AvB - Bear

[Rizban]

The rat scurries off.

[planswalker]

Camraman looks for any open windows, loose boards, holes in the wall, etc that he could squeeze through.

[Rizban]

The temple is in fairly good repair and roofed with high quality slate, but there is an unlocked door which provides roof access that he can use.

[planswalker]

He climbs through and takes stock of where he is.

[Rizban]

He is in an attic crawl space. It seems disused except for a stack of books that seems to have been hidden up here.

[planswalker]

Camraman reads the titles of the books to see if they might be of use to the boss.

[Rizban]

The titles contain such things as "Player's Handbook", "Office Master's Guide", and "Coworker Manual." There is also a copy of "Complete Intern."

[planswalker]

Not likely to be useful, Camraman continues on down the crawl space.

[Rizban]

He travels some distance before finding a way out of the crawl space. It's locked.

[planswalker]

Is there enough space for a rat to pass through?

[Rizban]

Yes, just barely.

[planswalker]

The rat passes through, taking 20 on escape artist if he needs to.

[Rizban]

He pops through the hole and finds himself squeezing into a small bed chamber. The bunk beds reveal it to be a chamber for some of the low level priests.

[planswalker]

Camraman creeps along the edge of the walls, trying to avoid being seen as he leaves the bed chamber.

[roll0][roll1]

[Rizban]

Out in the hall, Camraman encounters a cat.

[planswalker]

Trusting that he is not seen, he waits for the cat to leave.

[Rizban]

The cat does not spot camraman, but as he passes near, he begins to sniff the air.

[planswalker]

Camraman hurries on past.

[Rizban]

Barely avoiding the encounter, camraman continues down the hall and finds himself at an open door leading into the main worship hall, which is inside of the large central dome of the building.

[planswalker]

Camraman continues forward into the worship hall, hoping to catch sight or sound of the Reverend Bright.

[Rizban]

The worship hall is currently empty except for the winged vaguely human looking creature sitting atop the altar reading a book.

[planswalker]

Camraman checks to be sure this is not the Reverend Bright he's looking for.

Assuming it's not, he then proceeds to look around and get a feel for the place.

[Rizban]

How does he do that? Does he walk up and ask?

[planswalker]

Does the winged man match the physical description of what Reverend Bright is supposed to look like?

[Rizban]

Except for the large, feathered wings, he looks similar, but Camraman is unsure.

[planswalker]

Since it's relatively cheap to buy a hat to help disguise your appearance enough to hide wings like that, Camraman lurks up to the altar and hides under it, keeping a lookout for any clues as to this man's identity.

[roll0][roll1]

[Rizban]

The creature look up as he hears camraman and sees him. For a moment, it appears as if he is about to get up and squish the rat. Instead, he tosses a hymnal camraman's direction, hitting the rat for [roll0].

[planswalker]

Camraman scurries away just like a natural rat should, and tries again from a different direction, not taking a direct path there.

[roll0][roll1]

[Rizban]

He throws yet another hymnal at camraman, obviously becoming very agitated. The hymnal critically impacts the rat's skull for [roll0] damage.

[planswalker]

Deciding that giving his life for this cause is counterproductive, Camraman lurks farther away from the scary book thrower and keeps an eye on the room, waiting until something changes before doing anything else.

taking 10 on hide and move silently for a 24 and 20 each, since he's not being rushed or directly threatened atm.

[Rizban]

The winged creature goes back to reading his book.

[planswalker]

Camraman waits for something to alter the situation. Either an opening where he'll be able to approach safely, another person walking in and identifying the reader, or the man leaves.

[Rizban]

The creature finishes reading the book and goes back to the beginning. He seems to do something funny camraman doesn't recognize and then begins to flip slowly through the pages again.

[planswalker]

Camraman will continue to wait until something happens.

[Rizban]

The being finishes the book and places it down, beginning the same process with the next one. This could go on for hours.

About that time, someone, who happens to be a temple guard, spots the large bird perched atop the building, and, being an avid bird watcher, realizes that the species isn't native to the region. Bear's first hint that something is wrong is when he notices a small group of guards running into the building, though he doesn't yet realize they are heading his way.

[planswalker]

Riz, I have no clue what it is I can do at this point.

I have Camraman enter the temple, it's apparently completely devoid of life except for a single man reading a book, you won't tell me whether or not this man is my target and now you're having the guards arbitrarily chase after me to kill me. How the heck am I supposed to do a thing if I don't even know my target's appearance well enough to tell him apart from a man with giant wings?

[Rizban]

Sorry, I kind of planned the temple based on openly walking in the front door, and you basically skipped ahead to the "boss fight" room. I can't really tell you much more about the "man," because you haven't rolled any knowledge checks or anything.

I did say that he looks similar to the description, but not exactly. If, as you suggested, he uses illusions to disguise himself, then just looking at him as he sits and reads isn't going to reveal anything of note.

Bear has seen the guards, so he can at least react if he chooses to. I let him sit there for the equivalent of an hour or so without any encounters though...

[planswalker]

the plan was to wait in what you described as "The worship hall" until someone came up and spoke to that person by name.

apparently, though, no one comes into the worship hall of pelor but one winged man who sits there reading books for hours.

[Rizban]

On this particular day of the week, yes.

[planswalker]

Since apparently his entire trip here is pointless as he can't even tell if this winged creature could be the mark or not, Camraman leaves back the way he came.

[Rizban]

This time, the cat spots him. Roll for initiative.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

Barely able to move after the book assault as it is, Camraman is not looking forward to this. Using his empathic link with Bear, he sends a sense of danger.

Bear, upon receiving this sense of danger, flies down off the roof and looks for an open window.

[Rizban]

Camraman wins initiative.

[planswalker]

Camraman runs as fast as he can for the bedchamber he crawled out of.

[Rizban]

The cat gives chase, being quite a bit faster. He catches up to camraman just as he reaches the door, but camraman gets to act just before the cat does.

[planswalker]

I'm far more intelligent than this blasted cat. Camraman thinks. How hard can it be to outwit it? Then, realizing that he doesn't have to outwit the creature, he can out-fight it.

Camraman is no longer just any old rat, after all. He is the bonded companion to a powerful druid. Although sore and smarting from the book assaults, he's still twice as tough as any other rat, and his master's experience with combat was his own as well. He could take on this cat.

With an aggressive shriek, Camraman turns around and bites the cat.

for [roll=damage]1d3–4
crit confirm:
for [roll=damage]1d3–4

[planswalker]

[roll0]
[roll1]-4
[roll2] if >3, subtract 3.

trying to see why d3-4 failed to roll.

it's not too important in this case, as it's guaranteed to be a 1.

[Rizban]

The cat jumps at the last moment, dodging the bite.

He claws at camraman but misses.

[planswalker]

Camraman strikes again!

[roll0]. damage is d3-4=1

[Rizban]

The cat has been severely injured by the nasty bite and begins to think twice about fighting this nasty rat. It backs away a few feet but stays ready to attack if it gets the opportunity.

[planswalker]

Camraman pursues it, attacking the cat with [roll0]

[Rizban]

The cat takes another point of damage and turns to flee.

[planswalker]

Feeling quite smug with himself, Camraman continues back up the way he came until he reaches Bear or another encounter happens.

[Rizban]

He manages to squeeze back into the crawlspace.

Bear hears the sounds of boots stomping up stairs behind him.

[planswalker]

Bear flies up into the air, staying about fifteen feet above the rooftop.

[Rizban]

Camraman crawls out of the door to the roof half a second after three guards come running out of another door. The guards quickly begin scanning the rooftop for the strange bird.

[planswalker]

Bear dives down, grabs the rat, and flies off.

[Rizban]

As he flies off, one of the guards takes a shot at him, narrowly missing.

[planswalker]

Even had he hit, Bear was able to heal himself, and thus considered the shot to be inconsequential.

After retiring to a safer rooftop with access to the street, Camraman fills in Bear on his little adventure.

"...AND I nearly killed a cat. A cat! It thought me just another ordinary rat, and boy was it wrong! It didn't even get to lay a claw on me. I swear, letting you tag along has been the best thing to ever happen to me."

Bear ignores the selfishness and takes the compliment as intended. He dismisses the wildshape and says, "As thrilling as that adventure was, it ultimately ended up proving futile. Perhaps I should learn more about the church of Pelor as a whole to be better able to look for a specific individual within it."

"Want me to rat it out?"

"If you don't mind. Try to learn as much about this local temple to Pelor as you can. But don't be gone too long. Be back the day after tomorrow at the latest."

While Camraman scampers off to find out what he can, Bear does some information gathering of his own, looking to see if there's anyone else who is dissatisfied with Reverend Bright.

[roll0]
[roll1] +7 to each of those

[roll2]
[roll3] +10 to each of these
Camraman and bear will both stop after 32 total hours of searching or if the find what they're looking for before then.

that's 16 hours of searching a day and 8 of sleep for the two days until the ring and the armor are ready from Hagan's.

[Rizban]

Pelor's clerics favor wearing yellow and ornamenting themselves with gold. They are usually kindly people but have a steely resolve. They are nurturers and protectors of the needy, but when the time comes to bear arms, they are like a well trained military. They use their powers to heal, nourish, aid, and protect those who are threatened. Clerics of Pelor are well known to forgo pastoral duties in favor of traveling the lands to drive away harmful beings and spread the light of Pelor to all they encounter.


Bear has a much more difficult time with his line of inquiry. Very few people are willing to speak against Reverend Bright. He is well known as a compassionate and caring, if maybe slightly quirky, man who has the needs of the people on his heart. True, he never leaves the temple, but he does so much for those who enter the temple, healing of injury and curing of disease. The only other grumblings Bear uncovers come from the temples of deities that Pelor is aligned against.

[planswalker]

Satisfied with two days of productive searching for information, Bear returns to Hagan's shop and picks up the ring and armor.

He gives camraman the ring and walks into the temple to Pelor, and looks around.

[Rizban]

He finds himself in a large, open air courtyard around the temple (http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/37716d3423a654bdbbb1b92b223a9cedc158e54c.pjpg) surrounded by the circular outer wall. A sense of power seems to linger in the air.

[planswalker]

Bear looks for a public entrance.

[Rizban]

The large front door to the building stand open, revealing a large statue of Pelor sitting cross legged with open arms, welcoming his children into the temple.

[planswalker]

Bear decides to attract attention: he climbs up into the statue's lap and starts searching the statue for traps. [roll0]

[Rizban]

Two temple guards attempt to grapple you and haul you off of the statue's lap. They have Improved Grapple, so you don't get AoOs.

[planswalker]

Bear starts screaming, "But.. But... It's a TRAP!"

Camraman skitters off after donning the ring of invisibility.

[Rizban]

They drag him off of the statue and into the temple, closing the doors behind them.

[planswalker]

Bear continues to quote ackbar! shout "It's a TRAP!"

Camraman loks for places where it looks like the church of Pelor would like to keep things secret.

[Rizban]

Bear finds such a place first as they drag him into a back room where they force him into a chair with manacles built into it. They try to force his limbs into the manacles to restrain him.

Camraman is still searching.

[planswalker]

0nce they strap Bear down, the incoherent ranting stops. "Well, gents, glad to know that your person interrogation chamber has a fast-track to finding." He says.

[Rizban]

"Interrogation? No, this is just to ensure that you aren't demon possessed, for why else would you behave in such a manner?"

[planswalker]

"Because I'm mentally ill? Does the possibility of extreme mental illness expressing itself as rapid changes of mood and behavior not reason enough?"

Getting bored with searching, Camraman starts looking for cats to harass.

[Rizban]

"There there, it won't take long. It'll all be okay in just a short time. We promise."

A short time later, a priest enters the room wearing a bright, golden sun mask. He points his holy symbol at Bear and begins to mumble an incantation.

"This poor man is indeed tainted by a dark spirit. The Light is not in him."

Turning to Bear, "May Pelor grant you Light and Peace, dear friend."

Turning back to the two guards. "If we cannot cure him of his Darkness, we might have to give him to Reverend Bright."

The two men's eyes widen very slightly at the mention of this name; however, they only nod solemnly in assent.

[planswalker]

"DIDDLY DINKY DARKY BLIGHT! All hail Somberus the Inky Night! IT'S A TRAP!"

[Rizban]

The priest casts a spell. Make a Will save.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

"You have no idea the power of the dark side!"

[Rizban]

You resist the spell.

"It looks like we will need Reverend Bright on this one..."

[planswalker]

"The taste is gonna move ME!"

[Rizban]

The priest exits the room without another word. The two guards stand back and to the side, waiting.

[planswalker]

Deciding that a moment of clarity is in order, Bear says, "So, boys, enjoy doing Pelor's work for him?"

[Rizban]

They ignore you.

[planswalker]

"Only death can pay for life. Gibblets and gravy go good with gray goo. I am the walrus. I am the eggman. Ooh koo kachoo."

[planswalker]

***nudge***

[Rizban]

They continue to ignore you.

After awhile, a woman enters the room with a small bowl of wine, which she attempts to get you to drink.

[planswalker]

Bear refuses, and tries to spill it on the floor.

[Rizban]

Frustrated, she simply leaves when he refuses to drink.

[planswalker]

"That doesn't satisfy... my appetite inside.

I want the frim-fram sauce with the aussen fay. And chefafa on the side."

[Rizban]

Irritated with you, they just go ahead and kill you activate an area of silence to keep you quiet until Reverend Bright is available.

[planswalker]

That leaves Bear completely unable to do anything until Revered Bright arrives.

you mind not stalling any longer?

[Rizban]

I was waiting to see what Bear would actually do, if anything. That was also the last thing before he showed up...

I'll post it after class.

[planswalker]

nudge once more

[Rizban]

Sorry.About half an hour later, though it seemed more like more than a day, a man walks into the room, a man who looks very much like the winged creature Camraman saw. The silence is dismissed.

[planswalker]

"Ah, Reverend Bright, I presume?" Bear urbanshapes into a medium viper.

[Rizban]

Reverend Bright casts a spell then begins an impassioned speech about Pelor... which you'll just have to imagine.

Make a Will save.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

here goes nothing.

[Rizban]

Bear fails the save on the charm person.

Reverend Bright continues his impassioned speech about Pelor for the next few seconds, causing Bear to make another Will save.

[planswalker]

I've gotta cry foul here. The evangelists' class feature is a full round action, and the second save to keep it from being permanent is voluntary and at the end of the duration.

also, that full-round action should have eaten up his turn so I may act.

[Rizban]

Hmmm... You're right. I misread that one. Sorry, I was pretty out of it when I made that post.

Well, his speech continues nonetheless. You just get a round to do something before he actually does that action

[planswalker]

Bear slithers through the door if open. If not, I need a description of the situation in the room.

[Rizban]

The chair is in the middle of the room. The only door is situated in front of the door, but it is closed, and Revered Bright is standing between you and it.

The two guards are on either side of the chair and about 10ft away from it. The room itself is about 25'x25' and the ceiling 8' high. The only light comes from a glowing orb set in the ceiling, which is ornamented and detailed to resemble the sun.

[planswalker]

Bear the medium viper casts stone shape to form an exit out of this place through the wall opposite the door and slithers out, turning a corner to block line of sight.

[Rizban]

He manages to make a small tunnel with a turn but quickly runs out of room. He can still hear Reverend Bright speaking of the greatness of Pelor, though he seems quite irritated.

[planswalker]

wait... it takes more than 16 feet of stone to clear the wall? the snake only needs about a 1x1 square hole to fit through. if so, I'm kinda screwed, since I've now backed myself into a corner and don't have another stone shape to continue the casting.

[Rizban]

Bear discovers that the back wall is part of the foundation for the temple, and there is no room beyond that wall for quite some distance. Just because you can still hear him doesn't mean he can affect you without line of effect.

[planswalker]

then I guess the viper will wait here until things come to him or the people leave.

[Rizban]

Bear indeed hears that Reverend Bright does eventually leave about an hour later.

[planswalker]

Bear rests and waits in the hole in the wall. At dawn, he re-prepares all his spells, using all 3rd level slots for stone shape. He uses the extra 64 feet to create a tunnel through the foundation and to the nearest entrance.

[Rizban]

He successfully does so.

[planswalker]

Back to camraman for that intervening night and morning, who is in fact an invisible rat.

[Rizban]

Camraman follows a very suspicious guard into an underground room. The room is filled with gold, a treasure hoard to rival that of any dragon.

[planswalker]

Overcome with greed, Camraman searches the hoard once everyone leaves and sees if there are any rat-sized treasures worth taking.

btw, does Bear gain xp for his encounter?

[Rizban]

Bear indeed gains experience when Camraman is caught up to him in the timeline.Camraman notes that one guard remains at all times, but he isn't too alert. Searching around, he finds a few small coins he could likely carry away.

[planswalker]

He carries them off and begins to look around for any clues as to where people are, feeling that he needs to positively identify Reverend Bright.

[Rizban]

Carrying the coins leaves a funny taste in his mouth.

He finds several acolytes wandering the halls, but all the leading clergy is strangely absent from this part of the temple.

[planswalker]

Camraman lurks around and searches out for where they are, listening to the talk of the acolytes hoping to find clues.

[roll0] in [roll1]

[planswalker]

If that should fail, he'll try again with [roll0] in [roll1] hours.

[Rizban]

It appears that they are all near the front of the temple dealing with some sort of mass prayer service in the courtyard. The acolytes, not trusted to not mess up during the service, are relegated to the back of the temple for their other duties.

[planswalker]

Ignoring the acolytes for now but noting where they work, Camraman goes to investigate this service.

[Rizban]

A crowd of people have entered the temple grounds from outside and kneel with heads bowed in orderly lines arrayed about a golden dias. Atop the dias stands the winged creature, sans wings, he saw earlier. He seems to be giving a passionate prayer which is more sermon than prayer about the glories of the Light. About half of the priests are walking amongst the crowd praying with individuals, and another fourth of them are working crowd control to quickly and silently find places for those still arriving and managing those who are leaving. The remaining priests are walking about with cloth bags on the ends of poles which they extend before the kneeling patrons, collecting offerings to Pelor. The bags never seem to be full, regardless of how much is placed within them.

[planswalker]

Camraman decides that it's time for an invisible rat to make life interesting. He climbs up the leg of the nearest lady who looks finicky and squeaks loudly.

After that, he gets down quickly.

[Rizban]

She jumps up and starts to scream, but she's quickly stopped by a priest who runs up to her. Still, it has caused a ripple of murmurs and turned heads which has disturbed the prayers. The priest, hearing the woman's story begins looking around for the creature that startled her.

[planswalker]

Camraman starts running around amongst their feet, making noises and darting off, just to see what sorts of chaos he can cause.

[Rizban]

Knowing that something is up and not wanting to draw the ire of the priests, the others try their best to remain calm, though some do start a bit as camraman comes near to them.

There are now three priests converging on Camraman's location.

[planswalker]

Camraman slinks off as quietly as he can, figuring that priests even manage to make causing chaos boring.

[roll0]

[Rizban]

Two of them stop to calm down the worshipers, and the other one, after looking around for a moment, starts moving as quickly as possible after camraman.

[planswalker]

He heads towards the preacher-man.

[Rizban]

As he draws near to the dais, the priest stop following him and begins to back away.

[planswalker]

Figuring he might be on to something, but if the priest's scared, likely he should be too, and he really doesn't want to lose Bear's ring. He stops one row short of the preacher and waits, hoping someone will reveal the identitity of the preacher sometime soon.

[Rizban]

He realizes that if he's running things that he must be Reverend Bright, even if no one is actually saying the name.

[planswalker]

Camraman will wait until the service is over, then follow the man.

[Rizban]

Having stopped in the front row, the priest who was chasing him begins to approach again.

[planswalker]

Camraman hides inside the closest skirt.

[roll0]

[Rizban]

As he scampers inside of the kneeling woman's skirt, she jumps up startled, revealing his hiding spot.

[planswalker]

Desperate to not get caught and lose Bear's ring he just spent good money on, Camraman rushes off and tries to hide elsewhere in the crowd.

[roll0]

[Rizban]

Frustrated, the priest lets him go so long as he doesn't cause any more mischief.

[planswalker]

Camraman hides and stays quiet for now. He waits until the service ends and follows Reverend Bright if he can.

[Rizban]

After the service, he follows Rev B. to a small back room where he gets a glimpse of Bear shackled to a chair just before the door is shut in his face.

[planswalker]

Trusting Bear to handle himself, Camraman waits for RB to come back out and follows him again, being careful this time to stay close enough to follow him through any doors he goes through.

[Rizban]

He returns to the main chamber a few hours later, knocks the holy symbol of Pelor off the altar onto the floor, stretches out on the altar, and just kind of lays there as if attempting to sleep.

[planswalker]

Camraman doesn't trust him to be asleep, but he starts digging around thie altar anyways, seeing what it is he can uncover.

taking 20 on search for a 19

[Rizban]

He grumbles and tosses a hymnal at the rat for disturbing his rest.

It hits for [roll0]

[planswalker]

Fearing the Hymnals of Death, Camraman decides to just hide and wait until RB does something or dawn, whichever comes first.

[Rizban]

Rev B gets up near dawn and replaces the holy symbol. About 20 minutes later, the priests enter the sanctuary for morning prayers.

[planswalker]

Camraman confirms in his head that he hasn't seen RB eat or drink in that period of time, then leaves, meeting back up with bear at the pre-arranged time.

and don't you dare forget the xp you owe me for Bear's encounters

[Rizban]

Camraman arrives before Bear does. Eventually the snake that is bear slithers up and meets up with the rat.

The gain 3000xp for learning more about RB and avoiding his mental domination.

[planswalker]

Bear dismisses the urbanshape and confers with Camraman. Once he has learned everything the rat has, he realizes a new insight into his urban powers. He goes to the temple of Urbanus, prays gratefully, then urbanshapes into an eagle to rest on a rooftop. When he wakes up, he is filled with new powers and goes to his contact to tell him about everything he's learned.

[planswalker]

Bear dismisses the urbanshape and confers with Camraman. Once he has learned everything the rat has, he realizes a new insight into his urban powers. He goes to the temple of Seelia, prays gratefully, then urbanshapes into an eagle to rest on a rooftop. When he wakes up, he is filled with new powers and goes to his contact to tell him about everything he's learned.

[rolvl=hp]100d8[/rollv]

taking the first non-1

[planswalker]

Bear dismisses the urbanshape and confers with Camraman. Once he has learned everything the rat has, he realizes a new insight into his urban powers. He goes to the temple of Seelia, prays gratefully, then urbanshapes into an eagle to rest on a rooftop. When he wakes up, he is filled with new powers and goes to his contact to tell him about everything he's learned.

[roll0]

taking the first non-1

[Rizban]

Bear arrives back at the crypt, goes through the same rigamarole, and finally meets with Mr. Black.

"So, Bear, what have you learned?"

[planswalker]

"Reverend Bright is definitely the chief priest in the temple to Pelor. He preaches the sermons at their services. He seems to be re-writing the holy texts, and doing so with the rest of the temple's implicit permission. When no one is looking, he dismisses his disguise and his pair of feathered wings are revealed. He also is behind a group of people who are harassing the Sisters of Salvation and trying to shut them down. He does not sleep, and does not eat, nor does he seem to need to. He can pierce through invisibility without having cast a spell, and he can attempt to forcibly convert someone to his religion."

"In my assessment sir, you are dealing with a celestial of high enough ranking to pose a serious threat to anyone foolish enough to get in his way. However, I have never seen him leave the building for any reason, and that combined with his likely nature would lead me to assume that he is bound to the temple and cannot leave it. His actions and schemes would seem to indicate to me that he is in fact a fallen celestial, having been corrupted away from the true and good path of light."

[Rizban]

Mr Black steeples his fingers.

"Interesting..."

He just stares at you from behind his fingers.

[planswalker]

"I am aware that this is not sufficient to actually discredit him, but I thought you should be aware of what it is you are actually hiring me to do. I now have to try to find a way to discredit a man who is in all likelyhood an archangel fallen to evil who is never seen outside the temple of one of the strongest deities in the realm. Do not expect instant results. Also, if you are using more than one person to acquire your information, you now know more about him to better prepare your other informants so that they do not waste the same time tracking it down."

[Rizban]

"Very well."

He reaches under his desk and pulls out a small bag, which he tosses to you.

"Here's a little something for your troubles. Please though, if you manage to find more, let me know."

He looks like he's ready for you to leave.

[planswalker]

"Thank you sir. Since it was not the information you are actually paying me for, though, I will not accept your money. I had come by to keep you informed, not wring extra money for what's technically extraneous information."

Bear leaves the money on the table and leaves.

Hm.... this is rather tricky. I think the only angle I could take on this is finding the person or persons who are Reverend Bright's contacts with the outside and getting them to confess publicly.

[Rizban]

You leave the money on the desk and leave.

You contemplate.

[planswalker]

I'm aware that what I did was passive. I was just hoping seeing it written out would help me think. Plus, leaving his money on his desk might have caused a reaction.

Bear decides that what he really needs to do is follow Reverend Bright day and night until he can find whatever it is that connects him with the outside world.

However, it appears that 24 hours of observation may or may not be enough to do it.

Time to plan for a long siege.

The first thing Bear does is take his invisibility ring back from Camraman, then he takes the 1 coin Camraman found and examines it determining its value.

He then will urbanshape into an eagle, leaving Camraman his ring and then taking it back afterwords so as to be a flying, invisible eagle. He then will prey upon North Market for three days, looking to snatch things that appear valuable and easy to take, such as a coin purse set down for a moment or any valuable that an eagle could snatch.

unless, of course, the city has some arbitrary means of protecting every transaction stall in all of North Market from invisible aerial thieves.

[planswalker]

(nudge)...

[Rizban]

I was getting there. I just had several others before you. Your bump knocked it all the way to the top of my list though, and I respond from teh bottom up... So... yeah, you ended up being last now. :smalltongue:The coin appears to be a shiny platinum piece with 10 XP stuck to it.

On the first day, he manages to grab a purse with 200 silver, a purse with a jasper gem inside, and a small, silver teapot.

On the second day, he manages to grab a purse with 10 platinum, and a small ruby.

On the third day, he manages to grab a purse with 5 gold, and then dives for a large purse left on the counter, only to trigger a snare trap. Make a Reflex save.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

you're puling my worst save just because I bumped it, didn't you?

to be fair, you hadn't updated Bear in three days. I had thought the thread had gotten lost.

[Rizban]

Nope, this is just because it's the most logical save for the situation.

To be honest, I hadn't really updated anything except PMs in three days.The snare catches you about the foot, pulling tight as you try to fly away. Pulling the snare starts a little bell to ringing, drawing the attention of the shop owner.

[planswalker]

Wonderful, Bear, caught as an invisible eagle in a shopkeeper's trap.

Bear converts neutralize poison into summon monster III and summons a convocation of [roll0] eagles and commands them to attack the snare.

[Rizban]

Patrons and merchants dive for cover at the sudden appearance of a convocation of magically augmented eagles. A cry goes up, and the City Watch is summoned, though it will take a minute or two for anyone to arrive. Fortunately, they manage to slice through the thick twine making up the snare rather easily.

[planswalker]

Bear commands them to fly around, make noise, and cause chaos as he flies off.

He takes this opportunity to risk snatching a coin purse on his way out, and flies over to whatever rooftop he's been storing his stolen goods on to evaluate what all he's found so far.

[Rizban]

In the commotion, everyone nearby has grabbed their personal valuables; however, he does manage to grab a gold necklace from a merchant selling jewelry.

[planswalker]

Good enough.

He notes that he has now:

110 gp worth of platinum pieces
20 gp worth of silver
a jasper gem
a small, silver teapot.
a small ruby.
5 gold
large purse left on the counter (not sure its contents)
gold necklace.

confirming that he hasn't missed anything, he takes the two gems, gold neclace and silver teapot to a pawn shop and sells them.

[Rizban]

The large purse was empty, merely bait for the trap. But, hey, free purse.

Pawning the gems, necklace and teapot, Bear earns 241gp.
[roll0]*10 =50
[roll1]*10 =80
[roll2]*10 =100
[roll3]

[planswalker]

Having acquired a small sum of money this way, Bear readies the next stage of his plan: Spy on Reverend Bright 24/7 until someone meets with him.

He stone shapes a set of tunnels that lead to where he saw Reverend Bright, and will continue to use every spell slot of 3rd level each day to extend the tunnel system to anywhere else Reverend Bright goes. He shapes the tunnels such that there is one peep hole in the center of every room. Other than that, they are all 1x1x10 foot cubic tunnels. He himself will stay wildshaped as a small viper the whole time, and he and camraman will take turns watching him, the one watching while the other sleeps and eats and vice versa.

[Rizban]

When he tries to return to his original tunnel, he finds that it has been pumped full of mud and had transmute mud to rock cast upon it.

Other than that, the plan goes accordingly.

[planswalker]

ooh eighth level spell... gotta be careful not to get caught.

Bear makes sure to have two exits to his tunnel system, on different sides of the temple.

Let the stakeout begin.

is there some sort of check you'd like me to do?

[Rizban]

5th level spell

Yeah, roll 10d20, and I'll apply them as necessary to spot/listen/MS/etc.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

in case you need more:

[roll1]

[Rizban]

You successfully establish your tunnel system; however, it does not go entirely unnoticed. After the first two days, you notice a few rat traps and at least one tempting food bin near the holes you made into the temple.

Reverend Bright has spent most of his time moving from room to room talking to priests, encouraging them and uplifting their spirits. It seems like he's a really nice guy.

He has taken to spending his nights in the upper rooms of the temple above the main sanctuary.

[planswalker]

In small viper form, Bear dons the ring of invisibility and slithers up to the upper room.

[Rizban]

Getting there will require Bear to find and use the stairs leading up.

[planswalker]

Okay, he searches for those stairs and takes them up...

[Rizban]

On his way to find the stairs, he encounters an angry cat with some nasty scarring. It attacks you, hitting for 1 damage.

[planswalker]

whoah, whoah, whoah. He saw the invisible snake?

[Rizban]

Cats have scent. He smelled you. I rolled his hide/MS vs your spot/listen, and he sneaked up on you and attacked the thing he could smell but not see, succeeding on his miss chance.

I never actually said that it saw you, just that it attacked you.

[planswalker]

I'd contest how it serendipitously managed to pinpoint my square while I was moving, but whatever.

Bear strikes out at the cat.

[roll0]
[roll1]

fortitude dc 13 initial/secondary damage 1d6/1d6 con.

btw, my ac increases by 8 in this form, +4 for my dex going from a -1 to a +3, +1 size, and +3 from the new natural armor.

and my armor specifically says that it stays active in wildshape.

[Rizban]

The cat manages to avoid the attack through more serendipitous luck.

Unfortunately, its luck runs out as it swipes at you but misses by almost a foot.

[planswalker]

Bear strikes again against the cat.

[roll0]
[roll1]
fortitude dc 13 initial/secondary damage 1d6/1d6 con.

[Rizban]

Unfortunately, Bear isn't very proficient with his new serpentine form and misses. Fortunately, so does the cat.

[planswalker]

[roll0]
[roll1]
fortitude dc 13 initial/secondary damage 1d6/1d6 con.

[Rizban]

This time, he finally manages to land with his bite, and the cat fails its fortitude save yelping as the poison flows into its veins. It tries to run away.

[planswalker]

He takes the AoO.

[roll0]
[roll1]
fortitude dc 13 initial/secondary damage 1d6/1d6 con.

[Rizban]

Your second bite also hits. The cat makes it a few feet before passing out on the ground, slowly bleeding from the bite wounds as the poison does its work.

[planswalker]

He coup de grace's the cat then continues up the steps and goes to Reverend Bright's room.

[Rizban]

The cat dies. You go to his room.

[planswalker]

Bear slithers his way into the room.

[Rizban]

The door is shut, and it is flush with the frame, leaving no gap through which to slither.

[planswalker]

Bear dismisses the wildshape and slips on the ring once more. He opens the door a crack.

[Rizban]

The door is locked.

[planswalker]

Bear will stone shape himself a 1x1x10 tunnel under the door and through the wall. He will drop his ring, urbanshape into a small viper again, re-don the ring and slither through.

[Rizban]

Inside, he finds Reverend Bright in a deep, meditative trance.

[planswalker]

Having acquired a small sum of money this way, Bear readies the next stage of his plan: Spy on Reverend Bright 24/7 until someone meets with him.

He stone shapes a set of tunnels that lead to where he saw Reverend Bright, and will continue to use every spell slot of 3rd level each day to extend the tunnel system to anywhere else Reverend Bright goes. He shapes the tunnels such that there is one peep hole in the center of every room. Other than that, they are all 1x1x10 foot cubic tunnels. He himself will stay wildshaped as a small viper the whole time, and he and camraman will take turns watching him, the one watching while the other sleeps and eats and vice versa.

He continues watching Reverend Bright day and night until he finally breaks off this isolation and meets with someone.

[Rizban]

After several days of observation, you notice a young acolyte is the only one who ever meets with him privately.

[planswalker]

After the young acolyte meets with Reverend Bright one time, Bear follows him in invisible small viper form.

[Rizban]

He returns to his room, which is bare of everything but a small clothing chest and a low, hard bed. Here he waits until nightfall.

[planswalker]

As the neophyte waits, so does Bear.

[Rizban]

At nightfall, he stands up from his seated position, draws a cloak out from his chest, and wraps it around himself, almost disappearing entirely from sight. He then quietly leaves his room.

[planswalker]

Bear follows him, biting the cloak and attaching himself to him if it looks like he can do it and not be easily detected. Otherwise, he just follows, careful to keep him in sight the whole time.

[Rizban]

He will manage to hold on with a high enough Strength check.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

Here goes nothing.

[Rizban]

His tiny fangs indeed manage to hold tightly to the cloak, though the ride is far from comfortable. He drags you through several parts of the city, always sticking to the shadows, always hiding. Eventually, he stops at a small building on the far side of the city in Guildsman District. Knocking on the door, he says in a singsong voice, "My feet are tied with mangos in the deep blue sea."

[planswalker]

Very glad for invisibility, Bear waits for him to be let in.

[Rizban]

The door opens, and a kobold shows him quickly inside. They then converse briefly in draconic.

[planswalker]

Bear listens in, having recently picked up the language

he did so upon level-up

[Rizban]

It's not on your sheet...

[planswalker]

yes it is...

[Rizban]

The boy tells them details about a shapeshifting madman, likely a poor druid based on his style of dress, who likes snakes having infiltrated the temple of Pelor, offering them 5,000gp for his death. The kobold accepts.

[planswalker]

Bear uses his link with Camraman to warn him away from the temple.

Bear lets go of the acolyte and stays in the room, waiting for the kobold and acolyte to finish up.

[Rizban]

The acolyte leaves the way he came, and the kobold immediately leaves through another door, taking off at a run.

[planswalker]

Bear follows after him, running as well.

[Rizban]

Barely managing to keep up, he finds the kobold suddenly ducking into a side alley, where he is meeting with a heavily cloaked human. Bear catches up just as he is halfway through describing Bear to the human and offering him 4,000gp for Bear's death. The human accepts.

[planswalker]

Bear dismisses the wildshape, still invisible due to the ring. I am not that grungy. He thinks to himself. He waits for the two to go their separate ways and follows the human.

[Rizban]

He slinks through the shadows for awhile until he meets up with a woman in yet another back alley.

"Jacelyn, I've got a job for you."

He then describes you and offers her 2,000gp for your death. She accepts.

[planswalker]

Bear follows Jacelyn now.

[Rizban]

She enters a nearby building, where three others are waiting.

"Okay, guys, we've got a job. 1,000 gold split among the four of us to kill off some grungy druid with a snake fetish."

[planswalker]

"I do not have a snake fetish!" I yell out loud, still invisible.

[Rizban]

"Oh... sh"

The four jump, preparing for battle.

"This better be worth it Jocelyn."

Roll for initiative.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

filler.....

[Rizban]

17 - Thug 1
15 - Jocelyn
13 - Bear
11 - Thug 2
4 - Thug 3

The first thug draws his weapon and shouts, "Show yourself, slug!"

Jocelyn darts away from where she heard your voice to be behind the other thugs, then pulls a small bag out of her pack.

Bear's turn.

[planswalker]

Bear takes a 5ft step and casts summon monster IV, converting vortex of teeth. Bear summons [roll0] black bears.

[planswalker]

The four bears appear around Jocelyn and each take a swipe at her.

[roll0] for [roll1] and [roll2] cold damage.
[roll3] for [roll4] and [roll5] cold damage.
[roll6] for [roll7] and [roll8] cold damage.
[roll9] for [roll10] and [roll11] cold damage.

they each have 13 ac and 25 hp.

[Rizban]

One round of combat later, the thugs are all dead.

"Oh hell, he's a summoner!"

Thug 2 fires a crossbow at the nearest bear, hitting for [roll0] damage then reloads.

Thug 3 charges the same bear, drawing his sword as he does so.

He hits the bear for [roll1] damage.

Thug 1 charges where he thinks your voice came from, swinging wildly. He stops about 15 feet from you.

Jocelyn maneuvers to try to keep her thugs between her and the bears, remaining watchful.

[planswalker]

Bear has the bears each attack one of the thugs, the injured one going after Jacelyn.

[roll0] for [roll1] and [roll2] cold.
[roll3] for [roll4] and [roll5] cold.
[roll6] for [roll7] and [roll8] cold.
[roll9] for [roll10] and [roll11] cold.

[planswalker]

Bear himself will move through the crowd, drawing near Jacelyn. He then casts mass snake's swiftness.

[roll0] for [roll1] and [roll2] cold.
[roll3] for [roll4] and [roll5] cold.
[roll6] for [roll7] and [roll8] cold.
[roll9] for [roll10] and [roll11] cold.

[Rizban]

Thug 3 takes an AoO against the injured bear as it moves away from him to attack Jocelyn, hitting for [roll0]. The bear drops unconscious.

Thug 2 takes a step back, fires his crossbow at bear2 [roll1], then drops it and draws a sword.

Thug 3 attacks Bear 3, missing.

Thug 1 attacks Bear 1, hitting for [roll2]. "Show yourself, snake lover! Freak!"

Jocelyn moves around again, closer toward Thug 1, trying to make certain none of the bears can charge her.

[Rizban]

"HA!"

Jocelyn tosses the packet she's been holding directly at your square with her readied action, releasing a fine dust into the area. As the dust settles, you begin to sparkle.

"Kill him! Kill him now!"

Bear 1 and 2 both hit, but the thugs still stand, barely. Bear 3 misses, again.

Thug 2 takes a step back, firing his crossbow at Bear for (1d10)[5] (rolled above).

Thug 3 takes the AoO from the bear to charge Bear, hitting for [roll0].

Thug 1 charges Bear, also taking an AoO from a bear. If he survives, he deal (1d8+4)[12] (rolled above).

Jocelyn turns and begins to run away from the fight.

[planswalker]

Bear 1 and 3 take the AoO's.

Bear 1
[roll0] for [roll1] and [roll2] cold.

Bear 3
[roll3] for [roll4] and [roll5] cold.


Bear 1 and 3 charge their targets.


Bear 1
[roll6] for [roll7] and [roll8] cold.

Bear 3
[roll9] for [roll10] and [roll11] cold.

Bear 2 takes a 5 foot step and full attacks his target.

[roll12] for [roll13] and [roll14] cold.
[roll15] for [roll16] and [roll17] cold.
[roll18] for [roll19] and [roll20] cold. - this one is a bite, bot a claw.

Bear takes a 5' step to get out of AoO range and casts spiritjaws at Jacelyn.

Spiritjaws attack: [roll21] dealing [roll22] and if it hits, starts a grapple with [roll23]

[planswalker]

crit confirm:
[roll0] for [roll1] and [roll2] cold.

[planswalker]

auto-kill?

[roll0] for [roll1] and [roll2] cold.

[Rizban]

Thug 1 drops.

Thug 2 drops.

Thug 3 survives, provoking another AoO to charge Bear, power attacking and hitting for [roll0] if he survives.

Jocelyn is grappled and unable to escape.

[planswalker]

Bear 3 takes the AoO,

[roll0] for [roll1] and [roll2] cold.

The other two bears charge thug three

[roll3] for [roll4] and [roll5] cold. forgot to add the +2 for charging.

[roll6] for [roll7] and [roll8] cold. forgot to add the +2 for charging.

as does Bear 3

[roll9] for [roll10] and [roll11] cold. forgot to add the +2 for charging.

the spiritjaws attempt to pin Jacelyn.

[roll12]

Bear will use a full-round action to withdraw, putting a bear between himself and the last thug. "Well, shall we surrender or die?" Bear asks Jacelyn.

[Rizban]

bear 3 hits with his AoO, but Thug 3 keeps going, slamming into Bear and knocking him unconscious, causing him to begin bleeding out. He is at -3.

The bears finish off Thug 3 and Jocelyn before the summoning spell ends, leaving Bear dying but without any enemies around to finish him off. He, in a rare turn of events in Aldhaven, actually has to make stabilization rolls.

[planswalker]

[roll0]

stabilization. 1-10 is stable.

[Rizban]

Sadly, Bear bleeds to death. As his spirit departs, he realizes that the dirty kobold will probably keep the reward money for himself.