AvB - Bear

[Rizban]

After entering the alley and looking around to make sure no one is following him, the man speaks.

"Please, you're my only hope. I have someone trying to kill me, but I don't know who it is. I desperately need protection!"

[planswalker]

"Indeed I can help you. What is the nature of your problem."

[Rizban]

"Someone is trying to kill me! I need protection! What more do you need to know?"

He's almost hysterical.

[planswalker]

Remaining calm, Bear tries to be reassuring. "Yes, I understand that. However, how are they trying to kill you? Poison? Magical disease? Assasins? Staged accidents? Provoking the wrath of a local gang?

I can provide help against all of that, and more. But you'll need to calm down or you'll only do half their work for them."

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diplo check to reassure him: (d20+10)[29]

[Rizban]

"Two weeks ago, I was nearly run over by a speeding carriage.. if it had been another twenty feet closer... A few days later, I was at the butcher, and his knife 'bounced' off of a bone, and nearly took my head off! Then, I was bitten by a spider three days ago, and I swear I still feel the poison coursing through my veins! This morning, I got a splinter! A splinter! I just know it was placed there to cause a lethal infection!"

[planswalker]

"Very well, I can most definitely protect you. Would you like to begin hiring my services this moment?"

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please keep in mind my character's 17 modifier in sense motive to tell if something's off with this guy.

[Rizban]

"Yes! Please! Here, take it!"

He shoves 100 gold into you hands.

"Just keep me safe from these assassins!"

[planswalker]

Taking the gold, Bear says, "Now then, if you are poisoned, a neutralize poison should do the trick."

after casting the spell, Bear says, "Feel better now?"

[Rizban]

"Ack! No! It's a disease not a poison. I feel a little faint..."

He holds his hand up to his forehead and seems to sway on his feet as if about to fall over.

[planswalker]

"You, good sir, said that you had been bitten by a spider. They carry a venom, not a disease. If you're still feeling their effects, what you need is antivenom, not a cure for disease. If, however, you are merely a paranoid lunatic, I will take the 18 gold for the spell I expended and return the rest to you. None of the rest of your ravings are anything more than the rantings of a paranoid lunatic."

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well, Riz, thanks for ignoring MY gather information check and giving my rat a false lead as if my rat was a complete moron. I would think his sense motive score would let him know the difference between a stupid lunatic and someone who actually needs protection.

[Rizban]

"Oh! Hmm... thank you for clearing that up! I suppose I was confused as to which spell does what. I'm not particularly good with magic, you see?"

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Well, this is a spoiler but... he may be a paranoid delusional, but there really are people trying to kill him. He just hasn't noticed any of the actual attempts on his life. He has managed to avoid real danger by fleeing from imaginary ones.

I also had kind of planned for him to ask you to basically do a Man vs Wild show for him so that he can learn to be less cowardly.

[planswalker]

"Well, do you have any evidence that there actually is someone after you? A cart 20 feet away poses no threat, and you were not even hurt by the butcher's slip. Pretty pathetic for an assassination attempt. Now then, if you have a splinter, do you mind if I take a look at the wound?"

[Rizban]

He gingerly holds his hand out for you to look at and winces in pain before you even touch it.

"Does it look bad?"

(Heal check)

[planswalker]

Bear does a casual examination, looking to see how bad it is.

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taking 10 for a 16. enough to keep a warrior's wounds to keep from bleeding all over the battlefield. Hopefully enough to identify the wound's nature.

[Rizban]

It appears to be a simple splinter, freshly earned this morning.

You also spot a strange, shallow prick with just the tiniest hint that there was a poison in it, as if a poisoned needle tried to stab into his hand, but he jerked his hand back at the last moment. Could it be that someone is actually trying to kill him?

[planswalker]

Bear casts a cure minor wounds spell on the man to ease the pain of the splinter.

"Well sir, I have good news and better news. The good news is that you're not paranoid. The better news is that I've healed your splinter before you could get infected. Also on the good new side of things, the neutralize poison I cast on you wasn't a waste. The bad news is that there is a real chance that someone is actually trying to kill you, but not in the ways you are thinking they are."

[Rizban]

"Are you talking about the funny taste in the water? It's the mind control serum, isn't it?! I knew it!"

[planswalker]

"No. There is no such thing as mind-control serum. At least, not like that. No, but you had a very tiny pinprick on your finger that was the result of a poisoned needle."

[Rizban]

"Poisoned needle? Who even uses those? That's so... old fashioned. Still... it's a good thing I hired you."

[planswalker]

"Um, anyone who wants to discreetly and effectively deliver a poison to a target. The world of assassination is not one of fashion. It's one of effectiveness. And poison needles are a thousand times more effective than splinter infections, runaway carts, and butchers slipping on their bones."

[Rizban]

"Huh... Well, maybe you should come search my home and see if there are any more surprises."

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No update for Hagan?

[planswalker]

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http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showp...&postcount=282 You still have yet to respond to post 282. I'm waiting on you, not the other way around.

"Indeed. Be aware, I usually charge 100 gold per day, which includes a budget for up to 1000 gold worth of spells, should you have been required to hire for each spell I cast. you have hired my services with your first hundred gold for the next day. I assume you can continue paying tomorrow, or despite how much I enjoy your company and wish to help you, I will have to seek someone who can afford help."

Bear has his new "boss" lead him back to his place.

[Rizban]

"Of course! That's cheap compared to my life!"

He leads you back to his home. It's a nice, three story building in Old Town with a thick stone wall around it; however, all the windows seem to have been boarded up from the inside.

As you approach the front gate, he stops you and whispers harshly.

"No! They expect us to use the front gate. We have to go in through the back."

[planswalker]

Bear whispers back "What if I send a decoy in through the front gate first to make sure it's clear?"

[Rizban]

"No, no. Simply unthinkable. We use the back gate. It's safe."

He leads you around the back of the house and quickly enters through the servants' gate.

"Ah! But you know they'd expect us to use the back door if we use the back gate! I'm too tricksy for them though. We use the front door this time!"

[planswalker]

Humoring the man that has hired himself for personal protection at the wages he demanded instead of market average, Bear is satisfied to follow him through the servants' gate.

[Rizban]

He then leads you around a now well worn path through the bushes to the front door.

[planswalker]

Bear follows him all the way inside his house. Once inside, he says, "By the way, how many days in a row have you been walking the exact same path into your house? I'd imagine that by now, whomever's out to get you knows the route you take into your home. Besides which, it's not at the door that assassins are likely to come at you. It's once you're inside and there are far fewer witnesses."

[Rizban]

He stops you before entering.

"Don't step on the welcome mat. There is a sniper in the trees aimed at that point."

[planswalker]

To prove the point that the man is wrong, Bear steps on the mat and stands there, waiting for the "sniper" to strike.