[Adventure] Serpent's Skull: Souls for Smuggler's Shiv (DM: Mewness; Judge: THB)

[GROMkill]

With Castile's help, Takahaan heads into the adjacent jungle in search of any dry wood that has survived the powerful deluge. Spotting a few fallen trees, protected from the downfall by the strong, thick canopy of the jungle treetops, Takahaan stops. "Castile, could you use your axe to split this wood into pieces able to be carried? I shall haul it back in hasty trips as you prepare it."

Tapping into his inner reserves of determination, Takahaan works very hard, eager to get a fire going and shelter for his own and his allies' comfort after tough traveling.

OOC: Athletics Check, with Castile's aid, as well as Heroic Effort: 1d20+12=23 Success!

 

[Mewness]

GM: 3/6 successes. 0/3 failures. "Find and Prepare Site" completed. "Gather Materials" sufficiently completed (although you can still get another success here). Still to act: Kane and Noriaki (and anyone who wants to spend an action point). Helpful NPCs Aerys +6 Athletics, +8 Bluff Jade (can only aid another) Sasha +7 Perception, +7 Nature, +9 Stealth (reserved building shelter with Dartmoor)

 

[Pentius]

Noriaki flashes Kane a smile. "Sounds better than carting around branches. My elegance is wasted on such common efforts." Noriaki does a quick mock stretch for dramatic effect, and waves his bare arm to indicate that Kane should lead the way.

Once they get to it, Noriaki is happy to let Kane tell him what to gather, focusing his efforts on leaping from branch to branch and precisely cutting the vines and leaves down with his sword. It pains him to cut branches with a sword blade, but as he quips to Kane, "My sword and I, we are both beautiful things subjected to harsh treatment in this beastly jungle. Hopefully it fares better than my clothing has."

OOC: Athletics to Aid Kane: 1d20+8=21 I think we've got this one.

 

[jbear]

As Kane runs off with another armload of branches leaves and vines back towards camp he calls back over his shoulder:

"I c-can c-clean your c-clothes!"

OOC: Action: Endurance with Heroic Surge and Aid bonus for a total of +12

 

[twilsemail]

OOC: AP: rolling Nature with Sasha's backup. ETA: also, spending a surge.

The Irregulars are a sight to behold. They work in tandem. They fly and move in intricate patterns. Whatever they have built is a beauty to take the breath away.

"Captain," Sasha says softly, "Wasn't this meant to be a shelter." Looking over the thing again she realizes that they've built a statue of her, "I'm flattered, but there are probably more prudent uses of the materials."

"If you insist, Fire-Haired Girl." The Captain says with a sigh.

The Irregulars dismantle the statue, keeping the materials in impressively good condition. Quickly, and under Sasha's direct supervision, they begin building she'ter in earnest.

Jeremy elbows Johnathan Michael William Fred Fitzpatrick in the ribs and says "I told you we should have clothed the statue." The Fitzpatrick just shrugs and smiles as he works.

OOC: Well, thank goodness Sasha was there to keep an eye on the Captain...

 

[Mewness]

GM: Skill Challenge: Establish a Camp; round 2 Round 1 results: 5/6 successes, 0/3 failures (go Sasha! Actually her Nature is only +7, but she still succeeded). Helpful NPCs Aerys: Athletics +6, Bluff +8 Jade: (no useful skills) Sasha Only one success is needed. Should be in the bag unless twilsemail rolls the die Aid Another: You can use an action to Aid Another, which requires a DC 10 check on any vaguely appropriate skill. Aid Another attempts must be declared before the person who is making the main check rolls. If you want to aid someone in taking a particular action, such as helping the first person who tries to Build Shelter (building shelter being a particularly difficult task) it’s OK if main action doesn’t take place on the same round. Heroic Effort: You can spend a healing surge before rolling a check to gain a +2 bonus to that check. Heroic effort must be declared before rolling. The use of a skill other than those mentioned below can at best count as an Aid Another attempt. The following tasks remain:

[sblock=Task 1: Persuade an NPC to help]This is a DC 19 Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate check, depending on your approach. Note that telling outrageous lies or bullying the NPCs will work fine for this challenge but may negatively affect their attitude in the future.

Persuading an NPC not only counts as a success, but allows the party to call upon the NPC’s help during this challenge. The benefits of getting help from an NPC are as follows:

--An NPC can grant a +2 bonus on any skill check that a PC makes as part of this challenge. (Effectively, the NPC takes the Aid Another action and does not need to roll.)

--When a PC makes a skill check as part of this challenge, an NPC who has a skill that is relevant to the task being performed can roll a check using that skill at the same time, with the higher check result counting toward the challenge.

Each NPC can help out only once. You must decide whether you want an NPC’s help and which option you are taking before rolling. Any PC can draw upon a helpful NPC’s aid, not just the one who persuaded that NPC to help.[/sblock]
[sblock=Task 4: Build Shelter]Requires a DC 19 Nature or Athletics check.[/sblock]
[sblock=Task 5: Conceal the Camp]Arranging materials to camouflage the shelters and removing traces of the group’s activities requires a DC 19 Nature, Perception, or Stealth check.[/sblock]

 

[twilsemail]

OOC: Hey. I've succeded on a roll or two in my time... Maybe even 3. This is probably how I'm the only player to suffer a PC death over in LEB. If we make that 6th success should we cease and desist or keep on with the second round? If it's the latter, I think we should move on to step 5.

 

[Mewness]

GM: If you make the 6th success you can still keep going to the end of the 2nd round if you like. You won't be able to fail the challenge once you've gotten 6 successes, and I will try to make any extra improvements you put in count for something. But the challenge can end instantly after the 6th success if people are ready to move on.

 

[jbear]

OOC: [MENTION=14889]Mewness[/MENTION]: I had an idea about tackling making the shelter (or hiding it) which I think fits quite well but doesn't come under the primary skills. Agreeing that it's a good idea to hide the shelter, but keen to really hammer home the success by gaining a second build shelter success and also hiding the shelter (and with 2 fails up our sleeve being able to risk a possible low roll) I'll put it to you and let you judge. The idea comes from the fact that Athletics is a Primary skill for making the shelter; Kane would use Mage Hand to reach high, difficult to climb to branches up to 25 feet above his head to loop and tie vines and ropes and pull leaves down over the shelter making the roof more compact and weather proof. As far as hiding the shelter, he could maybe Aid another by using predigistation to change the colour of any non natural material to give it a camoflage look or use mage hand to stain the top ropes with mud. So the idea would be to use Arcana to manipulate the Mage Hand skillfully enough to be able to so, and voiding the need for athletics to climb up and secure the same ropes the Ghost Hand is taking up and either looping back to the ground to be tied there, or if possible, tying them itself. So whaddya think? Could I use Arcana as a primary skill to reinforce the well built shelter? If not, can I use Arcana to Aid the hiding of it?

 

[Mewness]

GM: You can definitely use Arcana to aid another (either hiding or building; aid another is supposed to be very flexible). I'm inclined to say no on using Arcana as the primary skill for building. I don't think one telekinetic hand is a good substitute for a coordinated body. Re twilsemail's question: I will end the challenge after the sixth success comes up as I can't think of any way for extra successes to benefit people, at least at the moment.