A Monk, a Wizard, and a Swordmage Walk into a Fallcrest; a 4e Story Now game

[Grendel_Khan]

"No!" LIEF yells, and somersaults over the gathered children to grab the falling elf.

Intent: Prevent Ressilmae's tumble down the steps.

Primary Skill: Acrobatics. r(14)+12 = 26 vs. Hard DC (21). Success.

The children are just starting to scream and boil away from Lief. Now standing below Ressilmae on the stairs, supporting the larger man in an awkward embrace, the shifter once again acts without thinking. Despite the risk to the child holding the cursed lyre, he loads his sling and whirls a shot into the instrument.

Intent: Destroy the lyre.

Primary Skill: RBA. r(11)+7 = 18 vs. AC (16). Success.

---

Complexity 2 SC, Level 3 (DCs 9/13/21)
Goal (staged): Assess the elven priest of Sehanine, Ressilmae Starlight, and convince him to take on the burden of the merchants' testimony of Kamroth and The Elect affairs.
5/6 Successes/1 Failures/0 Hard DC Available/0 Secondary Skills Available/0 Advantages available/Primary Skill Training exhausted; Insight, Stealth, Arcana, Diplomacy, Acrobatics, ATK

 

[Manbearcat]

Complexity 2 SC, Level 3 (DCs 9/13/21)
Goal (staged): Assess the elven priest of Sehanine, Ressilmae Starlight, and convince him to take on the burden of the merchants' testimony of Kamroth and The Elect affairs.
5/6 Successes/1 Failures/0 Hard DC Available/0 Secondary Skills Available/0 Advantages available/Primary Skill Training exhausted; Insight, Stealth, Arcana, Diplomacy, Acrobatics, ATK

---

Ressilmae breathes "...fell instruments ensorcelled...the shadow...betrayal."

He gains the purchase of sound footing as he rights himself within Lief's grasp.

"Stranger <to Lief>! Children! Across the street to Fallcrest Stables at once! Lannar is kind and charitable. He will give us succor amongst his animals!"

He leads everyone to the stables as mentioned, Lannar helping him corral the children to a (roughly) clean pen so that the priest can assess the situation and get his bearings. Afterward, he goes back to Lief.

"I think you stranger. Now speak. What do you know of these things. It cannot be that you know nothing."

------------------------

MEDIUM DC (all that is left). Here is Lief's chance to convince the Sehanine priest entrusted by the Markalhays to further their faith.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

LIEF stammers, looks for the words to explain...everything. It's too much. To tell people like Starn, Sariel, and Vorn what he is, what he was forced to do—happy to do?—for the Elect was one thing. To reveal that to this holy man, in front of these children, with the startled eyes of the lyre player on him, a girl whose skull he could have just as easily caved in with that sling bullet. He'd sooner tear his claws out. He'd rather let the Mogul's jaws close around his face.

The shifter spits out one word. "Please." He pulls the elf back across the road, up the steps, and into the temple. Lief shakes his head when Ressilmae, still woozy from the Elect's arcane working, tries to pull away, batters him with questions. Lief lets the priest go and hauls the mattress aside. The primordial runes stink, the grooves in the wood filled with a still-wet resin, the spit-mixed brew of strange moss and the jerky-like hide of some poor victim.

"I was one of them," Lief says, tears in his eyes. "I'm still one of them!" He collapses at Ressilmae's feet, wracked by sobs for the first time in his life.

Intent: Show Ressilmae what Lief is, and why he needs his help.

Primary Skill: Athletics. r(6)+7 = 13 vs. Medium DC (13). Success.


Later, after Lief's composed himself and Ressilmae's made sure the children got home safely, the shifter does his best to tell his story. He does it in fits and starts on the way to the Silver Unicorn Inn. His constant refrain is that no one should believe him, of course not, he's not to be trusted. But the merchants can tell what they know. And if he believes them, then maybe the Markelhays will believe Ressilmae. Then he clutches the elf's arm like a child still in the grips of a nightmare. The Elect has a believer in the castle! "Look!" he says, showing the holy man the cryptic letter with the Markelhay seal.

Ressilmae listens, for the most part, asking questions but offering no comfort except his continued presence. Every so often the elf looks back. He sees a large stag following them, head drooped and eyes weary.

---

Complexity 2 SC, Level 3 (DCs 9/13/21)
Goal (staged): Assess the elven priest of Sehanine, Ressilmae Starlight, and convince him to take on the burden of the merchants' testimony of Kamroth and The Elect affairs.
6/6 Successes/1 Failures/0 Hard DC Available/0 Secondary Skills Available/0 Advantages available/Primary Skill Training exhausted; Insight, Stealth, Arcana, Diplomacy, Acrobatics, ATK, Athletics

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

OK, so I think the opening move would be to establish ourselves as legitimate trustworthy people who share the Padraig's values and with whom they would therefor entertain as allies and confidants. I'd rely on Terjon here to at least have some basic understanding of 'how things are' in Winterhaven, so he can give Starn a bit of a line to work with. I don't think we need any checks for that, we'll just launch the situation on something like:

Starn turns to Terjon and they exchange a look; "It would seem that evil has preceded us into this place" Starn remarks.

He continues: "We will need to rally these people against what is coming next. The authority of the Lord of this place will be critical. You hail from this town, whom may we most reliably approach?"_

Terjon's response, after seeing the casket and tracing the six points of Pelor's radiance across his own chest:

"On days like this we have a tradition: Speak not to the grieving without an offering to the Raven Queen. Through her, misery is made sacred. If we can provide a gift, the parents will be compelled to listen—at least for a moment."

Starn thinks, "we need to find a pair of the coins which are offered for the dead!"

It is common knowledge that the priest of the Raven Queen provide these specially blessed coins in return for major donations, and that they are thought to be effective blessings and good wishes for the dead. Starn notes that a small temple to the dark Goddess abuts the graveyard, and makes his way there. Within the gloomy confines of the temple, a chapel really, he is fortunate to encounter the priest, recognizable by his dark cloak and mask. Starn approaches him "Sir, may I procure the coins for the little one? I will happily donate this precious elixir to the temple in return." The priest silently examines the flask, containing a Potion of Resistance Terjon had thought to recover from the Kamroth Estate. He then motions Starn and Terjon to the back of the temple, where a rough hewn block of stone apparently serves as a sort of altar. Moving past this the priest opens a small box set on a side table, and removes two coins of a dark lustrous material. He hands them to Starn and declares "Beware!"

Starn trades his Potion of Resistance and receives the coins, which when presented grant success and represent retiring the HARD DC for this Challenge.

Starn naturally accepts the objects and solomnly retreats back into the graveyard. He and Terjon then approach the mourners, who are now gathering around the grave site, preparing to inter the deceased child. Approaching in a dignified manner with downcast eyes, Starn carefully presents the coins to the presiding priest of Avandra, without saying a word. The woman accepts them with a quiet murmer, and procedes to place them in the child's palm, before finishing the prayer for the dead. Afterwards, as the family stands by, men lower the casket into the ground and many tears are shed. During this exchange Starn makes eye contact with the Lord Padraig, and Terjon beside him signs to the old man. As people begin to disperse, he waves the two of them over. Almost immediately the Lord's eldest son moves to place himself in a position which forces Starn and Terjon to halt, his face appears hard and his expression is not exactly friendly.

Complexity 3 SC, Level 2 (DCs 9/13/20)
Goal (staged): Rouse the Padraig family from their grief and muster them (5) and Winterhaven itself (8) against Cardinal Erban's heresy and impending coup.
1/8 Successes/0 Failures/1 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2+1 Advantages available due to beating Erban's posse to Winterhaven and arriving with Sir Terjon, Knight of Pelor/Primary Skill Training exhausted; None

 

[Manbearcat]

Complexity 2 SC, Level 3 (DCs 9/13/21)
Goal (staged): Assess the elven priest of Sehanine, Ressilmae Starlight, and convince him to take on the burden of the merchants' testimony of Kamroth and The Elect affairs. (Resolved).

Lief Minor Quest: Find someone the merchants can give testimony to re: the Elect's involvement with Kamroth (Resolved).

XP/LOOT

* 300 + 125 = 425/3 = 142 xp apiece.

* 30 coin.

---

LEIF & VORN

Per GM (me) to @Grendel_Khan :
See that consequence I put in there on your failure? That is what I'm activating here.

Members of Kamroth Estate's security force and The Elect show up at The Silver Unicorn Inn after Lady Markelhay's coachman gets squeezed for you guys' location. Lief and the priest show up right as the coach pulls up, the group spills out and enters The Silver Unicorn Inn.

So the question is, what kind of conflict is this going to be:

(a) Does Lief follow them in and ambush them in the common room/taphouse with Vorn showing up on the balcony once the naughty word hits the fan downstairs? You'll have the priest as a Companion Character for this but, if he dies...toast. Further, you'll have patrons of The Silver Unicorn Inn as Hazardous Terrain only for your enemies (members of the taphouse inflict damage and slow enemies). The combat will be pretty dangerous though. With Lief, Vorn and Ressilmae (3 PCs equivalent), it will be a level +3 combat (so 6 standards worth of budget). But you'll have those members of the taphouse as helpful terrain elements, all your stuff, and APs.

(b) Or does Lief go to the back of the tavern with the priest and like throw a rock at the windows to alert everyone and initiate some kind of mad getaway attempt. A chase through the streets to try to get somewhere (like Moonstone Keep?). This will also be a tough conflict (Comp 3, Level +3 so 5), but you'll have +1 Advantage to this due to your "home field" with the Silver Unicorn Inn.

So which is it gonna be?

Per @Grendel_Khan response:
LIEF motions for Ressilmae to follow, and runs through an alley to the back of the inn. There, he considers calling up to Vorn in the second-floor room, and instead vaults up to the window. “They’re here,” Lief says, opening the window. “We need to get them to Moonstone Keep now!”

Complexity 3 SC, Level 5 (DCs 10/15/22)
Goal: Evade the Kamroth/Elect pursuit to get the merchants, the boy, and Ressilmae from The Silver Unicorn Inn to Moonstone Keep.
0/8 Successes/0 Failures/2 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2 +1 for "home field of Silver Unicorn Inn" Advantages available/Primary Skill Training exhausted;

GREEN = SILVER UNICORN INN
RED = MOONSTONE KEEP

Lief's perch on the sill of Vorn's room is an odd spectacle for the longshoremen of the dock behind The Silver Unicorn Inn. In the midst of their duties of offloading sundries for the business and surrounds, one of them points up and begins to gather a crowd. Its certainly possible that Armos Kamroth has at least one of them in his employ as a spy or merely as a laborer/muscle (1)

Inside the Inn, the pair of rooms for the merchants and the boy flank Vorn's room. While mostly recovered from their flesh-wounds and exsanguination at this point, outside of the boy, these four middle-aged + aren't the paragon of fleet-of-footedness on their best days. Certainly not when a panicked terror has set in that they're suddenly quarry all over again and are going to be forced into a mad scramble for their lives! (2)

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One of you are going to need to deal with (1) and the other are going to need to deal with the mustering of the merchants (2)! This happens simultaneously so make separate moves for this (one character for one and the other for the other). Both vs MEDIUM DC.

Finally, what is the route here (see map above)? Are you guys going to (a) try to traverse the Nentir River of which the current is aggressively southernly and against you for a push north to go out of Fallcrest and then around to Moonstone Keep? Or (b) are you going to just make a mad dash through the northern edge of Hightown's part-cobbled roads, part-dirt alleys toward Moonstone Keep?

---

STARN

Complexity 3 SC, Level 2 (DCs 9/13/20)
Goal (staged): Rouse the Padraig family from their grief and muster them (5) and Winterhaven itself (8) against Cardinal Erban's heresy and impending coup.
1/8 Successes/0 Failures/1 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2+1 Advantages available due to beating Erban's posse to Winterhaven and arriving with Sir Terjon, Knight of Pelor/Primary Skill Training exhausted; None

"We thank you for your kind offerings..." Ernest Padraig begins to say before the elder child (bordering on full-manhood...a dangerous beast if there ever was one!) stands up abruptly to intercede between the apprentice-mage, the knight, and the family.

"Emil, tend to your wounded mother and younger brothers. I am not infirm yet. Your attention here is not needed while your stewardship is most needed elsewhere. See to it."

Emil turns from Starn and Terjon <"how dare they...even a Knight of Pelor...interrupt the proceedings of my brother's interment with an offering...and how dare you 'see to it' me, father..." he thinks> to his father, carrying a flaming hue to his face as he does...and a fist clenches whether knowingly or not.

"Now is not the time, my boy," his father simply says and tries to place a gentle hand on the elder sons shoulder. The boy sloughs it off and stands firm.

There is family history here for sure...

----------------

How do you defuse the situation, temporarily assuaging this family history threatening to go "full powderkeg?" MEDIUM DC.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Starn is smart enough to know that he needs to either firmly push the boy out of the situation, probably by ignoring him; or he needs to take a longer term approach and enlist the young man as an ally. He's inclined to the later approach.

Starn acknowledges Emil, not contradicting the old Lord, but demonstrating his willingness to include both in whatever comes next. "Lord, Sir Emil, We -gesturing at Terjon- have news and information from Fallcrest which is relevant to your situation and urgent. I humbly ask that we exchange information, lest even more dire events transpire." Starn is attempting to convey by his words and nonverbal language that he's willing to work with either or both men and that he's being forthright, which is true as he assumes there's no reason to dissemble.

Medium DC (13) Diplomacy check. Starn's Diplomacy bonus is +6. I rolled a 2+6=8, Failure!

Complexity 3 SC, Level 2 (DCs 9/13/20)
Goal (staged): Rouse the Padraig family from their grief and muster them (5) and Winterhaven itself (8) against Cardinal Erban's heresy and impending coup.
1/8 Successes/1 Failures/0 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2+1 Advantages available due to beating Erban's posse to Winterhaven and arriving with Sir Terjon, Knight of Pelor/Primary Skill Training exhausted; Diplomacy.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

LIEF surveys the gathering crowd from above. Still reeling from the fact that the Elect seem to be everywhere, that traitors seem to be everywhere, he drops down, seething. He stalks into the crowd, eyes darting across faces. He recognizes some of them. He's laughed with that one. That one, with the beard, bought him a drink. What's his name—Branson? Why isn't he meeting my eyes, Lief screams inside. He walks past Branson, than grabs him from behind, hissing into the larger man's ear, "Was it worth their filthy gold?" Lief chokes him out—putting him to sleep, not to death—while wheeling around, challenging the onlookers. "Who else is a traitor? Who else is a coward!!"

Intent: Find and neutralize the Kamroth traitor before he can alert the security force.

Primary Skill: Insight. r(9)+6 = 15 vs. Medium DC (15). Success.

---

Complexity 3 SC, Level 5 (DCs 10/15/22)
Goal: Evade the Kamroth/Elect pursuit to get the merchants, the boy, and Ressilmae from The Silver Unicorn Inn to Moonstone Keep.
1/8 Successes/0 Failures/2 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2 +1 for "home field of Silver Unicorn Inn" Advantages available/Primary Skill Training exhausted; Insight

 

[hawkeyefan]

VORN quickly heads out into the hallway, and quietly alerts the merchants. Already, he can hear a bustle in the common room below. He should have anticipated this.

“We need to go, quickly! To my room,” he says. Luckily, the merchants are more than willing to listen. The boy is almost eager!

“I hate to ask you to climb again after all you’ve been through, but it’s just one story,” Vorn tells them as he sets up the climbing gear for them.

With Lief down among the crowd he knows they’ll be relatively safe until they get down, so he takes up position watching the door, an arrow at the ready.

It seems the merchants have regained some vigor as they make their way out of the window and down to the ground. The boy is last. “Go, lad,” Vorn tells him. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Footfalls sound on the stairs. Patrons or enemies? He flips one of the bedframes up against the door and then hustles to the window and scrambles down the side of the building, barely even touching the rope.

“Let’s go!” he says to the group. “We need to get to the keep!”

___________

Intent: To get the merchants and the boy down to the ground and to follow, so we can then make our way to the keep.

Primary Skill: Athletics- r(12) + 9 + 2 (equipment) = 23 vs. Medium DC 15. SUCCESS.
_______________

Complexity 3 SC, Level 5 (DCs 10/15/22)
Goal: Evade the Kamroth/Elect pursuit to get the merchants, the boy, and Ressilmae from The Silver Unicorn Inn to Moonstone Keep.
2/8 Successes/0 Failures/2 Hard DC Available/3Secondary Skills Available/2 +1 for "home field of Silver Unicorn Inn" Advantages available/Primary Skill Training exhausted; Insight; Athletics

 

[Manbearcat]

LIEF & VORN

Complexity 3 SC, Level 5 (DCs 10/15/22)
Goal: Evade the Kamroth/Elect pursuit to get the merchants, the boy, and Ressilmae from The Silver Unicorn Inn to Moonstone Keep.
2/8 Successes/0 Failures/2 Hard DC Available/3Secondary Skills Available/2 +1 for "home field of Silver Unicorn Inn" Advantages available/Primary Skill Training exhausted; Insight; Athletics

Huddled between the Fallcrest's northern rampart and The Silver Unicorn Inn, weighing their options for their trek through Hightown to Moonstone Keep, Yannick the merchant points at the Halfmoon Trading House a few blocks to the south and pipes up:

Yannick: "My wife, Lucia, works for the owner Selarund there. She's an incredible cobbler and runs a stall there repairing and selling shoes...but I guess that is beside the point. The point is, Selarund the halfling might be small of stature, but he is fierce of spirit. Unlike myself <sadface>, he has defied Kamroth's...overtures...to date. I mean, to be fair to me, he has the backing of a regional trading consortium to give him such a backbone. Again, beside the point.

I think if we make a run the few blocks to the Halfmoon Trading House it'll be worth our while to just haul our collective behinds there (1). My lungs are not great...its a bit far, its out in the open, and its out of the way, I know, but they'll help us."

The alternatives are:

(2) (1) above, but, instead of going into the Halfmoon Trading House, use the mid-town apartments as a means to traverse the distance to either (a) the northern wall nearer Tombstone Keep's stables or (b) into and through the Tombwood.

(3) to sneak along this northern stonewall under the watchful eye of the guards manning the parapets, using the carts and barrels and various supplies as cover to get to the big, open square with the dug well that folks in Hightown use. Maybe you could sneak down into the underworld there and emerge nearer Moonstone Keep? Maybe emerge in Tombwood which you guys know decently at this point?

--------------------------------

So what is the plan here in terms of route?

(1) absolutely entails an Endurance Group Move MEDIUM DC, no way around it. Its out in the opening and its just straight-up test of your lungs for a long runner to the trading house. However, it will be with 3 (the PCs and the NPC group at +1) so that DC gets throttled back to vs EASY. If that succeeds, go ahead and make a follow-on move pending what your plan is next; surveil the Halfmoon Trading House and ingratiate yourself for help or (2a) or (2b) above. We'll discuss DCs/moves/consequences via Discord if it comes to that.

(3) probably entails a Stealth Group Move HIGH DC (which gets throttled back to MEDIUM due to 3 participants, but the merchants/boy are only a collective +2) unless you guys have some kind of alternative idea here. The main threat is (i) there is little cover here and a huge cohort of people and (ii) you're crossing the direct line-of-sight of The Elect/Kamroth bad guys that are guarding the front entrance of The Silver Unicorn Inn and have the Moonstone Keep coachmen and coach commandeered. I mean...you could engage in direct combat with them and try to commandeer the wagon right back I suppose (that latter part being a nested SC)?

---

STARN & TERJON

Complexity 3 SC, Level 2 (DCs 9/13/20)
Goal (staged): Rouse the Padraig family from their grief and muster them (5) and Winterhaven itself (8) against Cardinal Erban's heresy and impending coup.
1/8 Successes/1 Failures/1 Hard DC Available/3 Secondary Skills Available/2+1 Advantages available due to beating Erban's posse to Winterhaven and arriving with Sir Terjon, Knight of Pelor/Primary Skill Training exhausted; Diplomacy.

Consequence is take -1 ongoing to Primary Skill Checks (save ends; saving throw after each successful Primary Skill check move) @AbdulAlhazred . This social situation is unraveling!

The stricken Emil takes real note of Terjon for the first time. He sees an out here. A way to both spite his father and birthright and take life by the horns and find some meaning!

He abruptly kneels before Terjon:

"Knight of Pelor. Last of his order. I humbly beg you to accept I, Emil Padraig, as your squire. I will give of myself to your cause and the cause of The First Light...The Shining One...The Duskbreaker."

Ernest Padraig reflexively knows that if he intervenes here, it is an act of morbid authoritarian rule to subvert such a request...even of his firstborn son...especially of his firstborn son. The legacy of his Regulators before his rule would be ruined...and the people would rise up.

The Lord of Winterhaven stands there with no good option. He seizes up, relying upon Terjon to find a way to deal with this.

----------------------------

MEDIUM DC in dealing with this. If Terjon just flatly accepts Emil, then your adversary in the move is the Padraig family at large. Make a move to placate them.

If somehow Emil is gracefully rebuffed, then your adversary is Emil's temperamentally-challenged state.

Regardless, don't forget to apply the -1 ongoing to Primary Checks and then make a saving throw after your move should your move be successful.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

TERJON glances at STARN, momentarily at a loss, wishing for some arcane salvation. How long has it been since someone asked to be his squire? How long since someone was worthy? And this boy? This boy...

"You honor me," he says, "A word?" The knight smiles warmly, and gestures to Lord Padraig.

Emil sneers at this awkward deflection. "Unbelievable" he mutters, loud enough for all to hear, as he follows Terjon to speak with his family.

Terjon stands between lord and son, as though mediating, but he speaks mostly to the father. "I do not know your son, nor he me. I would never dare question his faith in Pelor, nor his heart. And though no order is honor-bound to accept a request to squire, I find myself...moved." He looks Emil in the eye now. "You do this on a whim, maybe, without consideration, perhaps, but I see it in you—you will keep your oath."

He puts a hand on the boy's shoulder, and addresses the lord again. "My oath to you is that, if in a half-year's time I'm still alive, I will return here, and conduct an honest trial to determine Emil's fitness to serve as a squire to me, and to Pelor. I assure you, this is no empty delay. I have enemies. They mean to kill me. I won't make them your enemies," Terjon says to Emil. "Not yet. Six months time, then, to prepare yourself. If I live I'll be back, I swear it."

Intent: Delay the squire question, and deescalate tension between the boy and his father.

Secondary Skill: Diplomacy. r(4)+4 = 8 vs. Easy DC (9). Fail.

Primary Skill: Insight (with penalty for Secondary fail and -1 ongoing). r(15)+3-2-1 = 15 vs. Medium DC (13). Success. Save to stop -1 ongoing. r(12), SE.

---

Complexity 3 SC, Level 2 (DCs 9/13/20)
Goal (staged): Rouse the Padraig family from their grief and muster them (5) and Winterhaven itself (8) against Cardinal Erban's heresy and impending coup.
2/8 Successes/1 Failures/1 Hard DC Available/2 Secondary Skills Available/2+1 Advantages available due to beating Erban's posse to Winterhaven and arriving with Sir Terjon, Knight of Pelor/Primary Skill Training exhausted; Diplomacy, Insight.