The P-Files

Demonu wrote:

XandZero2 wrote:(Hey guys, I think I'm gonna try something I saw once on youtube (: If you want to convince Happy Trails to let you tag along with her, I'm going to ask that everypony interested make an in-character argument for why you should go (that'll count as a bonus modifier - depending on the strength of your argument), then roll persuasion. I'm going to need to see at least two successes. Demonu makes one.)

That's called a Skill Challenge in regular D&D, a new feature from the 4e.

Out of curiosity, could you post the modifiers you used after the skill challenge is over? Kind of curious how much a bonus my argument was worth so that I can figure out what best to say next time.

Or is that meta-gaming and frowned upon? I'm good either way

(A Skill Challenge, huh? I never actually got into 4e, so that's why I wasn't familiar with the actual name. It's a cool idea though. Stops the team from relying on one player for every social skill check. I'm going to have to use more of those.

As for posting modifiers? I'm not exactly comfortable with doing that honestly, as it's like asking a magician to reveal his tricks (It makes me feel naked!). -Also, I don't want players trying to argue down my judgment calls - "YOU ONLY GAVE ME A +2 BONUS?! THAT IDEA WAS TOTALLY +3!" As a character, Clue Seeker can probably sense some amount of body-language and facial cues to tell how effective his argument was, but I also don't want to take the imagination out of the equation by saying, "You sense that argument was a +4" or something like that. If you come close to swaying a character - or if you get nowhere near to swaying them - I feel I should be able to give you some hints with my in-game responses.

Since we've got a new player though, I will break everything down this time, but I'd rather not do it in the future. Okay, so here we go:

I set the check's difficulty at 25 since I didn't want it to be extremely hard, but I did want it to be challenging. Clueseeker passed even without a bonus modifier, but I'd probably give him a +1/2 since he was still directly asking for Happy Trails to do something she wasn't comfortable with. On the other hand, Chitin was trying to be more discreet with the whole, "We won't really be following you..." kind of thing, and I think Happy would be happier with that approach, so I gave Dr. Blight a +2/3, which was enough to pass the check, but barely.

Keep in mind that certain approaches will work better on certain characters. What works on Happy might not work on Theorycraft, for instance. You get the idea.

-I'll be back in a bit with Happy's response.)

You're the DM so it's your call.

And of course it wouldn't be wise to lay all your cards on the table.

This was merely a test.

...yes...

Demonu wrote:
"If you're really adamant about going on alone," Clue Seeker spoke with a warm smile, "then we, or at least I, will stay put as it is not becoming to distress a lady. And if you think you'll get into trouble with your boss, I'll take the blame for it. Just tell him we pressured you into it. Or that we're holding you hostage and forcing you to hold a conversation with us." Clue Seeker concluded with a wink.

"Well," when Clue Seeker winked, Happy took a step back. She turned her blue eyes up towards the ceiling, starting to break out in a nervous sweat. Why couldn't she shake this sudden feeling of being trapped? "Okay, I don't know quite how to say this. Your plans sound good. I guess they could work, but if I said you pressured me, then I'd still look bad in front of my boss, and, I guess you could say you held me hostage - but I wouldn't want you to get put in jail as soon as you stepped off the train. Definitely wouldn't want that on my conscience..."

Dr Blight wrote:"Well, you might get in trouble if you asked a group of passengers to accompany you. That's certainly true." Chitin nodded a little. "But if a group of passengers decided to stretch their legs and it happened to take them down the same way as you, there's nothing you can really do about that. And pretending for a moment something happened while you were doing your job, and these passengers who'd gone for a walk just happened to be outside and came to help. Well that would just be a very lucky coincidence now wouldn't it?" Chitin gave a big grin as she finished her little thought.

Happy Trail's ears perked up at this. She looked at Chitin and grinned. "That would be a very lucky coincidence - and you'd really do that for me?" Happy only had to look from Chitin to Clue Seeker for confirmation, then she took a deep breath, scrambled around her dolly and hugged both of them, jumping up and down with excitement. "Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!" She stepped back from them quickly, and her smile turned from excited to apologetic. "Sorry! Sorry! - I just guess I was a little more nervous about meeting Mr. Mike's associates than I thought. It is a relief to know you've got my back. I was just really worried about what my boss and the passengers would think."

Happy looked around the room, making eye-contact with all the others as she asked, "Can we go with Dawn Trek's plan?" She raised a hoof. "I vote for Dawn Trek's plan."

Then Happy paused, her eyes widening with realization. She put both her hooves together, as if in prayer, "But could you promise to stay back while I deal with the other guests before Mike's guys? Please?"

(In retrospect, I think I probably should have given Dr Blight a +4 for his idea, as it really is something Happy would be happy about.)

"Well," Clue Seeker said as he peeked into his pipe, "it appears I still have some tobacco left so I'm good with staying here until further notice."

Whisper nods and takes up the paper, finally getting a chance to read it.

Chitin blinked surprised but smiled, returning the hug. "Don't worry about it, and of course! We'll be ready and waiting when you need us!" Chitin smiled and trotted back into the cabin, deciding to keep from sitting back down for a moment though as she honestly did want to stretch her legs some. After pacing around for a short while she hopped back into her seat to wait, looking over the room as she did.

((I think Cardbo's been fine with waiting in the cabin from the get-go, so I'll go ahead and move things along. BTW - I'm going for spastic and comically over-dramatic mood-swings with Happy. How am I doing so far? I'm also going to change tense in this post, as it feels like the right moment to say "you."))

Happy closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, then opens them and exhales. "You all agree then?" She looks expectantly at all of you one more time, then claps her hooves together. "Great! Ooh! This is so exciting!" She grabs the handles of her dolly and starts to roll off, but then turns back, "Hopefully I won't need any assistance," she giggles, practically bubbling over with good cheer, "but thanks again guys! When I get to the right cabin I'll knock on the door." Then Happy closes her eyes to slits, in an attempt to look serious. She fails miserably. She tries to make her voice sound gruff, but she can barely hold back more giggles. "That'll be the signal... heh heh... that I'm goin' in." She laughs, "So cool! I feel like an undercover police pony!"

"Wish me luck." She makes a final salute, "Agent Trails, over and out."

And with that, Happy Trails walks out and slides the cabin door closed, leaving it just a crack open so you can hear as she rolls down the hallway. You listen as she slides back the door to each cabin, greeting everpony the same cheerful way; offering snacks, beverages, and reading material; staying to chat for a while before moving on to the next passengers. You quickly get the impression that Happy is used to taking her time. She doesn't seem in a big hurry to move from one cabin to the next, but then again, perhaps she's just trying to postpone her visit to the cabin two doors down for as long as ponyly possible...

After what feels like hours (though it couldn't have been more than twenty minutes at most), you hear a knock on a door and Happy Trails' cheerful - though noticeably nervous - voice, "Hello? Train staff! Can I come in?"

((If anyone wants to make any last-minute preparations of any sort, now's the time. I'll post again later this afternoon with what happens next.))

Other than putting away his pipe and newspaper and turning an ear to listen, I don't see Clue Seeker doing much else.

And giving characters a noticable quirk, twitch or personality trait makes them more memorable in the long run (Happy Trails? Oh yeah, the emotional train attendant, right) so good job so far.

BTW, has anyone heard anything from MasterWeaver?

Coffee takes another sip of coffee and perks his ears up at the sound of the knock.

((Heh, I don't even usually think about the tenses people use in games. Usually you get at least one person for both present and past and a lot of people forgetting which one they were using even in the middle of a post. As long as it communicates what's going on, is all I think matters. It's not like we're writing a novel.

Haven't heard anything from MW here.))

Whisper puts aside her paper that she'd long since finished reading but had been using mostly to hide behind. She mentally steeled herself for making her way through the crowded train.

((Alright, Dr Blight hasn't posted yet, but I think it's time to get to the main event. Also, BTW - I have no idea what happened to MW. Maybe he's on a week-long vacation?))

Down the hallway, you all hear as Happy Trails knocks on the cabin door, "Hello? Train staff! Can I come in?"

There's a moment of silence.

-No answer.

You hear as Happy knocks on the door a second time. "Hello? Train staff. Is everything alright?"

There's another pause.

-Nothing.

"Is anypony in there?"

Happy waits, and then says finally, "Okay, well, I'm coming in. I just want to make sure everypony's okay."

You all hear as Happy slides back the cabin door, "Sorry if I'm interrupting any-"

-A deafening lion's roar shakes the train car to it's foundations, and you all feel the physical force of the sound rattling your bones. Happy screams and you all jump to your hooves, running out into the hallway in time to see as a big, black and red-feathered Griffon steps out of the cabin reserved for Big Mike's associates. The Griffon is so tall he has to duck down in order to exit the cabin entrance, and he's so buff that his body can barely fit in the hallway. He wears a black leather flight jacket, and a gruesome scar runs down the side of his face, covering one eye and cheek in blood red scar tissue. As he enters the hallway he snatches something up from the floor and watches, fascinated, as it gleams in the overhead lamps.

-Happy's necklace.

Then he looks down at the pony herself, huddled up in a tight fetal position before him, her dolly having rolled away down the train in the other direction.

Happy trembles.

The griffon scowls.

Neither seem to have noticed you yet.

What will you do?

((If anyone isn't cool with rushing out into the hallway, I can edit this post to where you stayed behind or something - but yeah, curious to see what you guys do next (; Keep in mind that you're in pretty cramped quarters if you want to fight. The hallway isn't that wide.))

Clue Seeker rushes out the cabin at the sound of the lion's roar, only to see Happy Trails quivering on the floor while a big burly griffon is towering over her. He notices Happy Trails' necklace clutched in the griffon's claw and his mind and body springs into action.

"Drop the necklace!" Clue Seeker shouts. "And back away slowly from the train attendant."

While he's engaging the griffon, Clue Seeker's mind races to process the situation.

'Griffon. Huge. Gruesome scar across the face. Black leather flight jacket. Seems familiar...'

---

Yelling at the griffon requires a Persuasion check I reckon [12 + 13 Persuasion = 25]
I think that would be enough to drop the necklace but not to back down. I'll wait and see what the rest does before I decide to use The Stare or not.

Also, I would like to roll to see if I recall something about this griffon. Would that be Streetsmarts or History?
- Streetsmarts 13 + 14 = 27
- History 8 + 14 = 22
Clue Seeker has Freaky Knowledge in police/criminal records so if the griffon has a criminal record or is a familiar face with the police, add a +5 bonus to 1 of the above rolls please.

---

Of course, if people are eager to fight this fellow, feel free to disregard the Persuasion check.

Keep in mind that you're in pretty cramped quarters if you want to fight. The hallway isn't that wide.

But considering that combat is played out as a JRPG/turn based style battle, does the location matter? Unless you go for some realism, which is perfectly within your right.

Chitin jumped in surprise, she hadn't exactly been expecting anything that could make a sound like that. She mentally berated herself as she jumped down from her seat and bolted out the door. She stopped for a moment taking in the scene. Looking first from the griffon, to the necklace, than down to happy before frowning and looking back at the Griffon. Chitin frowned, keeping her eyes on the Griffon as she heard Clueseeker yell beside her.

Whisper quickly followed the others. When she heard Clue Seeker shout out she added, "Yeah, you wouldn't want to be accused of stealing on a train." ((Roll to aid Clue Seeker's Persuasion: Persuade: 9+ 11 = 20.)) She really hoped he'd listen, Happy Trails would not be happy if she lost that necklace and if this went poorly she was afraid a rough looking guy like him might decide to start swinging. While always happy to help those out who were injured, the best way was to just avoid injuries in the first place.

Whisper knew she didn't particularly like what Mike was up to, she'd heard all about it from associates she kept in contact with in the city, but she had to rattle around the marbles in her head to see if she had heard anything about this griffon. ((Streetwise: 12+ 12 = 24.))

"Especially for something that has only sentimental value." Coffee honestly didn't know if that were true or not, but if it distracted the griffin, all the better.

OOC:Going to try the forum random number generator here.

Spoiler:

EDIT2:Experiment failed. Every time I edit, it gives me a new random number from 1-20.

EDIT2:Using the wizard's online roller below, instead.

EDIT3:Going to assist Clue's persuasion check.
Roll(1d20)+5:
16,+5
Total:21

Demonu wrote:"Drop the necklace!" Clue Seeker shouts. "And back away slowly from the train attendant."

Ramsus wrote: Whisper quickly followed the others. When she heard Clue Seeker shout out she added, "Yeah, you wouldn't want to be accused of stealing on a train."

Cardbo wrote: "Especially for something that has only sentimental value."

The Griffon turned towards them, glaring with one blood-shot eye. He took a step back from Happy, but kept the necklace grasped firmly in his talons. "Who the buck are you?" He growled, his voice a low rumble, and then to himself, he muttered, "Hate this buckin' train. Had to send me on this assignment, didn't he? Should've sent the Dragon... he's the PR guy... but noooo! Buckin' pony an' her buckin' necklace..." The Griffon turned his attention to Coffee Mug and his scowl turned into the slightest of spiteful grins. He shook the necklace in his talons, "Sentimental value, huh?"

Some of the other cabins were opening a jar, and passengers were glancing out - but they quickly ducked their heads back in as soon as they took one look at the Griffon.

Meanwhile, Happy stayed curled up in a tight ball.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Demonu wrote:

Keep in mind that you're in pretty cramped quarters if you want to fight. The hallway isn't that wide.

But considering that combat is played out as a JRPG/turn based style battle, does the location matter? Unless you go for some realism, which is perfectly within your right.

((^For the record, with certain situations I will have the location factor into the fights, giving certain penalties, bonuses, etc.))

Whisper covered a giggle with her hoof while commenting, "Buck just asked us who the he we are."

((Xand, there is a reason I use teal and not cyan. My eyeballs prefer not bleeding.))

"Who cares what kind of value it has. It isn't yours, so give it back! What's your problem anyway?! She didn't do anything to you!" Chitin yelled out, stepping forward.

"Mocha? I thought you said it was-" and then Whisper was cut off by Chitin yelling.

Ramsus wrote:"Mocha? I thought you said it was-" and then Whisper was cut off by Chitin yelling.

Coffee sends a telepathic message to Whisper. 'Shh...Ask me later if you must.'

Whisper whips her head around, clearly startled and then stares at Coffee Mug and mouths "Oh."

Clue Seeker's mind began to analyze the situation. 'Small corridor dampens our group dynamic, allowing him to use his size to his advantage. Build and scar indicate a history of fighting. Experience. Best not to engage directly until it becomes last resort.'

Clue Seeker tilted his head a bit and muttered to his companions: "Best not to aggravate him. Seems like he's just looking for an excuse to fight."

His attention was drawn back to the griffon when he heard him speak up. "Who the buck are you?"

"We're just fellow train passengers like yourself." Clue Seeker said in a loud voice. "Now kindly drop the necklace and return to your cabin before one of us gets hurt."

An idea flashed through Clue Seeker's thoughts. "You wouldn't want Mighty Mike to know that one of his employees got kicked out of the train for public disturbance and leave his shipment unsupervised, now would you?"

---

Do I need to make another Persuasion check for that last statement?

Spoiler:

Her attention returned to Clue Seeker and Buck (the Griffon) she added, "I've heard Mike doesn't like that hearing sort of thing at all. But then, we don't have to tell you that do we Buck?" ((Assisting Persuasion: Persuasion: 9 + 18 = 27.))

"These public relations disaster can not only be expensive, but costly"


Rolling to aid Clue's persuasion check
Roll(1d20)+5:
13,+5
Total:18

Also, rolling history check to see if Coffee can remember any news articles or anything about this guy.

Roll(1d20)+9:
15,+9
Total:24