Tristan doesn't take his eyes off of the bushes, searching for any trace of the wild-looking man. "Hey! Everyone, get over here. Someone's seen us ... I don't think he's happy. A man, wild looking. He was in the bushes, there," the elf says once he has everyone's attention, indicating where he saw the man. As he speaks, he moves slowly towards where he saw the man.
As for Tristan's feelings: he's not very remorseful about the killing, though he was anticipating more of a challenge. He's not a very big fan of mutilating the corpses, but doesn't seem to be bothered enough to do anything about it. The animals will eat them soon enough anyway For the cabin ... he couldn't care less what Tonk does to it. Maybe he'd help tear it apart if he wasn't so busy being paranoid
As soon as Tristan raises his voice, the man takes flight, crashing away through the undergrowth.
Tristan
You get a clearer view of the man as he flees into the woods - he's wearing battered leather armour, with numerous daggers strapped to it, a mace hanging from his side, and a crossbow strapped to his back. Your experience tells you that, equipped like this, he's either a bandit or a mercenary soldier - not that there's much to tell the difference a lot of the time.
Last edited by JoeNotCharles; 28th July 2009 at 09:33 PM..
"****," Tristan mutters an elven curse under his breath. Careless, sloppy ... that's what I get for staying in the city too long. He springs off in pursuit of the man, dodging branches and undergrowth in an attempt to stay relatively quiet as he runs. At least he'll give me a chase, unlike those pathetic old men.
OOC
Sorry about that guys ... guess it was my turn to make a mess of things, heh.
So, how fast is this guy running? On the path or through the bushes? In essence, can I catch up to him with double moves, as opposed to running? And can I tell whether he's running for reinforcements, or because he's scared of us, or just because he was spotted, etc? Stealth, -5 penalty for moving more than 2 squares (1d20+11-5=13). If I have to run, that's another -5 for a total of 8. Yeah ... he probably knows I'm coming.
Active Perception checks are minor actions, correct? If that's the case: Perception (1d20+11=30) *Facepalm* Why couldn't that have been my Stealth roll? Ah well ... at least I shouldn't get surprised here.
The man glances once behind him, sees Tristan, and darts off the path into the trees, trying to put the heavy foliage between himself and pursuit. Tristan follows him into the undergrowth, silencing his steps and ducking from tree to tree. The man dodges from tree to tree, looks behind again, and, not seeing anyone, stops dodging and takes a straighter path. Unfortunately, this means he's now running flat out.
Skill Challenge!
Catching the fleeing man will be a Complexity 3 skill challenge: 8 successes before 3 failures. DC for most rolls is 12, but I may add situational bonuses and penalties.
I won't ask for an initiative order, but everyone has to post for each "round" of the skill challenge before anybody can make their second skill check. (If you don't want to attempt a skill check, your post can just be "pass" or some action that won't help or hinder the challenge, as long as everyone gets an opportunity to make a check in each round.)
Some skill uses ("Primary Skills") will contribute successes to the challenge, others ("Secondary Skills") will give bonuses to the next skill roll. Generally you can't use the same skill in the same way twice - I'll clarify this after every roll.
No Aid Another in this challenge! To give somebody a +2 to their roll, you need to use a Secondary Skill. However, everyone does get the +1 Perception from being near an Elf, and powers that grant bonuses to skill checks can be used (this will take your action for the round).
Tristan: since we're not doing tactical movement, I won't use the -5 penalty to Stealth, so that's a Stealth roll of 18 - 1 success! (I'm ignoring the Perception check since you posted the Stealth first. Also, trying to figure out why he's running would be Insight, not Perception.)
Tristan's now used Stealth to lull the quarry into a false sense of security. Using Stealth in this way won't give any more successes, since he's already lulled.
Goodie, a skill challange, and me without any outdoory type skills. Well let's see if this works
Dextyr watches the man take off into the woods with Tristan in hot pursuit. Quickly he reacts with the first thing that comes to him, "Hey you, in the woods - stop and let us parley. We mean you no harm."
Blade will take off into the forest after Tristan, although the elf's speed is greater than his, Blade will try to keep either Tristan or the man in his sights as he moves.
The fugitive reflexively turns his head towards Dextyr's voice. He snorts with laughter as he hears Dextyr's offer, and blunders into a tree. Well, you didn't get him to stop, but at least you slowed him down a little.
Watching the man's passage, Blade realizes that he's heading towards a dense, tangled thicket of trees. Either he'll be slowed down pushing through it, or he'll have to go around - and the ground to the left rises up into a steep slope. He's going to have to break right.
Read this if your Passive Insight is 12+
The laughter sounded dismissive, as if YOU meaning HIM harm was the last of his concerns.
OOC
There's no way that what Dextyr posted would get him to stop, so I'll treat this as a distraction. 1 success for Dextyr. Further uses of Diplomacy won't get successes unless they come with a creative approach.
Blade spots a tactical advantage, and will get +2 on his next check.
Now at 2 successes, 0 failures. Tonk and Mikara to go.
Last edited by JoeNotCharles; 1st August 2009 at 06:23 AM..
Mikara hears Tristan's alarm and darts outside just in time to see Tristan charge into the forest after a fleeing figure.
The chase has begun. Into the forest I run. My back to the sun!
Mikara plunges into the forest at a run. Sensing a trap (passive insight 13), she runs only to keep up, not to overtake. Nervously, she looks around for any sign of a possible ambush.
Tonk takes to the task of demolishing the building with obvious pride and joy. He smiles, hums, and laughs. Whistling a little tune, he tears another hole in the exterior wall.
And sees his Punch Buddies racing into the forest.
"Hey! What you do! Is like race?! I know better game! Is name, 'Who can break most stuff most fast?' It much fun with watermelon! Hey! Why you no listen?!"
He catches a glimpse of the fleeing man.
"Ah! I get! Is like game of tag! Okay! I is the 'IT'! I come to get you, man who run!"
Tonk stuffs the two healing salves into his belt pouch and races off.
"Run is fun! Run is fun!" he laughs, shooting past his new friends.
The thicket is perfect for an ambush. Mikara studies it closely for any sign of danger. But just before he reaches it, the man veers away into a patch patch of light, widely-spaced trees, where he can put on more speed. Confident that there's no ambush waiting there, Mikara speeds up to close the gap.
Blade
Oops, I just noticed I screwed up my last post. In case you don't notice my edit, my intent was: you could tell that plowing through the thicket would slow him down, and the ground to the left was really rough, so you could tell that if he was going to swerve around it he would have to go right. So you were prepared for this move, which gives you +2 to your next roll. Use this info as you will when writing your fluff.
As he stretches out his legs, the man glances over his shoulder to check the status of his pursuit - and sees Tonk bearing down on him. He opens his mouth to scream, but only a squeak comes out. He puts his head down and charges blindly ahead, trying to outrun the oncoming half-orc.
Status
Mikara finds a safe path and is able to let her guard down and concentrate on running: +2 to her next roll.
Tonk succeeds with a raw Athletics check to Run Fast. That's a success! Further uses of Athletics will have to be more creative.
3 success, 0 failures. Round 2!
Last edited by JoeNotCharles; 1st August 2009 at 06:47 AM..
A grin from the exhilaration of the hunt splits Tristan's face as he runs. When their quarry focuses on running, as opposed to his surroundings, Tristan sees his chance. Cutting across behind the man to his other side, Tristan dashes through the edge of the dense thicket, diving over and around branches and running along fallen logs to make his way safely through the thick woods. Once he's gained some ground on the man Tristan jumps out of the bushes, trying to steer their quarry towards the others when he reacts to the elf's appearance. "Boo! Hahaha!"
My thinking here is a feint - the guy probably won't be expecting one of his pursuers to come out of the thick bush, especially one he saw back at the cabin before. It was a tossup to me whether to use Acrobatics or Stealth for this, but I figured I should try to use a different skill, and Joe did note that he was being less aware and just focusing on going fast
"Hey! Hey! You need be careful out here, little mouse man. Is much dark! You might no see too good and run into hole or tree or big monster! Is fun game, but I no want you get hurt!"
"...run into hole or tree or big monster!" Just as Tonk says these words, two things happen: Tristan pops out of the bushes, causing the quarry to recoil, and Tonk lands on a springy sapling, which collapses under his wait and then rebounds, flinging him into the air like a catapult.
The bandit (or whatever it is) lurches backwards away from Tristan's sudden appearance and is blindsided from above as Tonk, flapping his arms madly and hooting like an insane bird, crashes down on top of him. All three go down in a tangle. Fast as a fox, the man leaps up again, narrowly evading Tonk and Tristan's grasping arms, and starts out again in another direction, heading at a 45 degree angle back the way he came. By the time the two have picked themselves up he's regained most of his lead - but now he's limping while they're miraculously unhurt.
Status
5 successes!
I always thought 12 was ridiculously low for a DC, but I figured I'd do this one by the book... Well, I didn't say it would be a difficult skill challenge!
Yeah. '12' strikes me as way, way, way too easy for must stuff. Most PC's will have an 18 in ability scores related to their 'sweet spot' skills, so they have a total modifier of +9. All they have to do is roll a '3' or better to succeed.
Why, back in the day, I remember when a first level thief--and we called 'em 'thieves', doggonit -- could only open a lock 20% of the time!
Tonk laughs. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! That FUNNY! You go like 'Boo!' after I say be full of care. Is weird! I no know you there! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Tonk helps Tristan to his feet and dusts off Tristan's back. "You is okay...er..." Tonk reads Tristan's name tag. "Tristan? I is okay, too! Much, much weird! And FUH-NEE!"
Dextyr does his best to keep headed in the same direction as Tristan & Tonk. As the sounds of the three crashing through the woods seems to change slightly Dextyr tries his best to dicern in which direction they are headed. Once he is sure he takes off in the direction he thinks they will be going.
Knowing that this could turn out to be a marathon chase, Blade does his best to pace himself and push on at the limits that his body will endure before becoming winded.
OOC
Sorry for the delay, holiday weekend here in the great white north.
Unfortunately IC is down, Joe can you roll for me?
Endurance - 1d20+9 (incl +2 from last check)
As Dextyr listens to the sounds of his companions and their prey crashing through the woods he envisions the layout of the 'battlefield' in his head. Thinking years back to the lengthy lessons his father taught him using small toy soldiers on the dining table, Dextyr laid out the current situation in his mind. Grasping at a similar scenario from one lesson, when his father had spotted a spy at the encampments edge and the entire unit had to chase down and apprehend the spy, Dextyr makes straight for an area where he hopes their prey will run towards. Lets hope I paid attention to all those lessons father...
mechanics
History check to recall a similar situation from the years of military tactics training from his father. 1d20+6+2; Joe if you don't mind rolling this one...
"Hey, Man Who Runs! You need stop! Is no good run at night, unless elf or orc or have big eye that see in dark! You get hurt if you no stop! It make me feel bad!"
Skill Check
He's trying to be nice, but--let's face it--a large, tusked monster that doesn't have an "inside voice" is scary no matter how you experience it.
For the cabin ... he couldn't care less what Tonk does to it. Maybe he'd help tear it apart if he wasn't so busy being paranoid 
NATURAL 20! 
Linear Mode
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