Game Thread, Chapter 1: All the Kings Horses...

[Bozwevial]

Marlowe reaches behind his back and pulls out, seemingly from nowhere, a large, intricate crossbow. He squints through the sights, then pulls a small handle on the side, simultaneously cocking the bow and causing a bolt to appear from thin air in a ready position. Looking up in time to catch Raoul's last words, he asks, "Do you want me to keep watch in case anything goes wrong?"

Alternatively, I can walk up there and potentially put my Sense Motive ranks to good use.

[VennDygrem]

Cade looks wearily around at his companions, unsure if they are capable of getting along for even a minute. He speaks softly, calmly, in a carefully crafted way, as though each word were made of warm, melting caramel.

"Look, we need to go into that city, and we need to dig around for answers. The more people we have in there, the easier it should be to canvas the city and find our clues. Anyone with reservations as to going in, well, feel free to stand around out here and deal with whatever caused those unnatural screams earlier."

[PhaedrusXY]

If you don't want to get as close as described in the spoiler, that's fine. Just let me know. If you want to roll hide or move silently checks, you should do so or ask me to do it for you.


The torches give off 20 feet of bright illumination and another 20 feet of shadowy illumination. They are on 15 foot tall poles, and are spaced about every 15 feet so that the bright illumination from each overlaps a bit with the next one. So there is a ring where there are no shadows that completely encircles the city (as far as you can see, anyway).

If my geometry estimate is a bit off, just pretend they overlap, ok?

The wall looks to be about 20 feet tall, and is just outside of the far edge of the shadowy illumination provided by the torches. There are lights from within the city that allow you to make out the silhouette of the top of the wall, however.


Spot, Listen results

Marlowe: 21, 13
Cade: 22, 28
Ris-Janna: 18, 28

Ris-Janna, if she approaches to within 70 feet of the wall, can just make out that there are arrow slits along the wall about every 10 feet, and she can make out figures peering out of a couple of them. She feels that she should still be outside of their darkvision, though (if they have any).

Cade and Ris-Janna can make out hushed conversations coming from the direction of the wall. Mostly they are men (and some women) talky bravely to try and bolster their own confidence. This really only serves to make them sound more afraid. One conversation is between two men. One is asking the other about whether his family made it into the city, and the other replies with a voice full of emotion that he is not sure.

Cade and Marlowe can make out what looks like a gate in the wall ahead, but it is not lit anymore than the rest of it, so it is hard to tell for sure. If it is, it must be the same height as the rest of the wall and made to blend in and be hard to see. There is a tiny crack of light coming through from the other side that gives it away at one spot, though.

Edit: Raoul can actually see further than Ris-Janna, but he still can't make out much more than what is above.

[HeadofVecna]

Xuuvosic grins. But the unsettling number of teeth displayed by the expression quickly disappear as his form changes with a dim scintillation. Standing in his place is a freckled, wide-eyed halfling with curly red hair. "You've got to know I've got this shit covered my bitches. We can all hit this place like a motherfuckin' storm. Those of you wanting to keep a low profile just gotta slap skin every few minutes with my bitch Kaemarah over here, and she'll keep you see through." He points a 'thumb' at one of his minions, a green-skinned and wart covered old woman.

"And that feeling, like a slug made outta ice-water is being poured into your brain, is Shlurshech. Whatever you think at him, it?, fuck I dunno, will be teeped to the rest of us. 'Fore too long we should let the cloaks and my other bitch give us a daily dose of their shit just to get immunized. But if y'all don't want to go through that shit right this sec, its cool. Any questions?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Yeah. You kiss anyone with that mouth?" Raoul offers with a chuckle. "Oh yeah, little word of forewarning... if things get REALLY ugly, get ready to keep yourselves healthy."

[Bozwevial]

Marlowe puts the crossbow behind his back again, causing it to vanish. "I've got a bad feeling about this." Worriedly, he stands near Ris-Janna, apparently having decided that she is the most dangerous of the group. Or perhaps he feels flattered by her "well-dressed" remark.

[VennDygrem]

Cade grins, his human teeth just as sparkly yet not as sharp as those of his tiefling form.

The sound of the frightened conversations from among the walls of the city fills him with unnatural glee, like a warm, tingling sensation. He catches himself, however, and his grin disappears.

"We better move soon. If they happen to spot us, we'll only seem more suspicious having stood outside their walls so long before approaching. As long as they know we mean them no harm, at first anyway," Cade glances over between Xuuvosic and Ris-Janna and continues, "then we should be able to get into the city just fine. In fact, I'm more worried about getting out."

[Kuroimaken]

"Agreed. I guess that only leaves who gets to be the spokesperson. I can do fireworks pretty damn well if needs be."

[HeadofVecna]

"Yeah. You kiss anyone with that mouth?" Raoul offers with a chuckle. "Oh yeah, little word of forewarning... if things get REALLY ugly, get ready to keep yourselves healthy."

"Sure, but a lot of the ladies just can't handle how sexy I am. So, what d'ya pop when you die or some shit? I'll talk to the motherfuckers. Right now if nobody's scouting."

[VennDygrem]

"We should at least all go up there. Remember, any of us stay back, it'll seem like we're going in for negotiations rather than simply passing through."

[Kuroimaken]

"Nothing like that. But when I need a certain level of juice, someone gets sicker around me. Just figured you guys should know. Planning for contingencies and all that."

[Agita]

"Good to know... out of curiosity, how close does that someone have to be?" Still invisible in the darkness, Ris-Janna silently slides around Marlowe to stand on the other side, putting the well-dressed clerk between her and Raoul just in case.

[Kuroimaken]

"Good to know... out of curiosity, how close does that someone have to be?" Still invisible in the darkness, Ris-Janna silently slides around Marlowe to stand on the other side, putting the well-dressed clerk between her and Raoul just in case.

"Close enough to be in battle. But out of chivalry, the first time I need to do that, I'll skip you. Consider it my personal apology for the bumpy start we've got.*

[VennDygrem]

Cade, while making sure to remain in the darkness, removes the ring on his right hand and becomes visible to his teammates possessing darkvision.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go ask them to let us in. It's not wizardry*, you know."

With that, Cade changes form to appear as an older male Human, with short, grey-white hair, but maintaining a sparkle in his now blue eyes. He still exudes charm, but in a warm, grandfatherly way. Uttering a few hushed syllables, his clothes shift to appear more plain, with less embroidery and earthier tones.
"If they don't let an old man into their fortified city, they're more monstrous than any of us!"

Cade grins, and you almost feel compelled to ask him to tell old stories about the 'War.'

*archaic for "rocket science"

[PhaedrusXY]

Ok, so you're all going in? Anyone not going, not disguised, brandishing weapons, etc? What about HoV's undead "pets"? Any pre-buffing or anything of that sort?

[Agita]

Before reluctantly entering the radius of illumination, Ris-Janna pulls a hood over her head to cast a shadow over her face and slides her goggles over her eyes. If the guards are uncomfortable with letting someone in whose face they can't see... well she doesn't have to use the gate. She neglects to give an answer to either Cade or Raoul, unsure how serious the latter is.

[Bozwevial]

Marlowe steps off to one side, magically adjusting the appearance of his clothes so that they more closely resemble those of a clerk. He also checks his crossbow one more time, worriedly fiddling with the sights and gently polishing the arms.

[Kuroimaken]

Raoul shifts the appearance of his attire to resemble that of a traveller rather than a military commander, complete with earthy tones and a wide-brimmed hat.

[HeadofVecna]

Xuuvosic pauses to whisper new orders to his minions before approaching the lit area. "Uvorix, you've got my back. Stay ready to protect my ass if I'm 'bout to get hit. You know, the usual. But also teep with Shlurshech and Kaemarah to keep all your shit straight about remaining invisible."

To the other ghoulish cloaker, "Same deal, catch and release, having a little brain-to-brain with the worm and the bitch to stay see though. But do it for the largest grouping of these motherfuckers we been traveling with, that you can reach while flying over."

To the befanged cloaker, "Don't engulf anybody. But join the teep and touch party. If a fight breaks out, moan to cover our escape only if the way is blocked. Otherwise just follow the group."

The sight of halfling Xuuvosic pimp-talking at the Green Hag as she tweaks her magical disguise is comical. The final facade sports a figure that is unlikely to occur in nature, but is certainly distracting. "Just giggle and look cute while keeping the worm and the cloaks invisible. Don't be obvious about it."

He tells the Harpy to turn into mist and fly up, then regroup once the rest of the group gets into the city or flees. Turning to Khammeck (the weretiger) he just whispers, "Just stay cool and keep up."

To no one visible Xuuvosic says, "Siphsis, keep chill to. Just stay in his pocket. I only wanna see your face if he falls, got it?"

Phaedrus

Telepathically Xuuvosic will tell the Psurlon Shlurshech any telepathic message sent to it, the isn't prepended with the phrase "just you and me" to the rest of the party. Also follow the group, remain invisible and coordinate everyone who needs to occasionally brush up against the Hag to stay invisible, and relay the position of anything stealthy that blindsight picks up.

Recap
Xuuvosic - disguised as halfling
ghoulish cloaker #1 - invisible protecting X.
ghoulish cloaker #2 - invisble protecting party
vampiric cloaker - invisible, will moan if party cut-off/trapped
Green Hag - disguised as Barbie, handing out invisibility
Harpy - Gaseous Form, flying 100' up
Weretiger - Human form
Yuan-ti - tiny snake form, in weretiger's pocket
Psurlon - invisible, doing telepathic coordination
[/spoler]

[PhaedrusXY]

Rough map


The red dots are the "light poles". The red circles represent the brightly lit areas, and the red line is where the area of "shadowy illumination" ends. The black lines are the road leading up to the wall. The wall is the heavy black line at the top. There is no obvious gate, but you suspect there is one where the road approaches the wall due to some faint light coming through it there. The gaps in the wall represent arrow slits. The wall itself is just at the edge of the "shadowy illumination" area.

At the moment, you're all somewhere in the area at the bottom of the map, outside any of the illuminated areas. Could you please tell me where you want your characters, and minions, to be on the map when you approach the gate?

(I was a bit off on the distances earlier, but Kuro's character would still be able to see the wall and arrow slits before entering the area with "shadowy illumination".