Adventurer's Guild Team Dingo IC

[XiaoTie]

Ian Luminor

He smiled kindly and handed the man a coin, but instead of putting it on his hat he took the man’s hand, opened and left the coin there, closing it again. “Take care my good sir”. Helping the others was a lesson he learned since the early ages.

BonecrusherDoc

Spoiler

Show

A gold coin; taken from the inventory, making it 16 gp and 8 sp now.

[souldoubt]

Ulysses watches and wonders in puzzlement as his comrades give money to the bent old halfling. "What's this about?" he whispers to Kata.

Spoiler

Show

Ulysses doesn't have any experience with beggars, since he doesn't have any experience with settlements large enough to support a beggar population.

[Bonecrusher Doc]

"What's this about?"

Kata (quietly replying to Ulysses)
"I don't know - perhaps we just bought a blessing or something."

The old beggar gapes at his windfall and shuffles away smiling. Finde, ahead in the crowd, whistles sharply and waves at the rest of the group with a comically undersized toy battleaxe, gesturing for them to join him at a booth selling food and drink. Around him, gnome children in goblin and kobold masks whack at each other gleefully with the same wooden weapons, as two mounted city guards carefully guide their horses around the little creatures. A gnomish man with wild light brown hair likewise steps carefully out of the way of the small fracas. He wears a harness over his shoulders that bears a rack of small bottles containing various colored liquids. He walks towards the adventurers, hawking his wares to anyone within earshot in a mixture of singsong Gnomish and Common, praising their magical powers.

[ArtifexFelicis]

Althea stood uncomfortable as the beggar began to leave before them. The girl was far out of her element when it came to this sort of thing. The festival and the people there more then a little daunting. Yet she was interested, that was the long and short of it. Her head watched everything, from some of the hawkers to the people bartering them, even to the small children as they tried to whack each other with their wooden weapons. Still, she found herself near Durx nonetheless, using the towering cleric to almost protect her from the crowd. She wasn't quite ready to try talking to them just yet.

[Shades of Gray]

Shy I see, Miss Althea. Go 'head, enjoy yourself. Thas'tha whole poin'uv'a festival.

[souldoubt]

Ulysses nods thoughtfully in response to Kata, then smiles disarmingly at Althea, trying to reassure her.

As they walk, he scans the area, telling himself that he's keeping an eye out for anything of interest to the guild (which he is) while secretly searching for any sort of little tournament or competition he might potentially throw his weight into.

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Kata joins Finde, who purchases two drinks from a human vendor in small clay cups. They each drain their cup and return them to the vendor. The sign over the man's booth says (in Common and poorly spelled Gnomish): "Venison, Honeycombs, Meade."

Nearby a group of gnome adolescents are attracting attention from wide-eyed non-gnomes and disapproving looks from the adult gnomes in the crowd as they practice spells. One of them attempts to cast a spell with sweeping theatrical motions to no effect, setting them all to laughing. Another makes a subtle motion and a sound very similar to a horse's whinny comes from somewhere in the group of show-offs, causing one of the city guard's actual real-life horses to turn its head. This causes the children to cheer and congratulate the young illusionist, accompanied by the clapping of a few of the bystanders, perhaps those more naive about the powers of gnomes.

A young halfling in clerical robes is moving through the crowd with a serious expression, accosting every halfling he finds, only to be turned aside after a moment or two of conversation with each.

[Sledge_bro]

Omoris approached the halfling

Is there anything wrong sir? you seem troubled

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Young Halfling Cleric
"Is anything wrong?! The people of Bridgeport are forsaking the gods of Good for this betraying god of the gnomes who seduces them with promises of wealth on this plane! The people of Pelor, of Obad-Hai, Ehlonna, and not least of all Yondalla's own people are forsaking her!"

Some gnomes nearby overhear the halfling and start shouting at him.
"No more ale for this one!"
"Go home, redface!"
"Mind your own garden!"

Just at that moment Kata stumbles from where she was standing, and Finde catches her. A second later she goes limp in his arms. He shakes her once, and calls to the mounted City Guards. With help from Finde, one of the guards pulls the light woman up and into a side-saddle position in front of him on his horse's large back where he holds her with one arm. The other guard moves his horse up and makes room for Finde to put his foot in a stirrup. As the elf prepares to swing into the saddle behind the guard, he calls back to the other adventurers.

Finde
"We're going to bring her to help!"

[Shades of Gray]

Kata? Miss Kata! Let me help!

Casts Cure Light Wounds as a spontaneous replacement for Summon Monster I.

After the spell, I might cast detect poison, depending on how she looks.


Spot (to see if anyone did this to her). (d20+3)[16]

[souldoubt]

Spoiler

Show

Ack! So many things happening at once.

"Miss Kata!"

Ulysses casts about frantically -- for signs of an assailant, or a mount, whichever comes first -- and seeths under his breath, "A horse, what I wouldn't give for a bloody horse!"

Spot check - (1d20-1)[7]

[Bonecrusher Doc]

Durx's Cure Light Wounds spell has no effect on the unconscious Kata. Ulyssses and Durx can not spot an assailant in the crowd anywhere. Finde, now also sharing a horse with a man in City Guard uniform, shouts "Go!", and the two warhorses charge west across the bridge, scattering shrieking festival-goers before them, even before Durx can cast Detect Poison.

[Sledge_bro]

I might have to say that I agree with you

Omoris whispered into the halflings's ear

Far too much metal for my liking

and was about make a retort back at the gnome ruffians when he suddenly heard Finde's cry.

As quick as a flash, Omoris uttered an incantation

Longstrider!

A few seconds later he sped away at full speed after the horses, Sentinel close at his heels.

OOC

Spoiler

Show

I had written down what his spells were, i will post them on the ooc thread asap

[

[XiaoTie]

Ian Luminor

For Ian it didn’t seem like she had been hurt in any physical way, and the apparent failure of Durx’s healing spell could indicate that he was right. He didn’t know the lady or had even talked to her, but leaving someone hurt was not the right thing to do according to the way he had been brought up. However there was not much that he could do other than try to spot the possible assailant, which he did.¹

¹

Spoiler

Show

Spot - (1d20)[17]

After a few seconds looking around for the attacker, he turned his attentions to the lady, searching for any signs of where could she have been hit, such as a hole made by a dagger or a tear on her dress.²

²

Spoiler

Show

Search - (1d20+7)[24]

[Daryk]

Marko

Marko had to dive out of the way of two double loaded warhorses as he approached the Festival. That left him scratching his head, but the clearly unsettled crowd really put him ill at ease. "Oh no. What now? Just my luck..." he thought to himself. Fortunately, Durx was easy enough to spot, even among the press of the crowd, and Marko made his way toward the towering half-orc. Presenting himself to the one person he knew, Marko asked, "Durx, what's wrong? The guard almost ran me over, and the crowd isn't very...festive."

[Bonecrusher Doc]

When Kata was hoisted onto the lead horse, Ian turned in time to look. He saw no sign of an assailant anywhere, and no signs of physical injury to Kata other than her obvious change in level of consciousness.

Omoris and Sentinel run like the wind in the path cleared by the mighty war-horses, but they are hard-pressed to keep up. Only the crowd slows the magnificent animals - despite their utter disregard for the festival-goers in their way, the riders are unable to spur their horses into a consistent full gallop while still on the crowded Bridge.

Spoiler

Show

The horses are unarmored, and even with two riders can still run 200' in one round. Both Sentinel and the longstriding Omoris can run 160' in one round. Right now the horses are also moving about 160' per round, with one rounds' head start on Omoris.

Of the four riding away, Finde is rearmost. The adventurers see him unslinging his bow and nocking an arrow.

[Shades of Gray]

Marko! We done'know whas'happ'nin 'ver here. Kata jus' fell unconscious. Oi, what's Finde doin'? I don't see anyone.

Oh, 's'that an adventurer's guild emblem y'got there. W'lcome t'the force.

[Daryk]

Marko

"Who? What?" was all Marko could sputter in response to Durx' quick explanation. When the tall half-orc slowed down and welcomed him to the force, Marko smiled and said, "Thank you. I'm still just happy to have work again. Is there anything we can do for... you said 'Kata', right?"

[Shades of Gray]

Yeah. Kata. She was acomp'nin us to th'festival.

[Daryk]

Marko

"Ah, sorry I haven't met her yet. Um, what will do now, then? Seems a bit of a pall has been cast on the festival and all," Marko replied with a worried frown.

[souldoubt]

Ulysses places a hand on Durx's shoulder, his voice urgent, "Something's amiss here. If your god ever granted miracles, now is the time! -- Gods, but I'd pay a baron's ransom for a twice-damned horse!"

Spoiler

Show

Ulysses is still intent on chasing after the guards and Finde, all the moreso since he's seen Finde ready his bow. He's kinda getting frantic. Is there ANYTHING even vaguely horse-shaped in the immediate surroundings? I asked before and made a spot check, so I'm guessing there's nothing, but...

[Shades of Gray]

Sorry there's nothing I can do! Clerics have to pray at the morning for their spells. They're basically set in stone! All I have left is a few minor spells and an enlargement spell. I was going to detect poison, but they took Kata away too quickly.

[ArtifexFelicis]

"Gods dammit" Althea swore. She was a bit slower on the uptake for Kata, only noticing what had happened after she heard to heavy warhorse begin to run away. Her attention was divided, entirely captivated by a small snack food that a gnome vender was selling. She held the small food in her hand, heading back to the ever-easy-to-find Durx. "Do either of you two know where they're going? We might be able to just go straight there rather then try to follow."

[Daryk]

Marko

"I would think they were either headed to the nearest temple, or maybe a Guard barracks," Marko offered, trying to be helpful.

[souldoubt]

"Who can say where they're headed now?"

Ulysses grits his teeth. He turns to Durx. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to place any blame on you. I only hoped -- well, it hardly matters now. No, this is entirely my fault -- if only I'd paid better attention! If I'd acted faster--!" He casts about himself again, and his fiery gaze comes to rest on the party-crashing halfling cleric.

"You there," he says, placing a hand gently but firmly on the rabble-rousing clergyman's small shoulder and casting his voice in an accustomed tone of authority. "You're a local; where will those guards be headed? Tell me now, quickly!"

Spoiler

Show

It's time to play a little game of "Good Idea, Bad Idea."
Intimidate - (1d20+11)[12]
I've applied the +4 bonus for being one size category larger than him.

Edit: Holy crap! How did I roll a natural 1 on that! What, did Ulysses's voice crack? Did he accidentally bite his own tongue, or stutter incoherently in his haste?

Phooey. I should have taken 10.

[Bonecrusher Doc]

As the two horses break out of the crowd on the bridge, they begin to run faster, quickly outdistancing Omoris and Sentinel. Omoris loses sight of them as Bridge Street begins to twist and wind into West Bridgeport.

Ulysses looks carefully everywhere, but the only beast of burden within sight is a donkey harnessed to a cart full of a half-dozen wide-eyed gnome children of various ages, led by an adult male gnome dressed in the garb worn by human farmers in the Bridgeport area. A flock of pigeons bursts into flight as a small galley noses out from under the Bridge, its oars moving it slowly upstream.

The young halfling cleric brushes Ulysses' hand from his shoulder angrily and looks up at him in defiance.
Cleric
"You think I know? Guards never go into West Bridgeport unless they have to, but they could be going to any of the guard posts there. If they'd wanted a cleric they could have just asked around, this is a religious festival after all!"

[Sledge_bro]

Omoris saw the horses gallop away. He signaled to sentinel to stop.

Blast!.. I sure could use a map right now.

Omoris said, looking at the rather disgruntled crowd around him.

[Daryk]

Cleric
"You think I know? Guards never go into West Bridgeport unless they have to, but they could be going to any of the guard posts there. If they'd wanted a cleric they could have just asked around, this is a religious festival after all!"

Marko

"Maybe we should start with the guard posts, then?" Marko asked, tentatively taking a few steps in that direction.

[souldoubt]

If they'd wanted a cleric they could have just asked around, this is a religious festival after all!"

The little fellow makes an excellent point.... Going for a cleric was clearly not their purpose, and that meant something was definitely amiss with the whole situation.

Ulysses nods gratefully to the halfling. "Thank you, sir. My apologies."

Spoiler

Show

Diplomacy roll to (hopefully) smooth over the breach slightly: (1d20+3)[15]

He turns back to his guildmates. "We can't canvas every guard post in this part of the city. For one thing, it would take too long. We'll have to ask around and hope we can track them down that way. It's not like they were easy to overlook. First, let's find the Cardinal. Then we can start our search."

As he starts off in the direction the guards and Omoris disappeared in, Ulysses glances down at the gnome who had just spoken, as if noticing him for the first time. "Oh, you're a guild member? Thanks the gods, we're in need of as much help as we can get sorting this mess out. I'm Ulysses Valeris; welcome."

Spoiler

Show

Well, it looks like no one in the group has ranks in Gather Information (to use to ask around and try and figure out where these stooges went), so Ulysses is going to have to attempt it untrained. I guess then everyone else should roll "Aid Another" checks to represent the cooperative effort; if you get a 10 or higher, then we can add +2 to the following result:
(1d20+3)[9]

Doc, feel free to put a limit on the number of people who can aid this check, if you think there should be one -- though I personally think that everyone on the team would be able to attempt to aid in the seach. If we had 10 team members, then we'd probably have passed critical mass, but as it stands I think we're fine.

[Sledge_bro]

Omoris attempted to aid his companions in gathering information

Spoiler

Show

Is it just a plain d20 roll? I can't remember :P
(d20)[7]