Redeem the Past, Chase the Future. A 4e Story Now One Shot.

[Manbearcat]

Level +1(9)/Complexity 1 Skill Challenge (DCs 12/17)
2/4 Successes (0 Hard DC available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skill Available/0 Advantages available)
Goal: Stealthily infiltrate, surveil, exfiltrate the cult's hidden sanctuary of Lirr Manor to verify their hidden sanctuary in Easthill and the cult leader's identity (earning the final 1 Success in the macro-SC).

---

Valak straddles either side of the stack near the bottom of the chimney, using bottom tension and flexion to keep him anchored in place. He can smell the ashes below him from the previous days' fires, but, luckily, today the conditions, while still cool, haven't warranted usage.

Despite the soft music of a lyre constantly strummed, he can vaguely hear the obstructed chorus of whispers (perhaps as many as six different voices and then the lyre player) by the many cultists in the study/ball room. They are both quiet and speaking in an encoded tongue, obscuring conversation via metaphor and arcane allegory.

There is definitely a sense that, at the far end of the room, they are all signing some kind of logbook, the scrawling can be heard rhythmically after encoded language exchanges...something that conveys oath and perhaps portends the when/where/who/what of a ceremony.

---

What do you do? Lots of possible action declarations at the MEDIUM DC here to move things along.

 

[zakael19]

Closing his eyes and stilling his mind, Valak settles in to glean what he can make out of the back and forth. The lyre's sound becomes louder and louder to his senses, and then in a moment of insight he realizes what his mind is trying to tell him: they're using musical terms to obscure the true meaning of their chatter - turning discussions of dark acts into metaphors of crescendo, forte, and pianissimo. With this clue, the constant reference to a "conductor" takes on a more sinister meaning, one who is crescendoing a "fanfare to the Lord." Surely this must be the Veil! Then one of the cultists says something else that catches his attention:

"Come brothers and sisters of the Profane Orchestra, inscribe thine name in blood upon this sheet that the conductor might ensure they part the players from the audience for our upcoming performance at the ancient concert house."

_____________________________________

Primary skill use: Insight. r3 + 16 = 19 vs DC17. SUCCESS.

Goal: discern meaning from the encoded conversation, and obtain the location of the Veil before they can realize any more dark designs.

 

[Manbearcat]

Level +1(9)/Complexity 1 Skill Challenge (DCs 12/17)
3/4 Successes (0 Hard DC available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skill Available/0 Advantages available)
Goal: Stealthily infiltrate, surveil, exfiltrate the cult's hidden sanctuary of Lirr Manor to verify their hidden sanctuary in Easthill and the cult leader's identity (earning the final 1 Success in the macro-SC).

---

And there it is. The ancient concert house.

In all of Harkenwold, that is a reference to only one such place. Tucked against a sixty foot granite face of The Briar Hills, nested under an amazing stone roof so that the acoustics create an otherworldly ambience, is an outdoor setting where players from the entirety of The Nentir Vale yearn to play their pieces. It is the humble hamlet of Easthill's only claim to fame.

Tomorrow night there is to be a grand "concert" in Easthill. The assembled players will be the cult acolytes and the abyssal notes the audience partakes from will be their undoing; rendering them host for a demonic wretch. A swarm of Dretches to hunt down Osian no doubt, for the final piece which will give his body to The Befouler.

That means the conductor would have to be The Rakshasa; leader of this dark cult.

As the unholy inscriptions are performed, a member bristles at the temperature of the room and quickly gets chided for always being cold. "Perhaps you should be the host for The Befouler" illicits a collective, dark chuckle around the room.

The sound of bound kindling being gathered from a bushel. Footsteps toward the fireplace mean only one thing...

---

What to do here?

1) Pleased with the results of your Op, do you quickly scurry up the stack and out of the manor before the fire is lit? MEDIUM DC

2) Do you lie in wait for the cultist prey, slaying them from your position as they lay the kindling to start the fire, therefore giving yourself time to easily scramble up? (Secondary Skill Stealth vs Low DC, then you'd need to make a successful MBA w/ Combat Advantage vs Medium AC for level 6 which is 20...if that fails, we're in combat...if they succeed...you can easily take your time and scramble back up the chimney stack).

3) What about that book? What about the inscription written in blood to ward the cultists from the demonic enspelling of the orchestral arrangement? If you could somehow sneak over to them both and egress, you could (a) have the Truename of the Rakshasa and gain an Encounter Power against it for the battle to come and (b) perhaps you could adjure the inscription, reversing the enspelling with the radiant, purging light of Avandra, harming the cultist players rather than the audience? Pilfering these would be a level +2 SC to pull off, would resolve this nested challenge with another nested challenge (which would then resolve the macro challenge!).

4) What about these cultists themselves? 7 members (6 + the lyre player)? Can Valak stand to see them live and fortify the forces in Eastill? If you slay them here, we'll throttle back the Easthill combat by 1 Standard worth of encounter budget. But you're talking about a Level + 2.3 Encounter Budget for Valak by himself:

Level 6 Standard (250 xp)
Level 6 Standard Hazard for the Lyre Player (250 xp)
Level 5 Minion (63 x 5 = 315 xp)
= 815 xp

You could (i) attempt to slay the Minion coming to start the fire (as above). If successful, you could then (ii) attempt to Minionize the Standard. Although there is Cover in the way of furniture to skulk across, they're across the room with several eyes between them. That would be vs the level 6 Hard DC for Stealth (23) and then the same Hard AC (22) for MBA w/ Combat Advantage. Failing either of those would put you in a spot. We'd go straight to combat with undesirable positioning (my choice!) and you'd have -2 defenses for the Round 1.

You could then get that book and inscription no problem! But quite a risk!

 

[zakael19]

Knowing that there's a good chance a book of true names of cultists bound together in dark designs also has the name of their leader, the rakshasa that he is here to end or redeem, Valak girds himself for a series of possibly rash but necessary maneuvers. First, he'll need to take care of the immediate threat - then he'll search and asses to rapidly figure out what to do with the body & how to get the book and depart.

Per conversation, dealing with the cultist before it can react will be a Hard DC move - covering the ground before it can raise the alarm + making an attack to kill.

Level +2(10)/Complexity 2 Skill Challenge (DCs 13/18/26)
0/6 Successes (1 Hard DC available)/0 Failures/2 Secondary Skill Available/0 Advantages available)
Goal: Deal with the cultist nearing the hearth with the bundle of kindling (slay and deal with the body/the missing personage before the cult becomes the wiser), pilfer the book, egress from the Manor, and access the book's mysteries and the Truename of the Rakshasa (their Firstname before their soul became corrupted and their reincarnation loop began; this would include a Thievery Secondary Skill to open the locked book and a History Primary Skill to pour through the byzantine text and learn the name). This will earn a cascading final success in this nested SC...of the nested SC...of the macro-SC!

Drawing on his inner store of holy power, Valak activates Daily Power: Aspect of Might to bestow a burst of strength and speed that will allow him to cover the ground between the hearth and the approaching cultist. He drops down to the mouth of the hearth, his legs coiling in and then propelling him forward so quickly the oncoming robed figure just has enough time to register oncoming movement before Valak is upon him. Driving up from below, the hilt of his blessed sword smashes into the cultist's neck, crushing his windpipe, before he envelops the person and their cargo of sticks to bear the whole ensemble to the ground without incriminating sound.

He pauses there for a moment as the cultist writhes and chokes his last cradled in his arms. The lyre plinks on in the far corner for now, and shielded from view by the hearth and furniture he has a moment to assess the surroundings for a stash spot; maybe kindling the fire and stowing the body away will give just enough time to register another distraction to get to the book and depart...
________________

Daily Power Use: Aspect of Might, auto SUCCESS vs hard DC (26) Athletics check. +5 Athletics, +2 Speed, +2 Melee Damage until end of encounter.
MBA: r7+15+2 vs AC20= Hit and Killed

Next action, see if there's a better stash solution then the hearth for the body - he'd like to start the fire as cover.

 

[Manbearcat]

Level +2(10)/Complexity 2 Skill Challenge (DCs 13/18/26)
2/6 Successes (0 Hard DC available)/0 Failures/2 Secondary Skill Available/0 Advantages available)
Goal: Deal with the cultist nearing the hearth with the bundle of kindling (slay and deal with the body/the missing personage before the cult becomes the wiser), pilfer the book, egress from the Manor, and access the book's mysteries and the Truename of the Rakshasa (their Firstname before their soul became corrupted and their reincarnation loop began; this would include a Thievery Secondary Skill to open the locked book and a History Primary Skill to pour through the byzantine text and learn the name). This will earn a cascading final success in this nested SC...of the nested SC...of the macro-SC!

---

Alright, this post is going to basically be an inventorying of the situation and prospective action declarations/consequences, so no attached development of fiction:

Situation:

* The converted ballroom off the main floor is effectively now kind of a huge, sprawling lounge and common room. The manor is a large square footage (sf) structure and this room makes up a good half of the first floor sf. Where Valak is on one exterior wall (where the hearth/chimney is) has fairly chunky separation from the area where the cult has gathered which is further than the bisect point of the room. There is plenty of furniture and light variance separating him. However, they can still see and hear to the hearth because of the open floor plan.

* Quickly lighting a fire might help his situation. If that is just mere color, then great. If you want it to be a part of the ruse that amplifies his Primary Skill Check, then spend your available Secondary Skill (you have 2, but the other one needs to be for Thievery to open the locked book for the Primary Skill History check on it later) to make a Nature check vs Low DC 13 for +2 forward. Failure there will yield -2 forward.

* I can see three possible action declarations for stuffing the body somewheres (perhaps you can think of more)?

1) Athletics (with your +5 from AoM) to wedge the body up the chimney stack. MEDIUM DC with failure there costing you 1 Healing Surge worth of HPs; so if combat breaks out here, you'll be at 75 % HP to start.

2) Insight to recollect the floorplan that Morgan debriefed Valak upon. Sort of a flashback here. It "stuck" during conversation because he made particular note of it and you registered the seeming importance of his tilting voice or stress. Maybe there is a small sundries closet near the hearth for servicing it. MEDIUM DC with failure there being a puff of ash/soot covers Valak's lower garments, threatening for him to leave a conspicuous trail; -2 ongoing to any future move to avoid notice (which obviously folds in Stealth).

3) This one I could see as orthodox Bluff, but I could see it being framed as a Heal check (relying upon knowledge of anatomy and the cultist's wounds) where you're posing the figure on the nearby armchair in a manner that the body's injuries will be obscured and it will remain in a stable posture; "just warming myself up by the fire." MEDIUM DC with a failure there being it draws the attention of the cultist the dead man's body. The cultist calls out. You could attempt your utterly crappy Bluff check to mimic a brief return reply of the now dead man. Or you could let the new cultist come over where you could assassinate them (Stealth + MBA vs MEDIUM DC 18/HIGH AC of 22 but with CA if the Stealth hits). But now you have 2 x bodies! Failure on that follow-on would mean that (a) you've killed the new cultist...but they put up more fight than you'd have liked and you took some kind of physical/mental collateral (down 1 Healing Surge worth of HPs)...further, I'd change the situation such that something in the yard with terrible teeth and powerful senses is peering through the nearby, large picture window...one of the sentinels creatures. It growls...better resolve that quickly...crazy bestial sentinels are apt to leap through picture windows and attack home invaders!

 

[zakael19]

Something about this room triggers a memory of Morgan's side rambles as he described the house...what was it again? And there, with a flash of his voice dropping to the shaky register of a person recounting trauma: "had to hide in a closet in the ritual hall once, when one of the senior cultists loosed some of the guardians as a lark on those of us who yet to be initiated in the higher mysteries and earn the amulet that wards off the master's creatures." Valak's vision darts about, trying to peer into the shadows and yes! There! He leaves the bundle of kindling on the ground, and with blessed strength still coursing through his body shoves the dead cultists form inside a closet full of brooms and dusty discarded clothing (best not look at those stains too closely). Just before he closes the door a thought strikes him - maybe this cultist was initiated enough to have a wardening amulet? Alas, a cursory pat reveals no likely results, but something to keep in mind for an escape...

________________________
Valak tries to recall the detailed layout and descriptions Morgan provided to find a hiding place for a corpse.

Primary Skill Use: Insight. r2+16 = 18 vs DC18 SUCCESS (...barely).

 

[Manbearcat]

Level +2(10)/Complexity 2 Skill Challenge (DCs 13/18/26)
3/6 Successes (0 Hard DC available)/0 Failures/2 Secondary Skill Available/0 Advantages available)
Goal: Deal with the cultist nearing the hearth with the bundle of kindling (slay and deal with the body/the missing personage before the cult becomes the wiser), pilfer the book, egress from the Manor, and access the book's mysteries and the Truename of the Rakshasa (their Firstname before their soul became corrupted and their reincarnation loop began; this would include a Thievery Secondary Skill to open the locked book and a History Primary Skill to pour through the byzantine text and learn the name). This will earn a cascading final success in this nested SC...of the nested SC...of the macro-SC!

---

Alright, body stashed with none-the-wiser. Remaining is to:

* First order of business; snatch the book (see below obstacle set). Then (in any order):

* Thievery Secondary Skill (to unlock the book's locked clasp) + History (to pour through the byzantine text and learn the Firstname of the Rakshasa).

* Egress.

---

A full Great Room worth of square footage separates you from the table upon which the book resides.

To the left of the book sits the lyre player, strumming their music. You could flank hard left along that exterior wall. There is a long chaise lounge and an endtable to give you cover. However, something about the music dulls your senses, makes your legs feel heavy as if the unmanned organ in the room was on your back. You'd have to endure the malaise-inducing enspellment of the music to get to the book if you take that route. However, if you can, the entry hall is accessible there. We'll throttle down the egress DC to Easy where the complication for failure would be an interaction with the home's chamberlain.

The other prospect is the right flank where traversing it entails an abundance of concealing darkness as virtually all light is sequestered to the other side of the room out to the middle. However, the house's large dog, a bullmastiff, snoozes on a rug near that side of the table. If things go wrong and you accrue a failure, the hound will stir...

---

MEDIUM DC whatever you choose to do.

 

[zakael19]

Valak takes a moment to kindle the fire in the chimney, hopefully the rest of the cultists will figure the deceased is merely resting…and hell with it, he gathers up some flammable material to trail out in front of the hearth towards the nearby furniture - it won’t catch fire for a bit, but when it does maybe it’ll distract from his egress. Or just be a nice parting “screw you.”
Rising to his feet from that task he starts to push forward along the exterior wall, staying low and moving carefully for cover. With each step forward the strangely compelling music of the lyre becomes more and more enveloping. Soon, it is all he can hear - his steps forward faltering to a stop as the music seems to suggest that all in its range puddle to a halt. He grits his teeth in determination - no clearly demonic lure can stop him when he’s so close to his goal!
And then suddenly it’s like he was moving forward all along, the book and the table it sits on right in front of him.
______________________
Ok, fire may just be flavor or maybe a secondary Skill use to help with final egress?

Either way, a secondary skill Nature to try and judge how to set a fire that will spread after a few minutes.

r5+9=14 vs DC13 SUCCESS

Primary skill use: Endurance to use force of will to fight through the soporific effect of the enchanted lyre and reach the book

R14+6 = 20 vs DC 18 SUCCESS.

 

[Manbearcat]

Level +2(10)/Complexity 2 Skill Challenge (DCs 13/18/26)
4/6 Successes (0 Hard DC available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skill Available/0 Advantages available)
Goal: Deal with the cultist nearing the hearth with the bundle of kindling (slay and deal with the body/the missing personage before the cult becomes the wiser), pilfer the book, egress from the Manor, and access the book's mysteries and the Truename of the Rakshasa (their Firstname before their soul became corrupted and their reincarnation loop began; this would include a Thievery Secondary Skill to open the locked book and a History Primary Skill to pour through the byzantine text and learn the name). This will earn a cascading final success in this nested SC...of the nested SC...of the macro-SC!

---

The vitality-sucking, malaise-inducing music holds no sway over the priest. The entirety of the cult, led by the very-worried-about-her-home Matron Maderra Lirr, panics at the smoldering rug and the threat of spread of the burning embers near the fireplace. As they wash to the other side of the room like a rolling tide, Valak is easily able to swipe the book and head out into the front hallway, the foyer, and out the front door.

The chamberlain is busy dusting and straightening affairs in that large hall.

---

So only a few questions remain:

* Remember, the Primary Skill DC is going to be LOW here as you charted the lyre-music course and its potential consequences rather than the family dog. With your +2 from the Nature Secondary Skill here, your Athletics (buffed +5 by Aspect of Might; 6 +5 +2 + r(1) = autosuccceds vs 13) automatically passes the LOW DC, while Stealth only needs a 2 to hit DC 13. If you fail with Stealth, its going to yield a complication where you have to deal with the chamberlain. Obviously, you can't fail with Athletics, but the fiction would mean that you're hauling up the entry-way with speed, no concern for dampening your presence. You'll be flinging the front door open and out onto the lawn and off. However, that means the chamberlin will have spotted you and the cult will be aware that there was an intruder. Consequently, if your subsequent History fails for the book after your auto-successful Athletics, I'm bringing in a cult complication.

Now, if your subsequent History with the book fails and you've gone the Stealth route here, I'll be bringing in dark forces inherent to the book itself as a consequence. So which route are you going here? Or do you have some kind of other action declaration on your mind here (that I'm not seeing the inherent fictional positioning for in my mind presently).

* If successful, where is Valak running off to in order to pour over the text for the Rakshasa's Firstname (before the fall and the reincarnation loop of corruption)? Is he going back to Morgans should things go south and dark forces emanate from the book? Is he going somewhere in solitude so he doesn't endanger anyone should reading the book prove dangerous?

Regardless, make your choices and resolve everything. If you have success on the egress move (whatever it is its at LOW DC due to prior), go wherever you're going with the book and resolve your Thievery SS + History PS.

 

[zakael19]

Valak ducks around the corner as the chamberlain straightens in confusion at the shouts coming from back towards the great hall. As that personage begins to walk slowly in the direction of the meeting chamber, duster held loosely in hand, the avenger crouches down and stills to immobility, then darts forward low on silent feet past him towards the exit from this foyer and the house entire. A momentary step on a creaky board almost gives him away, but just before he'd turn around to gaze over the entry the chamberlain's attention is caught by a bellowed summons from the lady of the house. Slipping out into the grounds, Valak vanishes into the night, book clutched in his hands.
______________________
Primary skill use: Stealth to slip past the chamberlain and away.
R4 + 9 + 2 = 15 vs DC13 SUCCESS.
______________________
A few minutes later finds him cresting a hillock away from the manor house and the town proper. The bright moon shines down, giving him the illumination needed to fumble around with the clasp on the book. While not particularly strong, the lock is small and delicate - and no doubt contains enchantments meant to foil a thief or someone not initiated in the full cult mysteries. Thievery is not one of Valak's strong suits, more a flashing blade from the side, but he can make do with what he's got. A straightened hair pin from his pouch (who knows why that was there) serves just enough to tease the tumblers open, an with a click the lock gives way and the names within are revealed.
_______________________

Secondary Skill use: Thievery to get the lock off and get inside the book.
R10 + 7 = 17 vs DC13 SUCCESS

_______________________

Turning the pages slowly, he squints to bring the hand written names into focus under the wan light shining down from overhead. Nothing on the first few pages, all names common to the vale here, and as he continues to page a rising sense of dread comes from the book in his hands and the ink starts to run - he can sense he has little time before some enchantment notices he is not permitted to be reading these words and something bad happens. Flipping the pages faster and faster he suddenly arrives at a page blank but for one name, as if the import of that one was so powerful the page could hold naught else. At first the letters refuse to make sense, and then they start to glow silver in the shimmer of the moon; brighter and brighter until with a shout he flings the book away, all he can see the letters superimposed in his vision and folding themselves into the shape of the mark that one sat on Osian's back. RAHAM ELIACH is the true-name revealed, although as his sight returns Valak is grimly certain that whatever form that fallen Deva now wears, it has surrendered its knowledge of the name which it bore when that spirit was great and good to the dark power this book is dedicated too.

He gathers the book up and locks the claps once more before starting his slow measured walk back towards Morgan's shop, and the children there to gather up as his small flock to counter the dark designs of a rakshasa and its master.
______________________

Primary Skill Use: History to recognize the true-name name of a fallen deva.
R14 + 7 = 21 vs DC18 SUCCESS