IC: Sentinels of Houshen [D&D 5E] Thread: I

[Felhammer]

The city of Langzhen was bustling with activity on the the 5th of Wanle Hu. It was Xiuxi, a rest day, a day when the peasants and commoners were freed from their toils so they could bring their crops to market, so merchants could sell their wares, so the rest could enjoy a leisurely day. The Mayor was hosting a great celebration in honor of his son, Wang Jianrui, for the lad had recently come of age and had passed all the necessary tests to join the Imperial Army. The young man of eighteen had been given command of his very own platoon. Indeed, he had been given the rank of Chuangzhu, so his platoon was independent of the main army garrisoned in Houshen. Many people said Wang was destined for greatness, why else would he be selected to lead a force separate from the provincial army?

The Langyi under Wang's command had been given golden ceremonial armor and red silken robes to wear during the parade. Their burnished armor shone as bright as the sun and their robes were as crimson as fresh blood. No expense was spared for the celebration. Every man and woman in the town was given a red ribbon to mark the occasion, on each ribbon was sown the word, "Destiny." Indeed these mementos only furthered the rumors of Wang Jianrui's importance and special future. The parade included fire breathing Conkhi, Petjar dervishes and Shiren martial artists from the distant Lan Se Futou Monastery.

At the climax to the celebration, Wang Jianrui declared it was his intention to take his platoon into the Yin Caifu Pass and, forevermore, end the threat that the Shouren posed to both the Silver Way and the town. As he ended his declaration, a hundred fireworks were lit a flame and sent rocketing up into the sky, exploding in a riotous display of red and green cinders.

At the dawning of the 6th day of Wanle Hu, his platoon and a contingent of mercenaries strode out of Langzhen and into the pass, with the Mayor's son leading the way in his gilded palanquin.

It took but a day's travel before the scouts first reported spotting Shouren. They were stalking the platoon through the treacherous, mountainous pass. The way had not yet been made safe, so few guard rails had been installed. A simple misstep is all that would stand between a man and his fate at the bottom of a gorge. As the platoon and the mercenaries snaked their way around the trail, the Shouren attacked. Using foul magic, the beastly men ran down the sides of sheer cliffs as if they were running upon open plains. They rammed into the soldiers, sending many to their deaths down the side of the hill. A precarious fight began that saw almost as many Shouren as civilized men die...

You were a mercenary, walking at the rear of the line. Your unique skills were seen as the best defense the men had against a rear attack. Due to the long, snake-like trail, you could not race ahead to defend the Chuangzhu, nor were you close enough to attack any Shouren. At least thirty men and women stood betwixt you and the nearest man-beast.

Or so you thought.

A shaman who, like his kin, walked upon the cliffside, spoke foul words in his vile tongue. Before you could react, the earth beneath you feet opened up. You fell.

Down.

.

Down.

.

Down.

.

Down.

.

Down.

.

You don't remember what happened next.

Only the blackness of unconsciousness.

A splash of muddy water slouches across your face. Your eyes spring wide open, perhaps wider than they have ever been, perhaps wider than they ever will be again. You look around. A camel drinks from a dirt-colored stream. The beast has been overladen with boxes and rugs, fastened down with rope and leather belts. A rotund Petjar walks to each of the fallen mercenaries and splashes their faces with water. As he does, he yells, Aakaash bless you! His accent is thick as cold butter. He smiles as each of the mercenaries is awoken in turn. He counts out, "One, two, three... Seven! Aakaash has saved seven of you! A momentous day! Seven is his favorite number, did you know that? Well, I suppose it is six, as that was how many prophets walked the earth but, then there is Aakaash, so... Six and one...? YES! Six and one! Seven!" The badger-man makes several clicking noises, his camel looks at the Petjar, then returns his gaze to the stream, "If we were in the Desert of Death, this creature would come when I call. Instead, he decides to be stubborn. It is Aakaash's curse upon me for being away from home for so long!" The merchant pulls a wineskin from his camel's many boxes and passes it around, "Tell me, who are you? Why are you sleeping here, of all places? It is not good to sleep amongst the dead..."

The Petjar nods his head. As you turn to look, you see thirty contorted corpses laying on the earth. Most look to have fallen from a great height, their bones and armor did little to protect them from the fall. Blood and gore is scattered across the arid field, a grisley reminder of how lucky you were...

#WangJianrui #GatiTej

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

No-one could ever claim that Hei Jiafa was a stranger to battle. The Zirisen Warlock had been in his share of fights, the fiendish man possessed of great talent with both daggers and quarterstaff - and, more importantly, of an otherworldy and fiendish power, the result of a bargain made with denizens of Hell. His soul when he perished in exchange for unparalleled power in life. That had been the agreement.

And he had made as best use of it as he could during the cliffside skirmish, but there had been so many, and all of them just beyond the range of his eldritch blasts of force. For the first time in a long time, the warlock had felt fear, the only reason for him not flee having been the near certainty of death if Wang Jianrui's men had seen him.

And, even though he would never admit it to anyone, lest he be accused of becoming sentimental, the Zirisen could not bring himself to simply abandon Xiulan, the bard's words of inspiration helping the fiendish man to steel himself for the battle ahead.

As the cliff had crumbled beneath him, and he had fallen, he had cursed that sentimentality for leaving him trapped there. Cursed the shaman who had performed the deed. Cursed life for not lasting long enough for him to indulge in all of its pleasures.

Cursed fortune for not giving him just a little more time.

***

The encompassing, all-smothering sensatin of unconsciousness. Noises, tickling at the edge of his senses. And then, that splash of muddy water across his face.

"Aaah! Damn it, what..."

The warlock then remembered what had happened.

The battle. We were routed. We fell, we should be dead, why aren't we dead -

Xiulan. Where's Xiulan?

Looking around, and seeing he was the first to awaken - and that his companion had survived with him - Jiafa allowed himself a slight sigh of relief before taking the wineskin the badgerfolk had offered him, drinking deeply before passing it to the next of their company to awaken. He recognized them, now - along with Xiulan, they had all been stationed at the back to protect the company if flanked. Not that that had meant much, in the end.

Especially if the corpses near the cliffside were any indication.

"Tell me, who are you? Why are you sleeping here, of all places? It is not good to sleep amongst the dead...".

As the Petjar spoke, Jiafa turned to their awakener. Dusting off his studded leather armor, and checking quickly to see if he still had his belongings with him, he extended a hand.

"Hei Jiafa, arcanist extraordinaire, at your service." The Zirisen's voice was a calm, smooth one, every ounce of charm perfectly calculated. "We were hired soldiers, sent to help clear the Shouren that live in this pass. But..." He looked back at the corpses that lay twisted by the cliffs. "We were routed, regrettably. To be perfectly honest, I am surprised that we are alive - for we were not sleeping. We fell along with them."

It was then, looking over the field of battle, that the full implications of their loss hit Jiafa.

Well, there goes any chance of getting our pay now.

[Dudu]

"OOoooOooohhh you got to be ******** me..."

Those were Cao Bai's first words after waking up. For a shiren scholar, he certainly lacked their typical sophistication. In fact, his manners are more similar to the houren he grew up with.
His hands were holding his head like said head was about to crumble before he noticed a hand offering a much welcome wineskin.
Either way, he accepted the wineskin.

"Forgive my manners, mister. We are just having a really rough day. Thanks for the assistance. By the way, would mind telling us your name. Meantime, call me Cao Bai, explorer and unsucessful mercenary."

He passes the wineskin to whoever is next to him and then adresses the warlock.

"Why we aren't dead is an interesting question, but not for the momment. Not everyone of us got lucky..."

Futile. That was the only thing he could think as soon as he noticed that any attempt to save all those disfigured corpses would be for naught. They all were way beyond salvation. The very fact he was even alive could be labbeled as a miracle.

"I won't be surprised if we end up finding our precious young commander dead. We should value experience, not bloodline. But perhaps I'm being too harsh with the mayor's son, it was a bold ambush, afterall, hard to predict."
Skepticism concerning Wang Jianrui's capabilities aside, he wasn't expecting that Shaman. From Wang's expedition, he was merely expecting clumsiness, not a disaster.

Who knows how many died back there. Or more importantly, how many survived and are in dire need of help?

[Felhammer]

The Petjar smiles, "I am Gati Tej, traveling merchant and friend to all people who will trade with me!"

One of the last men to be woken up is a Houren mercenary, you believe his name was Ke Aiyun. His leather armor is fairly fancy given his status as a sword for hire. He has long black hair and features that are just shy of being full feminine. He drinks heavily from the wine skin but remains seated. After thanking the Petjar, he turns to Cao and Jaifa, "Have you seen the Chuangzhu? Did the bastards take him hostage or kill him? His safety is paramount!"

As the other two men and the merchant look around, they do not see anyone who looks like a military officer, nor the remnants of his golden palanquin. If it is still high up on the road above, then it could be out of sight, given your perspective at the base of the cliff.

"A Chuangzhu was with you? Hmm, seems the army appoints one of those every year after graduation. Seems they always die in some vain glorious campai..."

SHUT UP!" yells the Houren, "The Chuangzhu is NOT dead and this campaign was not some vain glorious mission! The Shouren must be defeated. Wang was the best and brightest the Officer's Academy in Wequiang de Huayan had to offer! We need to save him at all costs!"

#KeAiyun

[Arcbound]

Fai

The old Laoshu coughed, shuddering to life as he lay on the ground. One could be forgiven for assuming the wizened rat man was dead, it would not be the first time though hopefully not the last either. Red eyes blinked, taking in the surroundings, his bony shoulders sagging mournfully. Fai was unsure what had possessed him to join a military campaign against the Shouren. He still had nightmares about the year he spent in captivity amongst them and perhaps he felt it was only fair that he return the pain and anguish that they had inflicted upon him. No matter what his reasons, it was clear to him now that it had all been folly.

While the others were busy drinking from the wine skin, Fai simply gathered up a handful of muddy water, slurping it out of his palm. It was hardly pleasant, but at that moment his parched throat was less concerned with the quality of the drink.

"Patience," He breathed once he was fairly confident he could speak again without coughing. "Given what happened, there are only a few possible outcomes worth considering. First, the Chuangzhu is dead. In which case, our mission has failed. It would then be the honorable thing to find his body and return him home."

Fai took another sip of muddy water, "Second, the Chuangzhu is alive but being held captive by the Shouren. If that is the case, then we must be careful. Recklessly charging against them would be a pointless effort."

"Or third," Fai found his staff, pushing himself to his feet finally, "The Chuangzhu is alive and has eluded capture. If so, then we must be cautious, as the Shouren will be pursuing him as well, no doubt."

The elderly wizard ran a hand through his hair, brushing the bright white strands back behind his ears as he looked up at the cliff that they had fallen from. A little chuckle escaped him as he shook his head and added, "We have not failed yet. After all, failure is not falling down, but rather refusing to get up after the fact."

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

"Ugh... what? What happened...?"

Xiulan slowly sat up, then instantly regretted it as flashing lights and pain filled the inside of her head. Forcing herself to sit still until they finally subsided, she rubbed her temple.

"Remind me again who thought it would be a good idea to join up with a mercenary group...?"

A moment later she managed opening her eyes and taking in her surroundings. It was decidedly unpleasant. For a woman who had spent most of her life safely cloistered away within the halls of a library, the idea of mass slaughter in combat was safely removed from reality. In theory she could understand what it was, but seeing it firsthand was completely different.

"Uh? Ah!"

Leaping to her feet (or more correctly, lurching to her feet) with a shout she staggered forward, desperate to get away from the dead lying all around. Spinning around, she searched the area for anyone else still living, in particular looking for a certain familiar face. When she at last spotted a certain zisiren, Xiulan gave a sigh of relief and seemed to calm down a bit. Brushing some of the dust off of what had once been a very neat and well-made set of clothes, she made her way toward the other survivors. As she sidled over, she frowned slightly in Jiafa's direction.

"Alright, this is definitely worse than that time with the brothel. You know this, right?"

[HanaRei]

Kari

"What is wrong with a brothel? Its not that bad of a place usually. They can give lots of drinks and stuff if you go to the right one! Not to mention guys say they love to give you nice tips! Dunno though, they always seem to want to give them in shady places, I never got to see how much cash they give..." She commented looking down in thought. She walked towards the others seeming a bit better then the others. It wasn't so much that she hadn't passed out... she had done just that... it had been her quick thinking using one of the other falling soldiers to help break her fall a bit. She hummed lightly to herself acting quite nonchalant. Her little attempt at picking corpses had all but failed on her finding nothing worth wild to slip into her pocket as a quick grab.

The bubbly looking girl smiled brightly. She glanced around as if new to the actual surroundings as she tapped her chin. "Huh? Wait where are we?" She spoke ditzily looking about. She stood up straight brushing herself off giving a light shrug in response. "Well you know what they say! They say... something..." She spoke scratching her chin seemingly in thought attempting to put together a saying she didn't truthfully know off the top of her head.

[Estralita]

Li Me was slow to open her eyes. For the moment, she just wanted to appreciate the gift that was being alive on Earth. Both the pain and the pleasure. She had done her best to walk the middle path, but wasn't quite ready to see if she had been sucessful.

The mention of Aakaash brought her back to reality. Her eyes snapped open, and she bolted up. Looking around warily, she saw all the dead around her. Momentarily distracted, she bowed her head.

"Walk the Middle Path
Stray not a little
Come Back to us whole.

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

"I am Gati Tej, traveling merchant and friend to all people who will trade with me!"

"And a pleasure it is to meet you, sir."

Jiafa then turned as Xiulan, having finally awakened, made her way over.

"Alright, this is definitely worse than that time with the brothel. You know this, right?"

"What is wrong with a brothel? Its not that bad of a place usually. They can give lots of drinks and stuff if you go to the right one! Not to mention guys say they love to give you nice tips! Dunno though, they always seem to want to give them in shady places, I never got to see how much cash they give..."

Jiafa looked toward Kari, an eyebrow raised as he observed her rather ditzy demeanour. "Those people... Well, they're generally more interested in giving tips in the form of 'liquid assets', so to speak."

He then turned back to Xiulan. "As for the incident at the brothel, 1) We agreed never to speak of that again, 2) You told me that room was the toilet and NOT the changing room when it was your job to double-check the layout, and 3) I wasn't the one who made the comparison involving elephant seals during mating season."

Jiafa's attention was then caught by the awakening of Ke Aiyun.

"Have you seen the Chuangzhu? Did the bastards take him hostage or kill him? His safety is paramount!"

"A Chuangzhu was with you? Hmm, seems the army appoints one of those every year after graduation. Seems they always die in some vain glorious campai..."

SHUT UP! The Chuangzhu is NOT dead and this campaign was not some vain glorious mission! The Shouren must be defeated. Wang was the best and brightest the Officer's Academy in Wequiang de Huayan had to offer! We need to save him at all costs!"

"Temper, temper!" Jiafa said, smoothly. "There's no need to get all angry or excited, here. Stray passion disracts the mind and ruins concentration."

The Zirisen, of course, was only happy to ignore his own vices for the sake of getting one up on Aiyun - but it needed to be done, really. Otherwise this idiot would surely have them charging headon into a repeat of this whole fiasco. It wasn't hypocrisy, really. He saved his indulgences for after the job, so it didn't count.

"Now, as... Fai, was it? said, if we are to go after Chuangzhu, we need to consider this carefully. That -" Jiafa pointed up, "Was a company of many, and we are but a band of few. Even with the casualties they did manage to inflict on those barbarians, do you really think we stand a chance in a frontal assault? Particularly when they undoubtedly know the terrain better than we do? No. We need to consider this carefully, look around, gather clues. And once we do find the Shouren, figure out a plan from there. We will need to use our cunning here, and not brute strength."

And, of course, there will be the matter of negotiating a reasonable fee for all of this. The mayor will surely pay an emperor's ransom for the return of his son, especially in the wake of this disaster.

"Also... I don't know about all of you, but I sincerely doubt we have the time to give rites to all these corpses." He looked to Li Mei. "Would you be so kind as to invoke Dengai?"

His piece said, Jiafa then looked around, trying to spot if any of the corpses had been wearing red.

I don't need to add dealing with ghosts to today's list.

Spoiler: Actions

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First skill roll of the game.

Perception: (1d20+3)[13]

Spoiler: OOC

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Hei Jiafa's personality may be patterned after his namesake - and one of the other actors in that linked scene - but I imagine him as sounding very much like Jeremy Irons.

[Dudu]

He shifts his attention from the corpses to adress the Petjar

"Nice to meet you, Gati Tej." and whispers "I'm with you here. Could bet my sandals we will find this Chuangzu dead, if we find him to begin with."

Fai

"Patience," He breathed once he was fairly confident he could speak again without coughing. "Given what happened, there are only a few possible outcomes worth considering. First, the Chuangzhu is dead. In which case, our mission has failed. It would then be the honorable thing to find his body and return him home."

Fai took another sip of muddy water, "Second, the Chuangzhu is alive but being held captive by the Shouren. If that is the case, then we must be careful. Recklessly charging against them would be a pointless effort."

"Or third," Fai found his staff, pushing himself to his feet finally, "The Chuangzhu is alive and has eluded capture. If so, then we must be cautious, as the Shouren will be pursuing him as well, no doubt."

"Alright. I'm with Fai here, our goal is clear. Find our precious Chuangzhu."

Said that, he puts his almost ruined hat on his head and grabs his quarterstaff.

"Does everyone here with enough strenght left to help us find the Chuangzhu?"

[Felhammer]

Spoiler: Jiafa and anyone else who makes a DC 12 Perception

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The gorge is thirty feet across at its widest point and narrows down to fifteen feet at its slimmest. The river cut a meandering path through the rock, giving the gorge itself a jagged nature, with many outcroppings. The walls are dry and made from stone. If you had the equipment, you could scale the cliff with ease. The stream meanders down the middle of the gorge is shallow, often only a few inches deep. The previous year's winter was unusually warm, which meant little snow fell in the mountains, the run off from what little snow did fall barely makes its way into the the Empire proper.

As you look upwards, you can see the arms and legs of dead soldiers and Shouren hanging over the edge of the trail some fifty feet above you. Then you spot it, some movement. Up on the trail. Some dirt is nudged, it tumbles down the side. From your vantage point, you cannot tell if it is friend or foe...

Ke fires back at the group, "We must go after the Mayor's son! It is our duty! We cannot wait around and debate this like... Like two stubborn monks! We don't have time for that!" As he speaks, the man's skin changes color, turning from an earthy brown to deep orange. His hair flutters in the wind like an open flame. "We must save him!" He looks over at Cao and nods, "Finally! Someone with the brains to realize what must be done!"

Tej leans in towards Xiulan and whispers, "Quite the hot head you have over there..."

Spoiler: Everyone

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The Doc has been updated! Please find the link in my signature :)

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

"Our duty was to-"

Jiafa, now starting to get slightly irritated, was cut off in mid-reply as he spotted movement up on the mountain trail. Immediately, he shifted into a combat stance.

"Quiet. There's movement up there."

Drawing his focus crystal from the pouch at his belt, he narrowed his eyes as he waited for whoever was moving to reveal him/herself, arcane energy building at his fingertips as he prepared to blast it at the first sign of hostility.

[Felhammer]

As Jiafa watches the cliff, he sees a tiny green arm reach over the side. It is too small for a civilized person and not hairy enough to be one of the smaller races. Shouren are too large... Then it hits you, it must be a Bidao! The smaller cousins of Shouren. Their small size makes them less overtly violent but they are far more devious. This one seems to be picking over some corpses, tossing bits and baubles over his shoulder, which tumble down to the gorge below.

Spoiler: History Checks

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To save time, I will roll. You guys add your modifiers and see if you passed.

Cao Bai (1d20)[15]
Fai (1d20)[20]
Hei Jiafa (1d20)[20]
Kari (Lyn) (1d20)[19]
Li Mei (1d20)[10]
Wei Xiulan (1d20)[2]

Spoiler: DC 12

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You know that Bidao are the smaller cousins of Shouren. Bidao keep to themselves for the most part, savaging, raiding and pillaging for what they cannot create for themselves. They exist all across the Empire and are seen by some as a nuisance and by others as a blight. Many Bidao clans have taken to living outside the Empire's borders, where they can live without the fear of constant reprisals by heavily armed and armored soldiers. Sadly, they do not get along well with the other natives of the Mongontai Mountains. The Kongren and Shouren often enslave the Bidao and use them as laborers. The Shouren often take it a step farther by arming Bidao and using them as cannon fodder, or worse, butchering them and using them as meat during the lean months of winter.

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

Jiafa turned to the rest of the party.

"It's a bidao. Must be scavenging for treasure after the battle."

The Zirisen stroked his chin.

"Shouren often keep the bidao as slaves and shock troopers, from what I recall. If we could capture him, we could try and interrogate him for information. I have climbing equipment in my pack, but... that would be far too noisy."

He looked around at the others.

"Does anyone here have any magic that would allow us to get up there quickly and ambush the creature?"

Spoiler: OOC - Fel and Arcbound

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More specifically, looking through sheets, I believe that Fai's Jump spell might allow us to corner him, if used in conjunction with Phantasmal Force to trick the goblin into surrendering. How high is the cliff up, and how high would Jump let Fai get?

Or, alternatively...

1) Could Jump be cast on Cao Bai, so that he could use Command to try and get the goblin to sit down, thus allowing Cao Bai to try and tie him up?
2) Are there any alternate paths we can spot that would lead us back up to the road?

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

"Actually I could take care of that pretty easily."

Xiulan looked from the source of movement back towards Jiafa as she whispered.

"I'd have to get closer to do so. But you know I can charm it using magic. If it works, it would probably tell us whatever it knows simply out of friendship, no need for coercion."

Spoiler

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How representative is the map for distance? Each square is still 5 feet?

[Arcbound]

Fai stroked his chin in thought. He had seen many Bidao during his time in the Shouren camp. They were horrible little creatures but they were also possessed of an inherent cowardice. The chances were good that one could be cowed into submission very easily, assuming they could reach it. He motioned toward Jaifa to get his attention, leaning on his staff and speaking softly.

"I know a spell that would allow an individual to jump quite high. Of course, it has limits. The physically strongest of us would have the best chance of making it to the top of the cliff."

[Felhammer]

Spoiler: OOC

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Each square is 5 feet. The Bidao is 50 feet up :)

[Dudu]

"All right people, he might be just minding his own business. Let's just keep him in the corner of our eyes."

One Bidao isn't a threat. But then again, they are tricksters, so he might have something in his sleeve. Cao believes he doesn't, though, just enjoying the opportunity to loot.

"C'mon, if we get this Chuangzhu safe and sound inside city walls not only we will do something good in this mission but rewards will be given!"

[Estralita]

Mei glanced up at the Bidao briefly, but she had something much more urgent to do. She began the task of going through the bodies, removing everything red, and the identification tokens so their families could be contacted. All while she did this, Mei recited the old prayers, hoping that she wouldn't need to invoke Dengai, but also glad that she was there to protect them if it came to it.

[HanaRei]

Kari

She looked to the creature, shrugging a little before looking to the others. "Poor guy is just going around picking things it looks like. Might as well let 'em be!" She spoke glancing over at some weird trinket she had picked from one of the corpses before casually tossing it away not seeing much value in it upon closer inspection. The carefree rogue rested her hands behind her back, glancing over casually being quite relaxed, though turthfully she was glancing around watching more closely in case there was a sign of something more devious going on.

Spoiler: Actions

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Investigate, mostly to see if the creature might be trying to set up anything or if its just picking things. Hopefully right roll, will use perception as well.

Perception: (1d20+2)[10]
Investigate: (1d20+5)[23]

[Felhammer]

Thankfully Mei does not find a single read strand of cloth on any of the fallen mercenaries or soldiers.

Spoiler: Kari

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The Bidao seems to just be picking over the bodies, grabbing shiny baubles and other things he finds interesting. It does not seem to be setting up an ambush or anything. He has not noticed the party yet.

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

Xiulan stared at the others with a vexed expression on her features.

"'Minding his own business'? 'Poor guy'? 'going around picking things'?.... I'm not sure about you all, but I don't think I'd much appreciate having my remains picked over by a scavenger."

Looking down the length of the ravine, at least so far as the landscape permitted, Xiulan noted the dip in the road further north.

"Doesn't look too steep over there. I'm going to see if I can't get up on the path."

Spoiler

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So I'm guessing it would be Athletics check to attempt climbing at the low point in the trail. (This'll be funny with no bonus...)
(1d20)[1]

And Xiulan will attempt to be stealthy as she goes, at least insofar as she can being untrained in it.
(1d20+3)[22]

[Dudu]

"'Minding his own business'? 'Poor guy'? 'going around picking things'?.... I'm not sure about you all, but I don't think I'd much appreciate having my remains picked over by a scavenger."

"Actually, you wouldn't mind since you would be dead. Back to the life cycle, back to earth. The living inherit what the dead left. Any minute we devote worring about this poor creature we decrease our chances of finding Wang Jianrui alive."

He is about to leave, when he notices he doesn't really have a clue on where to begin looking for.

"...then again, he might have information. Let me follow you, Xiulan."

[Felhammer]

Xiulan attempts to scale the fifteen foot tall wall but cannot seem to find a good footing. Luckily, the Bidao does not seem to take notice of the struggling mercenary.

[Arcbound]

Fai

The Laoshu sighs, shaking his head as others attempt to scale the side of the cliff with little luck. He promptly sits down, setting his staff upon his lap, waiting patiently for this disparate group of individuals to decide upon a plan of action, running a hand through his hair again. "He who wanders blindly makes less progress than the man who stands still."

[Lord Of Mantas]

Jiafa

Spoiler: OOC

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If permissible, I'd like to take a mulligan on this action, as I did not stop to read Dudu's proposed course of action before I wrote up this post.

Liking the direction Xiulan's thoughts were going, Jiafa walked over to her as she slid back down the wall.

"Let me try. If I make it up I can toss a rope down to you."

Rubbing his hands together, the Warlock began hoisting himself up...

Spoiler: Actions

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Now, watch as the RNG borks right at the crucial moment.

Athletics: (1d20)[4]

Stealth: (1d20+3)[5]

Spoiler: If a mulligan is allowed...

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Watching Xiulan and liking the direction her thoughts were going, Jiafa walked over to her as Cao Bai approached.

"Here, let me give you a boost."

After allowing the cleric to cast his spell, Jiafa knelt down and cupped his hands, ready to give Xiulan a boost.

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

Whimpering as she slid back down the incline, Xiulan tried her best to look as though she'd meant for that to happen.

"He who wanders blindly makes less progress than the man who stands still."

"And they also say 'Those who do not seek rarely find'..."

Rolling her eyes slightly at the laoshu's koan, Xiulan turned at the others' approach. Her immediate reaction when Jiafa knelt down and cupped his hand confused her, until she realized his intent of offering her a boost up the side of the cliff.

"Oh? Well alright, I suppose I could try again. Incidentally, did anybody see that earlier?"

Spoiler

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So if I'm understanding correctly here, advantage on the athletics check, regular on the stealth.

Athletics: (2d20b1)[10]

Stealth: (1d20+3)[9]

So, according to Guidance, I can opt to add the d4 roll before or after making the check. If the Athletics attempt goes poorly, I'll go ahead and add it there. Otherwise, I'll save it and use for the subsequent Stealth.

Guidance: (1d4)[1]

So... if I were making those sequentially, I probably would have spent the d4 boost attempt on the climb portion. (Seriously crappy rolls though....)

[Felhammer]

With more help than one would think normally necessary Xiulan eventually scrambles up to the path. However, she is not as quiet as she intended. The Bidao spots her and her companions. He casts his gaze about and eventually finds a spear. He hoists it up into an attack position then yells, "AWAY! GO! MINE!"

[Mathemagics]

Xiulan

Taking care not to make any sudden movements, Xiulan slowly raised her hands in front of her.

"Okay. That's fine. We're not going to take anything. Just calm down. We're looking for someone--he was riding in uh... a golden chair. Did you see what happened to him?"

Spoiler

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Persuasion: (1d20+7)[27]

Also, now that Xiulan is up on the path with a better vantage, does she see the palanquin anywhere?

[Felhammer]

Spoiler: OOC

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No Palanquin :(

"Chair? Gold? I WANT. Where? Give. Give."

The bidao then holds up his hand in front of his face and starts... Using his hand as a hand puppet and talks to it... "No, no. Fool. She want chair. She not have chair."

"Oh." He looks at the bard, "Me saw it. Mountain-Walkers took it."

The hand again, "Yes. Stole it from us. Why they steal? We need gold."

"Shhh, shhh. They not Bidao. They not understand."

"They help, maybe? We use gold to buy family back."

"SHHH!" The Bidao the slaps his hand multiple times. Upon the tenth smack, the hand drops to his side. "Better. We no need him."