The Hunted (DM: IronSky, Judge: ???)

[Iron Sky]

The Hunted: Day 1, Hour 1, Minute 3

As everyone rushes into the street and Earth heads towards the alley, a lieutenant of the city watch comes running up, her longsword drawn and six spear-armed city watch it tow. She looks around the scene grimly and scans the group of you.

"Its getting more brazen I see..." she glances at the Hanged Man. "Especially if it's willing to take someone here of all places. From what I've heard of the Hanged Man, I have the feeling that you lot are crazy, seeking danger and risk. If so, perfect."

She sees Earth heading to the alley and motions him over. "Whoever it took is already dead. This will only take a moment."

"If you have no interest in being deputized to help with a murder investigation, head back inside and enjoy your drinks. If you're willing to help, then gather around, I'll make this quick."

[sblock=In or out time]If you're leaving, now's the time. Let me know and have your character head back to the tavern. Otherwise, read on.[/sblock]

"Ok, you are now deputized inspectors for the city of Daunton. Congratulations, it might just get you killed. There's been a killer in the city the last few days. This is actually the least spectacular of its killings. It's killed eleven people at three different locations over the last couple nights.

"I'm not sure how its all related, the watch is currently being pressed to its limits trying to contain a devil-worshiping cult that's somehow taken root in the city and I've been trying to keep word of these murders from getting out to keep the city from panicking. If this gets out in the Screamer..." She shudders. "That would be exactly the sort of thing the devil-cult would use to launch an uprising."

She pulls out a small bundle of papers and hands one to each of the characters. "These make you deputy inspectors. You can get to any of the murder scenes with these. Also, show them at the guard tower and you have instant access to me. They also will give you near-unlimited access to the City Archives and Grand Library, should you wish to avail yourselves of their resources."

"Any questions?"

[sblock=Who we have right now]Earth, Warden 7
Neurotic's character, Sorcerer ?
Krav, Warlord 1
Raijin, Sorcerer 2
Rysethynn, Warden 1
Mab, Warlock 1
Xander, Cleric 1

I'm fine with taking 7 people. Earth is 5-6 levels above everyone else, but if everyone else is cool with you coming along, I am. I had some ideas about mixing high/low level characters that I'd like to try out anyway.[/sblock]

[sblock=Skills from here on out]I won't be using sblocks much in the bit to come. I'll talk about it more as we go, but essentially, unless there is an sblocked skill, everyone gets one "investigative" check at a time. The more checks you make, the more time it takes as you track the killer... If you want to use a skill and can justify it, try it! I'll be on as frequently as I can to give you results, at least twice a day, though I'll try for more.[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

Devinihm, wilden druid

A swarm of wasps sweeps out of the tavern, swirling about the scene, though as they encounter the blood they seem to change color, shape, and tone, looking more like flies. Finally they cluster in place and coalesce into the form of Devinihm.

"I was right to worry about the kobold, yes?" he says. "Even in the city, there are predators. And they are hungry."

The wilden hangs to the back of the group, uncomfortable on the cobblestone after so long in the swamp.

[sblock=OOC / rolls]Perception;Insight (1d20+9=10, 1d20+4=7)

Devinihm's my first character: level 1 wilden swarm druid. He's currently unapproved, though I did email the judge account a week or so ago, so I would assume he'd be approved before any XP award, which is when it matters.[/sblock]

 

[Voda Vosa]

Earth listens, and nods, his neck making a stony noise. "I agree to help you. Devils should not taint these lands." he states. "Where are the other crime scenes? Which were the victims? Is there a pattern you've discovered?" he asks the captain.

 

[jkason]

((OOC: Ack. Looks like I'm late to the party. Deputizing happened as I was posting. Can I still get in on this?

Also, I'm not sure what 'Malenkirk rules' are in terms of combat?))

 

[pacdidj]

"Well, it might be terrifying, but at least we get to stay in town on our first adventure," Auntie Mab mutters to her rat familiar. "Better than delving down some musty hole chasing dragon's treasure or Apoli knows what I'll wager."

"Ooh, a deputy inspector!," exclaims the old woman as the lieutenant hands her the paper. "Finally, some official recognition of my stupendous clairvoyant abilities! Tristram, be a dear would you, and go have a look down that alley while Auntie Mab divines the location where the killer will strike next."

The elderly woman gives a mysterious flourish of her hands, then touches her fingers to her temples, closes her eyes, and intones: "Om, mani padme hum, om, mani padme hum..." as her little brown rat scampers down the alleyway to investigate the trail of blood.

[sblock="Tristram's Rolls and ooc"]Perception 17, Stealth 34

[MENTION=60965]Iron Sky[/MENTION] - FYI, Auntie Mab is primarily a rogue (with a warlock multiclass). She just likes to act magicky. [/sblock]

 

[Voda Vosa]

((OOC: Ack. Looks like I'm late to the party. Deputizing happened as I was posting. Can I still get in on this?

Also, I'm not sure what 'Malenkirk rules' are in terms of combat?))

Basically rips your initiative from your insides, and while still bleeding, tosses it to the trash can. But it makes combat quicker.

 

[LadyLaw]

Rysethynn nods at the official as she accepts the paper officially deputizing her and looks it over. Her gaze then follows Tristram as he scurries off into the alley. She stays close to Mab, waiting to hear either her divination or the answer to Earth's questions.

[sblock=ooc]Not sure how I feel about a 5-level gap, but since the majority of the party is level 1 or 2 I'll stick with it and see how it goes. What's the worst that could happen. [/sblock]

 

[Neurotic]

OOC: Illarion Meriele, Chaos sorcerer 1, I'm not sure I'm eligible for higher level as my other two have grand total of 6 levels (minimum for third)

I don't mind Earth as long as we don't end up against something that can drop him and then chew us out for fun. Wardens are tough!


"We will find it for you. Don't worry." says the elf and promptly misses the papers offered. However, fleeting contact eye to eye leaves the liutenant wondering about the blindness of this creature.

"Let's go, just follow the screams." and elf trails after Earth his stick beating staccato rhythm on the cobblestones.

 

[Llama_Bill]

"Instead of following the screams it seems better to follow the blood as there are many reasons to scream in Daunton." says Krav to the blind elf while giving the papers a once over.

[sblock=OOC]
Once we get the info off the guards I'm off down the alley.

Rules:
While we are waiting, I'll say a few words on how I run fights.

1 - I roll all initiatives. Waiting two days before everyone has had the chance to roll theirs is a waste of time.

2 - I roll a single initiative for my bad guys and play them all in the same turn. It loses some of the tabletop experience but it plays a lot faster than individual initiative.

3 - If you haven't posted your PC's action in two days, I usually run your PC at some point late in the third day of inactivity. Warn me in advance if you don't believe you can post for more than two days.

And the biggest...

4 - I don't care in what initiative order you post; your action takes place at exactly the moment you post and as long as you only act once per round, it's all good.

The initiative in practice is only relevant once; the very first round.

Let's say initiative is:

Mesa 22
Matlal 17
BAD GUYS 16
Tor 12
Montroya 9
Andrec 8
Jarel Karn 5

That means Mesa and Matlal get to act before the BGs. I don't care in what order! If Matlal log in the thread before Mesa, don't wait, act first!

Once they have both acted, I play all of the Bad Guys.

Then everyone act, in whatever order.

It is possible that Mesa and Matlal will log on the thread before Tor, Montroya, Andrec and Jarel Karn have all acted. It doesn't matter, they can act! Once all 6 of PCs have acted (and acted only once, of course!), I run bad guys and then it's once more your turn. That simple.

I repeat; your actions take place when you post. Should you want to delay, then simply wait for the others to post.

It is very common when you play that way for a player to log last in a turn and then be the first to log back after I have updated the fight and played the BGs. This leads to a PC acting almost back to back. It matters little; in the end he still has acted only once in either round.

This saves a lot of time especially because most players can't log on the thread thrice a day to see if it's their turn yet. If you log on at any time after I have run the BGs turn you are free to post without waiting for your buddies to act in order.

Two frequent rules issues arise from this practice:

1 - What about effects that last 'until the end of PC's X turn'?

Often a leader will grant a bonus to someone else 'until the end of the leader's turn'. This will usually be interpreted as 'Until the end of the target's turn' instead. Good old common sense. The target doesn't lose the bonus if the leader act before him and doesn't gain TWO turns of using the bonus if he manages to act twice before the leader acts again.

2 - What about PCs who purposefully delay taking their turn in order to give a chance to their allies to grant them a free save?

Ongoing damage and others conditions effect occurs at the beggining of your turn. If you know someone might grant you a free save (leaders can often do that) before you act, it may save you damage or avoid a stun effect to purposefully delay taking your turn, giving a chance for the other PCs to help you... That's cool. I don't mind. It just increases the value of team work which is a good thing.

Everything else, I play by ear.

---

Playing that way, I once completed a fight in 4 days. Don't believe me? Check out this thread.

Of course, I think we were all on crack that week. We didn't maintain that insane rate of post for every fight! If you just post about once every two days we should be able to complete 3 rounds a week and still be flying faster than 90% of PbP games.

[/sblock]

 

[Iron Sky]

The Hunted: Day 1, Hour 1, Minute 7

Earth listens, and nods, his neck making a stony noise. "I agree to help you. Devils should not taint these lands." he states. "Where are the other crime scenes? Which were the victims? Is there a pattern you've discovered?" he asks the captain.

"The other three crime scenes are a ship called the Lucky Lucy in the harbor at Pier 6, the cellar of a tavern called the Chipped Flask in Backtown district, and a mansion on High Lane in the hills, 178 High Lane. I've got men posted at each to keep people from getting in - originally until I could get to it, but I guess now it's until you get to it. It looks like four killed beneath the Chipped Flask were killed first, sometime during the night two days ago. The crew of the Lucky Lucy were killed the next night, as was the butler, a maid, and the owner of Hill Lane."

"I've only had time to look through the scenes briefly. They are... disturbing. Whoever or whatever killed them pretty much tore them to pieces, and quickly too. I'll leave you Constables Jacobs and Priven here to watch the newest crime scene. I need to go, we're getting ready to do a raid on one of the cult hideouts and I want to be there to supervise. If you have any more questions, as the city watch at the locations or talk to me tomorrow during the day. I have a busy night."

With that, she nods to you all and heads down the street, leaving two city watch behind that seem to be waiting for you all.

[sblock=OOC]jkason, I say the more the merrier. Typically an adventure will lose 2-3 players over the course of it anyway, so no worries. Oh, that brings up another related rule/guideline...[/sblock]

[sblock=Disappearing PCs]I have a general rule that if you disappear roughly two weeks, your character will leave the adventure. If you warn me before hand, get someone else run your character (since I have enough work running the adventure). I try to keep my adventures moving at a decent clip and nothing slows them down like waiting for people who aren't coming back... so I won't.[/sblock]