The Second Great War IC

[Tyrael]

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Hide: (1d20+11)[29]

[The Guardian]

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nice, you could almost hide in broad daylight with that hehe.

A tall man comes running down the hallway, sweeping past you as he darts up these stairs, two at a time. He holds a cudgel of some sort in his right hand, and he's wearing an odd-looking close-fit vest that you don't really get a good look at in the poor light.

He reaches the top of the stairs and throws open the double doors with a loud crash.

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The rest of this is from Fitz's perspective, although Garrett can hear it happening. TM= Tall Man, FM = Fat Man

The tall man enters the room, cudgel held high.

TM: "Sir! Are you alright?"

FM, waking up with a start: "WHAAAA? How DARE you! I did not summon you! How can I possibly prepare my spells if you are interrupting me!"

TM: "My apologies sir, I heard someone walking around, and I knew you would have called me if you needed me, so I assumed we had thieves!"

FM: "You incompetent fool! There are soldiers right outside! There's no possible way for a thief to get in!"

TM: "With respect sir, I don't think a thief would use the front door..."

FM: "AGAIN you insult me! I have had enough! *RAAY OV FRYST* - AAH!"

You hear a hissing sound, even without seeing it Fitz you know that he badly mangled the casting of the spell and it likely backfired.

TM: "Sir, your hand!"

FM: "GET OUT! GET OUT NOW! Or I will have the soldiers outside come and arrest you!"

After a brief pause, he bows, turns and leaves the room, closing the double doors behind him. You can hear the Fat Man fumbling with some candles, trying to warm his hand up.

You (both) hear the tall man pause outside the room for thirty seconds or so, then turn and walk towards the smaller bedroom.

[Tyrael]

Garrett

The thief winces at the commotion. So much for nobody knowing we're here...Thankfully, the boss doesn't appear to believe him. It might be best to knock him out quietly, he sounds like the boss of the guards. Until then, however, let's see precisely what this guy's up to...

Garrett creeps along the wall, watching the Thin Man.

[The Guardian]

The tall man is opening the door into the other bedroom when you hear Fat Man shouting (presumably out the window).

"Hey you stupid soldiers! Are you deaf? Don't you think you should be coming inside and making sure I'm all right???"

A few moments later you can hear the front door trying to open, but apparently bolted, and then the door chime sounds. The tall man rolls his eyes, shuts the bedroom door, and heads back down the stairs towards the front door.

[Tyrael]

Garrett

Garrett maintains his hiding place in the shadows, waiting and watching. Now definitely isn't the time for rash decisions. Let's see how this plays out.

[zagan]

Nemal think about it before responding. "No, Blair couldn't follow, well not fast enough, but we both should be able to fit on Toby. It will probably be a little akward but doable."
Nemal approch Toby and guide him toward a small muret to ease mounting on his back. "Come on Blair we need to go on Toby to be fast enough" Nemal calmly help Blair mount on the horse and mount himself behind him. It was akward but not as bad as he feared.
"Are we waiting for our last member ?"

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Just in case I role a handle animal check to convince blair to mount on Toby and a ride check to stay on afterward.
Handle animal(1d20+12)[24] (+1 cha, +4 rank, +3 skill focus, +4 animal companion)
Ride(1d20+6)[22]

[Quietus]

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Ah, okay. Thanks :D

Gareth


Gareth considers the question for a time, then finally shakes his head slowly. "If he were able to be found, and willing to come, he would have been here already. I fear we've already wasted more time than we've actually got. If he is yet coming, he'll have to catch up with us.. I assume he'll be able to guess where we've went, when he realizes my horses are gone."

Taking the lead, Gareth nudges Flare forward, sitting tall in his saddle and glancing back frequently, adjusting his speed to match whatever pace Nemal and Blair are able to handle. The sight of a gnome and a badger riding a fully grown horse is patently hilarious, but Gareth manages to crack only a small grin at the sight, before turning back to face the road ahead as they travel toward the Governor's home.

[The Guardian]

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Are you going to take the North Bridge route, which is shorter but you pass the Mage Tower and the army HQ, or the South Bridge route, which is longer and passes the Governor's Mansion but nothing else of real import?

The difference is probably about a mile.

[The Guardian]

Night crew:

You hear the tall man open the front door, there are some words spoken, a few snarky laughs, and the door closes again. Two sets of footsteps shuffle around the hallway before you hear another door opening and shutting.

Upstairs, the fat man tries to magically fix his frozen hand: *PRESTOGATITIZATIONS*

.. and nearby vase explodes. Muttering to himself, something about a worthless piece of crap, he tosses the book carelessly on the floor where the cheap binding breaks, scattering pages. Then he blows out all but one candle and crawls back into bed and is snoring again within a minute.

[Mahtobedis]

After the display of bungled power Fitz thinks to himself. "That book, the fool doesn't even know how to use it. But maybe if I can get ahold of it I may be able to learn more."

Once Fitz is very confident that the humbug is asleep again he very cautiously reaches his hand out from under the bed to collect the pieces of the the broken spellbook. As he does so he pays special attention to his surroundings ready to draw his hand back again if the wizard stirs or if he hears footsteps coming towards the room again.

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listen check (1d20+3)[22] and I guess a move silently check even though I know it is going to fail (1d20+3)[17]

[Tyrael]

Garrett

The thief remains quiet and still, listening for any additional activity in the halls before moving out of his hiding spot.

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Listen:(1d20+6)[20]

[Quietus]

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Depends on how much having Nemal and Blair riding Toby will slow us down. If the horse can move at full speed, then we'll take the longer route; A mile isn't that significant a difference if you're moving 60 feet/round. If we're slowed down by Gnome + Badger on horseback with no saddle, which I suspect, then Gareth will lead us the more risky route, in an effort to save some time.

[The Guardian]

Day guys:

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Well unless you want to risk them falling off I'm going to say probably 40 fps

Night guys:

Fitz, you hear a lot of snoring again. You collect some pieces of the spellbook and come up with the cover:

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Garrett:

You hear talking from down the hallway and snoring from upstairs.

[Tyrael]

Garrett

The thief remains motionless for several minutes, confirming no sudden noises or commotions that he can hear. Well, that was...interesting. Now the real question is, where would he keep the manuscript we're here to find? Up in his bedroom...? No. He doesn't sound like the type to work before going to bed. There's no other rooms of interest up there, so it's got to be down here somewhere...

Nodding quietly to himself, Garrett slips out of hiding and moves to the door at the foot of the stairwell. Keeping to the shadows, he crouches in front of the door and tries to open it as quietly as possible.

[The Guardian]

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Good thing the 5-way party split isn't confusing yet :)

Garrett: You are in what appears to be a small dining room. There is a table with only one (large) chair, and a cabinet that holds plain dinnerware and mugs.

The only light is what is spilling from out in the hall. You can just make out another door leading towards the front of the house.

[Tyrael]

Garrett

The thief casts an appraising eye over the cabinet, but shakes his head after a moment. Feh, worthless crockery. He eyes the silverware on the table, but comes to a similar conclusion. Moving towards the door, he pauses stealthily at the knob and listens carefully before turning the handle ((that is, if he doesn't hear anything)).

[The Guardian]

Garrett: You hear nothing, and the room beyond seems to be completely dark, you can't see anything at all. The smell is very strong however, not really a bad smell, just a lot of it - spices and herbs.

[Tyrael]

Garrett

The thief frowns to himself, and slowly opens the door on his lantern, shining the sliver of light into the room.

[Nebuchadnezzer]

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Listen check for the monk:
(1d20+3)[10]

[Quietus]

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I suspected that'd be the case. I'll say North Bridge - Gareth's got a decided sense of unease pushing him forward, and wants to save time. He's willing to take a risk. If Nemal wants to overrule that decision, however, Gareth will agree to take the South bridge instead.

[zagan]

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Nemal follow Gareth lead

[The Guardian]

Day Crew... when I feel you would be arriving or something interesting happens with you I`ll bring you in.

Haschel: You hear snoring

Garrett: You see a pantry, lots of bread, spices, etc. No obvious meat. There is another door at the far side.

To save time... through that door is the kitchen. Through the window you can see the soldiers outside.

[Tyrael]

Garrett

Proceeding through the pantry, the thief ducks his head into the kitchen, then jerks back out again. Well, I guess I know where to avoid, now...regardless, it's looking like this isn't a promising area to look for the papers.

Silently, Garrett moves back out of the dining room and back to the T-intersection hallway. Glancing uneasily at the lit candleabra at the intersection, he carefully eases his head around the corner, uncomfortably aware that his dark hood provides a clear silhouette against the candlelight.

(If he sees nobody down the hall), Garrett quickly dashes across the opening, taking refuge in the deeper shadows on the other side of the hallway. Creeping up next to the door on his right, he carefully listens through the wood and eases it open.

[Mahtobedis]

Once Fitz acquires all of the pieces of the broken book he slowly gets out from underneath the bed. By now his eyes have had plenty of time to get accustom to the dark. Slowly he starts investigating the room looking for what may be the dispatch, doing his best to keep quiet and to keep his ears open for sounds that would indicate someone moving towards his location, or the humbug stirring in his bed.

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So I guess I need a search listen and move silently check.
Search (1d20+1)[17]
Listen (1d20+3)[6]
Move Silently (1d20+3)[9]

[The Guardian]

Garrett - Down the hall you can see the front door (closed) with two sets of candles burning near it. You silently streak across. The door on the right is actually still partly open from when the tall man came running upstairs. Through it you see stairs leading downwards, with light at the bottom. These stairs seem steeper than the ones you already came down.

Fitz: You manage to collect all of the loose papers of "Magic for Dummies." As you walk around the room inspecting the bookshelves you can see that every single book appears to be along the same lines - titles such as "Magic for non-magical beings" and "A beginner's guide to Magic" and some in foreign languages, some even written in (poorly-done) magical runes.

Each and every book has a small tag attached listing who it was purchased from, when, and for how much. Many of them are quite exhorbiant, as high as 100gp. (This appears to be the cost of the Magic for Dummies book)

On the wall there is a framed certificate, an official License for the use of Magic throughout the Empire (for a period of five years), with the name written in illegible magical runes. The price tag fastened to this lists its cost as 10,000gp and the date of sale was a little over a year ago.

You find no signs of the ledger that you are looking for.

[Mahtobedis]

Fitz looks at the at the license for magic use for several moments. He is clearly torn between taking and stealing the identity of the person who it was written for and leaving it for fear of the consequences of being caught with it. After giving it a little bit of thought Fitz realizes that if he were to take an object that valuable it would almost certainly go missing, and the purpose of the mission was for it not to be known that someone was here. Fitz then very quietly cracks the door open and looks out. If there is no one in the hall he will step out of the room and move quietly down the hall to ascend the stairs/descend the stairs, once again if the coast is clear.

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Another move silently check to fail. Honestly I'm tempted just to start taking ten on these. (1d20+3)[18] but then again every now and then I roll well

[Tyrael]

Garrett

The thief pauses, staring down the steep stairwell. Hmmm. Probably someone down there. That room can wait for the moment.

He turns around and opens the door behind him.

[The Guardian]

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No listen check first eh? hehe

Individual spoilers... if you want to avoid the temptation to meta-game, don't read those intended for other people. If you can manage, no biggie.

Garrett:

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As you open the door, you see Fitz come down the stairs. This room seems to be a more formal dining room, with a fancy table/chair set. The cabinets here hold fine china and fancy silverware. There is another door leading towards the front of the house, and this one has light spilling out from under it. You can clearly hear two men talking on the other side.

Fitz:

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You see Garrett enter the door at the far end of the hall.

Haschel:

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You hear a footstep on the roof above you, not far from the big hole

Gareth/Nemal:

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As you clatter across the North Bridge, a squad of soldiers blocks the way on the far side. Their leader, a corporal, looks at you coldly and asks: "What's your business, being in such a hurry on such a dark night?

[Tyrael]

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If you REALLY want, I'll roll Listen checks for every single door I look at...

Garrett

The thief's eye lights up. Ahhh, now we're talking. I'll definitely have to come back here later. Some of that stuff looks quite nice...though it looks like our document probably isn't in this part of the house, either. That leaves...

He turns back and looks down the stairwell. This could get tricky...

Slipping inside, he begins inching down to the basement with the utmost of care, shutting his lantern and quietly sliding his sap down his sleeve into his ready hand.

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Moving downstairs, let's hope the dice favor me...
Hide - (1d20+11)[18]
Move Silently - (1d20+11)[27]
Listen - (1d20+6)[12]

[The Guardian]

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If you don't do a listen check I'm assuming you take 10.

I'm going to wait to see what Fitz does before continuing.