Celtricia, World of Factions-posting thread

[LordVreeg]

My own private test group. A small group of New Edomites (for whatever reason) acting as mercenaries are hired to find the missing lady. They consist of Loegaire (ranger, Celtic expat and scout commander) Venn (Council Police; rogue specializing in investigation and traps) Ravel (wizard) Sorkvir (dwarvish cleric/fighter) and Achyss (lizardfolk barbarian).

The group find Igtiche a pleasant place, very much like home. The only thing that disturbs them is the coinage asked in the hostel--at first to their outrage they think that slaves are used as currency. They are embarassed to discover otherwise.

As Igtiche is the closest friendly locale, one of the first things they want to do is to discover if anyone is acting a little suspicious. Is it possible that there are allies of the kidnappers in town? Venn and Ravel might disguise themselves in an effort to determine whether this was true, slipping into town before the others to scout it out regardless while the more wilderness friendly others conceal themselves in a campsite.

Hmm.  
Interesting.
We'll put the camp to the south, where there are some hills.
Venn and Ravel are dressed how?  
The 'Rule of Reach' is enforced here, so any bows must be unstrung and any weapons that can be thrown cannot be carried into Igtiche without a permit.
Do either have logistics or mercantile abilities, or a history that would give them such?
They will both notate that almost 1/2 the inhabitants are Hobyts, especially the farming groups.  It is the 15th of Tokush, Month of Winds, and though there is a chill in ther air (29 degrees in the am, 39 degrees by midday), the underlying promise of spring is upon the area, and the new planting season is on the lips of many.

[Tybalt]

Venn and Ravel would dress as peddlars probably. Venn has some skill as a barber while Ravel could sell herbs and suchlike; they could be a kind of mobile hairdresser salon. They would carry basic merchant class type weapons they've seen other such folk have, and leave other weapons behind at the camp. They would carry a decent amount of cash but not too much, and would probably travel with a pack animal of some kind.

Venn's highest skills here would be observation,investigate, fast talk, pickpocket, trailing (city based tracking); Ravel is more focused on negotiation and is also capable of assessing value of basic market items. Both are members of merchant families anyway. Ravel would only warily make use of magic, discreet things like detction spells. She would also use magic if necessary to cover their tracks and enable an escape--things like confusion related magics and such.

[LordVreeg]

[note=Ravel] what are Ravel's INt and Wis?  where does the herb knowledge come from?[/note]
[note=cash] how much cash?  I'd rather give you the hurdle of having out-country coinage, bTW[/note]
[spoiler=work] Just coming off of my biggest weekend of the year...sorry if I have been a little scattered.[/spoiler]
The travelers will come up from the camp to the south, and will see the Pemunte Druidwood on their right, as they start to see farmland.  The fields roll in small hills, and there are small copses of small, thick, spikey plants. [note=surprise] any surprise skill, or I guess spot skill?[/note]
They note that the work being done at the farms here is very, very organized, with many Hobyts and Gnomes working on the farmlands.  They are tilling the earth, and Venn Notes that there are Omwo~ (elves) and Hobyts in Green Scale mail and bearing spears blessing some of the fields as the workers till them.
Venn also notes a group of horseman surveying the area a few times.  Looks like 8 of them, in light armor, with a scarlet pennon on their spears. Closing on 35 degrees, as it is about 10th hour now.

[Tybalt]

The New Edomites maybe haven't had a chance to change their currency--if that is the case then they have some New Edomite 'stars' which are small coppers (one star) large coppers with crude milling around the edges (two stars) towers (silver thick coin with four towers at each point of the compass representing Fineberg, Touchstone, Harbourtown, Glasstower as the major city states) and 'lords' which are in value of thickness, one for Sif Finnhald, one for Willam Touchstone, one for Lord Aholibamah. (complicated, yes? The coinage of New Edom was issued at different times by different Councils) They might also have some Yasg coinage (this would mostly be in gold and silver) and possibly some Celtic trade bars. Ultimately they'd carry perhaps around fifty gp worth of coinage.

Venn would try to make use of observation and tactics (as a New Edomite officer he has the latter at a basic level, observation as a midranking level) to note anything else interesting about the scouts.

Ravel has an int of 17, wis 14. Her herb knowledge comes from training in alchemy which is a prerequisite for New Edomite wizards at Lookinghaven. Bearing in mind that she's not a healer; she might be able to make medecine but that's about it.

BTW: Venn probably is carrying a short sword and dagger; Ravel has a quarterstaff.

Ravel's magic: detect magic, read magic, light, sleep; blink, clairvoyance, clairaudience; fly, fireball; hallucinatory terrain.

[LordVreeg]

Ravel and Venn stick close to the low dells and to the copses when they have to cross a hilltop.  These hills roll gently, and as they head north, they note stone walls as borders, as well as a planted area with small trees bearing bright red berries and sharp thorns, carefully arranged into rows.
At one point  Venn hears a rythmic chanting, and they pass a group (say 12) of laborers tilling some land while chanting.  Ravel recognizes nothing magical about this operation.

As they move into the next large field, Ravel notes the sound of hooves closing in on them from the right, over the next rise.  There are no trees near them, though the low (2.5' tall) and wide stone wall is only a few feet from them.
 [spoiler=Venn] Venn Basic Surprise skill (.5 EXPmod, 800 real exp, 400 adjusted exp, level 3, 14% ability, subskill backstab) succeeds surprise roll, +22 exp (so 822 real exp, 411 adjusted)..Basic Detect Skill, .65 EXPMOD, 550 real exp, 357 adjusted exp, level 3, 9% skill, sub skills detect skill, detect hidden, detect ill-intent)[/spoiler]

[Tybalt]

Ravel signals them to move low and quiet up to the wall and to hunker down there. If they are spotted they pretend to be resting there.

[LordVreeg]

[spoiler=Venn]
You mentioned where his specialties were, so I am not giving him huge hiding skills.
Basic Sneak, .6 EXPMOD, 400 Real EXP, 240 Adjusted EXP, level 2, skill 11%, sub skills Hide, Move silent, Mix with crowd, disguise.

Based on what you desribed, I'm going to say he has learned Mx with Crowd as a skill, not merely a dropdown, so...
Mix with crowd, .7 EXPMOD, 100 real exp, 70 adjusted EXP, level 0, 5% skill+11% from Parent skill (Basic Sneak)=16% Mix with Crowd
[/spoiler]


Ravel and Venn move behind the wall, Ravel taking Venn's lead due to the latter's expertise in staying unseen.

The hooves move closer, and the companions see 8 riders (4 human, 2 Klaxik (dwarven), 2 hobyts) going south, on a path just over a rise to the east of them.  Thei track will take them within 40 feet of Venn and Ravel.
[note=hiding] base chance of hiding in daylight-15%, range bonus +5%, 90% concealment +55% bonus, context adjustment+20% (though they are on patrol, the riders are not looking for anyone)=65% chance of hiding.
Venn has +11% for his skill, so he has a 76% chance of staying concealed, he rolls a 31% and succeeds.
Ravel has 65%+1% for Venn's lead=66%, rolls a 59%, and manages not to be seen.[/note]

The riders continue south, red-pennoned spears held at the ready.  The speak of having the easy south road, and of the 'Wind and Word' tavern a few miles down the path.  They seem relaxed, and the riders wear a scalemail with scarlet tabards.

After the riders move south out of sight, Venn keeps them behind the wall for a few extra seconds.  Then they get out
from behind the shade of the thick, sturdy wall.  It is almost the noon hour, and while they can see a few taller buildings on the horizon, they can see the closer buildings cluster to the wide path the riders were on, including a small walled enlave a few hundred feet north, on the opposite side of the path.
They can continue
[spoiler=exp for hiding]
+24 exp in basic sneak for Venn, so it becomes 424 real EXP, 245 adjusted EXP.  His next level is 300 adjusted. Ravel does not have the skill and cannot gain EXP in it.[/spoiler]
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(BTW, I had the BASic surprise skill under Venn, not Ravel.  That makes more sense, right?)

[Tybalt]

They will observe the reactions of the locals to these riders--whom Venn suspects to be local militia or mercenaries--before proceeding towards the village. If there is no hostility or at least overt action they proceed; if there is they attempt to observe from a distance.

[LordVreeg]

Venn and Ravel watch the 8 riders go south down the path.  Slightly further south, a pair of farmers work a huge draught horse with a tiller behind it.  One of the farmers is a very tall Hobyt, almost 4' tall, muscular, with red hair, leading the huge, shaggy horse, almost 20 hands high.  Behind the horse is a tiller, controlled by a muscular five foot tall orcash, labouring mightily to keep the metal arms of the tiller down into the earth.  The Orcash has small fangs and a pug nose.  He wears a leather kilt over a blue and white plaid cotton pantaloons.

The horseman canter down the road towards the farmers.  The Orcash rasies a hand as they pass, and a Klaxik rider calls out to him.  "Pas-Hassle be havin' his way with you, iffen you be mitout yer shirt this day, my boyo!", he says in a loud, jovial tone.  There is a bit of laughter, then "You soldier-men don't know what an honest sweat do to body.  You should try it, for change!!", says the Orcash in a voice nearly as gruff as the Klaxik's.  More laughter.

[Tybalt]

The two New Edomites can now see that the riders are some kind of militia patrol. Seeing that the town looks reasonably safe for the moment they will at some interval that seems less than startling move openly along the road towards town.

[LordVreeg]

Venn and Ravel move down the road towards the center of town, as they note that no one else is travelling over land.  They join 2 wagons in full of very long grains, walking between the wagons back to front..  2 Human males, one with grotesque facial scars, ther other young and straw haired are in the front wagon.  The Wagon behind them has a loud Gnome and 2 hobyts with black hair, piled so high that the grain is blanketted and strapped down.  
Ravel notes the smell of the grain is not that of newly mown, but of grain that has been stored for a season.

As they move north up the road, they see a stone 2 story building on a slight hill, somehwat overgrown but obviously well built.  There are 2 smaller stone buildings behind it.  It has a capped fireplace, and a large, protected porch.  Buds are just showiing up on the trees.



Up ahead, the buildings are getting more concentrated.  A path crosses the road, and after that stone walls, about 3' high bracket the road.  Far ahead, the travelers can see a collection of stone and wood buildings, and a large tower can be seen rising beyond them.

[Tybalt]

Venn discusses briefly with Ravel. Venn suspects that the building is a manor house, and decides to see if he can ask the gnome what house that is.

[Tybalt]

Re: Astrikon Lair.

I generally like the sense of decreptitude in the dungeon as well as the way everything seems to fit the context--we've come a long way from the old 'random' D&D modules.

One thing I'd suggest would be to give a little reference link though where you have put in items that particularly matter--weapon types and things like that.

[LordVreeg]

Re: Astrikon Lair.

I generally like the sense of decreptitude in the dungeon as well as the way everything seems to fit the context--we've come a long way from the old 'random' D&D modules.

One thing I'd suggest would be to give a little reference link though where you have put in items that particularly matter--weapon types and things like that.

That seems to be a good idea.  I was leaving things a bit open to allow for indiviual game preference, but I should go all the way if I was really going to do that.  I will do that, and probably go back through the posts first.

[LordVreeg]

Venn discusses briefly with Ravel. Venn suspects that the building is a manor house, and decides to see if he can ask the gnome what house that is.

The Gnome tells you that is the Rissa Family Estate, where the Auntie of the family watches the Herb Trade from.  He laughs.  "If either of you lads are looking for a job guarding caravans, I hear the Rissa family has a few sudden openings!"