victory]

Was yor problm mate? Why da ya gotta be mean ta somone

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"Off on the right foot then, fantastic. Even more so, considering how we'll probably end up on the same team, when you look at the occupancy level of this tavern."

Turning to the dwarf briefly, Kizzak sized him up.

"I've heard dwarven accents before, but yours is just incomprehensible. Maybe you should just submit it all in writing in the future."

His frown, as suspected, continued to remain; this would be just plain awesome.

[V for Victory]

Ah riat mah frein' ah woul be abligin' ta do sa Barend scribbles down on a napkin, however his handwriting is too hard to read, he seems to use form the characters so they almost appear like dwarven characters

OOC

I should have it made clear that for spells that read minds and such Barend does not speak in dwarvish but a heavily accented version of Common, he also writes in such

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Seth arrives as Amy obliviously delivers her joke in the background. "Eh, ye'd be surprised. I just stand around alone for whole days sometimes. Ale's whatever yer willin' to pay for it. I'd call it a service, but to be honest, I just water it down to compensate."

He does a double-take regarding the captain as he comes down from the rooms upstairs. "Egads, man, ye didn't wear that ridiculous thing to bed, did ye?"

Soon enough, the rest of the customers walk in and start yammering amongst themselves. "Hm. Guess this is gonna be another one of those arguin' nights," the bartender muses as he fills up a series of mugs from the tap. "Alright! Mugs of my 'alf-whisky for the lady and the beard, and a big tankarda pisswater each for the resta ye."

He hands Seth and Kizzak their drinks last. "Hey, neither of ye would actually be looking for pig's blood, would ye? 'Cause I think I might have some left over from when I bought this place from those hobgoblins... no? Okay, just makin' sure."

[Jade_Tarem]

Tom, a rather sociable fellow, keeps completely silent. Oh gods, if a plot hook doesn't show up soon there won't be anyone left to accept it.

[Dresil]

Hawke

As he continues to fiddle with his had, he replies to the barkeep, "Of course I would. Or else I would have terrible hat hair." He rocks back and forth on his chair impatiently, "I've seen more bleedin' plot hooks in a fisherman's hut than this excuse for a dramatic night."

He pauses for a moment and then says to the sky, "I said I have nothing else to do at the moment!!"

[4is111]

Seth
After a few drinks Seth lightens up a bit. After a few more he works up the courage to address Kizzak again.
"Man, I'm shorry about the pigs' blood thing. I've jusht 'ad a long day. You know what thach's like, don'ch ya? I just losch my apprenchanship I've 'ad shince I was a lad, and now I'm shupposed to make a career of rishking my 'ide for treashure? Whach I'm try'n to shay is thach I'm noch really thish bad a pershon."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Hey, now, no need to get impatient," says the barkeep to the pirate. "Ye can't just expect a plot hook to just show up when ye ask for it. Now take drinky cloakington over here, here's someone who knows how to get stuff going! Ye have to sit down, try to unwind, introduce yourself to the other PCs. Ye are PCs, right? Right. I can smell it on alla ye.

"Anyway, to attract a good adventure hook, the most important thing is to act like ye don't see it comin'. 'Cause the best ones, ye see, are the ones that want to take ye by surprise. More excitin' that way. Believe me, I'd know. I was an adventurer once, first level bard, back when they sucked worse than they do now, and proudav it! But my campaign, it never really got off the ground. Ye see... Hey!"

The barkeep forgoes his long-winded story to shout at the front door, which has just cracked open at the behest of a black-haired, thinly mustached man who is simultaneously trying to fumble with an umbrella. "Ye be sure to close that thing up before ye set one foot in here! They don't call me Lucky for havin' open umbrellas indoors!"

"Oh! Right. Sorry!"

Soon enough, a man in a now slightly-drenched business suit stands up by the bar and clears his throat. "Ahem. Excuse me, everyone! Does anybody in this tavern happen to be an adventurer?"

[V for Victory]

"Ah am sah" says Barend. Still waiting on his drink

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Ah am sah" says Barend. Still waiting on his drink

Barend makes his spot check to notice that his drink had been set in front of him while he wasn't paying attention.

[Freshmeat]

"Maybe we should wait a bit longer, guys." Amy whispers to the rest. "The barkeep said the best adventures came at unexpected times, and this one just looks plain predictable! Next thing we know he'll ask us to go kill some kobolds in a cave or something! Besides, I don't trust people in suits. The last time I saw someone like that they were filing a Cease and Desist order against me for saying Beh-... ive. For saying 'beehive', yeah."

[Jade_Tarem]

Tom leans back and puts his feet up on another chair. "I suppose the question is whether first level adventurers can afford to be picky. Besides, my parents told me that kobolds can be a lot meaner than their challenge rating."

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Several drinks later, Kizzak looked (or tried to, rather) into Seth's eyes, with hints of sympathy in his own pupils.

"Hey, I understand buddy; my life's been pretty crappy too lately. I mean, I got rejected by Bash University! Life's pretty down on my luck too, even more than normal!"

Turning to the man in the suit, his slightly slurred frown resurfaced.

"No, we're a bunch of alcoholics who carry around weapons and armour and hang out in the tavern on a regular basis."

[4is111]

Seth
"Ishn't alchoholiches who 'ang ouch ach the chavern a loch redundanch? Beshidesh, I'd be more worried thach thish man will shend us afcher paperwork than koblodsh."

[Dresil]

Hawke

"Some call me an adventurer, but I tend to have many names. Others refer to me as 'Hey you!' or for some reason they call me 'Guards!' I call myself Hawke, treasure hunter extrodinaire (sp?)."

He cracks his knuckles in impatience for a chance to get off of his behind.

[V for Victory]

Arhm'a valyas rehadah ta goe adventren'n' Barend says as he grabs his axe and beverage

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Excellent!" he responds. "Mr. Seamus, everyne's drinks are on my firm tonight."

"Cool beans." The bartender accepts a small bag of coins from the suit.

"My name is Albert Felbrook, lawyer," the suit continues, preferentially addressing the ones who claim to, in fact, be adventurers as opposed to belligerent routine drinkers. "I've recently been assigned as executor to the estate of a recently deceased wizard, but I've found some difficulty retrieving his will and testament from his home. He's employed some, uh... unorthodox security measures, the sort of which refuse to leave when their services are no longer required. I couldn't make them see reason, but I thought that going back with an armed retinue of my own might make me more persuasive, if you get my drift.

"That accomplished, I was thinking that perhaps you could assist me in searching for the document, and afterwards be on your way."

Albert starts walking back to the door. "For all interested, we can further discuss the matter en route. This whole debacle has taken me too long already, and I don't intend to prolong it further if I don't have to."

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Sliding off the barstool, Kizzak walked on over to the suit, ready to make his leave.

"Since saying no here will obviously delay the inevitable team up and quest we have, I might as well go."

Turning back to the others, he awaited the five to join him.

[V for Victory]

Barend moves as fast as his stubby legs can carry him towards the man in the suit, eager for some action.

[Dresil]

Hawke

Before the suit finished talking, Hawke slipped out of his chair and waiting for the suit on the other side of the room, so he could hopefully appear to just be there when he turns around. Whether he succeeds of fails at this, he lifts up his arms and says, "Bloody brilliant! Then you will certainly need an expert treasure hunter to hunt this grand treasure! Let's shove off from this port then and make for our heading!"

Hide/MS

[roll0]
[roll1]

[4is111]

Maybe this is a bad idea. Wait, free booze! This is a great idea!
"Barkeep... I'll take shix or sheven for the road."
Seth gets up and stumbles after the laywer, but then realizes he forgot his pisswater and turns back for it, then leaves, arms full of mugs.

[Freshmeat]

Amy

Amy empties her mug of half-whisky, having only properly understood the last couple of sentences the lawyer had said. Everything before that sounded rather complex, and she didn't quite get what Felbrook had meant with them 'getting his drift'. The only thing they got so far was a free drink, after all.

Amy picks up her stuff and follows the lawyer and the other characters outside.

"Now that all the PC's are leaving, it's not like anything interesting is going to happen tonight in this bar anyway..."

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

Tom gets up to follow. "Haha! 'Twas a dark and stormy night... This is the start of something big, I can feel it!"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Felbrook doesn't turn around, and simply heads out the door expecting a few to follow behind him. He doesn't notice the captain sneaking into position, and apparently, he doesn't even hear his boast. (He rolled a natural 1 on listen.)

The barkeep just hands Seth a pitcher full of the watery beer, then turns to the hesitant Amy. "Ye should go on, too, girl. Another thing I've learned is that if somethin's supposed to happen, it won't matter if somethin' else happens in the meantime."

The lawyer stops to unfold his umbrella, then leads the party about forty feet to an enclosed stagecoach with the words, 'The Law Offices of Felbrook, Felbrook, Felbrook & Felbrook,' painted on the side. An awning extends for about a foot around the thing, and further in the front to protect the two nose-bagged horses.

As he removes the nose bags, he turns to assess who had followed and seems surprised. "Oh, wow. So, all of you are interested, then? Not that I'm complaining, of course." He opens the door and motions for the party to climb in. "It may be a little cramped in there, but you should be able to fit."

As everyone files and squeezes in, he takes his own seat in front as the driver. "Once you're all comfortable, feel free to ask any additional questions that you may have."

[4is111]

Seth
"Do you ashk for thish kind of thing ofchen?" asks Seth before taking a big gulp of the watery ale. "Becaush I could ushe a friend like you who buysh me booze."

[Jade_Tarem]

Tom

Tom sits back and enjoys the ride. "What sorts of things have you run into in the estate that kept you out?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The lawyer chooses to ignore Seth for now.

"The late Mr. Z'tangor hired some Hobgoblin mercenaries to guard his house, and they refused to so much as let me trough the front gate. I assured them that their security contract could be interpreted as terminating upon their employer's death, but they wouldn't hear of it."

[Jade_Tarem]

Tom

Tom raises an eyebrow. "Who do they think is paying them?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Um? Well, the estate, I suppose. To be honest, I hadn't thought to ask. I assumed that they were just being stubborn."

[Jade_Tarem]

Tom

Tom sighs. "Well, maybe they'll let us through if we bring that up when we get there."

It's not a question. Tom sits back and lets someone else talk.

[4is111]

Seth
"I don't ushually think of hobgoblinsh or mershenariesh ash being cho loyal. They mushch have an alterior mochive."

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

After a moment of trying to work out the meaning behind Seth's slurred speech, Kizzak frowns at the lawyer.

"So let me guess: you expect us to kill them the moment things start to get unpleasant."

[Freshmeat]

Amy

As she sits in a corner of the much-too-small stagecoach, Amy ponders if she has heard the name 'Z'tangor' before.

Knowledge (local) - [roll0]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

As she sits in a corner of the much-too-small stagecoach, Amy ponders if she has heard the name 'Z'tangor' before.

She hasn't. Which stands to reason, really.

The seats are a little bit cool and damp from blowing rain, but they could be worse. It's also certainly very cozy, and some may later regret their choices of who to sit next to. Once the door is closed, Felbrook starts the horses and sets out away from Backwater.


"So let me guess: you expect us to kill them the moment things start to get unpleasant."
"What? No, of course not!" he replies indignantly.

"...well, depending on your definition of, 'unpleasant,' of course. Nobody is going to hold it against us if we were to defend ourselves against attack, for instance. But killing them in general would constitute violating the privacy rights of the deceased, to say nothing of rights of the goblinoids themselves.

"Now, if they were to leave the premises for some other reason - say, the prospect of picking a fight with a proper adventuring party - then there would be nothing left to deter me from accessing the house and its contents, as its owner's heirs have been so kind as to provide me with a spare key, which legally implies that I'm trusted to use it for its intended purpose. Which is another thing that I tried to explain to the goblins, but they didn't seem very impressed."

[4is111]

Seth
"You mean they didn'th go for legal thechno-jargon? Why am I unshurprized? I don'th know whath else to ashk. Lethsh geth tho negoshiathing."

[Dresil]

Hawke

"Law schmaw. I'll have that place down to the framework in 3 rounds..."

He leans back and enjoys the rest of the relaxing (to him) journey, and is also fairly proud he skipped out on his tab back at the pub.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Hm." A vague look of distaste crosses his face for a moment. Lawful barrister is lawful; he can't help it.

The coach hardly gets beyond the village limits before the rain lets up. As we leave the clouds behind, we find that the sun is pretty high in the sky. Anyone can make a wisdom (survival) or intelligence (knowledge: astrophysics or geography or whatever) check to determine what time it is, approximately. Actually, use the same sort check to see if you can figure out where you're going.

"The site is not quite a day from here. If we travel through the night, we should arrive in the morning. Do any of you have ranks in ride, by some chance?"

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"Ride ranks are confusing, so I never took any. I always think Armor Check Penalty applies and then I count the wrong bonus and fall off. Apparently falling off a horse hurts more than getting stabbed with a dagger. I once saw a commoner die when he tried to get up on his horse and slipped on one of the spurs. No joke."

Amy twiddles with her thumbs a little (clearly enjoying herself way too much) when she happens to look out of the stagecoach.

"Hey! I think I know where we're going!"

Survival: [roll0]

[4is111]

Seth
"Ya, I've sheen thish plash before!"
Survival:[roll0]-minus a penalty proportional to the proof of pisswater

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"If I ever get an animal companion worth investing ranks in ride in, I'll let you know."

Looking out of the window of the coach with an upside down smile at the thought of travelling all night, Kizzak made some weather determinations.

Survival on behalf of Kizzak.

[roll0]

[V for Victory]

Nah, natin' in ride, sahhy

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

"It's not a class skill, and I don't have a lot of skill points to throw around. Sorry."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Amy observes the surroundings and is able to discern that it is now early-to-mid afternoon, and that they are proceeding north-northwest along the edge of what is commonly considered to be goblinoid territory without quite dipping in. She also notices that the raincloud is still hanging over backwater behind them, but beyond that, their trip should be mostly sunny with a small chance of fog during the night. Kizzak is inclined to take her word for it, as his brain is still a bit too fuzzy to make much in the way of inferences.

Seth, on the other hand, is inclined to conclude that they are all in a, 'yellow shubmarine,' and that, 'every one of ush hash all we need.'

Felbrook sighs. "Well, considering the long days that I've had recently, I can't guarantee that I won't fall asleep at the reins come nighttime... so, barring any other ideas, I suppose that we'll be camping out at some point. I'm assuming that you adventurers are prepared for this, at least?"

Also, is there anything else that anyone wants to do before nightfall?

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"Nope."

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"I'm ready to skip the rest of the trip up to the part where we'll be camping by the road, although a traveling montage is fine by me as well."

[4is111]

Seth
"We all live in a yellow shubmarine! Ya-ellow shubmarine! YAAa-EELLLOW SHHhubMmarieen! We all live in a... in a..."
Seth trails off into a drunken stupor.

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

"I'm good."

[V for Victory]

Ah'm nclimed ta agra

[Dresil]

Hawke

"Nope... Arrgh."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Later that evening...

After a good eight hours of riding in the coach interrupted only by the occasional bathroom break, you hear the barrister start yawning. For that matter, those of you with handle animal can probably hear the horses yawning. Sure enough, the vehicle begins to stray off of the path a little bit before jerking to a halt.

"Snuh?" Felbrook sniffs. "Oh, uh, hm."

"Pbphpbhbph," snorts the offending horse. The animal then proceeds to lay down to sleep. Its partner follows suit.

"...well, I suppose it's for the best," says Felbrook, "I could use some rest, too."

At this point, the path lies between a small hill and some trees. To call the area on the left a forest may be giving it too much credit, but you can't look into it and see straight on through to the other side, so 'woods,' would at least be appropriate. The hill simply marks the edge of the Redmountain territories.

"Well, from what I can see, it appears that we're making camp right here." He opens up the door and motions for everyone to roll out. Then he sets some oats in front of the horses and outfits them with what appear to be custom beer hats.

[4is111]

Seth
Seth has passed out, presumably from alchohol poisoning.

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"What's with the funky horse hats?" Amy asks while unfurling her bedroll. As she waits for a reply, she drags the snoring Seth next to a tree.

((If Seth has any beer left, Amy will help herself to some -all for the greater good, of course))

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Unfurling his own bedroll on the ground, Kizzak glanced around at the others.

"So I know we're only first level, and we're not even camping out at the dungeon, but considering we've actually taken a break in the story to set up camp, I think some of us should stay up overnight to guard against the inevitable ambush."

Quickly touching his nose, Kizzak fortified his sleep that night.

"Not it."

[Jade_Tarem]

Tom

Tom nods in agreement. "Not it!"

[4is111]

Seth
Seth has got the rest of his booze in a death grip, but Amy is easily strong enough to get it away from him.

[V for Victory]

Nahght ed Barend yells

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"Not it!", Amy says after wrestling the remaining beer away from Seth.

[Dresil]

Hawke

Not paying much attention, and focusing on cleaning his nails, he hears the party sound off. "Aw dammit."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Amy finds that the pitcher has just a little bit of the ale left. It's not nearly so strong or tasty as the half-whisky, which, unfortunately, is saying something.

"'Funky Horse Hats?'" says Albert. "Oh, that's just a Portable Livestock Hydration System. I helped write up the patent, so the inventor gave me these. The idea is for the horse to walk and drink at the same time, but I never could get them to do it."

He watches on as the party works out who should stand night watch. "Ah, I guess it's decided, then. I would offer to help, but I'm afraid that I would make a poorly qualified guardsman. At any rate, I intend to sleep in the coach, as I usually do on these excursions, so I will see you all in the morning."

With a yawn, he climbs into the cart, shuts the door, and places some shutters in the windows.

The sky is fairly clear, and the stars are out. There is a half-moon tonight.

Once preparations are done and everyone's in bed:

Everybody should roll listen.

Seth should make a fortitude save.

Hawke should make a will save and a spot check. And maybe a hide check.

[Dresil]

Hawke

The treasure hunter tries his best in the night to keep keen perception to his surroundings, while still staying somewhat hidden.

Rolls

Spot
Listen [roll1]
Hide [roll2]
Will Save [ROLL] 1d20+1

[Dresil]

Sorry for DP, corrected will save [roll0]

[Freshmeat]

Listen [roll0]

(should we factor in the -10 penalty for sleeping?)

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Listening whilst having a frowny snooze.

[roll0]

[V for Victory]

Listen:[roll0]

[Jade_Tarem]

Listen: [roll0]

[4is111]

Fortitude- [roll0]
Listen- [roll1] -10 for sleep -X for booze
edit- OCC: Hells ya! Seth lives to drink again!

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

For a little while, everyone sleeps soundly. The captain makes his check to stay awake despite the boredom of noticing nothing unusual.

Kizzak's sleep is disturbed by a rustling sound from his own pack. When he finally, frowningly opens his eyes, he is confronted by another pair of tiny eyes staring right back at him, nibbling on a piece of his rations.

"squeak"

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"Damn rat."

Annoyed at his disturbed sleep, Kizzak reached out to grab the vermin and toss it far away into the distance so he can roll over and resume his snoozing.

Grapple for the whole process.

[roll0]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Squeak!" The rat recoils from Kizzak's groggy hand and runs away. His darkvision having kicked in, he can make out a couple of other rats eating what's left of the oats that were set out for the dozing horses. His rat scurries over to join them.

Seth hears this going on, but isn't disturbed enough to jump from his bed or anything. Having hardly had cause to open his eyes, Seth almost drifts back to sleep when he realizes that there's a rustling sound next to him, as well.

Meanwhile, Amy is disturbed by something groping the side of her chest.

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"Mwah?" Amy mumbles half-asleep. When she realizes what's going on, she slaps whatever appendage is groping her away and springs up, while screaming like a 5-year old for all of two seconds.

[4is111]

Seth
At Amy's scream Seth jets up. Oh mercyful gods, I sure hope I wasn't sleep groping the barbarian.
As soon as he's sure as he isn't, he checks his surroundings.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Amy's, 'appendage,' is actually another rat. It was trying to get into her backpack, except it turns out that rats don't have Sleight of Hand. The rat squeaks and runs off into the darkness.

The ones that were chomping on the oats hear Amy's scream, panic, and quickly hide under the barrister's cart.

The captain finally notices these rats running around. They had apparently managed to sneak by him up until now.

Seth notices all of this, plus a couple of additional rats retreating into his backpack.

Tom hears the scream and is awakened.

Barend... is going to have to make another listen check.

[V for Victory]

Sleeping heavily Barend is oblivious to the struggle around him

Listen: [roll0]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

He wakes up next round, then.

[Dresil]

Hawke looks at the rats scurrying about, and doesn't even bother to pull out his weapon. "Ah, yer not even worth the XP. Shoo! Shoo!"

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Unable to fall back asleep with the rampant squeaking, screaming, and shooings occuring around him, Kizzak stretched up from his position on the ground and proceeded to look for the rats and join in in trying to shoo them off.

Spot or search, your call.

Spot: [roll0]
Search: [roll1]

[Freshmeat]

Amy

Amy looks around in confusion.
"Huh? For a random encounter, that was a bit too random and a bit too little of an actual encounter."

[4is111]

Seth
"Blast it! Shoo!"
Wild Empathy: [roll0]
Handle Animal: [roll1]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

They seem oddly indifferent to Seth's efforts, but Kizzak manages to spot all of the rats hanging around the bedrolls and packs - eight in total - and help chase them off. One gets away with a little bit of Seth's rations, and a couple of others run and hide under the cart with the ones from before. They don't seem to want to come out.

Kizzak also notices that the rats seem to have left a few little, 'presents,' by his backpack. Ick.

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

Tom shakes his head ruefully. "The glorious adventure begins! Maybe next we'll get to meet those famous Red Mountain Armor Piercing Mosquitos I've heard so much about."

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Sticking out his tongue with disgust at the presents for him, Kizzak began to rant.

"Poop cycles aren't mentioned in the monster manual for a reason. And why the hell does our first adventure consist of playing keep away with a bunch of vermin?"

Looking at the awake people, Kizzak continued to frown at the situation.

"So, anyone here happen to be a professional exterminator before they began adventuring?"

[V for Victory]

Barend wakes up and quickly gathers what's going on. He puts on his armor and he grabs his axe. Lehss gue ang keighll oos soome ras

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

Tom raises an eyebrow. "How the hells did you wake up drunk?"

[V for Victory]

Ves ouvou me-an? Ah din'n drink anythan. Theese ees mah achchent

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

"How the hells did your accent wake up drunk?"

It's possible that Thomas isn't completely awake.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

It should be noted that our employer has yet to make an appearance in all of this silliness. As for the horses, one of them perked up when Amy screamed, but is now just falling back asleep.

Also: post 100!

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"Mr. Felbrook? Hello? Are you awake?" Amy says while banging on the lawyer's coach to wake him up. "We've just had a random encounter. So you can go back to sleep now, since there probably won't be another one for the night. Oh, and if you were wondering about that scream a moment ago, it was umm... Barend."

Bluff [roll0]

[4is111]

Seth
"If it makes your accent feel any better I'm still a bit tipsy from last night. Wait, howed I get in the woods?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Seth is most likely trying to be polite. He doesn't have a hangover, either - that's what the fortitude save was for.

With a little bit of auditory effort, Amy can determine that Felbrook is still snoozing away in there.

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"Looks like someone botched his listen check badly if he can sleep through all of that noise just now..."

"So," she says, adressing the others. "Back to sleep then, or what? :smallconfused:"

[4is111]

OOC: We didn't do anything about the swarm of rats, did we?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

There are still four rats under the cart, just hiding. The rest have run off into the night, sufficiently defeated.

Amy's question still stands, though. They're not so threatening that you really have to do anything about them.

[4is111]

Seth
"Leave them be. You aren't afraid of a few rats are you? They're just trying to stay alive. Keep a closer hold on your supplies and... hey! Where'd my booze go? Those rats made off with my booze! Lets gut the pests!"

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Hesistantly flicking away the droppings around his bag with his foot, Kizzak picked it up and slung it on top of one of the cart's many convenient protusions to keep it out of rodent reach.

"I'm going to sleep now."

And on his word, he did indeed crawl back into his bag after quickly checking for vermin, more than willing to start snoozing again unless something interrupted him again.

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"Me too."

Amy finds herself a comfortable rock to rest her head on and lies down next to it, curling up up under a warm blanket.

[V for Victory]

Ah nah. Barend sits in front of the cart waiting for the rats to come out

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The rats watch the vigilant dwarf from under their shelter, their little rat brains trying to size up a potential predator that's just barely more intimidating than they are. After a long, awkward staring contest, the little mongrels turn around and scurry back into the woods.

Thereafter, the night goes smoothly. Seth wakes up in the morning with an eagle perched on his chest, though, and it looks a little peeved, so he might want to do something about that.

Once that's resolved, they're back on their way. "Did you all rest alright?" the lawyer eventually asks, concerned. "I've never understood how adventurers manage to sleep out in the open like that. I'd be terribly uncomfortable, personally. I can hardly sleep to begin with without my ear plugs..."

A little after noon, the vehicle rounds a bend and a big house can be seen a mile or so off, though it's a little obscured by sparse trees and thickets. A good spot check could be used to make out details from this distance.

[V for Victory]

Barend sleeps on the ride in the cart, preparing for whatever comes next.

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Kizzak squints his eyes at the upcoming house, spotting any of its defining features that he can from so far.

Spot: [roll0]

[4is111]

Seth
"What do you want? Don't give me that look. It wasn't that far any way. You seem to have made it here all right, so what's your hurry? You wouldn't have liked the carrage ride anyway. It was full of people and also underwater. I'm getting up now."
Seth gets up and enters the carrage, leaving his animal companion fend for itself. Once onboard he meditates to prepare his spells.0:Create Water, Detect Poison, Purify Food and Drink
1: Aspect of the Wolf

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[You're dipping into the Spell Compendium now? I guess that all of those ranks in knowledge(nature) really paid off...]

Tiger Eye gives Seth a couple of non-damaging pecks before perching on top of the cart for the ride.

The house looks to be a two-story affair built right into the side of a hill, implying that there's probably no back door. White with brown trim and shingles, it also sports a sizable front yard, fenced in on three sides by a five-foot-high variant on the sort of barrier one might see at a cattle ranch. Squinting, Kizzak can make out a couple of orange, leather-clad figures guarding the front gate.

"Ah, do you see it? That would be the home of the late Mr. Z'tangor. I intend to approach openly and attempt to renegotiate the matter, but as that didn't get me very far the first time around, I would be open to an alternative approach. Any thoughts?"

[4is111]

Seth
"I had hoped that the booze might be a useful bargaining chip, but the rats got it, so I suppose if we can't talk them down any rogues ought to be ready to sneak attack."

[Jade_Tarem]

Tom

"We could try distracting them with a complicated song and dance routine." :smallamused:

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"Like an interpretative dance! Good idea! Let's go with that! My idea of disguising ourselves as wandering cheese sellers probably wouldn't have worked anyway."

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Frowning (again) at the suggestion, Kizzak rolled his eyes.

"Why not. Just as long as we don't kill them for doing their job since it's the easier way to go about things, we might as well get out our tap shoes."

[4is111]

OOC: I'm going to be on vacation until next Saturday, so Seth will just stand there like an idiot during that time, only helping in combat if directed.

[Dresil]

Hawke

"Or someone else can take this post and I can get some shut eye. I don't know the penalties for pulling an all nighter and I don't want to learn, especially since this is our first night out."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Honestly, stopping to sleep was mainly for your employer's benefit. The rest of you have had plenty of time to nap on the cart ride, Hawke included.]


"I see. Well, I just thought it wouldn't hurt to ask..."

The cart approaches the hobgoblins.

Listen, for whoever has the highest modifier: [roll0]

...huh. Well, never mind that, then.

"Oh hey, look who's come back," says one of them disdainfully as the barrister comes down from the driver's seat.

"That guy?" says the other. "I thought you said you guys told him to scram?"

"Well, I did leave, did I not?"

"Yeah, well, generally, when someone tells you you're not welcome, it's not an invitation to wait a day and come back."

"Of course. However, strictly speaking, I wasn't merely waiting, but procuring a series of exhibits to augment my position regarding our previous impasse."

"Oh?"

The lawyer gestures to our heroes as they pile out of the cart. Hobgoblin #2 looks a bit frightened. Hobgoblin #1, who thus far has been doing most of the talking, simply frowns. "Oh."

"Now, as a lawyer, my recommendation would be for you to-"

"Yeah, yeah, to take our money and run. You said the same thing last time, and I told you that we're paid up until the end of the year, so we're staying put and that's that."

He turns his head away to scan the area, brushing Felbrook off. "So unless you have some word from the guy that hired us that he wants us to leave after all, you can come back when our contract runs out and we'll talk."

"But he's dead!"

"So what?" says #2, who seems a bit less personally upset with the human. "I mean, what kind of guards would we be if we stopped working every time a client kicked the bucket? Abandoned keeps are a staple of the industry."

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

"True. Of course, the protagonists plowing through nameless guards is a staple of the genre, so you might want to take that into consideration."

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"But then hobgoblins who show a remarkable deal of loyalty as mercenaries as well as a more appropriate level of charisma and coherent talking is a subversion of the genre in itself. Clichés aren't sitting right here."

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

"Ah, but if we adhere to the cliche and fight anyway, then we move the plot along while kililng them ironically. I mean, we can't just stand here arguing with them forever."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

#1 growls and starts fidgeting with his sword as he continues to avoid looking at any of you.

"I don't like where this is heading," says #2.

[V for Victory]

Barend readies his axe and says Anma hanma canta twoie.

Won.

[Freshmeat]

((I've got to say, V, that accent absolutely cracks me up. :smallbiggrin:))

Reaching for her weapon as well, Amy joins Barend.
"Yeah, what he said. Stand aside or there'll be trouble. We're PC's. We go wherever we want."

Intimidate [roll0]

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Looking at the others, Kizzak promptly puts his palm and face in alignment.

"Well, since we seem to be throwing common grace and fairness out the window in favour of brutish assualt, I'll just stand over here whilst you guys put your alignments into question."

Following those words, Kizzak promptly went and stood off to the side, though still keeping within good view and earshot of all events occuring.

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

Tom sighs. "Look, I don't think anyone here wants to engage in wholesale slaughter. Is there anything that might get you to let us through?"

[Dresil]

Hawke

"I'm not getting any younger just standing here. There are only two of you and ten of us, if you count the animals. Move, or make me get bored."

[V for Victory]

Twaoi Barend is ready to attack the goblins.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Won..."

You guys intimidate #2 right quick. He readies a ridiculously huge shield and starts to back away slowly.

#1, who is simply too cheesed off to be affected, shoots him a look. "Really, the tower shield? We're not even proficient with those things."

"Twaoi..."

"Wait, are you really doing this?" asks Albert, "because to be frank, I must agree with the half-orc. You cannot-"

"Bah! Go ahead!" #1 draws his sword and adjusts his buckler. "I'd rather get my ass kicked than suffer two more minutes of you shifty jerkass humans!"

Felbrook gulps. "Oh, uh, would you look at that! I do believe I'm late for, um... an appointment... in my cart." He covers his ears and rushes off to his sanctum of plausible deniability.

[Go ahead and roll initiative. Nobody's surprised, so the poop hits the proverbial fan the instant anyone makes a move.]

[Dresil]

Hawke

Hawke draws his sword at two... twoi... whatever the drunk one said, and smiles, "Perfect. I'll call you X and you P."

Initiative [roll0]

[V for Victory]

Initiative: [roll0]

[Freshmeat]

"Hm, I was kind of hoping both of you would be intimidated by now..." Amy says with a frown.

"Would it help if I said we're not shifty? No? Okay then."

[roll0]

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Initiative for the sake of having one in stock: [roll0]

[Jade_Tarem]

Initiative: [roll0]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[unnamed rolls]
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Top of round (in color!):

|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|X|X|_|K|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|F|X|_|S|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|T|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|X|X|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|C|_|H|_|_|_|_|_|
|_|\|\|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|A|_|_|_|_|_|_|H|_|_|
|_|H|H|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|B|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|

{table]Count|Participant|symbol
17|Kizzak|K
15|Hawke|C
15|Thomas|T
12|Hobbos|H
6|Amy|A
4|Barend|B
3|Seth|S
3|Felbrook|F[/table]

It looks like #1 is about to fly off the handle, but Tom and the captain are quicker than he is.

Seth seems unsure whether he should get involved. Kizzak has time to make one last-ditch effort to defuse the situation.

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Looking at the others with distain, Kizzak crossed his arms as he stood by the cart.

"If they start winning, I'm not going to jump in to help."

ie. Kizzak shall do nothing on his turn!

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

"Fine, we'll do this the easy way."

He turns his attention to the hobgoblins. "Sleep!"

Each hobgoblin needs to make a Will Save (DC 14) or fall asleep.

[Dresil]

Hawke

With a quick step forward, hawke thrusts his rapier into the hobbo, "Oh good, I've got the initiative. Looks like you are standing here holding my SNEAK ATTACK dice!"


Move up to nearest hobbo and attack.
To hit [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Sneak Attack [roll2]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[roll0]
[roll1]
Bonus points for doing something I hadn't thought of!

Hawke's rapier finds the perfect spot to murder the guard horribly, but it turns out that his studded leather armor was specifically designed to cover it, so the attack doesn't quite work out. As the hobgoblin raises his sword for what is now a retaliatory strike, his arm suddenly decides it's nap time and drops the weapon. The rest of his body quickly agrees and drops itself.

#2 had managed to raise a silver whistle to his lips before collapsing. He proceeds to emit a series of fluttery tweets as he snoozes, too soft to serve as much of a signal.

[4is111]

Seth
"Wouldn't it have been easier to just get the guy's corpse and speak with dead to get permission to access the building? Now I have to get blood all over my tunic. Wait initiative... I got a [roll0] Crap."

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"See, that's the sort of thing you should bring up before we walk several miles across the country."

Looking at Thomas with a glint of approval for his much more fluffy method, Kizzak walked over to the individual corpses and began looking through them for anything useful, carefully plucking the whistle out of the second one's mouth.

"Anyone got any rope to tie these guys up with?"

Individual search checks for our hobgoblin buddies.

Search #1: [roll0]
Search #2: [roll1]

[Dresil]

Hawke

"I do, right here." coup de gras both hobbos.

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Kizzak lashes out with his fists at Hawke as he moves to kill the innocent enough hobbos.

Unarmed attack of oppurtunity on the murderin' captain if he just happens to be positioned correctly enough. [roll0]

[Slamexo]

Damage roll I forgot to incorporate. [roll0] (Take 1 off that, my mistake on the bonus)

Well he's hardly just gonna sit there is he?

[4is111]

Seth
"Now I disapprove of cold blooded murder as much as the next guy, but talking is a free action. You might say 'Wait, don't kill them in their sleep. That's cold blooded murder!' before you start hitting your fellow adventurers."

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

"I dunno, Hawke. I mean, you could also have announced what you were going to do. You can't do two coup-de-graces in one round anyway - and I think Kizzak's right. There's no need for them to die."

[Dresil]

b]Hawke[/b]

Reeling from the hit, anger flares in his eyes.

"In fact we DO need to kill them, for several reasons. One, they are hobgoblins. Evil creatures, as in not good. We leave them alive they can take 20 on their Escape Artist, alert others, flank us, and a whole bunch of other tactical bad things for us.

Two, it takes more than 1 round to loot them, and three, they are the first encounter in this quest! Chances are if we leave them alive they could become recurring villians!"

[Freshmeat]

Amy

"Killing them now that they're helpless sounds a bit on the evil side. Since it's way too early in the campaign to go down the slippery slope already, I vote we just tie them up."

Amy listens to Hawke's explanation, but then shakes her head.
"Ah, but they can't be recurring villains! They didn't tell us their names! And the monster manual entry for hobbos says they are usually evil, not always. As for the escape artist bit... hm, let me think on that for a while."

[cue silence]

((You get the impression 'a while' may last rather long given Amy's low intelligence score))

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"The monster manual states that they're usually chaotic evil too, whilst these ones here are clearly lawful neutral. We can't go and kill them just because it could come back to bite us later, even if it is the safest thing to do."

Kizzak looked at Hawke with a clear sense of distaste in his eyes.

[Dresil]

Hawke

"Oh I hate that 'if you kill a helpless enemy you are evil' crack. Its removing us from danger. If you don't help you could endanger the whole party! I joined up to help that lawyer, being nice didn't work for him, so its time for what any adventuring party worth its spit is known for."

[4is111]

Seth
"Maybe I'm old fashioned, but maybe we should worry about the hobgoblin who are trying to kill us as we speak?"

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

Tom looks at the two sleeping hobgoblins. "Talking is a free action. Besides, what are they going to do? Snore at us?"

He shakes his head. "These two hobgoblins didn't act chaotic evil. I don't know that killing them would automatically make us evil, but I'm pretty sure it would be a step in that direction."

"Besides, you mentioned that the decision to leave them alive might cause us problems in the future. But killing them could also cause problems. These two clearly aren't standard hobgoblins. They could have family, friends, or superiors who might seek vengeance on us for butchering them."

He grins. "And if they turn out to be recurring antagonists after all, then that just means we collect xp from them multiple times while keeping the moral high ground. It's win-win."

[4is111]

Seth
"I guess I'd better do something."
Seth draws a dagger and throws it at the gobliniod with the wistle.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Just to clarify, as I suspect you might not quite see what's going on: Seth sees just the two of them, and both are asleep, albeit not for too much longer since you've all been arguing instead of just slipping by them and breaking into the house like I expected.

Not that I'm complaining. I've been too busy to post for the last few days anyway, heh.

Anyway, if you confirm that Seth does indeed intend to chuck a knife at a sleeping hobgoblin with a whistle in his mouth, I have a reaction prepared.]

Kizzak dashes in at the speed of plot and stops Captain Chaotic-Neutral from skewering the scurvy dogs.

Come to think of it, you'd think that a pirate would be perfectly happy about tying people up, what with all of the knots they have to learn. Then again, I'm starting to wonder whether Hawke has ever actually been on a ship at all.

Anyway, we also get a cutaway panel to the lawyer, who is still sitting in his cart, eyes closed, ears plugged, going, "La la la la la."

[4is111]

OOC: No, I thought that the whistle was blown by one of the not sleeping hobgoblins, but if I only see the sleeping ones, I chuck the knife.

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"Hey! If I don't let him coup de grace them, I'm not going to let you throw knives at them either!"

Now even more visibly annoyed than the emotion he's displayed in the last day, Kizzak glares at Seth and Hawke.

"You can't kill them just for doing a job unless you're chaotic evil, and if you are chaotic evil then by your logic it's ok for me to kill you for the exp, and that's starting to sound just peachy."

Kizzak was not a happy half-orc.

[V for Victory]

laughing Barend says Fran' lemna git ya zam advise: ye best defime ye alinmin, danna les et defime ya Barend runs over to coup de grace one of the goblins

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

While Hawke abstains because he's having so much fun with the debate itself, Seth and Barend proceed with Plan Stabby despite Kizzak's objections.

As the dwarf moves up to #1 for the kill shot, Seth goes for #2, since he's the one with the whistle.

The dagger hits its target right in the noggin. The hobgoblin immediately wakes up screaming in pain, which due to the trinket in his mouth comes out as a loud, shrill, "TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!"

"Gah!" Reacting to the whistle, #1 snaps awake and sits up. Barend's axe splits the dirt where the goblinoid's neck had been.

#1 springs to his feet and readies his sword, as mad as ever. "Did you just try to coup-de-grace me?!"

#2 grabs his shield and scrambles to his feet.

Map:

|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|X|X|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|A|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|F|X|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|K|C|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|X|X|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|B|1|_|_|_|_|_|
|_| \|\|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|2|_|_|
|_|H|H|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|S|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|

{table]Count|Participant|symbol
17|Kizzak|K
15|Hawke|C
15|Thomas|T
12|Hobbos|1/2
6|Amy|A
4|Barend|B
4|Seth|S
3|Felbrook|F[/table]

It should be Amy's action next, since she's the only one who hasn't done anything yet. Then we go back to Kizzak and proceed normally.

[4is111]

Seth
"I'm not happy about it, but we've come to blows. Now I'm doing what ever I can to minimize our casualties. Really, if I though combat could be avoided at this point, I wouldn't have started."
Seth casts Aspect of the Wolf.
"Woof woof, bark bark."

[Freshmeat]

Amy

Amy shrugs and moves up to the nearest hobgoblin while drawing her greataxe. Rationalizing violence had the strange tendency of being that much easier if people were trying to kill you in the meantime.

With a cliché "Grr!" she swings the greataxe in the hobgoblin's direction.

Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"You guys suck. Big time."

Thoroughly disgusted by the actions of his travelling companions, Kizzak proceeds to move towards the cart with the intention of joining Felbrook inside.

30ft in that direction and such.

[V for Victory]

OOC: I'm confused, whos turn is it?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Amy quickly moves in and smashes the angry hobgoblin back to the ground with her own axe. It'll take a heal check to see for sure, but if he's not dead, he's pretty damn close.

Hobbo #2 watches this in horror and turns to make a break for the house.

Now it's technically Hawke's turn. (I'm recycling the initiative order from before.)

|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|X|X|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|F|X|K|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|C|_|A|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|X|X|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|T|_|_|B|1|_|_|_|_|_|
|_| \|\|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|2|_|_|
|_|H|H|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|S|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|_|
|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|X|_|_|_|

{table]Count|Participant|symbol
17|Kizzak|K
15|Hawke|C
15|Thomas|T
12|Hobbos|1/2
6|Amy|A
4|Barend|B
4|Seth|S
3|Felbrook|F[/table]

[Dresil]

Hawke holds his action.

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

"ENOUGH!" Tom bellows. "What the hell is the matter with you people? I'm putting a magic missile in the next person to swing, throw, or fire a weapon!" Tom points to the critically injured hobgoblin. "Would someone please try to check his bleeding? He may not be dead yet."

[Freshmeat]

Amy lowers her axe, a confused look on her face.
"Wait, our rogue just tried to coup-de-grace them in their sleep and we're actually still going to assume diplomacy will work?" :smallconfused:

"Uhh... okay, I guess."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Oh, party dysfunction. This does provide a nice look at your characters' personalities, though. It's actually kind of fun this way.]

"TWEEEET!"

Following a path between several small, friendly flower gardens, #2 runs for the front door some 80 feet back from the gate and slams into it. He knocks excitedly a few times, then uses the whistle again. "Tweet tweet-tweet tweet tweet, Tweet Tweet!"

[This makes the map a bit obsolete. I'll re-post it when it seems necessary.]

[4is111]

Seth
Seth is tempted to bite hobbo number 2, especially since that wouldn't be swinging, throwing or firing a weapon, but it isn't his turn yet.

[V for Victory]

Barend chases after the hobo, using his standard action as a move and running towards him (180 feet of movement)

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Thanks to his short little dwarf legs, Barend can't quite catch up before the door opens and lets the hobgoblin in. The door then slams in Barend's face.

(combat mode: off)

So now what?

[V for Victory]

Barend uses his axe to chop down the door.

Attack: [roll0]

Damage:[roll1]

[Dresil]

Hawke

"Instead of breaking a valueable door, you could try my approach. Something more subtle, and quiet. Almost like coup de gras-ing a sleeping Hobgoblin." He turns back to the lawyer, "You, attorney, is there a back door to this place? Or shall I get my key out?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[I need to know what Kizzak's up to - until I do, assume the lawyer's still hiding his cart.]

[After this mission's over, I can split you guys up to fix the party cohesion issue. Do you think that you can stick it out until then?]

[4is111]

OOC: I think value dissonance in the party is enjoyable, but if people want to split...

Seth scratches at the door in agitation.

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Kizzak continues sitting in the cart with the lawyer, keeping his arms folded in disgust at his bloodthirsty companions.

Apologies, didn't know it was me we were waiting on. :smallredface:

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Ah, okay, cool. Let's see if I can do this in one scene comic post without backpedaling...]

"Is it over?"

Hawke arrives at the cart to see that Kizzak has already opened it up to talk to their employer.

"Oh, no, not really," he says, reaching into his pocket. "However, as I've said, I do have a key with me. We can simply go in through the front door."

Meanwhile, with a few rounds of axe-whacking, Barend does just that with a resounding crash that the group back with the cart can hear easily.

The group at the door sees two big clouds of mist, one on either side of the foyer, stretching back and upwards. You can make out the part of the room directly in front of you: two armchairs, a small table with a rather anachronistic-looking lamp, and a big bookcase. Anyone who looks into the mist trying to make out more details should make a spot check.

(Amy or Seth could also try stop him mid-smashing, but I'm assuming they don't, so I just rolled with Rule of Funny here.)

[4is111]

Seth sniffs at the ground, looking for the scent of hobgoblin.
Survival: [roll0]

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

Tom heads back to the cart and knocks. "Kizzak? Hey, Kizzak?"

[V for Victory]

Barend leans against the door waiting for his allies

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

Kizzak opens up the cart door to look at the knocking Thomas.

"What is it?" he asks with a huff.

[Jade_Tarem]

Thomas

"I... guess you're not going to work with this group again in the future. Is that right?"

[Slamexo]

Kizzak

"As much as I'd love to say no, the fact that I now have levels in a PC class as well as having met them all in a tavern forces me to at least stay until the end of this quest, at which point I'll have the oppurtunity to leave in a dramatic fashion whilst writing them off as a bunch of heartless thugs."

Stepping out of the cart, Kizzak began walking back towards the house.

"So we might as well get this over with."

[Dresil]

Hawke

'I'll take any keys that may be helpful to us, and we'll be on our way.'

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Team Cart gets the now-useless key to the front door and catches up with the rest of the party, including Seth, who has transformed into a wolf. For some reason, nobody seems to think much of this.

Since Seth wasn't a wolf when he had smelled the hobgoblin the first time, he can't pick out that one scent in particular. Instead, his nose is overwhelmed by the scents of a number of other goblinoids hiding in the misty clouds.

How he communicates this to his new friends remains to be seen. Anyway, let's get some fresh initiative rolls.

[Dresil]

Initiative

[roll0]

[4is111]

Seth
Seth pauses to consider his options, and wonders whether any of his companions can cast speak with animal. Assuming they can't, Seth tenses up, and growls into the mist.
[roll0]

[V for Victory]

Barend leans against the doorway with his axe held casually, ready for battle but still enjoying himself

Initiative: [roll0]

[Freshmeat]

Initiative: [roll0]

[Jade_Tarem]

initiative: [roll0]

[Slamexo]

Initiative: [roll0]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Ah... hmm...

Alright, now I'm going to need some spot and listen checks, too. Go go go.

[4is111]

Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

[V for Victory]

Spot: [roll0]
Listen:[roll1]

[Dresil]

Spot [roll0]
Listen [roll1]

[Jade_Tarem]

Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

[Freshmeat]

Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

[Slamexo]

Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Okay, cool. Above the bookcase, everyone but the dwarf and the dog can make out a balcony.

Everyone can hear some hoarse, gobliny whispers from within the mist, so it comes as no surprise when two of the little green guys peek out just enough to stick their crossbows between the wooden guardrail's ornamental supports and fire.

Well, no surprise except to Barend, since he couldn't see them. Being in front, he's also the one getting shot. Hey, just because they're not full-fledged rogues doesn't mean that they can't be opportunistic.

[map / initiative order]
|_|X|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|
|_|X| _|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|
|_|X| _|S|_ | g|~|~|~|~|
|K|T| C|B|_| _|~|~||~|~|
|_|X| _|A|_ | g|~|~|~|~|
|_|X| _|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|
|_|X|~|~|~|~|~||~|~|~|

{table]Count|Thing|symbol
12|Gobbos|g
11|Seth|S
11|Kizzak|K
8|Amy|A
5|Hawke|C
5|Thomas|T
3|Barend|B
n/a|mist|~[/table]
For furniture, you'll just have to use your imagination.

[roll0]
[roll1]

Both goblins miss. They're having as much trouble seeing in here as the rest of you, it seems.