Assassins for hire IC

[CaeruliusVentus]

In the less savory side of the lumbering city, Torn, the group shoulders their way through the crowd in the poorly lit bar. Approaching the inconspicuous door at the back, a green sigil briefly glows as a tingling eminates from your pocket. The door opens just long enough to allow everyone in before slamming shut.

A gruff looking man with one arm gives you a passing glance and then returns to staring at the floor. Behind him a wooden board has three pieces of paper set up. "Not much today, but what'll ya have?" grunts the man after a few seconds indicating that you should look at the posters.

Contract 1

Target: Tevin Longshanks
Location: Tempur Village
Reason: Cultist that has taken over the village. Rumor has it he is preparing for a ritual or sacrifice. Removing him will dissolve the cult.

Objective: Kill Tevin and return with his rod (described below).
Reward: 6000 gp
Item: keep rod after it is shown as proof
Time limit: 4 days

Additionally, if none of the villagers are harmed the reward will increase by 3000 gp.

(The rod is a foot long stick with a skull on the top and green gems in the eyes.)


Contract 2

Target: Raven (alias)
Location: Forests near Longtree station
Reason: Bandit leader that is targeting wealthy travelers and caravans along the trade routes.

Objective: Kill Raven and his two lieutenants.
Reward: 10,000 gp
Item: Grappling hook
Time limit: 7 days


Contract 3

Target: Head of church of Pelor
Location: village of Mistvale
Reason: Because
Poster: Church of Nerull

Objective: Kill the head cleric
Reward: 5,000 gp
Item: Enchanted coin
Time limit: 5 days
Additional, every parishioner you kill and can prove is worth 100gp.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia narrows her eyes. "I say we kill the cult leader. Decent reward, and I always love an opportunity to put those that would abuse magic in their place."

[firemagehao]

"Iagree. Pelorguysarealwayssoshoutyaboutwhattheythinkandthe ytrytoforceitdownyourthoroughtanditmakesyourheadhu rt."

Translation:I agree. Pelor guys are always so shouty about what they think and they try to force it down your thorough and it makes your head hurt.

[Elfstone]

Fin speaks up from the back "I vote for taking out the cultists, civilians should never be hurt. Only the target."

[RaggedAngel]

Lia turns to the ninja and raises one eyebrow. "When I said 'cult leader', I was refering to the man leading the cult. Not the cleric. The Church of Pelor may be full of idiots, but they do good work. You'd have a hard time getting me to kill a healer."

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Hehe, come on people, why limit ourselves?" He cracks his neck before stepping forward. "That Longshanks dolt should be quick and simple, you can't be much of a cultist if you've been found out." He grabs that announcement and skim's over the details, paying much more attention to the rod. "But the client want's him gone in four days... Which gives us plenty of time to hunt down that Raven guy." He smiles here, noticing a few details he'd missed. "Ah, he's been hitting the wealthy... well, finder's keeper, no?"

[RaggedAngel]

Lia smiles. "Ever the voice of reason, Grant. That sounds like an excellent plan. And, if we can't recover all of the stolen gold, the wealthy victims will be fine, right?" She winks at Grant, and turns to the rest of them. "What do you all think?"

[Elfstone]

Fin
"As long as the wealthy have a chance of defense, im fine with anything. So off to slay a cult leader, is it?" Fin says.

[Terumitsu]

Kail passively looked over the contracts. It seemed the decision had already been made but that was fine. He didn't have much to add as his thoughts were in accordance to the group decision.

"We have some time before we have to strike.. Who wants to stake out the target this time? Certainly even a cultist has to go out sometimes." Kail said. It was always good to know what one was up against. Helped keep the unexpected surprises away.

[Elfstone]

Fin
"I think we should split up so we get more done, some of us stake him out and the others gather information on him and any way into his place of residence. Also find out if he has any weaknesses." Fin responds.

[RaggedAngel]

"I should be with the group that attempts to gather information on him; if we can find someone whom he trusts, I can take their form, and we can restrain them. Then we just need to get him alone with me, with one or two of you waiting invisibly." She grins, but the smile is quickly wiped a way by a bit of concern. "We do need to figure out how personally powerful he is, if were attempt that tactic. Luring him away so that one or two of us can take him out is a fine plan, but if he is able to absorb or resist my spells it could be a problem. What kind of rod does the paper say he has?"

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal kept quiet the whole time while listening to the others arguing and bickering. Leave the Raven contract behind. If we are to kill the cultist, it does take planning and by that time someone else can have a go at Raven. If it is still here by the time we finish, than we can start. Other than that, Lia and I will scour the town for information, as we are the best at it. You for do what you want.
Micheal holds out his arm for Lia. Ready?

[RaggedAngel]

"Hm. I think it would be prudent to take at least one other person with us, in case something goes wrong. We musn't be too hasty." Lia frowns and looks around while she plays with the clasp of her cloak. "Who can be discrete? And, where will the rest of you be going while we are scurrying around the town?"

[Terumitsu]

"I can be sneaky but not discrete. I'd be best tailing someone rather than talking to them. Military doesn't tell you how to do much other than kill things, you know.." Kail said with a small grin as he scratched his beard. Of course, killing things was what he was good at so there wasn't much of a reason to stop it. Twas why he became an assassin in the first place.

"So, I can do that if you find someone suspicious at least. Otherwise, I'd like to restock some of my poisons." he said.

[RaggedAngel]

"That sounds goods." Lia straightens her cloak and continues. "We can start finding out information from the locals, with as little coercion as possible, and you all can start actually finding him and following him. Just be careful, since we don't know how powerful he is."

[firemagehao]

"Icanutterlyconvinceanyonethatwearesimplecommonersw hoknownothingandamstealtytooandIcangoandaskanyloca lgullydwarvesiftheyknowanythingbuttheywouldntsoIwo ntbotherandIdeffinatlywanttobewatchingforanyonesus piciousandcanyouclarifywhatcontractwearedoingbecau seIkindofzonedout."

Translation:I can utterly convince anyone that we are simple commoners who know nothing and am stealthy too and I can go and ask any local gully dwarves if they know anything but they wouldn't so I wont bother and I definitely want to be watching for anyone suspicious and can you clarify what contract we are doing because I kind of zoned out.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia shoots Blip a contemptful look. "The day I want to talk to a gully dwarf, I'll let you know. ...Remind me why we keep you around?" She sighs. "We decided upon the first mission; we'll be killing a cult leader in a town up north."

[Deathslayer7]

Tempur Village is about 60 miles North of here if you three want to scout the place out. I think I know a contact here who lived there, but I'll have to find him first. Might take some time. Micheal says, more to himself on the last part then to anybody specific.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Grant puts Raven's contract back. He'll get him yet, the bonus was too good. "No coercion would be needed, hell, killing Longshanks would have us regarded as heroes... It could be an option, a patsy that declares he's come into town to end his reign of terror. You'd need certain qualities for that though."

He nods at Lia's plan. "You know how I get when I have to listen to rabble yammer on. Still, if you do the talking though, I'll tail you as an extra pair of eyes." He pauses, realizing he'd heard something familiar from Kail and shrugs. "We'll get a better idea once we get to town, then it'll be clear if we have to out-think our friend out or just follow the trail."

[firemagehao]

"YoukeepmearoundbecauseIamgoodatsteathandyoucan'tge tridofme."You keep me around because I am good at stealth and you can't get rid of me

[Deathslayer7]

ooc- I think you are all getting confused. Right now we are in Torn. Tempur is 60 miles North of us where we need to go. That is the place you four would want to stake out. Since Lia and I have the highest Gather Info checks, it would be best if the two of us gather the info then meet up with you four later.

Micheal

Micheal shakes his head, wondering how the hell they had made it so far. A bit of luck and skill the voice inside his head replied. No offense Blip, Kail, Grant, Fin he said turning to each in turn. But when it comes to words, you know what you mean but you lack the charm. he said snapping his fingers at the word. People like to think they are getting the better deal. You don't need violence to convince people. A reward with the threat of violence will get you a lot father.

Anyway we are wasting time. You four should stake the house out, just dont be obvious about it! he says semi-glaring at them. Get what you need and try to leave within the hour. referring to the poison Kail wanted. Lia, do you want to go to Tempur and find out information there or come with me to my contact and then go together? From what I remember he has a stall in the marketplace.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia grins with excitement. "I'm fine with going to the town alone. I suppose one of you could tag along if you wanted, but I'm not terribly concerned. I'll be keeping a low profile, for now. I just want to see this place in person, and start staking things out before it's dark and the day's wasted." She pulls the cowl of her cloak over her head. "Shall we be off?"

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

All right. he nods to Lia. I'll be there when I can. I'll go find my contact right now. he says to the others. He heads to the door, his appearance changing as he does, and looks back to see if anyone has questions. If not, he'll head to the marketplace.


Casting Disguise Self

[CaeruliusVentus]

Those that teleport find themselves in a well stocked and warm cave. Exiting the cave, they see an open plain that stretches out for miles. A cool breeze comes from the north where mountains are visible. The Guild guide points out the way to Tempur and tells you it is about 2 miles as the crow flies.

The group encounters the abandoned fields before the squat town becomes visible. From a distance you can see the rows of houses surrounded by some form of makeshift fence.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia gently tosses her hair in the breeze as her cloak billows around her. "It seems... quiet. I will be back in about a minute; I just want to get an overview of the town." She elegantly gestures, speaks a few arcane words, and then rises into the air with a ripple of force. She winks at the group, chants a few more words, and vanishes.

A minute or so passes, and you see a ripple moving across the grass. Before can react there is a burst of wind against you, and you hear Lia speaking. "Sorry that took so long, I wanted a closer look. The area's fairly empty except for the town; it seems to be filled with people wearing some sort of uniform, and they're all armed with swords. There was also a man in armor who was not visibly armed... and he looked at me for a moment." She pauses for a breath. "I'm not sure if he heard me or if he saw me, but we should proceed with caution. I think we can safely say that we can't just ride into town and expect them to help us. If anything, they may side with him in an engagement."
She pauses. "Hm. That was long-winded. Any questions? Would you like me to check anything else out while I'm invisible?"Lia casts Fly then Invisibility. She Flys above the town, observes its layout and size, and notes the number of people walking about. She also looks for anything interesting in the land around the town. PM me with information, I suppose.

EDIT: I got the PM back, and decided to go ahead and consolidate my posts.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Tss..." Grant just dismisses Micheal's remark and follows them through the teleport.

---

"What a dump..." He shrugs when he gets an idea of the town. He nods as Lia vanishes, absentmindedly looking around. If she takes long, he'll let Quetzal out of his pack and watch it slither about the field while he absentmindedly makes three small pieces of iron heavier and very warm to the touch.

---

Once she returns, Grants calls Quetzal back and goes over to her. He closes his eyes and nods, looking down, as she speaks, trying to visualize it all. "This'll be a bit more interesting then. No sign of any villagers beyond the uniformed ones? Hmm, give me a sec..." He takes a ring off his finger.

Smiling, he hands it over to her. "No, this isn't what you think, and you'd be lucky to have me. Just put it on and you'll see how it works. Now could you use it to show us what those uniforms looked like? Ah, and take the shape of the arcanist that saw you, best to know who's packing heat."

Casting 1 Fire Shuriuken to get three of the projectiles.

Also, handing over the Ring of Chameleon Power so that Lia can take the shape of exactly what she saw. Who knows? One of us might be able to identify them.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia takes the ring and releases her invisibility. She puts the ring on, and pauses for a moment. "Ooh, that's lovely." She closes her eyes and then with a subtle blur takes the form of a man wearing a simple black and read outfit with a sword slung on his back. "This is what the average person in the town looked like." There was another quick blur, and a man wearing fine armor with a black cloak emblazoned with a red sigil appears. He is not wearing a sword. "And this is the mystery man, most likely our cult leader or one of his stronger followers. Anyone recognise him?" She then takes off the ring and hands it back to Grant. "Thank you for letting me use that. Where did you get such a wonderful thing?"

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Hehe, it's just one of those heirlooms that get passed down through generations, I got it from my father when I joined up, tools to practice the trade he said..." He puts a hand out, waiting for it back. "Of course, he also said that he and all the that came before him would disown me if I misplaced it, and they're not the type you want to get on bad terms with. Even if some have been in the ground for centuries."

He smiles, "You don't cross the Cruces, trust me on that one." As he talks, he combs through what he knows, trying to place that uniform somewhere.

It sounded better the saying 'from WBL' :smallbiggrin:

Knowledge Nobility Check (to identify the uniform or sigil) [roll0]
General Knowledge Check (as above) [roll1]

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Tch... I think I've seen that uniform before, the last nuts that wore them were rather peaceful... The sword's an odd addition, guess that means th-" He pauses mid sentence, his gaze locked on something off in the distance.

"****, get down, all of you!" He orders in a whisper, before crouching down beneath the crops. He nods over towards the entrance. "They're starting to move." He turns to Quetzal and hisses something intelligible. Whatever it was, the snake seems to understand and slithers away through the underbrush.

Hide check: [roll0] (Since Lia still has the ring)

He orders Quetzal to get closer and come back when he finds what caused the movement in the distance.

[firemagehao]

Blip gets down, as directed to by the snaky man. He looks at the people in the distance, but soon gets bored and starts playing with the grass.

[CaeruliusVentus]

The three of you duck down behind some brush, being quite a way off there is little chance of being seen. Out of the creaking gate comes a simple cart drawn by a horse. One figure is in the driving seat and three are walking beside the cart. A mixture of red on black is barely visible from where you are.

[RaggedAngel]

Grant-
Lia takes the ring and releases her invisibility. She puts the ring on, and pauses for a moment. "Ooh, that's lovely." She closes her eyes and then with a subtle blur takes the form of a man wearing a simple black and read outfit with a sword slung on his back. "This is what the average person in the town looked like." There was another quick blur, and a man wearing fine armor with a black cloak emblazoned with a red sigil appears. He is not wearing a sword. "And this is the mystery man, most likely our cult leader or one of his stronger followers. Anyone recognise him?" She then takes off the ring and hands it back to Grant. "Thank you for letting me use that. Where did you get such a wonderful thing?" Just making sure you saw that little bit. Sorry that it was hidden in the blob of text. :smallredface: I may be a bit verbous.

Lia ducks down, and waves her arms and chants. She vanishes again, and murmurs quietly "I'll be right back. I can't get as close as Quetzal, but I can get a bird's eye view."

Casting an Invisibility; Fly is still active.

Lia returns after a minute, and releases her invisibility. "I got a much better look. His face is round with a goatee and a sharp nose. May I borrow the ring again, to show you? Oh, and he had a mace this time. Honestly, I was tempted to just blast him out of existance while he was unaware... but I suppose we should wait for everyone."

EDIT- Fixed my name mistake. :smallredface: I'm very embarassed. I was playing in Real Life at the same time as posting...

[firemagehao]

"Ireallydon'tthinkthatishimbecausethatwouldbetooeas y."

Translation:I really don't think that is him, because that would be to easy.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Nodding, Grant tosses Lia the ring again. "A mace... Well, that screams militant priest, but who knows." He pauses, trying to make sense of this. "He didn't turn to see you like the before though? That rubs me the wrong way..."

"It might be Longshanks, but we shouldn't be quick to judge, remember there's a bonus if none of the villagers get in the way... It might be worth tailing him..." If the coast is clear he hisses out to call back Quetzal, and asks him if he saw anything that might be relevant. "Well, while the cat is away... Think it'd be feasible to go into town?"

Just wondering, how much information were we given about Longshanks? Did the contract have a physical description good enough to tell us that that was him?

[RaggedAngel]

Lia catches the ring with a smile and transforms into a spitting image of the man she had just described. She waits for a moment, and then takes the ring off and gives it back to Grant.
"That's the best look we're going to get without stabbing him in the chest... but you're right, we can't know that that's really him. And, we can't just kill him, because the contract requested that we don't harm civilians. But, yes, let's go into town. Hm. I draw too much attention."
She glances down at her cloak, and her robes, and her figure.
"So, I could either walk into town like this, which might be... interesting. Or I could go in invisible, which I don't mind, but would limit where I could go. OR, I could go in as someone else, or even an animal."
She looks toward the town, and smiles.
"I'm tempted to just walk up to the town. I'm not really concerned about the locals putting up much of a fight, and if he's actually still in the town we could just kill him. So. What do you all think?"

[Elfstone]

Fin says "I think that going in at night would be best but the contract said he was planning something big shortly. So as soon as possible we should remove him. I can make everyone invisible for a short time, so we can go whenever. I personally prefer night"

[RaggedAngel]

"Hm. That is more prudent than simply walking up and challenging him. I agree with this plan. We wait for night, and then..." Lia frowns. "We need to know where he sleeps. Otherwise, we'll just waste time."

[firemagehao]

"Arewegoingtokillhiminhissleep?Stabhim?maimhim?blud geonhimtodeath?I'mhappynow!"

Are we going to kill him in his sleep? Stab him? Maim him? Bludgeon him to death? I'm happy now!

[firemagehao]

"Whendoweattack?"

TranslationWhen do we attack?

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Nodding at most of the comments, Grant simply puts his ring back on. "Scouting out the town at least, seems like a good idea." He turns to the road. "Hmm, a battered vagabond, tired and lost as hell, stumbles into the gate, the first town he'd seen in days... What do you suppose would happen?" He pauses here, crouching down to pick up Quetzal. "They'd open the door, speak with him... They could do what they want to him really, afterall, what harm could a dirty hobo present? Of course, this wouldn't be a vagabond, but they wouldn't know it."

He turns back to the others. "At the very least, it would distract them for an instant while a little friend of mine slips in and eavesdrop for a few hours. Hehe." He brings the snake closer and has a small exchange in hiss. He smiles. "He'd be up to it."

OOC:
Essentially, someone with good to decent social skills tries to enter the town under harmless disguise, with the goal of gathering info. If it fails then he'll at least drop off the snake who'd hide check and size should make him practically invisible, especially with a nondetection spell.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia laughs. "You need a few male guards, bored on a cold night to be distracted? I'm not sure if I can handle this one."
She winks, and then casts a quick spell. Instead of any illusory effect, her skin and hair physically change, become a bit less vibrant and healthy. Her eyes change from silver to muddy brown, and her hair dims from its glossy black, a few streaks of grey appearing. A few more minor alterations to the shape of her face and body leave an entirely different person standing in her place. Her rich cloak is drawn into her form, and her magic rod likewise disappears.
She turns to the others and curtsies."Do I look a bit more like a peasent? Oh, right, my clothes."
She casts another small spell, and her thin dress slowly becomes dirtied, with some small tears and frays appearing. When Lia finishes she stands, there, shivering slightly. She sighs. "I miss my cloak. Well, shall we get on with this?" She turns to start walking towards the road.

Lia casts Alter Self and Prestidigitation.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Micheal emerges out of the cave 20 minutes later, squinting from the drastic change of darkness to brightness. He looks around and sees the group conversing off to the side behind brush and heads straight towards them.

Speaking quietly he says, there's a town about three miles down the river. Village really. I think it would be best if we gathered our information there first.

[Elfstone]

Fin pipes up "Let Lia go and enter the town while the rest of us go to the village. Ill stay here and wait for Lia to return. We meet back here before first light?

[CaeruliusVentus]

At this point, the beggar Lia has walked off toward the town and the cart is heading toward the horizon on the other side of the river. It is getting late in the afternoon.

[firemagehao]

Blip hides in the shadow of whichever member of the group seems the toughest. The entire time he will be watching carefully for anything suspicious. Taking 20 on spot.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Hehe, see now, that's the kind of thing we ought to know." He hisses a few things at Quetzal who seems to nod and hide in the grass. "He'll stay nearby and do whatever you tell him Lia, just take care of him."

"I'll head to the village, best of luck to you all."

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal follows Grant. Turning back, he says Perhaps if one more person stayed here in case things went sour? somewhat of a question, but either way he continues walking.

[CaeruliusVentus]

for reference below:
village = Tempur
town = Frond

Village:

It appears that Lia has been taken into the village. Everything was and is quiet. The sun is setting and neither Lia nor Grant's viper has returned.


town:

You follow the cart at a safe distance to the town. The town is a fair bit larger than Tempur, but could still fit inside one city block of Torn. The people in town give the cart and the cultists a wide berth, but otherwise ignore it. The cart stops at a general store, and all 4 people (armored person and 3 villagers) go inside together.

[firemagehao]

Ia throws a vial of alchemists fire into the cart, and another into the doorway of the store, and then runs into an alley, and climbs onto the roof at watches, shuriken ready.Climb: [roll0]
For attack rolls, I have a +14, and the cart and the doorway both have penalties to their AC, I don't think I need to roll. If I do, tell me OOC.

[CaeruliusVentus]

Technically you can miss on a 1. I will roll to see how well you are able to place the fire to achieve optimum results.
cart:
[roll0]
store:
[roll1]


The people in town are no longer politely ignoring the scene. Some of them are running for buckets of water, while others are running to get the town guards.

-OOC

The players in town are:
Blip, Grant, Michael, and Kail.
All of you should roll initiative.

The battle map is here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArOt4Os9vP74dDZJdmx4Z3RDTUktTEdkREUxWTdMY UE&authkey=CJ2azcQL&hl=en#gid=0
The brown blocks are the buildings.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"****, fine, we got a distraction, play along.

He keeps his look of shock and awe, sometimes you couldn't beat natural reactions. Then he just lets his tongue loose. "Damn it, when'd the bastard get loose!" He makes a half hearted attempt to go after him before turning to the shop and hesitating. "****!" Then he runs towards the door, peers inside and hollers out. "Get out of here before the whole thing is aflame, come on!"

If the man in the goatee is visible, well, this will be the first round of studying, setting up for a Death Attack.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

So much for not trying to draw attention to themselves. Micheal glares a direction towards Blip and made a mental reminder to keep a better eye on him. Bloody hell! They didn't even know if this was the right man or not!

Moving quietly into the alleyway and making sure no one is around, he'll cast a spell.

Casting Disguise Self on myself to change my appearance to a middle-aged man with brown hair. Something that's essentially different from how he came in.


Water! Bring water! he shouts as if he had just spotted the fire.

[CaeruliusVentus]

No one seems to give Michael a second look. Bucket lines are forming and someone has rolled th cart into the middle of the street to get it away from the buildings.

Inside, the figure in armor casts a spell and then steps toward Grant saying, "Why are you persecuting us?"

(go ahead with your next actions)

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Tch... You must be pretty paranoid." Acting as if he'd just noticed the uniforms he heads over to the shopkeeper. "My ******* bounty got away and I have to clean up his mess. Now you and your brothers should move preacher, before the flames 'persecute' you too." He turns to the shopkeep. "Can you move, is there anyone else inside?" He'll do what he can to help the Shopkeep out.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal just helps with the bucket line, and blends into the crowd.

[firemagehao]

Blip chuckles to himself. He will watch for guards, and if they show, he will throw his shuriken at them, run a good distance away. Until then, he persecutes the armored man with a few throwing stars.Attack rolls for attacks: [roll0], [roll1]
For the guards if they come: [roll2], [roll3]
They all have a DC20 save or take 3d6 con damage. save again in 1 minute.

Edit: sudden strike damage OOC.

[CaeruliusVentus]

The armored man takes a step back, and motions for one of the cultists to head for the door. His stance shows he is no longer about to strike Grant, but he doesn't trust him either.

Then the glass on the front window breaks, and something glances off the armored man's armor and something else strikes one of the cultists. The cultist shrieks and collapses to the ground.

The man wields a mace in Grant's face, "If that's your bounty, we don't need anymore of your help."

[firemagehao]

Blip starts to sing to himself as he starts hiding, "'Cause it's so easy when your chaotic. This is the life you see, the demons, tip their hats to me, and I do it all for free. I do it all because I'm chaotic."Taking 10 on hide. Do you know the song? I only changed two words.
Suriken are still readied for anyone approaching him( other than his team) and for any of the cultists, or anyone leaving the shop.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Micheal continues to help the Bucket Brigade. He also wonders if Blip will be caught. If he did, well then... he knew the consequences.

edit: I'm sure a 28 spot sees him. If so add the following.

Over there! Micheal shouts pointing at the alleyway.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"****... Fine, easy there." Grant takes a step back into the shop, leaving the doorway clear. He's watching him carefully, hands open and empty before him. Once the shuriken strikes through the window and hits one of the cultist though, Grant does the most sensible thing he can think of and takes cover. "Go out if you want then, but the bastard has us pinned now... how the hell did he...? ****..." For now he feigns trying to peer through the glass to spot the shuriken tossing assailant.

Likely very late, but the man with a mace cast a spell, correct?

Spellcraft to identify: [roll0]

Bluff (likely needed): [roll1]

[CaeruliusVentus]

The fire is put out on the cart and the bucket line is moving toward the shop. Inside, the shop keeper takes a chance to grab something and duck out the door, now smoking a little and limping from the fire. (he is visibly different from the cultists, so not necessarily attacked)

The Armored cultist tells the others to get down and he starts working on putting out the fire with any heavy blanket available in the shop. He seems to have taken his focus off of Grant and released the spell. The other cultists drop to the floor and huddle around the one that got hit. "He's barely breathing!" one of them shouts.

(The third round is finished.)

[firemagehao]

Blip throws another throwing star for each cultist not already struck.I'm guessing 4, so:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Ryuuk]

Grant

His mind racing, the rain of shurikens points him towards a good path. "He's what!? He must've poisoned it... where did that maniac have it hidden?!..." Peering over his shoulder, he swears under his breath, before plucking out a strand of his hair. "Look we either find him or we all die here..." With a few quick chants and hand gestures, the hair burns up. A blob seems to grow out of nothing next to him, taking shape until its a near identical copy of him, crouching down in the same position. "I can give us a decoy, we'll only get one shot, so for the gods sake, lets not waste it."

Cast Summon Fetch, from Complete Scoundrel, this makes a near identical copy of the caster that I can control mentally. Next turn I plan on having it lead the cultists out, and once Grant is alone with the goatee man, hit him with a death attack to paralyze him. Then a disguise self, and Grant will simple be one of the cultists dragging the injured preacher somewhere safe while his brothers look for the assailant.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

One of us... one of us... ones of us....
Bucket brigrade! :smallbiggrin:

[CaeruliusVentus]

Grant relays his plan a moment before another volley slices through the open window. The armored man grabs at a spot on his arm and then grabs his throat. The last thing heard before he collapses is, "Not Yet!"

The bucket brigade, oblivious to the small projectiles has moved in front of the store and is pouring water on the fire. They obscure the window, but anyone coming out of the door can still be seen.

[firemagehao]

Blip sits back,waiting to see if any cultist leave the shop, an if they do, he is ready with shuriken.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"****!" Watching the man collapse, inspiration seems to finally hit him. Staying out of sight from the window, he heads to the goatee man's body. "The armor, he was a priest, right? A cleric? I can help them, but not with that bastard taking pot shots."

He turns to the window and hollers out to the bucket chain. "Are you people blind?!? We have a sniper out there! Get out of here! He want me but he'll kill whoever's in the way!" Lowering his voice he turns to the cultists. "That'll cause a panic, use it. I'll do whatever I can to help these two." He puts his hands on the collapsed armored man and tries to pull them back with a divine glow.

"...****"

He pauses. Taking a look at the other body and shakes his head. "If you don't want to end up like them, don't waste your chance, he'll go for me..." He nods to the exit, his fetch sees him, stands up, nods and runs out, standing in the open and acting as if he were looking for the dwarf. "Go!"

After his fletch runs out, he'll do the same regardless of what the other cultists do. He'll try to slip into the crowd though, eyes scanning the scene for the smoking, limping, shopkeeper.

Blip already took him down, so instead of a Death Attack Grant will use Steal Spell on him to fish for something useful. If they know about magic, hopefully they'll believe he's searching for a cure spell, if they don't, well, he's doing magic over the injured.

I'm really aching for actions right now, but if the above worked we have a lot of confusion to work with.

Edited.

[CaeruliusVentus]

Blip sees Grant come out of the shop shortly before panic ensues in the crowd. A moment later another Grant emerges and starts pushing toward the south.

The sound of a commotion with clanging metal and shouts can be heard coming down the street.

[firemagehao]

Blip looks to the source of the commotion, shuriken ready.

[CaeruliusVentus]

One of the Grant's stand around in the crowd while the other ducks down a side street in pursuit of the shopkeeper. He finds the man huddled against a wall crying with a loose bundle in his hands. The impressions in the side of the bundle imply that it is filled with coin shaped objects. When Grant gets close, the shopkeeper startles and starts shuffling away.

The guards begin to arrive and the crowd calms down a little. The attempts on the part of the guards to identify what happened is still hindered by the many chaotic stories and finger pointing by the crowd, but it won't hold them for long. At this point no one has identified Michael in the crowd. A guard goes into the shop and returns a moment later alone.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Shaking his head, Grant calmly walks next to the man, whispering to him in a low, authoritative voice. "I'd stop if I were you. Actually, no, I'd just keep walking until we find a quite place to talk." He stands next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder "I'd actually do a lot of things, anything to be helpful, but right now, calling anyone's attention wouldn't be one of them, understood?" If the shopkeep can gather his nerves, he'll feel something long and hard tucked under the man's sleeve. "Just keep walking my friend and you'll be able to mark this off as just one of the strangest days of your life."

Walking away from the commotion, Grant makes his fetch hunch over with a hand on his chest and eyes wide open. Guahh! It drops to the floor clutching his chest and agonizing, trying to crawl and point towards and alley. It fades away as Grant and the shopkeep keep walking, and anyone trying to makes sense of the scene would have a hard time finding any person that looked like Grant now.

"Now, I want you to tell me everything you know about those religious men that walked into your shop." Were the shopkeeper to look at his 'friend' he'd see a completely different person. "Their names, what they wanted, you know, stuff like that. The sooner I like your answer, the sooner this can all be over. Oh, and trust me when I say this, lies won't take us any further tonight..." He gives the man a pat on the back and a smile, while leading him away from the commotion.

The Create Fletch spell ends as soon as its further then 50ft away from me. Having one last disappearing victim will keep things nice and confusing for a little while longer.

He'll use disguise self from his ring as soon as he hears people screaming at there being another death. No particular disguise in mind, just as long as its different from Grant's normal appearance.

Essentially: Move action to move himself and the shopkeeper along 50ft away from the fetch, and a standard action to cast disguise self

Disguise [roll0]

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Good man, then you have nothing to worry about." He gives him one last pat on the back before he starts to walk away. "Do be careful though, there's some real sickos out there."

Leaving the man behind, Grant slips into an alley and disappears. A few moments later a completely different ans walks out from behind another building and, rather startled, does what any curious onlooker would do and heads towards the source of the commotion.

Detect magic shouldn't have any visible cues, I just thought that with disguise self at will it'd be a fun way to mess with the man.

Grant will do a hide check to slip away from the Shopkeeper, then another Disguise Self to change his appearance yet again, if possibly. If this would break his concentration on the detect magic, he'll keep the same disguise though.

The point is, he'll head back to the shop and use the Detect Magic to look over the bodies.

Hide: [roll0]

Disguise: (if it doesn't break concentration, I only get 1 detect magic a day) [roll1]

[CaeruliusVentus]

Grant:

You detect a fair number of very minor auras and 1 minor aura. you can tell it is evocation before being moved away by the guards.


The guards are combing the area and looking around. Michael has slipped out and is on his way to the edge of town.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

If that's the rod, this whole fiasco may have been worthwhile after all... Moving along with the crowd, Grant tries looks over the guards uniforms, noticing the tiny details and features, before once again slipping into the alleys and vanishing.

Assuming there's still some time before nightfall, Grant will sneak in and steal the items before heading back top the rendezvous point.

The ring of Chameleon Power lets him blend into his surroundings and makes his hide check +29
The ring also makes his disguise check +26
Lastly, he has access to Ghost Sound, +19 in Sleight of Hand and quite a bit of patience.

The plan would be to lurk around unseen until the crowd has dispersed, making note of the guard's nuances and hierarchy. Then, when the watch is at its weakest, he'll use a Ghost Sound to draw the guards away. Lastly, he'll disguise himself as a guard (of higher rank if someone stayed behind, ordering them to go check out the noise) and slip in when its possible, making it look like he's gathering clues to an onlooker. He'll take the bodies magic items, and slip away, hopefully before the guard can catch on.

At least in my mind, this should work well, as the detect magic didn't bring anything up from the guards and without magic it would be rather hard for them to catch on to what's going on before the deed is done. Should we play this out or is this enough for you to rule success or failure? As soon as its done, he'll head out of town and meet up with the others.

[CaeruliusVentus]

Time flows like a grasshopper down an anaconda's gullet. Michael and Blip meet up outside of town. Grant meanwhile sneaks in to where the bodies are being held.

You find a black sword, some armor, a mace, and an empty money pouch. The rest of the magic auras came from knick-knacks in the store that have no particular value.


Grant joins the other two outside of town an hour after the sun goes down.

[firemagehao]

"ThatwasfunletsdoitagaainsohowdidyoudoGrant?"

Translation:That was fun lets do it again, so how did you do Grant?

[Ryuuk]

Grant

His findings in his pack, Grant takes a deep breath. "I'll just say this Blip, you cost us 3000 gp tonight. I don't know what kind of poison you were using, but but you wasted 6 doses of the good stuff on of the villagers and a stranger who probably wasn't Longshanks..." He takes a seat, letting the disguise self finally lift. "Keep you shurikens to yourself until you're su-... until we tell you you have the right target next time. Remember we're professionals here."

"But lets see... It seems they were coming in for a grocery run, seems odd for a community of farmers to do that, my guess is Longshanks doesn't have them farming anymore. As for the man in the goatee, I doubt the leader of the cult would be running errands. The shop keep couldn't give me a name, but he seemed to have at least some authority, I'm guessing he was a priest."

"Aside from that, the shop keep was just making ends meet. He didn't know anything, just told me that contact with the village was cut off for a while, before then they started doing their grocery runs."

"Overall, I couldn't get much else. I've got the priests stuff in my pack though, could be used as a disguise that may open doors for us, at least until news gets around..."

He turns to Micheal, standing back up and ready to hit the road. "What about you Rose, did you find out anything? If not we should go meet up with Lia and Fin, we're running a bit late."

[firemagehao]

"Waityoumeanthatwasn'thimitsokayIstolethepoison" Blip says, feeling genuinely sad until he catches sight of something shiny and starts digging.

Translation:Wait! You mean that wasn't him! It's okay, I stole the poison.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

ooc: sorry for the lack of posting. Christmas cleaning will do that, it will die down a bit over the Holiday.

Micheal, instead of heading back towards the meeting spot would prefer to go to an inn to see what he could find out about Tempur. He'll spend the entire afternoon doing this, filling peoples' mugs with good alcohol, and chatting with them and then asking about Tempur.


diplo:[roll0]
Gather Info: take 20 if i can, if not, [roll1]

[CaeruliusVentus]

The group of three return after a fair amount of time to find the gate to the town open. The center of town is covered in black and red clad bodies. Sitting to one side is Lia and Fin.
No other life signs is visible.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia smiles and waves. "Hey, everybody." Her voice is clearly strained. "Was your day as interesting as mine?" Though she is clearly injured, she seems fairly relaxed.

[firemagehao]

"Wekilledthebadguys!"
Blip shouts, then looking around for any concealed weapons.

Taking 10 on spot. Translation: We killed the bad guys!

[CaeruliusVentus]

After a thorough search by everyone:

You find two very cold maces, two sets of armor, a dagger, a rod with a skull attached to the top of a staff, and a pair of masks. The skull rod comes off easily. One mask is a smiling face with gentle laugh lines. The other is a snarling dragon.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

A hand on his head, Grant walks through town in awe. "Well damn... Just got close to a scrape trying to clean up trigger happy's mess... Looks like we might have been more help here. What the hell happened?" He shrugs, watching the 3000gp bonus fly away.

[RaggedAngel]

"Watch out for that rod. It emits some kind of powerful mind altering effect. The maces are standard weapons, nothing fancy. I'm not sure about the masks, but the guy in charge, who I assume was Longshanks, was wearing one of them. I presume that, between the mask and the staff, he was mentally dominating the villiagers." Lia looks at the bodies, and drops her head. "I wasn't able to save them. I was barely able to save myself. Longshanks died pretty easily, but it took a fairly powerful spell to do it. The truth? He got me with the staff, like I was some novice. I was in happy-mind-slave land, and then he ordered everyone to kill themselves. I snapped out of it, and he noticed. I killed him with one blow, and then his two retainers came after me. They died pretty easily, but I took some heavy hits." She lays back. "Either way, we're done here. I'm not terribly happy about handing over something as powerful as that rod, but that was the assignment. I assume we get to keep the rest of the loot, right?"

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Ugh.... What happened? How did he know you got in? he shakes his head grimly. I really don't want to tell this to him.... he mutters.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia considers what to say for a moment, and then begins. "It was pretty simple, really. I was impersonating a random villiager with an alteration spell, and I was let inside. They seemed happy to have me. Then he started speaking, preaching really, and... he did something with that staff. I suddenly felt like everything he was saying was true and right, and I lost myself. My alteration spell wore off after a while, but I hadn't changed my form much, so it just looked like I became younger and more attractive, suddenly. He passed it off as something that his god had done for me. I assume he had his eye on me after that, because he wasn't too suprised when I rejected his order to commit suicide. Hm. I wish we had been able to interrogate him, but I decided to simply drop him instead of trying to capture him. Are you all okay with that?"

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"What a nutjob... Don't worry about the rod, the employer just wants to see it as proof that Longshanks is dead. It was part of the reward, from my understanding. If not, I think we can come to an agreement, and sounds like its worth more then the three thousand." He takes one last look at the devastation. "I'd like to take a look at that thing, I think you earned it Lia. I got some nice trinkets from the another one of the his trustees, we can divide it up once we've left this hole."

He'll wonder off to the side and start hissing at the air, calling Quetzal back. When it arrives, the first thing he'll do is ask him to take him back to the man with the rods quarters. Hopefully, something there would could be a clue to what the man was doing.

[firemagehao]

"SoyoukilledLonshanksDowegetmoneynowBecauseIneedtob uymorepoison."

Blip says, looking for hidden compartments in the armor (taking 10).

Translation: So you killed Longshanks! Do we get the money now? Because I need to buy more poison.

[Elfstone]

Fin says "Sorry for not getting here in time, I heard your scream and came as fast as I could, but you finished them off quite quickly."
Fin examines the armor and tries to determine of what size it is.

What size and type are they? Magic armor resizes right?

[RaggedAngel]

Lia smiles. "It's quite all right, Fin. I managed. So, what did you all get done today?"

[firemagehao]

"Wekilledbadguys!"
Blip says, proud of himself, still searching the armor.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Coming back from what must be Longhshank's quarters and leafing through an empty payer book, Grant adds. "And I repeat, you blew our cover, killed our only possible informants, started a fire that woke the entire populace up and will never be able to walk into that town again without raising alarm..."

He takes off his pack and tosses the book inside, then after a moments thought, reaches back in. "As for me, I got this staring at me too close for comfort" he takes out the mace. "...and these off the guy that did it." He shows the black sword, armor and money pouch.

With a this, he calls Quetzal back. "Overall, things could have turned out worse, you're our MVP for the job Lia. Should we head back?"

[Elfstone]

"Works for me. When we get back we can divide the loot." Fin says, keeping a look out for any other cultists who might be vengeful.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Micheal heads to each body in turn and closes their eyes which are glazed over and mutters a quick prayer. He doesn't bury them though because he knows they dont have the time for this. When he gets the ones he can see he'll search through the buildings quickly for more before returning to the group.

[CaeruliusVentus]

After searching around and collecting the anything of apparent value and any clues. After a fair amount of walking, the party returns to the Guild teleporter, who begrudgingly wakes up to help. A quick spell, and the group is back in Torn.
The Guild house is closed at this time of night, so everyone retires to the group house for a few hours of sleep.
The next morning dawns and armed with the rod, the party heads to the back room with the one armed man. The wall is once again adorned with three posters.

"Back already? Do you have the needed proof?" says the man with a grunt.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia twirls the rod. "Yes, we do. We can't claim the bonus, unfortunately, but Longshanks is good and dead."

[CaeruliusVentus]

"That would be the proof I needed." His eyes go glassy for a moment as he looks at the rod. He draws out a bundle of coins and sets it on the table. "There's the cash and the rod is yours to keep. Not much activity lately so you still have your choice of jobs."

Contract 2

Target: Raven (alias)
Location: Forests near Longtree station
Reason: Bandit leader that is targeting wealthy travelers and caravans along the trade routes.

Objective: Kill Raven and his two lieutenants.
Reward: 10,000 gp
Item: Grappling hook
Time limit: 7 days


Contract 3

Target: Head of church of Pelor
Location: village of Mistvale
Reason: Because
Poster: Church of Nerull

Objective: Kill the head cleric
Reward: 5,000 gp
Item: Enchanted coin
Time limit: 5 days
Additional, every parishioner you kill and can prove is worth 100gp.


Contract 4

Target: John Welch III
Location: Port City
Reason: He is taking part in a duel in 3 days, and he must fail spectacularly. He must be weakened or inhibited in a subtle manner so that his failure is not suspicious. Premature death is not an option.

Objective: Cause John to lose the duel.
Reward: 7,000 gp
Item: enchanted card
Time limit: 3 days

[Elfstone]

Fin points to the contract with the bandit leader. He says "The price is good and bandits are a scourge to be removed. I say we go for him."

[firemagehao]

"Optiontwoisbetterbecauseifwekilllotswhichwewillweg etmoremoney." Blip says, pointing at the second contract.


Translation:Option two is better, because if we kill a lot of them, which we will, we get more money.

OOC: That could be 100gp per acolyte. We could easily kill 50, even hundreds.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia glares at the ninja. "Well, for any normal person I'd state the obvious fact, that it's not healthy for a group of assassins to go around commiting acts of wholesale slaughter against innocents. For you, though, I'll have to point at the fact that all of our abilities are inclined to killing smaller groups, or individuals. I can kill a single man easily, but I had a hard time against two people working together against me. Likewise, the rest of you are focused on stealth and precise attacks." She sighs, and adjusts her cloak. "Arguing is no use. You'll just have to go with us. Are you all okay with hitting this bandit in the woods? It should be pretty straightforward, and we don't really have to worry about people getting in the way. I need to pick up a few potions, and a scroll of Identify for this rod, but other than that I think we should be able to go today. Does that sound good, everyone?"

[firemagehao]

"I'mokaywithitbutnexttimecanwekillthepriest?"

I am okay with it, but next time can we kill the priest?

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

I'll get the supplies ready. Meet me at the north gate in about two hours. We leave then. He turns to Lia. A wealthy merchant needs a beautiful wife does he not?

Going to take 20 on a Disguise check. It will take [roll0]*10 minutes and get the proper outfit for a merchant. Also going to get a wagon with empty barrels and horses and prepare some food.

It'll come out to approximately 100 gp for everything. I'll then be waiting at the gate.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia agrees with the plan, and goes out to purchase some supplies while waiting for Michael to prepare his disguise. She then casts a spell, transforming herself into a tall, refined, and beautiful looking woman. She goes with Michael to the gate. "So," she says, adjusting her cloak, "just to get this straight; we'll travel through the area where the bandits are by wagon, looking wealthy and weak. The rest of you will either be in the barrels," she glances at the troublesome ninja, "or following alongside us, unseen, in the woods." She nods to Grant. "When we are attacked, assuming that they do attack us, we prove to be anything but helpless, though I suppose we are fairly rich." She gestures down at her fine clothes with a laugh. "We take them out, and we're done. We'll travel slowly enough that you all can easily keep up with us. Slow travel will also make us look like easier targets." She turns to Michael. "Sound right?"

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Sounds good to me. We can get the supplies at the small town and spread rumors. He gives her a wink.

[firemagehao]

"CanIusealchemistsfireorshouldistickwithshuriken?"Blip asks, pulling out a vial, and a throwing star.Can I use alchemists fire, or should I stick with shuriken?

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Stick with the shurikens. You don't want to burn down our wagon.

[Elfstone]

Fin says "Ill be holding onto the bottom of the wagon, I never get tired anyway. I can also surprise them while you guys distract them. Anyways, Id like to get my shield enchanted before we go."

Fin goes to the nearest magic shop/blacksmith that can enchant his shile dto be magical.(+1 for 1k)

[CaeruliusVentus]

An hour or two later, after completing preparations, everyone is teleported to the town nearest the attacks. The warmly furnished room has magic sigils carved into the walls. Near the door is a rough map of the town with the major shops and residences marked. A window shows a muddy street lined with wooden buildings. It looks like a rain has recently drenched the people that are wading through th streets.


IF you make the preparations now, you will be setting out with about half a day's worth of sunlight. You can also make the arrangements and leave in the morning. It is a four day journey to the nearest town along the trade route.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia looks at the town map. "So, I'm fine with going off right now. I mean, our plan consists of us enticing them to attack us, and then responding with rapid and overwhelming force. I see no reason to delay, unless any of you object."

[firemagehao]

"Idontobject."

Blip says, searching the room. Taking 20.

[CaeruliusVentus]

While everyone else organizes the supplies and collects near the gate, Blip spends the hour searching the room. At noon, the gate opens and everyone heads out. In less than a mile, the road enters a forest and begins descending down into a valley.

The gradient isn't particularly steep and the road is amply wide. The tree cover is so thick that little light filters through. Similarly the brush on each side of the road is thick and dark. The sounds of animals fills out the background.

((OOC: decide who is going to be where in or around the cart. If there were other things you wanted to do in town, post it in the OOC thread.))

[CaeruliusVentus]

With a seemingly loaded cart, the party sets out along the trade road. The first day is bumpy, but otherwise peaceful. A few travelers on foot go past, but it seems the trade carts are not to be found. The first day ends with camping out in the open as the party set out in the middle of the day. A few hours into the second day, the party comes across Longtree station.
Built into several large trees, this guarded and fortified station provides a peaceful way point for travelers. The guards, unfortunately, do not venture out to secure the rest of the path (A fact well known by the bandits you can be sure).
After a short rest, the party continues down the road. Kail reported during the rest that he found traces of someone moving through the woods, but decided not to follow since it would have meant he lost the cart.

Three hours out, an arrow with green feathering hits one of the barrels and a voice calls "You filthy rich never learn. Dismount slowly and unhitch your horse. Any fast moves and you'll be very unhappy pin cushions."

((roll initiative even if you don't plan on fighting right away))

Forest Battle (https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=t6IvlxgtCMI-LGdDE1Y7LaA&authkey=CJ2azcQL&hl=en&authkey=CJ2azcQL#gid=0)

[Elfstone]

Fin tenses up as he hears the words and smiles. Preparing to drop down and roll out from under the cart.
[roll0]

[RaggedAngel]

Lia smiles, and readies her magic for a sudden onslaught.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Micheal stands slowly and looks about for the voice and any other people who might be about. He goes to unhitch the horse and takes his time while doing it.


initiative:[roll0]
spot: take 20 if possible for an outcome of 30, if not [roll1]


edit: i like that roll. :smallbiggrin:

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

So why are you guys stealing from the rich? I'm not rich at all. Micheal says, trying to make some talk.

[CaeruliusVentus]

The voice remains quiet while the horse is untied. When the horse is loose an arrow wizzes past Michael and grazes the horse. The panic animal starts to take off down the road.

"Now you three, put your backs against a tree and put your hands around the tree. Do as I say and you won't look too ugly to be seen in public."

[firemagehao]

OOC: Is Blip one of the three?

If so: He slides two shuriken into his hands from the pouch on his sleeve, and throws them both at the man. Attack rolls: [roll0], [roll1] Damage rolls: [roll2], [roll3]
Poison is DC 27, or he takes 3d6 con from each.

If not: He does the above twice: once in the surprise round, and again in regular.

Attack rolls (flat footed): [roll4], [roll5]
Damage rolls (flat footed): [roll6], [roll7]
Attack rolls (Regular): [roll8]. [roll9]
Damage rolls (regular): [roll10], [roll11]
Init:[roll12]

[Deathslayer7]

I believe you need something to throw at before you can kill it. We dont see the man.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Micheal Ha-rumphs! loudly and sits back down on the wagon. For bandits, you are inconsiderate. I'm an old man. I'm not going to stand all day till someone else comes along and gets robbed. It'll kill my back! Besides, you all are bad at hiding. There. There. There. Micheal keeps pointing out the bandits as he saw them.

diplo: [roll0]

[RaggedAngel]

Lia addresses the voice, still in her guise of an older, more noble woman. "Listen, now, dears. Do you really think we have much of value here, on our persons, or in this little cart? We have a healthy sum in savings, and I would have no trouble parting with it if it meant that we can be on our way. How about this; you come out here and 'escort' us to the next town, and we give you more gold than you see in a year when we arrive."
Bluff: [roll0]
Diplomacy: [roll1]

[CaeruliusVentus]

"You do us wrong. Only monsters would leave the elderly in the woods. Such bindings are to discourage heroics that only result needless bloodshed. Your offer of vast riches is tempting, but gold is of little use when a reputation is worth so much more. Now do as we ask and I am sure what we take from you will be less than the wealth you could offer us."

One or two of the points that Michael pointed to produce noise of people shifting.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia frowns. "Well, then, I suppose we'll have to let you relieve us of our rightful goods. We worked for this, you know. I don't see why you should have it." She sighs. "Come get it, then. My husband and I cannot fight you, or call for aid. Is it alright if I stay on the carriage, though? It's been a long journey."

In case I need a new Bluff: [roll0]

[CaeruliusVentus]

A series of whistles and bird calls ring out in the forest and five camouflaged figures with bows drawn step out of the woods.
"Very well, you may sit where you are but your hands will be tied. The driver and the dwarf on the back must be tied to the trees."

[firemagehao]

Blip throws two alchemists fires into the woods by the five men that jumped out. He then climbs into the trees, and starts peppering them with shuriken.Alchemist fire rolls: Attack1: [roll0] Damage1: [roll1] + [roll2]
Attack2:[roll3] Damage2: [roll4] + [roll5]
Shuriken rolls: Attacks: [roll6]
Attacks: [roll7], [roll8], [roll9], [roll10], [roll11], [roll12]
That is four rounds worth of attacks, five of actions. He will only start throwing the shuriken until he is both in tree, and a few away from the fires. He can move at his full land speed through trees.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia rolls her eyes at the hasty ninja, and then calls up a Wall of Force, ten feet tall and encircling the all of the visible opponents.

The wall can be 110 feet tall, and is 10 feet high. Absolutely nothing can pass through it, but things can be thrown inside, and it can be dispelled or disintegrated. That said, I hope they can't use Disintegrate.

[Elfstone]

Fin casts invisibility on himself and rolls out from under the wagon. (5 foot move?)

[CaeruliusVentus]

Init order:

Grant 25
Fin 23
Blip 22
Lia 17
Kail 15 (out for the first few rounds)
Michael 13

Fin make a move silent check (-2 penalty for rolling in grass).

When Blip reaches for the alchemical fire, a number of arrows try to intervene. One hits for 8 damage, but he is able to peg two of the people and promptly set them on fire. Dashing to the nicest looking tree that he can climb next turn.

Lia begins to cast and is hit by two arrows (readied actions not attacks of opportunity). Make a concentration check vs DC 32 to keep from loosing the spell. If you make it, draw out where the wall is on the map.

Make spot checks if you want to see where the arrows came from.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Damnit Blip! I told you to leave the alchemist fires at home! You're going to burn down the forest at this rate! Micheal moves swiftly into the trees, hiding and moving silently unsure whether people were watching him or not. He then casts a spell.

MS: [roll0] Already -5 from moving at full speed.
Hide: [roll1] +20 if you consider the invisibility.

Casting Greater Invisibility.

[CaeruliusVentus]

Person at J10 drops his bow and tries to grapple Lia (AoO if she has a weapon drawn).

attacks followed by grapple roll.
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
hits, so make a grapple check.


Several of them move and take a shot at Blip.

[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
two hits for 7 damage.


Person at G11 starts kicking dirt and dust in the direction of Fin.

A very large person with a big sword charges up behind Michael and takes a swing.

[roll6]
[roll7]
<50 means a miss
Hit for 20 damage (3 is electric)

[Ryuuk]

Grant

...

Damn legs...

Cramped...

******* Barrel...

Soon...

zzz...

"Wha?" Grant slowly comes to his senses from Micheal's familiar scream. Hours of road, staying hidden and closed quarters make this one of the worst trips of his life. "Ugh... ****" Hearing the commotion, he draws his daggers and continues to curse under his breath. When he hears the conflict get too close for comfort, he knocks off the barrels lid and gets ready to make someone's life much shorter.

Initiative [roll0]

Sorry about that, missed a few posts. It seems I got here right on time to murder whoever just grappled Lia, he'll end up adjacent to an Assassin, prone, and without a dex mod to AC, thanks for that Caerulius.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Casting Fly on himself, Micheal prevents any gaps from opening in his defense. Except for this one moment. Letting go of his guard, he flies backwards and up aiming to land on a branch that can support him.

Provoking the AoO for moving away.

Hide:[roll0]
MS:[roll1]

[firemagehao]

"Ouchystingy." Blip says as he climbs up the tree. He cam move from three to tree and up trees at his full land speed.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia, startled by the attacks and the man now grabbing her, attempts to cast a simple force spell. Unfortunately, the distractions overcome her concentration, and she loses hold of the magic.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Like a macabre jack in the box, Grant leaps out of the barrel to a scene that, would likely be frowned upon anywhere civilized. Staying low, daggers ready, he turns to the archer and shakes his head. "Wrong move you piece of scum." He could think of a few other things to say, but he was in the presence of a lady, after all. Besides, a knife would get the point across much clearer.

The readied action is detailed in the OoC thread, if he maintains the grapple, he takes a 19 vs his AC, without Dex, and 26 damage.

[CaeruliusVentus]

Having found something worth targeting, Kail charges (yes charging, rangers can do that) and smashes into the target like a tidal wave.

Raging charge
sword attacks
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
shield attack
[roll3]
[roll4]

damage
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]
[roll12]
[roll13]
[roll14]
trip
[roll15]


The sound of the impact rings out through the forest as the big person takes 91 damage (DR counts for the difference) and is knocked down so hard he goes back 5 feet.

[CaeruliusVentus]

Person 1 tries to pull Lia out of the cart with an opposed strength (this is what I was planning all along) and then moving with an opposed grapple check.

[roll0]
[roll1]


Another Big person comes out of hiding in the woods and swings at the tree Blip is in. He manages to dent the tree pretty well but not enough to cause it to fall.

One of them moves and plants an arrow on Grant for 22 damage.
Three more arrows hit for another 14 damage. (Grant is the most visible at the moment)

Blip takes 17 damage from three arrows.

Kail gets crit'ed twice for a total of 67 damage but two arrows miss him.

Person 2 stands up (AoO from Grant) and moves back into the forest.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia laughs at the sound of impact. "Have you ever seen a ranger in a bloodthirsty rage, dear bandit? Because I suspect you soon will." She then takes advantage of his distraction to miraculously resist his attempt to pull her away from Grant's protection.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

AoO

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Wincing as the arrows dig into him, Grant lashes out at the man trying to run, and finally drives his knife into Lia's aggressor. "Aargh! ****, ****, ****..." There was etiquette in front of a woman, and then there was an arrow in the shoulder.

- Once the deed is done, hopefully with one more body on the floor, Grant gets off the cart and heads for the cover the trees may provide, hopefully. Then he plucks a hair out and creates decoy that keeps moving, ending up much more visible then him.

- If his attack on Lia's oppressor failed, he'll stab him once again, before going for cover.


Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3] + [roll4]

Watching the bastard run though, he shakes his head and goes after them, following his route. He wouldn't survive in the center anyway, and as he moves, he tries to use the thick underbrush as cover from arrows. In the end he makes it though. Once again, his knife is poised to strike the archer.

An arrow in his chest and two at his back and side, he stares at him carefully, his heirloom knife pointing at the wound it just caused. "Just let her go now you piece of ****, you really want to give your life for this cause?"

OOC:

In the off chance, that damage took into account Grant's Improved Uncanny Dodge, right? This would let him keep his dex even if he can't see his opponent, meaning there would be no sneak attack on the arrows.

[firemagehao]

"ouchy." Blip says, as he drops an alchemists fire on the man who hit the tree as he jumps to another. Did you roll miss chance for the arrows? He should have partial concealment.
Attack/damage [roll0] / [roll1] he should also take 1d6 damage/10 feet the alchemists fire fell. (instead of the alchemists fire taking the damage, it transfers the motion to the man. e.g. newton's cradle)

[Elfstone]

Fin stands up quietly draws his shortsword as he stood. He concentrates for a second and opens his eyes to the world of magic. (arcane sight, like detect magic but no check needed. I see anything with power within 120 feet)

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

And now death happens. He was going to make sure of it. Flying lower and moving silently like a ghost, he gets within 30 feet of both of the big men on Kail.

Chanting softly, he points three fingers. One at the man Kail hurt and the other two at the other one.


On the person already damaged:
Ray 1:[roll0] FF, Touch
Ray 1 damage : [roll1]
Sneak Attack [roll2]

Other Man:
Ray 2:[roll3] FF, Touch
Ray 2 damage : [roll4]
Ray 3:[roll5] FF, Touch
Ray 3 damage : [roll6]

[CaeruliusVentus]

Kail continues to try to knock down the big person.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
damage
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]


The possibility of a critical hit came up, but was unnecessary as the big person was cut in two.

[CaeruliusVentus]

The big Person succeeds in cutting down the tree and it is now lying across the road. Blip make a tumble check to avoid fall damage.

Several arrows miss Grant thanks to the underbrush (and some fortunate rolls) but two hit for 14 damage.
The person holding Lia uses a grapple check to keep moving her away while positioning her between him and Grant.

[roll0]


Kail gets flanked and hit multiple times for 40 damage (he is now at -2).

Person 3 tries to tackle (read grapple) Fin. So he takes an AoO if Fin has a weapon drawn. If that attack misses, then:

attack
[roll1]
miss chance 20%
[roll2]
grapple
[roll3]

((The 20% miss is because he knows what square Fin is in and Fin has dirt on him))

Back to the top of initiative.

[Ryuuk]

14 damage, well...

Grant

Arrows fly past Grant as he runs towards the grappler. He reaches them, and makes his threat, but fate would find it empty.

"Gah! Ughh..." Lia and her Assailant can hear the thumping of two arrows hitting their mark. Grant takes a few deep breaths, but his vision becomes groggy and he loses the grip on his knife. "****..." He eyes meet Lia's for an instant, before he collapses face down, falling next to his weapon.

Four arrows are lodged on his back, one on his shoulder.

Grant's at -2/48 HP

Stabalize: [roll0]

A number between 91 and 100 should do it. Otherwise he falls to -3.

...

Go Team! I'm rooting for you!

[CaeruliusVentus]

Depending on which part of the map you are in (and if you are conscious), you may see one of the following:

By Lia:

The person grappling Lia is launched straight upward above the trees (hitting some branches on the way). His hold on Lia lasts for a moment before the sheer force rips him away. Lia is now on the ground and probably a little startled.


By the road:

A blue beam of light comes from further up the road and hits the person in the road. The person goes stiff and falls face first onto the ground.


By Kail:

Two small objects strike one of the people flanking Kail. Before he can utter a yelp, he collapses to the ground.


Feel free to make relevant checks to catch what happened, as long as the check doesn't require time.

[firemagehao]

Spot:[roll0]
Sense Motive:[roll1]
Listen:[roll2]

[Elfstone]

Caster level checks
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Ryuuk]

Grant

After a fit of coughing, Grant opens his eyes. "Ugh..." He slowly comes to his senses, but he's not quite sure if he was out of them for long. They were at the forest, still, but... For now, he simply yanks an arrow out of his shoulder and another out of his back, gritting his teeth. He turns to Lia. "How long was I..."

Of course, the commotion hits him moments later. Closing his fist, he put a thumb over his ring. Although...

Staying prone, under the cover of the underbrush, hopefully unobserved by the archers.

Hide: [roll0]

Please check the OoC though. Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10170154&postcount=313) and Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10170293&postcount=315)

[Elfstone]

Fin lashes out with his shortsword at the big person nearest him.

Checks
spot[roll0]
listen [roll1]
Attacks
1[roll2]
2[roll3]
Damage
1 base[roll4] Fire[roll5] sneak [roll6]
2 base[roll7] Fire[roll8] sneak [roll9]

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Micheal seems surprised by the attack and tries to follow it back to where he came.


[roll0]


Failing to do so, he charms the nearest enemy near him. If none are within 30 ft, he will pull out a potion and fly down to Kail.

DC 15 Will to resist.

[firemagehao]

Blip moves down (to G-21) and throws two shuriken at the big man.Attack rolls: [roll0], [roll1]
1 damage each, + poison (black lotus)

[CaeruliusVentus]

Fin is showered with a spray of arrows, but only 1 connects for 6 damage.

Lia gets hit 3 times for 35 damage. (The one that moved didn't approach.)

A loud crashing sound is heard a ways to the northeast. Like a lot of branches and bones breaking in rapid succession.

Person x and Person 2 are surprised as their bows fly from their hands.

A red beam comes from further up the road and Person 3 drops with a yelp.

The round begins again. You can make more checks like last time.

Edit: The big person climbs up after Blip and ends next to Blip in a nearby tree.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Punching the ground below him and biting this tongue to stop himself from cursing, Grant imagines the many terrible things he will do that those archer. They can wait though, acting now would just be get them both killed...

Still besides Lia, he reaches over to her and touches her hand, relieved at least to know she's still alive. Without opposition, she scans her memory until she finds the spell he needed. Just you ******* bastards wait...

Grant should still be hidden

Touch attack to steal a Polymorph from Lia.

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal drops down to within 5ft of Kail (should be a 5ft move and thus a free action). He pulls out a potion from inside his robe and carefully pours it down Kail's throat. If he has time, he'll try to spot where the saviors might be.


5ft step to Kail and pull out a CLW potion. Standard action to give it to him.

Heal: [roll0]
Spot: [roll1]

[Elfstone]

Fin grabs at a necklace at his throat and whispers something. A large wasp suddenly appears and he directs it attack the big person in front of him as he does the same.
Uses Amber Amulet of Vermin:Giant Wasp. It attacks for [roll0]
Damage is [roll1] with poison
DC 14 fort save, if fails takes 1d6 dex damage as primary and secondary
its AC is 14, HP is 32. Im using the stats from the MMI.
Fin attacks as well
[roll2]
[roll3]
Damage
Base [roll4] sneak[roll5] fire[roll6]
Base [roll7] sneak[roll8] fire[roll9]

[firemagehao]

Blip jumps the the next tree, dropping an alchemists fire in the tree he started in.

Reflex: [roll0]

He readies an action of throwing two shuriken at the man if he jumps after Blip, and then jumping to the next tree, and then repeating the action that is just like this one. Would you agree with me that he looses his dex bonus while in mid jump? Can you roll the damage for the alchemists fire? I forgot.

Attack rolls in that situation: [roll1], [roll2]
Damage rolls: [roll3], [roll4] + poison
Reflex save: [roll5]

[CaeruliusVentus]

The smokey person at G15 takes a 5ft step to H15, drops his bow, draws a short sword and attacks. He misses and so do almost all of the arrows that come at Fin. One from the person at H16 hits for 4 damage.

The person standing next to Kail looks straight at Michael and stabs him twice with a rapier for 28 damage. Michael also gets the tingling at the back of his spine that usually indicates something is interfering with his ability to cast defensively.

Person 4 draws a short sword and advances over by Lia as if to stand guard. Person 2 moves to the east and hands off his bow to person x and draws a short sword. Person x starts moving around the area looking for who ever was causing stuff to fly around. (Grant can make an AoO if he wants).

[Elfstone]

Grinning Fin advances and waves the wasp on. They both attack the Smokey person.
Giant Wasp attacks for [roll0]
Damage is [roll1] with poison
DC 14 fort save, if fails takes 1d6 dex damage as primary and secondary
its AC is 14, HP is 32.
Fin attacks as well
[roll2]
[roll3]
Damage
Base [roll4] sneak[roll5] fire[roll6]
Base [roll7] sneak[roll8] fire[roll9]

[CaeruliusVentus]

The big person in the tree moves after Blip and gets a flask of burning pain for his trouble.

[roll0]
plus 2 for moving through the fire.

He manages to complete the jump and keep his balance and even to attack Blip for 26 damage (4 of it is electric).

[Deathslayer7]

Micheal

Micheal looks at the man next to him, surprise on his face. Taking a slight step back, he forgoes accuracy for power. A small dense sphere grows in the palm of his hand which he sends flying at the man.


casting Orb of Force
[roll0] (not sure if that was correct, but i think it's around there.)
[roll1]

[RaggedAngel]

Lia's eyes snap open. She's injured, on her back, in the woods, with the sounds of combat raging around her. Here ears are ringing, and Grant is standing over her, clearly injured himself. She's in the form of a horrible hag, and she feels vile and wretched. "Grant, dear?" Her voice is a croak instead of a purr. "I believe that I want to kill them all."Lia stands, her eyes ablaze, and she unleashes an enormous blast of interwoven force missiles, streaming towards the nearest of the bandits. Upon striking him, five additional missiles streak unerringly towards his nearest companions, tearing into them with the focused power of Lia's wrath.

Sudden Maximized Chain Missiles. 30 force damage to the primary target, and 6 force damage to each of 5 secondary targets. Everyone should be in range, and the missiles overlap if there are less than 5 enemies, if I'm correct. I would also like to note that my AC is 31 now.

Also, where is the map? I cannot locate it.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Breathing heavy and slowly retuning to his usual colors, Grant simply nods. "Sounds perfect... Give em hell." He knows the arrows will be coming, and braces himself for them, he'd barely dodged the guard's blade as is. Still, things were looking better. "Pardon the shape though, lot on my mind at the moment."

[RaggedAngel]

Lia laughs and quickly replies. "I may be hideous, but this form is increadibly useful. I would rather be ugly and alive than lovely and dead. Besides, it's not forever. Thank you, by the way. You could have simply ran."

[firemagehao]

Did you count the twenty some damage?

Blip moves through the trees, and prepares another vial, to throw at the man as he jumps after blip.30ft move, preparing to throw two vials of alchemists fire.
To-hits: [roll0], [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]+[roll3], [roll4]+[roll5]

[CaeruliusVentus]

The big person takes several leaps between the trees, but slips up on the third leap. A quick grab keeps him from falling, but he is now hanging from a branch and on fire.

3 arrows miss Fin, but one connects with the wasp for 8 damage.

The two people near Grant and Lia move to better positions and try to stab them. All of the attacks miss.

Person x continues to move away into the forest to find the other person.

The person by Kail nimbly dodges the orb of force, then turns away and runs away.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Heh... I'll kill a bloke for a few gold, but I've got standards." He readies his dagger, moves to attack the swordsman in front of him and instead lunges past him. He smiles as he's flanker is now flanked and drives his dagger into the man's side, giving it a twist if it goes in. "Besides, I should be dead. An angel descended and poured life onto my broken body. How'd you get out of that bastard's grip anyway?"

Move: Tumble to Flank person 4 with Lia

Standard: Attack [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] + [roll2] Sneak Attack

[RaggedAngel]

Lia cackles as the bandit falls, and she smoothly slides away as she casts another spell. She quickly notes to Grant; "Sadly, I think that I may look a bit more like a devil than an angel right now, but thank you for the compliment." She finishes casting, and a focused ball of power builds in her hands. She looks up at the man in front of her, who had just attempted to kill her and her friend. "I'm going to enjoy this, dear bandit.", her voice the horrible creak of a hag. She then thrusts the ball forward, empowering it once more with her rage. As soon as her spell is released, she quickly tells Grant; "I have no idea what released me. It was a pulse of power, and it simply tore my attacker away from me."

5' step away from the attacker, and then casting Sudden Empowered Orb of Force.

Attack roll (touch attack):
[roll0]

Damage roll:
[roll1] Multiply that by 1.5 for damage.

[Elfstone]

Cackling Fin advances and waves the wasp on. They both attack the closest person. He tries to take this one down as soon as possible.
Giant Wasp attacks for [roll0]
Damage is [roll1] with poison
DC 14 fort save, if fails takes 1d6 dex damage as primary and secondary
its AC is 14, HP is 26.
Fin attacks as well
[roll2]
[roll3]
Damage
Base [roll4] sneak[roll5] fire[roll6]
Base [roll7] sneak[roll8] fire[roll9]

[firemagehao]

Blip moves toward the people who attacked Fin, and throws a vial of alchemists fire at one of them.
To-hit: [roll0] presumably against FF.
Damage:[roll1]+[roll2]

[CaeruliusVentus]

The big guy manages to climb back up and spends the rest of the turn putting the fire out (he rolled a 19)

The last archer fires twice at Fin twice and misses.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Giving the knife one last twist for good measure, Grant takes it and lets the body fall. "Don't worry, it's the inside that counts... A force? Well, perhaps there was some divine intervention, excuse me just a second..."

Grant gets moving and disappears into the shadows. Moments later, an icicle is fired some distance to the south, heading towards the hanging man. Even behind the branches, it seems to seek him out.

Move: Move to L9, which should place me within sneak attack range. Using Hide in Plain Sight he'll disappear during the move, which can be done at a -5.

Hide: [roll0]

Swift: Cast Critical Strike (Complete Mage) my next attack roll ignores concealment

Standard: Cast Ice Knife (Spell Compendium) targeting the hanging man.

Attack: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2] + 2 Dex on a failed Save + [roll3] Sneak Attack

I know this guy may have uncanny dodge (although if he's climbing, he may lose his dex anyway), but I don't think Grant would have been paying much attention to the bottom of the field.

EDIT: and a 1... Should I feel bad for having planned for that? In that case the attack misses and the Knife bursts in an adjacent square. He takes 1d8 (3, since it was the first d8 I rolled for the Ice Knife) cold damage on a failed DC 16 Reflex Save, half if he makes it.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia, still horrible, swings her vision to the largest enemy still standing. She grins; a lovely expression on her normal face, but this one is contorted and twisted. It is a smile out of your darkest dreams; the smile of the reaper. "Time to end this." She pulls out her rod and channels a simple Magic Missile spell through it, the spell's energy focusing and concentrating. "There's nothing in the world like a sure hit." She unleashed the magic, which unerringly seeks out the large man, slamming into him, bypassing all armor and defense.

Maximized Magic Missile. Feels good. 30 force damage.

[firemagehao]

(Blip waits until the big man is prone or hanging and)
moves to where he can get a clear shot, and throws two vials of alchemists fire at the big man.
To-hits: [roll0], [roll1]
damage: [roll2]+ [roll3], [roll4]+ [roll5]
If he had to move, exclude the second.

[Elfstone]

Fin motions toward the man hanging. His wasp immediatly goes over to attack him. Meanwhile, Fin searches the two closest men for loot. Specificly potions.
Giant Wasp attacks for [roll0]
Damage is [roll1] with poison of DC14 fort.
Fin searches for [roll2] loot
twice [roll3]

[CaeruliusVentus]

The guy in the tree swings at the be and cuts it in two.

The person on the ground seems bent on getting Fin. He fires two arrows and one hits for 4 damage.

Top of the init order.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia's face darkens in frustration as the man refuses to die. "Why. Will. You. Not. Die?" she snarls. She quickly puts away the rod and casts another spell, this one considerably more complicated than the last. There is a surge of power and an orb of pure force hurtles from her outstretched palm to slam into the larger opponent with a sickening crack. The leaves and branches along the orb's path are torn and bent by the sheer power of it's passage.

[CaeruliusVentus]

A moment after the orb of force hits the guy in the tree, his rag doll body falls to the ground in a cascade of broken tree limbs.

[firemagehao]

Blip throws. delayed action

[CaeruliusVentus]

The body as it falls is hit with two flasks of fire and is cooked as it descends.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia shouts at the little ninja across the battlefield. "Stop wasting those! They cost money, just like all that poison!" Her ire is made ever more terrible by her continually horrid visage.

[firemagehao]

"Thereareotherusesformoney?!Coolyou'llhavetoshowmes ometimewaitwhathappenedtoyourfaceyoulooklikemyuncl eBorf." Blip responds.

[Elfstone]

Fin moves to take out the last bandit. He ignores his companions and their bickering.
He slashes out with his sword and beckons his wasp back.

[CaeruliusVentus]

At this point the battle is essentially over and we can assume the last minor bandit goes down.
After tending to your wounds and making sure that Lia doesn't die, the party sets to work collecting the bodies for searching purposes. In total, there are 7 dead archers at various levels of burned-ness and one archer that is unconscious (he has several white feathers sticking out his back). There are also two larger bodies that were carrying the large swords (one of them has multiple broken bones and smells like pork).

Items found:

8 longbows
numerous arrows
8 shortswords
10 sets of mundane light armor
2 electric greatswords
2 bronze dagger symbols
trail rations in various states of decay


You also find Kail lying dead in the forest and Michael looking shaken up pretty good. There is no sign of other life in the area, but you can search for signs of whoever interfered with the battle.

[firemagehao]

Blip grabs the shortsword.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia rolls her eyes at the frantic little ninja. She's human again, and has used one of her Potions of Cure Light Wounds. "One of the things we need to get from our reward and from selling all of this is a set of Healing Belts. That was way too close for comfort. Now, I'm going to go see what I can see. Give me a minute." She steps into the pathway, and casts a simple spell. She floats up a few inches, and casts another one. You hear a rush of wind, and she is gone.

Potion:
[roll0]

I'm going to see if I can see anyone on the road, or if there are any obvious clearings nearby.

EDIT-I'll continue from here.

A moment passes, and Lia flys back down, pausing near the party. "I do not see anyone. There is a waterfall a few miles away, but that's the only real feature of the landscape. Does anyone else have any ideas?"

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Ugh..." Grant pools what bit of arrow ha can from his should and back. He looks over the site and can't help but agree with Lia. "...yeah, we screwed this one up." He prods Kail with his boot while shaking his head and only gives Michael a casual passing glance.

"What I want to know..." He starts as he drags the the only archer left alive to the others. He notices the feathers and plucks one for later. "Is if that Raven bastard was even here... I say we lock this little freak in the barrel and get it out of him later, we're not in shape to keep going anyway. Lets take what we can, head to the nearest town and like our wounds... Buy those belts too." He'll also make sure to take the two bronze symbols, just in case.

Spellcraft: [roll0] for the feather.

[Elfstone]

Fin searches the body of Kail before returning to the others.
"Yes, perhaps more healing would help. But mending spells to. I need special healing. For now though, we should focus on completing the job. Think the horses are still around?"

[CaeruliusVentus]

The horses are a ways away, but you may be able to find them with a few hours search. At this point it would be a 3 hour walk to get back to the rest-stop.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia drops her invisibility, and flies off to see if she can head off the horses. "Looks like we're getting back the hard way, unless we can catch the animals," she calls to the others.

[CaeruliusVentus]

The horses are currently milling around a little ways off the path, eating some leaves. Searching from the skies would take about four hours, and about as long on foot. It is up to you how long you want to search.


The difficulty in finding the horses was determined by dice. As it is you own the horses and the cart so you don't have to return them. You should be able to load up the cart with whatever you need to and haul it back to a safe spot.

[RaggedAngel]

Lia impatiently returns in about ten minutes, though it seems longer. "I have no idea where the horses are," she says, flying to Grant. "Unless you all have any horse-locating spells on hand, I think we need to walk." She sets down just as her flight spell runs out. She slumps a bit. "I am rather injured. I would like to get back before dark." You can tell that while she has been staying active, she is in a lot of pain. The polymorph closed her wounds, but there are large, bright red slashes all across her body, and her robes are torn in a few places.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Grant runs a hand through his hair as he looks up. "Yeah... one of our bigger screw ups... Ok. It may be a long shot, but give me a bit to find those damn horses." He hisses into his sleeve and his serpent comes crawling. "Quetzal can sniff em out and with my ring I should be invisible to any other bastards that might show up."

"If you can find a spot to hide out, it'd be a good idea. One of them got away and he may come back with more of his friends. The alternative would be to go now, but lugging out prisoner all the way might not be a good idea..." He looks over the group. Fin might be in good shape, but Lia was barely standing, Micheal was in shock, Kail was dead and Blip was Blip. Things weren't looking too good. "Alright... just hold on for a bit, we don't need anymore loses."

Grant will go search for the horses, as described above. I'm assuming we'll need them to carry our prisoner....

Unless, do we have a portable hole or a bag of holdings?

[CaeruliusVentus]

With the help of scent (scared horses tend to leave a distinct trail), it would only be 40 minutes to find the horses and bring them back.


Having the horses means you don't have to manually pull the cart, but you could probably make it back safely without them.


Eventually Grant comes back with the horses and gets the harnessed to the cart. The question now becomes what to load on the cart.

[Elfstone]

OOC-Fin wants to load everything into the cart. Besides the bodies. Because after all that suffering, he should get some recompensation, and so should the others. Ecspecially to buy healing potions.

[CaeruliusVentus]

By the time Grant returns, all of the items of any value have been loaded onto the cart along with the unconscious bandit.


Anything else to be done before heading back?

[Elfstone]

Fin examines all the bodies to make sure none fit the description of the Raven. If they did he would load that body up as well.

[CaeruliusVentus]

None of the bodies stand out as Raven-ish or even as a leader. Michael comments that one of the ones that ran away seemed to have better equipment than the rest and looked a little bit cleaner in overall appearance.

[Elfstone]

Then Fin suggests we go look for Raven, as he is the one who we needed to kill.

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"So the bastard we came here to kill was the one that got away... figures." Grant only loads up one of the bodies, the one with struck down by the bird feathers. "Look, I want to get him as much as the next guy, but we're just not in any shape to at the moment. If he's the one that got away, then he's one of the archers." His hand goes to his shoulder. "The one with the really good shot, most likely." He also takes the two greatswords. "We need to head back and lick our wounds for now. Once we're back in shape, we can squeeze any information this guy has out of him and get back on his trail."

"I know we may have just scared him off though... If you can keep going Fin, I'll give you any spell you want, but I'm not throwing my life away for a job. I'll let you take Quetzal as well, his nose should help track him down. What do you say?"

[Elfstone]

Fin thinks about it for a while. He then says "If you guys can buff me up and refill my slots, I think I can take him on. I got some poisons from Kail so I should be fine. But a ranged weapon would be nice as I dont have one. A crossbow perhaps?"

[Ryuuk]

Grant

Grant takes a moment to consider this, then nods and puts his hand out. "Grab a pair of my second level fire evocations, also one of my third level abjurations just in case... and a first level divination, for good measure. Ah, take the grease as well, in case he's trickier to catch."

How does this sound, he's offering the following for you to steal off him:

2 x Fire Shuriken (each casting creates 3 Shuriken dealing 3d6 Fire, threat range of 19-20, 10ft range increment. These are permanent until thrown)
1 x Nondetection + Components
1 x Healer's Vision (You see limbs for 11 rounds, +2 to Sneak Attack attack rolls)
1 x Grease (Or failing that, an Ebon Eyes (lets you see in magical darkness for 2 hours))

[Elfstone]

Thats perfect. Fin has nondetection, but healers vision is nice. He will take the fire shurikans and cast them. Putting them away for later. Does lia have any buffs?

[RaggedAngel]

Lia nods at Grant's suggestion. "I have a full compliment of spells; the ones most useful to you would be Invisibility, perhaps Flight, perhaps an Orb of Force, if you want a single powerful attack; and, of course, Polymorph, which has a myriad of uses. That spell will save your life, trust me. I'm not, er, too sure about their 'levels'. I guess you could go by whatever wizards decide to rank them as; I just cast them until I can't anymore. I know that Orb of Force and Polymorph are the most difficult to cast, but not as hard as Wall of Force." She thinks for a moment, fiddling with her cape. "Hm. I just realized that my force-based spells aren't normal; I'm a bit behind where a 'normal' sorcerer would be at this point in their career, but I can make a force attack hit like nothing else in the world. Would you get that effect too, if you borrowed them? My Orb of Force, in particular, gets a big boost from my specialized training."

[Elfstone]

Fin responds "I dont think I do benefit, but if you have any spells that improve my abilities, make me faster, stronger, and more agile. I could use flight and invisibility."
Persist blade would be nice, free flanking.

[RaggedAngel]

She bows with a flourish and a smirk. "My inconceivably powerful arcane might is at your disposal, oh great and mighty spellthief. You can take whatever you like; I have a much wider base of power than the average wizard." She frowns darkly for a moment. "Besides those thrice-damned focused specialist wizards; but I have more flexibility than them. Either way, you just have to promise me that you'll get at least one kill while you're away."

[Elfstone]

Fin says "Of course, I plan to get the Big kill. Ill drag him back to town with me, or perhaps if he has a horse I will use that."

With that said Fin touches Grant and takes the Following spells.
Fire shurikan x2(cast right away, so I have 4 shurikans ready)
Healers Vision
Grease
He then bows and touches Lia taking the following
Invisibility
Fly
Persistant Blade
Polymorph (just in case)


Once done, Fin thanks his friends and casts flight and invisibility after heading off in the direction Micheal said the figure fled. (Flying about 5 feet from the ground looking for signs that anyone came by.)

[RaggedAngel]

Lia turns to Grant once the Fin vanishes. "Well, then, shall we be off?" She gets up onto the carriage and calls to Blip. "Get on the back, you crazy little ninja. We're going back for now."

[Ryuuk]

Grant

"Sounds good to me." As he's boarding, prisoners, dagger-emblems and electric swords in tow, he turns to Kail's body. After a bit of hesitation, he goes and drags the body back. "Let the others rot, but we should at least bury the guy, just to make sure his case is closed the the guild."

[CaeruliusVentus]

While Fin is off on his own, the rest of the party makes it back to the way station in time to settle in for the night. The military apothecary is able to sell some minor potions (2nd level spells or less), but there isn't much of a market to sell things.

[CaeruliusVentus]

-Fin-

After a bit of searching to find a trail, you find an oddly placed feather stuck into the side of a tree presumably to hold up the piece of parchment that it is piercing.

[Elfstone]

Fin uses arcane sight to detect anyoneor thing around and anything wrong with the parchment. He then stays as far away as possible while still reading the paper(If he detects it is magic hr wont read it.[I dont want no explosive runes in mah face])

[CaeruliusVentus]

((since Fin is alone, post things in spoilers please))


There is a very faint transmutation on the feather and you notice that the stem of it is also made of metal. The parchment is mundane and says:
------------
Don't die yet. I still have use for you.

PS, check the waterfall if any escape.
------------
I assume that Lia shared what she saw while she was flying.

[Elfstone]

Taking the feather and the parchment, Fin moves on in the direction lia indicated the waterfall was.
-------
Yes, the waterfall nearby.

[CaeruliusVentus]

As you approach the waterfall, you see a clearing around its base. A flurry of activity is going on in the middle as you see people rapidly packing up makeshift housing. There is still some room to get closer before leaving the protection of the tress.

It took ten minutes to get here.

[Elfstone]

Fin contemplates a sluaghter, but decides it might get him dirty. He looks for anyone who could be in charge. Also he examine the people to determine if the are civilians or combatants.

[CaeruliusVentus]

A closer look shows that the vast majority of the people are little more than peasants. They are doing most of the work while armed figures similar to the ones you just fought coordinate the activity and occasionally lend a hand.
No one person seems to be in charge.

[Elfstone]

Fin uses Arcane sight once more to see who has the most magical aura. (Man I love that sla, have my buffs worn off?[Still flying and invisible?])

[CaeruliusVentus]

The invisibility and fly will wear off in less than a minute. Two of the four soldiers have very faint auras, while the other two have stronger auras. You notice what might be a cave near the base of the waterfall.

[Elfstone]

Quickly casting invisiblity of his own, Fin flys as fast as possible to the over the crowd to the base of the waterfall. If he dosnt have enough time he will skirt the edges of the clearing until he can make it to the cave.

[CaeruliusVentus]

Moving around the outside of the clearing due to the uncertainty of when the fly would wear off, one of the more magically empowered people stops to listen for a second. He glances quickly in your direction but not directly at you before moving around and giving commands with greater urgency.

Some of the civilians can be seen trundling their packages out a pathway on the other side of the lake (at the base of the waterfall). You make it to the wall of the cliff nearest to the opening. The opening is about 2 feet wide and 5 feet tall (larger enough for a medium sized person to squeeze through). You can see a little bit of flickering light inside.

((BTW, your lack of ranks in sensory skills like spot and search make some of this very interesting))

[firemagehao]

Blip turns to Grant, "Hebeengoneawhileshouldwefindhim?"

[RaggedAngel]

Lia, having purchased and used a Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds, is feeling a bit more hale, and fends the question for Grant. "Until we've healed a bit, we'll just get in his way. It is dark, and late, and we do not know where he is. The woods is filled with strong bandits, and they know the area. We will remain here. If he dies, then he knew the risks. If we can, we will head out to locate him tomorrow, but hopefully he will return by then. Either way, we must rest to ensure our magic returns."

[Elfstone]

Fin take a peek in side to see if anyone has any magical power inside.(Yes I dont know what I was thinking when I did skills. I will certainly be getting some spot search and listen ranks next level)

[CaeruliusVentus]

((About half of the party has the same issue))

The rock passage way takes a turn so that your magic radar is blocked, but you can see by a shadow on the wall that someone is inside. It is hard to hear since you are next to the waterfall.

((Also, I looked at the list of items in you storage sack. a fair number are from specific settings and would be out of balance in this one (particularly the aboleth snot). The ones from the core books and the completes are all usable, but the other ones aren't necessarily. At this point these items should be removed:
Aboleth Mucus
Atramen Oil
Bitterleaf Oil
Black Fan Talisman
Chaos Flask
Drow House Insignia
Eggshell Grenade, Dust
Firestone
Vermin Ointment
Whiteshiver Elixir

Some of the other ones may also be modified to close loopholes (like using Ungent of timelessness on a candle would preserve it by a factor of 365, but the light would similarly be reduced by the same factor).
You can spend the money that you had for the banned stuff retroactively.
Sorry that I didn't spot this at the beginning.))

[Elfstone]

By my accounting, this is the cost of the items removed.
Aboleth Mucus +20gp
Atramen Oil +50gp
Bitterleaf Oil +25gp
Black Fan Talisman +150gp
Chaos Flask +200gp
Drow House Insignia +2160gp
Eggshell Grenade, Dust +100gp
Firestone +50gp
Vermin Ointment +20gp
Whiteshiver Elixir +1500gp
=4275gp
Can I upgrade armor? Or just by items.

[CaeruliusVentus]

Go ahead and upgrade your armor. Though you could be the party hero if you got some healing related stuff instead.

[Elfstone]

Yes indeed. I was thinking a belt of healing. How much do they cost, I never remember.

[CaeruliusVentus]

750 gp for 3 charges per day.

[Elfstone]

Okay so If I buy one of those and a few potion of CMW I will have about (2 potions) gives me 2925 gp left. Ill think of something to spend it on.
(Healing belt and 2 potions of CMW bought for 750 gp and 600gp respectively.)
EDIT:I will buy a ring of protection +1 as well. This leaves me with an extra 925 which I will save.

[Elfstone]

Fin casts invisibility on himself and goes inside the cave.

[CaeruliusVentus]

((I'll assume you aren't casting invisibility again since you cast it less than a minute ago while walking around the clearing))
Make a move silent check please.

As you move around the corner, you see a human dressed in well-kept outdoors-man outfit. His back is to you at the moment but you can see a rapier poking out below his cloak. Around the small and well lit room are boxes and satchels that represent several months of raids. The roar of the waterfall has been diminished significantly, but still echoes as loud as a person speaking.

You are 15 ft from the lone person in the room.

[Elfstone]

((I thought you missed me casting it, yes please dont count it as a double cast))
Fin tip toes into the room.
Move silent roll
[roll0]

[CaeruliusVentus]

((the person looking up was due to a botched MS check but the invisibility saved you))

As you move into the room (how far in do you want to move?) he speaks without turning, "The best efforts of my men couldn't dissuade you from coming after me. I must admit I had hoped to escape and make a new camp closer to the border, but that would be impossible. With so few men and all of the refugees, you would have caught up with us in no time. So tell me, will you kill the people for surviving on what they could take from the rich who cast them out of the cities or will you just kill those that provide for them and let them die in the wilderness?"

His voice is steady but tense with emotion and you can see the tip of the rapier waiver.

[Elfstone]

((Just to clarify, Fins Arcane sight should still be up, so what does he see?(consentrates on the man, does he have any spellcasting powers?)))
Fin says "Hey, im a soldier. I get paid to kill enemies, NOT civilians. People who kill the innocents are just butchers who are doomed to burn in hell. If you had been a little wiser you wouldn't have gotten caught. And im pretty sure the wagon you attacked was driven by an old couple, with little to no money. Unless you want to leave the country now, and give me something I can bring back to prove I killed you and your lieutenants...."
((He speaks while moving around the room, about 10 feet away from the man, circling him))

[CaeruliusVentus]

You see four weak auras (one on the head and two in the area of the torso and one around the rapier). You sense some divine energy about him, but no spellcasting ability. As you circle around, you see his face has a beard and mustache that cover up numerous scars. An eye-patch covers one of his eyes. His hand is one the hilt of his sword, but in front of him is a package that is in a state between packed and unpacked.

If Fin is bluffing, make a bluff check.

[Elfstone]

((Nope Fin is being honest. Remember his rule about no civilians. Protectors are sudo covered, but a job is a job.))

[Ryuuk]

Grant had bought 5 weaker potions for himself, and was mostly focused on drowning away the sting of the arrows. "Our fair lady's got it right. No use in risking our necks again. The little iron man isn't dumb though, he'll probably come back if the odds are too much against him... If he doesn't, we'll get the info we need out of that archer and do it right this time." He ponders this as he pulls out another splinter. It'd been 4 arrows, right? He'd have to pay for each of them. "Hehe, either that, or we go after Fin for trying to pulling a fast one on us."

[CaeruliusVentus]

He seems to consider your words. "You would risk your life that way? The Guild may be many things, but tolerant of those who cheat them is not one of them. Still, if you can delay your return to the Guild for two or three days, we can probably make it before the hounds catch us. If the contract didn't require my body or any parts of it as proof, then my sword and the marks of rank from my lieutenants should be enough to convince them. We can't take all of our supplies, so you are welcome to those. But we can have what we are able to carry set in less than an hour."

By the end of this, his voice has become flat and calculating.

[Elfstone]

Still circling, Fin says "I agree to the terms, but how can I know you will honor them? I am many things, but a killer of innocents I am not. I have seen them, and they do not appear to be able to care for themselves yet."

((If you dont mind, I would like to use the warforged parts from this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182666). The creator is unsure of how to price them and I wanted to know your opinion on what you would be willing to allow. Thanks))

[CaeruliusVentus]

"If you will leave us our bows so that we can hunt, I will hand over my sword to you now and give you my word. My men can pack their bows until we are on our way. The fight on the road cost me the lion's share of my men, so we would not survive another encounter with the guild. Only a fool would spurn the chance at life, especially when you are already risking so much." He slowly draws his sword and places it on the crate in front of him.

(Sense motive: he seems to be telling the truth)

((That oddly works out with what I have planned. As for pricing, let me know which mods you are thinking of and I will price them out. Some of them may be vetoed for balance issues))

[Elfstone]

Canceling his spell of invisibility, sheathing his sword and slinging his shield upon his back Fin steps toward the man. "I am called Fin. I assume you are the Raven. Also, I need your mens sign of rank." Taking his sword reverently he examines it with his arcane sight.
((Mostly the rocket feet. Also I gotta ask him how much damage they would do if someone hovered over you. And Im glad, Fin didnt really wanna die. I figured he would be about my level and I could take him, but not him AND his men. And the civilians might have gotten in the way.))

[CaeruliusVentus]

((He is a slightly higher level and in a one on one match would be quite tough.))
"They carry the marks, silver daggers with special markings. I'll have them come in unarmed." He moves to the mouth of the cave and can be heard calling the lieutenants over and telling them to drop there bows. Shortly two tall elves enter with very weary looks. Upon seeing you, they both tense, but Raven intervenes and explains the situation. Dutifully the two hand over two silver daggers with complicated markings on the blade.
Still silent, the two elves follow Raven's directions and pick up several bundles before leaving.
"The rest of these goods I leave to you and whomever you may have lurking in the woods. With your leave, I have work to do outside. If I should ever see you again, I will do might best to repay this kindness."

The sword has a weak evocation aura to it (do you have the artificer monocle?). The daggers are mundane.

[Elfstone]

((I see, I was thinking cast true strike, then throwing my dark reaver poison for some con damage followed by persistant blade then just hacking(sneak attacking) away at him until he died. I do not.))
Fin takes the sword and sorts through the bundles before heading back to the way station to inform the others.

[CaeruliusVentus]

The various crates contain cloth, leather, and other trade goods that are worth 1700 gp, but you would need help carrying it. One cloth pack turns up a number of gems that are worth 800gp and are easier to carry. The bundle Raven had been working on contains a very old book in a hard leather case. The script is strange and resembles arcane writing, but the diagrams are unmistakably constructs. A longer time of studying would probably yield more clues, but to really get answers you would need to consult a wizard with an interest in this sort of thing.

When you exit the cave, the only sign of the band of not-so-merry men is the scrape marks where heavy luggage was hauled into the woods. It is 2 hours after nightfall that you arrive at the way station.

The guards at the gate call out at your approach, "Halt, who goes there! Identify yourself and your reason for being on the road this late."

((I'll work on the rocket boots and some other ideas as the consequences of the book become apparent))

[Elfstone]

Fin shouts "I have just single handedly slain the Raven and his two men." while brandishing the silver daggers and the ravens sword at the guards.((Finally, back with the others.))
((And I was thinking about the arcane cannon shoulder attachment(from the thread). Fin needs some more range abilities))

[CaeruliusVentus]

One of the guards turns to the other, "We got a loony, better get one of the archers."

For everyone else, anyone not currently drunk hears something like Fin making noise outside the station.

[Elfstone]

Fin shouts "Hey, Im not lying. Let me in and I will show you his sword and mens sign of rank"

[CaeruliusVentus]

"I don't know nothing about swords or rank, but no unknown people are allowed in after the gate is closed at night."