** You are a consortium of contacts. Are there any within the city’s walls or the enemy’s ranks?
Let's address this one in play.
I've never done a PBP but I think the easiest way to organize this would be to have each player's transition scene effort centralized in one post that just gets updated. I will use this post here and edit it with updates. Please do the same with your transition scene response post.
Barracks/ramparts?
Only open tavern?
Undercity?
King's War Council?
King’s Court?
Pick one to attempt to thoroughly infiltrate and please give me your M.O. in the effort.
---------------------------------------
@LostSoul 1st edit: Undercity it is.
A vast labrynth of crawlspaces to access the drain line infrastructure for the city proper. The poor, the decrepit and the insane are relegated to these areas and many of them are full-time occupants.
Standing room is isolated to a singular large chamber that serves as a septic tank/cesspool for aggregate floodwater collected from the storm drains during the wet season. It is not the wet season. Now all manner of riffraff and nobility congregate here, riding out the apocalypse in drunken revelry. Some families fearfully cling to one another in the corner, trying to protect what possessions they could take. Most just sing, dance and drink. it seems that many have accepted your outlook.
Amongst the numbers are some servants of the castle and outbuildings that were redundant, non-essential staff as, rumor has it, high-standing nobles are crammed into the common halls of the palace. Their personal staff apparently is tending to them.
Edit to Edit 1: Haven't heard anything yet so either you're MIA or you're wanting a bit more zoom-in. I'll give you a wee bit of zoom-in and then let me know how you wish to proceed.
During your blending into the mill in the main chamber (perhaps deploying Alter Self or some other means? You tell me), one thing specifically sticks out to you. A middle class family gathers in their makeshift hovel. The son points out a man to his father. The man is swathed in silks and finery but shrouded, face well-hidden. He is flanked on one side by a beady-eyed behemoth. The father either knows this man's anecdote specifically or is merely pointing out an allegorical lesson. He says to his son: "Men of too much wealth can afford to behave recklessly...but eventually the fool is parted from his money and while the wealth runs out, the recklessness remains."
There are all manner of tales and banter about where exactly the king is; from dead, to having secretly fled the city before the siege, to the king actually cutting a deal with the dragon and the war just being an excuse to raise taxes and demand tribute from the nobility! This seems to be just drunken revelry and general cynicism. Its quite clear that many (most) adore the king and more than one fight has broken out over one drunkard or another rebuking his good name.
Let me know how you wish to proceed. You may want to start with a Streetwise check (and give me intent) and we can proceed from there.
EDIT 2 @
LostSoul :
Sounds cool. I'll pick the Underbelly.
I'm not sure how much M.O. I can give you yet - give me more first! Frame the scene for me. If I had to pick a goal for this transition scene it would be "I want to find out any and all dirt on the chamberlain."
Edit 1:
(I generally stay away from the internet over the weekend, sorry about that)
Quinn smiles and slinks off into a dark corner. A few words of power are spoken*, and he emerges as a beautiful and exotic young woman. He approaches the silk-swathed man and, prostrating himself, he says in the sweetest and meekest tone he can muster: "Oh great lord, I ask for your kindness. I have become separated from my master and I fear the worst in this strange place. Can you provide me with your protection?"
* -
Disguise Self: Bluff + 5 (1d20+18=33)
The figure's protection moves between you and the silk-swaddled man, puts his hand squarely on your chest and gives you a meaty shove away "if you know whats good for you strumpet, you'll peddle yer filthy wares someplace else..." The man he is protecting, however, intervenes (sincerely; * failed Insight on his behalf). Your extremely high Passive Insight reveals much; there are very minor subtleties in his facial expression that seem almost too indicative of "eager"; almost practiced (roll Insight for further info or do something else). "Nonsense, let the girl speak. We're all civilized folk here (with a wave of his hand to encapsulate the room filled with beggars, charlatans, drunkards). Here, take this coin (a gold coin minted from the royal bank) and show it to the town stable-hand. They have a cellar under there, strong as any fortress. Smells of horse manure but it will see you through the worst of things; and all of that horse-flesh might put you in...better spirits. Might be that I see you this evening." As he extends his hand to give you the coin, his robes open up to you revealing a black rod with an intricately carved head, its leather thong hooked to a fine belt. He leans in close and you can smell his breath and see his teeth gleam beneath his cowl; his breath is strangely cold but smells sweet as might an exotic flower...his teeth have a bluish hue to them. He whispers through an ingratiating smile "if I do not see you there tonight, you will need to solicit protection from me..." He kisses your cheek and the exchange of the coin to your hand is lengthy.
He moves swiftly through the crowd with the hired muscle in tow.
Did you do anything? What further are you doing here?
EDIT 3 @
LostSoul :
Edit 2: @
Manbearcat :
(I also note that I forgot to specify my Intent, which was simply to get him to talk. Oh well!)
Quinn forces himself to suppress an instinctive smile - he chose his target well. What else might he be hiding? Quinn quickly scans his prey - mannerisms, the way he holds himself, facial twitches - anything that might give him an insight into the type of man he's facing.
Quinn reaches at the coin quickly - as quickly as a starving refugee offered a life-line would, of course - hoping to produce a tell: which muscles tense? Does he move in the way a practised warrior would, or does his hand twitch, ready for the gestures that accompany a spell?
[Intent: I want to know what kinds of powers this guy has - martial, arcane, etc.
Insight (1d20+17=25)]
Quinn bows and graciously accepts both the coin and his touch. He backs away, still bent over, and disappears into the crowd.
[I'll see what the results of the Insight check is before I plan my next move.]
To expedite matters, I'm going to use the Insight check you provided for both matters:
1- As to the first, your passive Insight overcame the Medium DC already. This current one does not achieve the Hard DC so nothing more is discerned.
2 - With respect to your query on the second; You take note of the deftness of his fingers and the subtleties of his touch. They are long in stature and extremely nimble, graceful...and strong. Very similar to your own. Although he clearly isn't toting any physical weapons (outside of his beefy companion) and his body appears to be lithe, there is a disturbing presence to him...an ominous strength that is at odds with his relatively frail physical disposition. There is a ring on his finger that may be familiar to you (roll History).
The man and his cohort move away, sifting through the crowd. The robed man points out a man laying in filth on the ground. The cohort collects him, hefting him over one beefy shoulder, with little to no protestation from the unconscious man. He moves further along through the crowd, hooded head swivelling this way and that, apparently doesn't see what he wants and, ducking under the tight quarters of the crawlspace, he and the large man begin to make their way down the tunnel and out of sight.
Let me know how you wish to proceed, what your specific intent is with respect to this present situation. Further, if you want to move along, let me know.
If you just want to find out general information on the Chamberlain down here, then please roll Streetwise and stipulate 3 questions (in order of what you wish to know). I'll answer you truly one for each DC (Easy, Medium, Hard) you pass. If you want to drop 50 gold on this effort, you can get a + 2.
If you swant to go that route, I'll reframe for you and you can pick an approach and give me an intent. Successful deployment of a relevant ability (eg your Familiar Weasel - Stealth - or Suggestion/Spectral Image - Arcana - or Emerald Eye - Insight) at the medium DC, will grant you a further +2 bonus here.
EDIT 4 @
LostSoul
Edit 3: @
Manbearcat
[Creepy -
History (1d20+17=18)]
Quinn will skulk along in the shadows that he is so used to with his weasel familiar at his feet. "Not sure I should do this by myself," he thinks, "but at least I have you." His familiar twitches his nose.
[Intent: I want to see what they're up to with the body - some sort of foul ritual, no doubt.
Stealth (1d20+18=22)]
Cluster! That is quite the collection of terrible rolls!
1 - Your History check passes the Easy but fails the Medium DC and bears little fruit. You are sure it has to due with station but the specifics of the ring's relevance are unknown to you.
2 - Your Stealth check fails the Perception DC here. While the light is extremely dim here (the robed figure carries a hooded lantern and you are well outside of the 30 ft radius), the crouched quarters and the puddled water make staying quiet difficult. Many paces into your skulking, at a fork, the hooded man pauses and waves for the large man to double back. He drops the weight of the man he picked up and doubles back while the specter-like figure ducks behind one of the forks.
You have multiple ways of getting a recovery Stealth check (see Twilight Adept and Startling Distraction). You also have other means at your disposal to deal with such a scenario. (i) You'll get one crack at this before things get hairy and (ii) no matter the outcome here, you're certain that he is spooked and these two are headed for the surface as the robe-clad figure whispers to him "leave the body...we'll come back for it later...I'll call for you at The Midnight Oil (the lone open tavern) tomorrow...things will be very different then...".
1 - How are you dealing with this present situation <the beefy fellow doubling back, a nasty looking punching dagger appearing in his hand from nowhere>?
2 - After you deal with 1, what then?
EDIT 5 @
LostSoul
Edit 4: @
Manbearcat
"Maybe this one will have some answers for me," Quinn thinks. He scrambles back, trying to stay in the shadows as the huge bulk of man approaches him.
[I want to lure him away from his master where I can try to melt his brain. To do that I'll use Hypnotism or Illusory Wall, assuming he doesn't just follow. I'm not really sure how this is going to work - if I have to deplete his HP or if a few good rolls will do it.
At any rate, here are the rolls to try to lure him away:
Hypnotism & Illusory Wall (1d20+18=22, 1d20+18=21) (Doesn't look like it'll matter much!
)]
I thought you might use one of your many means to ext stage left! Mind-melting and interrogation of a legitimate threat is another matter. The stakes are too high here. We need to run this as a an action scene. We'll go with a complexity 2 Skill Challenge (this is where I'd generally like it to be...we have a few days to play with due to pemerton's absence or I may have expedited it to a complexity 1). Complexity 2 is 6 successes before 3 failures with 1 success required at the Hard DC. The medium DC for all of your Attack vs NAD is vs 25 (hard is 27). For any Implement Attack versus NAD where you've matched the fictional positioning well to your leveraged power/ability, you can cash in a Healing Surge for a + 2 (at-will power) or a + 3 on a limited use item/encounter power (consider it cashing in a plot point for a step up of the dice or adding a dice to your pool). Medium for skill is 20 (hard is 28). Illusory Wall as a Daily will be an auto success, 1 HS spent, + 2 forward. I'll frame the scene and move us forward.
As the burly human (like you but clearly needs that hooded lantern more than you do as you have low light vision) wades through the murky darkness, he carefully taps the wall every few seconds with his punching dagger to get his bearings. The rhythmic sound emanating from his probing is eerie. He is all of 6'5 and the low ceiling forces him to stoop. You lure him back through a switchback and, from a distance (you can see him but it is very unlikely he sees you), whisper a hypnotic call to rend his mind from him (you fail and lose a healing surge! Is it moral? Exertion? Do you curse the fates?). He recoils, shakes the cobwebs and charges forward, punching dagger leading (insofar as a large man can charge in a murk-filled crawlspace.
0:1 You defly step into an adjacent tunnel that leads into a perpendicular route off the tunnel you're in. Quickly enacting one of your more powerful spells, you call forth a an illusory wall of the same like, kind and quality of the hewn stone of the crawlspace walls. The burly man is easily fooled and he, his hooded lantern and his punching dagger continue their charge, illiciting a low growl from him in frustration. You have an auto-success here and a + 2 forward and mark a lost Healing Surge (feel free to describe the lost surge). I need you to tell me how/where it will apply in the future? Immediately on this next effort or something else.
1:1 Give me your next action and intent here. See the DCs above. On a success, I'm giving you authority to render the immediate fiction and I'll pick u from there.
EDIT 6 @
LostSoul
Panic, pure and simple. I never should have tried this without my companions.
I like to stay in the immediate situation, so let's try that: casting the Illusory Wall, and seeing him fall prey for it, allows me to control my fear and use it to my own ends.
Quinn reaches into the Shadowfell and tears a piece of it loose.
Grim shadows of fear and terror assault the man's mind, forcing him into a panic. "You should have known to fear the shadows," Quinn says.
[Intent: I want him to be terrified, fighting here in the dark. Roll upcoming.]
[
Grim Shadow & damage (1d20+17=31, 2d8+9=25) Looks like that worked.]
Terrified, his mind reeling under assault from powers not of this world, the hulking brute drops his lantern in a panic. Its flame flickers, casting eerie shadows across the walls. He sees a figure move in the shadows and he clutches the steel in his hand in a tight fist.
[I'm probably going to use Murderous Twin, but maybe after I use Ghost Sound to cause a distraction to hide. At any rate, if he approaches me, I'll use Vanishing Swirl to go invisible and slip out of his reach.]
2:1 The large man's once grim countenance is severely diminished. He backs roughly against the wall, almost as if he is tryinng to back his way through the hewn stone, or become one with it. The lantern, dropped from his hand and shimmering wildly in the puddle, is creating an even deeper, more eerie effect as it plays on the walls and ceiling of the claustrophobic tunnel. You can see a grotesquely visible shake to his hand as he raises the punching knife. With a growl (half terror-stricken, half caged animal), he launches himself at you...though very unsteadily. You get the sense that if his will doesn't steady soon, he will take flight.
You're a few paces away, you have half concealment due to the wonky lantern. The quarters are tight and your illusory wall is at your back, cutting off the perpendicular tunnel. As above, you're using
Vanishing Swirl if he approaches you. Give me an
Arcana check against Medium DC. Assuming that is successful, you'll be at
3:1 and
he will be swinging wildly at every shadow that his movement makes in the gloomy phantoms caused by the odd lightning. Assuming that is successful and you deploy
Murderous Twin, roll
Attack versus NAD, this will be your Hard DC for the Skill Challenge. You can cash in a Surge for + 3 on that one if you wish.
If that is successful, you will be at
4:1 and I will reframe the evolved fiction. If you have a failure or you want to do something differently, let me know.
EDIT 7 @
LostSoul
Arcana (1d20+19=33)
Murderous Twin (1d20+20=30) (cashing in a Healing Surge - strain and focus on the spell, calling up my own fear and pouring it into the shadow-creature)
3:1 With murderous intentions bulwarked by burgeoning terror, the man's thick arm snaps like a viper, razor sharp punching dagger leading. Gathering gloom envelops Quinn's visage, taking him...someplace else. As the man's dagger viciously pounds the stone behind where Quinn once was, sparks fly, briefly lighting the shrouded crawlspace. The man is tired, his back hurts from stooping so awkwardly, and his wild-eyes betray the deep-seated fear of the dark that lies in the heart of every child. A whisper behind him promises a new terror.
4:1 Cold arcane words in a language lost to the ages whisper from nowhere and where there was one terror-filled thug, now there are two. A shadowy double pulls itself from the inky blackness of the ground to stand before the man. Its too much. A shriek echoes off the stonework, running off into the dark distance. With no regard for dignity, machismo or reputation, the man simply turns to (awkwardly given the tight quarters) run. It doesn't occur to him that he's leaving his only light source behind. He just wants out of there. In a cold flash, the shadow dissipates into a thousand flitting tendrils and instantly reappears in his path. The man cowers, overing his face and head, begging for mercy. Quinn hears a strange sound...but its not outward, its inward. A familiar (literally) squeeking and squawking emanates through the corridors of his mind. Something is coming...his senses stretch outward now and the sound of...thousands of tiny feet and chirping rush forward like a tsunami of fur, whiskers and pestilence. Giant Rat Swarm!
You're at 4:1. 2 more success or 2 more failures (6 successes or 3 failures) will tell the outcome. At this point, if you succeed, you may ask the man two questions and, if the answers are within his means, you are sure he will tell you true. If you accrue another failure along the way, you may ask 1. If you fail. Well, you can figure that out. So what are you doing about this Giant Rat Swarm thats rushing you (and your beaten prey) as a furry torrent!
Edit 6: @
Manbearcat
[My rolls:
Beguiling Flash, Suggestion, and Illusory Obstacles (1d20+18=26, 1d20+19=25, 1d20+18=34)]
A
Beguiling Flash illuminates the swarm of giant rats and sends them skittering away for a moment. Quinn steps out of the shadows - still in his feminine guise - and extends a hand. "Your life is in my hands now," he says, weaving subtle magic into his words, "Give yourself to me." The mind of the brute burns.
The rats turn back towards their prey. Quinn speaks a word of power and waves his hand, and the rats begin climbing over each other in a confused mess. The brute reaches up, Quinn lifts him to his feet, and the pair flee the scene.
[I think those were successes. The intents were: 1. to force the rats back away from the brute and save him from immediate attack; 2. to hammer it home that the brute is mine now - I wasn't sure if this was a valid intent, so I also threw in 3. to make sure the rats would not be able to catch us. Hope that works.]
Assuming two successes...
1. "Your old master said that everything was going to change - what did he mean?"
2. "Does your old master have any ties to the king or his courtiers, including the chamberlain?"
EDIT 8 [MENTION=386]LostSoul[/MENTION]
All 3 are successes (Medium DC for skill is 20 and Medium NAD is 25) so the first two (Beguiling Flash attack vs 25 and Suggestion - Arcana vs 20) are sufficient to close the scene with the success condition. Illusory Obstacles functions to deal with the the rats. The scene resolves itself precisely as you put above.
As to your questions.
- "Your old master said that everything was going to change - what did he mean?"
"I guess the Kingdom's gonna surrender tomorrow. I was hopin' to get out of here before then. It aint gonna be pretty. We should get out, you and me."
- "Does your old master have any ties to the king or his courtiers, including the chamberlain?"
"Well of course he does. He's the Court Mage! He's got ties to all of 'em. He acts like he runs the Castle and everyone in it. I guess that would mean the chamberlain, the king, hell the lot of 'em by the way he talks. I believe him too. He's got dark and powerful friends. I've seen some wierd stuff. Scary as the stuff you showed me."
1) You or your allies can invoke the answer to question 2 and gain a + 2 bonus for a singular check in the coming Action Scene.
2) If we were playing a full-on game, I'd offer you an Alternate Advancement reward for your new henchman. I'm at work so I can't devise it properly but it would be similar to @
pemerton 's herald.
3) If you have nothing further, I'm going to close this transition scene and send you to the base of the Kingsmount to meet your companions with your newly won information. @
sheadunne and @
Campbell (Theren and Lucann) were discussing a strange marking on the back of some sellswords' necks and pemerton (Thurgon) was inquiring about you as well.
