[LPF] Distant Relations

[deisenhut]

Yoshiki Akita (Human Monk 4)

A feeling of dread fills his heart as at the group is forced to confront the baker. It is one thing to go along and pretend to be one of them to find out information, but it is quite another to participate in the destruction of an innocent man's livelihood. He knows in his heart there is no way he can continue. He makes the snap decision to react and lead the group quickly.

As soon as the door slams and the four of them are alone with the halfling baker, Yoshiki steps forward and quickly says in a low voice. "Sir, we are not part of them. We have infiltrated them in the hopes of finding a way to bring them down. But if we don't damage your shop, it will blow our cover." Turning the Quioan, he quickly and sternly says, "Make loud noises like we're trashing the place!" He then looks at Elenka. "Can you call your friend and distract those outside?" Looking at Anna, "Is there anything you can do with your magic to make this place look trashed?"

He turns back to the shop owner and says, "You can help us out by going to the Hidden Clearing tonight for dinner. Tell the hostess that you are there to try the boar and raven special. She will seat you with a man named Inar. Tell him what has happened here."

[sblock=Ministats]Initiative: +4
AC: 19 Touch 19 Flatfooted 14
HP: 28/28
CMB: +8 CMD: 23 Fort: +4 Reflex: +8 Will: +7 (+2 vs. Enchantment)
Defensive Abilities: Evasion, Deflect Arrows
Speed: 40 ft

Conditions in Effect: None
Elemental Fist: 4/4 remaining
Ki Pool: 5/5 remaining
Additional Gear: 1 CLW Potion
[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

Gratis stands, mouth agape, as he appears to witness one of the masked cultists telling him he's a spy against Owbej. His eyes narrow as he looks the group over.

"This is some kind of ... of trick or something, isn't it?" he says, backing away. "You want me to pay you under the table or something, but I keep telling you people, I don't have your money!"

GM: Gratis can't tell you guys apart from the real thing, and you already know he's Not Keen on the cult, so: Diplomacy check(s).

 

[deisenhut]

Yoshiki Akita (Human Monk 4)

OOC: Nevermind my rambling if you read it, I understand now....

Yoshiki, sensing the man's concern, raises his mask to reveal his face to say in the same quick and low voice, "No trick and we want no money. But our job is not done so we must maintain our cover." With that he lowers his mask once again and turns around towards the door and yells loud enough to be heard outside, "Hand over the gold if you know what is good for you!"

[sblock=Ministats]Initiative: +4
AC: 19 Touch 19 Flatfooted 14
HP: 28/28
CMB: +8 CMD: 23 Fort: +4 Reflex: +8 Will: +7 (+2 vs. Enchantment)
Defensive Abilities: Evasion, Deflect Arrows
Speed: 40 ft

Conditions in Effect: None
Elemental Fist: 4/4 remaining
Ki Pool: 5/5 remaining
Additional Gear: 1 CLW Potion
[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

While startled that Yoshiki would remove his mask, the baker remains unconvinced that this isn't some new scam. He crosses his arms and looks to the others worriedly.

 

[GlassEye]

Elenka tries to look reassuring but forgets for the moment that she is wearing a mask that hides her expression.

"God's truth, Dimplecotton. And not that false mask, Owbej. If you have anything particularly valuable and breakable you'd best move it out of here and fast."

She quickly moves to the window and peeks between the shutter to see if she can get a look at Tarkan and the two acolytes. Scoping out a less obvious place not to far from the three, she works her magic and summons a trio of vipers.

"That should keep them entertained for a bit," she mutters.



[sblock=Actions/OOC]
Diplomacy: 1d20+9=21
Move to the window
Standard use Summon Monster II spell-like ability to summon 3 vipers.[/sblock][sblock=MiniStats][size=+1]Elenka[/size] Human Summoner 3
Initiative: +2 Perception: +5

AC: 15 (12 touch; 13 flat-footed)
HP: 23 Current: 23
CMB: +3 CMD: 15 Fort: +1 Ref: +3 Will: +5

In Hand:
Spells:
1st level: 4/4 remaining.
Special: Summon Monster 2 5/6

[size=+1]Drevezh'Korol[/size] Eidolon
Initiative: +1 Perception: +0; Darkvision 60 ft.

AC: 15 (11 touch; 14 flat-footed)
HP: 29 Current: 28
CMB: +7 CMD: 18 Fort: +4 Ref: +2 Will: +3

In Hand:
Conditions: In the Other World[/sblock]

 

[Qik]

Bloody hell, thinks Quioan, we should have discussed what to do in case of something like this before hand. Now what.

Even as he thinks this thought, however, Yoshiki makes a decision for all of them. Quioan is of two minds about the man's decision: on the one hand, he respects his ability to act so quickly; on the other, he had no right to make such a drastic decision for the whole group, possibly jeopardizing their entire effort. While angry, Quioan recognizes that this isn't the time or place to indulge such feelings. We'll have that conversation later, he thinks.

It's just as he moves to begin filling out Yoshiki's request that Elenka summons the vipers. The elf smiles to himself. Well done, lass.

It's then that the elf comes up with a small idea to further by them some time. Thank goodness I prepared Ghost Sound last week - I haven't had the chance to learn anything else.

"I can deceive them as to our goings-ons in here for the moment, but eventually we'll need to provide some physical evidence of our destruction. In the meantime," he says, looking mostly at the ladies, "convince this halfling that we're telling the truth." Quioan closes his eyes, mutters, and soon the sounds of yelling and general destruction fill the room.

OOC: Yikes! What a turn of events to come home to. Quioan casts Ghost Sound, makes it sound like they're trashing the place. DC12 (hopefully that low DC doesn't backfire).

[sblock=Stats]
Quioan Scorchsong
HP: 24/24
AC: 17 (Touch: 15, Flat-footed: 12)
CMD: 19
Fort: +3, Ref: +8, Will: +3
Perception: +9
Spells:
- 0: Light, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound
- 1: Mage Armor, Gravity Bow, Shield
Bonded Item: Unused
Consumables: Wand of CLW (23 charges)[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

GM: I'm going to NPC Anna, since she can get this part done with little effort

The halfling grows more concerned as Elenka starts mentioning breaking things, and is about to boil over when Anna removes her mask and lowers her hood. It takes little more than a gentle smile and few calming words from the young sorceress and the baker's tensions ease. He nods.

"Aye, I'll help you. But we've still to provide payment to the temple, haven't we?" he says, a bit of worry returning.

Quioan, meanwhile, casts his spell, summoning the clatter and racket of a proper trashing.

"Oi, they're giving that one what for, yeah?" Elenka hears as she peeks from the window.

"What the hells are you talking about?" Tarkan growls to the guard. He cocks his head, then shakes it. "Some sort of twittering's all I hear."

Luckily, Tarkan's skepticism is suddenly distracted by the appearance of three vipers nearby. "You come with me. Hunting time!" he says to the nearest acolyte, leaving one at the door as he moves toward the commotion. The priest seems positively giddy at the prospect of some destruction of his own.

[sblock=mechanics]Believe it or not, the module actually has mechanics for faking the beating. Here's the deal:

* Party makes two Bluff checks: one to make enough noise so as not to rouse Tarkan’s suspicion, the other to make the bakery look as if you’ve properly wrecked it in pursuit of your task.

* Since you're working together, it's fine to have a primary checker and roll the others as Aid Another. If you choose Anna, can someone else roll for her until toasterferret returns?

* For every 5 gp in actual damage you cause, you receive a +1 circumstance bonus on ONE of these checks (either by breaking crocks and other noisy behavior, or spreading about flour and bread, which looks convincing).

* You must cause at least 25 gp worth of damage to make it appear that you wrecked the place; you have a –2 penalty on your check for every 5 gp worth of damage that you do NOT cause below 25 gp (this is in addition to any bonuses earned by causing damage).

Rather than run the viper encounter as a full fight, I'm going to give you guys a +2 circumstance bonus to the first Bluff (noise to avoid rousing Tarkan's suspicion) for the distraction the minor encounter provides.

Also, as Dimplecotton says, you'll have to deal with the money in some way. And trashing things too much might turn Dimplecotton against you, so: fine line and all that.

Have at![/sblock]

 

[deisenhut]

Yoshiki Akita (Human Monk 4)

OOC: Not being any good at bluffing, Yo will only roll to assist.

Racking his brain, Yoshiki tries to come up with a quick solution. "If you go to Inar tonight, tell him we sent you and you need 100 gp or our cover will be blown. Then we'll tell the thugs outside that we need to come back tomorrow to collect or trash your place again." Yo moves about to find a sack of flour or something else that can be spread around the room and the party themselves as he says this.

[sblock=Ministats]Initiative: +4
AC: 19 Touch 19 Flatfooted 14
HP: 28/28
CMB: +8 CMD: 23 Fort: +4 Reflex: +8 Will: +7 (+2 vs. Enchantment)
Defensive Abilities: Evasion, Deflect Arrows
Speed: 40 ft

Conditions in Effect: None
Elemental Fist: 4/4 remaining
Ki Pool: 5/5 remaining
Additional Gear: 1 CLW Potion
[/sblock]

 

[jkason]

GM: Sorry, I should have said before, but [MENTION=100214]deisenhut[/MENTION], which roll is for which Bluff attempt? If the rest of you could label the attempts in the notes of your rolls, I'd appreciate that. Otherwise there's a lot of post-roll juggling to get the best results. Let's call the "make enough noise" bluff #1 and the "convincingly make a mess" bluff #2 if you guys just want to reference numbers. Also as an FYI, since I think I might have soft-peddled the dialogue, Tarkan's orders are meant to be of the "don't come back without the gold" variety. It's unlikely at this juncture that he's going to take even one day's further delay on payment.

[sblock=Progress]Unapplied +2 Aid another for one roll (Yoshiki)

Bluff #1 (noise bluff): +2 distraction (Elenka)

Bluff #2 (mess bluff): -10 (0 gp currently damaged)

You don't have to make rolls to destroy X gp worth of stuff. But I do need to know how much monetary damage you're planning, and where you want the circumstance bonus(es) applied.[/sblock]

 

[Qik]

OOC: Need to think before I act again, but a quick question: do we have all of our stuff with us? Because we could always give Dimplecotton some gp and then break things that are relatively easy to replace. We could also provide the money ourselves (Q alone has 750 gp in his pocket at the present time).