Zilean's Revenge (Part 4)

Zarhon can you remind us what our given goal was supposed to be?

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"Rolf, while an invisibility spell is nice, are you sure they don't have ways to see through it?" Skitter asks.

Bronymous wrote:Horizon was coming down from his murderous euphoria now, so he quickly made sure they were both sufficiently dead, and moved the bodies into the darkened tent

I mean I had done that, but lets just do it like this.

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Horizon takes a quick peek around inside the tent, before dragging the bodies into the corner. He then removes one of their purple robes and dons it. "Ok, we'll try this again..." This time he would probably get more use out of it as he made his way through the camp. Once on, though, he keeps inside the tent for a few more minutes, taking stock of the contents for later.

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I guess I'll perceive again: 15+10=25
Waiting about 3 minutes.

Ramsus wrote:Zarhon can you remind us what our given goal was supposed to be?

Not die, not destroy city, not huge property damage, investigate/scout bad guys camp, sabotage/impede/annihilate/not help bad guys camp, intercept/stop/trace shipping to/from camp, not help Zilean, not be worse than Zilean, do hero/anti-hero stuff. Speaking roughly.

And whoops missed the tent bit.

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Inside the tent are some more tools, and some kind of strange, fairly large apparatus. It resembles a brazier, only much larger, heavier, and apparently lacking whatever it is meant to contain or hold. There are some iron wires with hooks on their end, attached to some of the metallic tubes that comprise the apparatus, but their purpose is unclear.

"Well that's... something." Horizon had no idea what the thing might be, but assuming it had some arcane use. After about 3 minutes, he double checked that the corpses weren't going to tell anyone what happened, put up his new purple hood, and headed out in to the camp. Keeping his head low, he heads southwest toward the center of the camp, but keeps an eye out for any threats or allies.

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Perception on goings on through the camp: 18+10=28

Ramsus wrote:"Rolf, while an invisibility spell is nice, are you sure they don't have ways to see through it?" Skitter asks.

"Hmm, well, they might be able to use those red gems they all carry with them. However, I don't see any on "invisibility patrol", so unless I start levitating objects or shooting out fire, they may not use it." Rolf pulled out his own red gem and tried to determine if it would also detect his own invisibility spells, not just the ones from the "cultist bomb pack."

Rolling Arcana...8 (1d20) + 14 = 22

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Zarhon, is the shack the third cultist is hurrying towards the one that we're hiding behind?

Yep. I thought it was obvious, being the only "shack" around to go to.

So are starting up again or what?

Back on Monday-ish. Limited connection and don't have all my stuff to work with at the moment.

Was kinda expecting you all to do things/schemes and plots and plans/party banter, really. Just Horizon and Rolf doing things?

I kinda failed at thinking up what to do and was hoping other people would come up with suggestions by the time we got an answer about invisibility being viable.

I could probably start some party banter, but I feel that screaming back and forth across the compound would be detrimental to our cause. Other than that, I'm still waiting on my perception check to move forward with my plans, even if they were made 2 weeks ago and I don't exactly remember what they are anymore/

Comparing his own spell with the red gem's enchantment, Rolf deducts that there isn't any connection between the two that would allow for detection of his own spells.

Horizon, as he moves towards the center, notices the following:
- There is certainly movement of someone or something, in the shadows of the shack to the southeast.
- What sounds like the clanking of glass and electrical buzzing is occasionally heard from within the tent.
- The east side constructions appear to have four workers - three of which appear to be robed, whilst the fourth is in fact an animated skeleton. The robed men aren't armed apart from their tools (axes, hammers), but the skeleton has a scabbard with a sword, apparently tied to one of his bones.
- Standing above them, next to the eastern gate, on a small platform, is a guard in a robe looking over the wall, occasionally waving a torch for light. A fairly large crossbow and bolts are lying next to his feet, and he appears to have a wand on his belt as well.
- Loud humming emanates from the northern lit tent, and even louder from the central massive tent.

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There's a slight chronological problem now, due to Horizon spending about 8 minutes idle. Should I just equalize the time difference between the groups to avoid a hassle, or have Horizon wait somewhere until the rest catch up?

In any case, Horizon, roll stealth.

Zarhon wrote:
- Standing above them, next to the eastern gate, on a small platform, is a guard in a robe looking over the wall, occasionally waving a torch for light. A fairly large crossbow and bolts are lying next to his feet, and he appears to have a wand on his belt as well. He occasionally
- Loud humming emanates from the northern lit tent, and even louder from the central massive tent.

He occasionally what? OCCASIONALLY WHAT?

I thought that the time would have been roughly the same: in the time they took stalking the wall, coordinating, getting in the hole, getting over the wall, getting out of the hole, and then finding a hiding spot and waiting, Horizon made his way up the street to the gap, killed the two guys (only 3 rounds right? 18 seconds give or take monologue time), found a hiding spot and waited. I can't imagine they took too much longer than that.

Or do you mean Horizon took longer? In which case why would he hold back and wait more, when it should be the other way around? May as well just equalize.

Stealth: 11+12=23

He occasionally what? OCCASIONALLY WHAT?

If you had rolled higher, you might have known...  
Or you can just ignore it because it's a typo from the torch sentence.

I thought that the time would have been roughly the same: in the time they took stalking the wall, coordinating, getting in the hole, getting over the wall, getting out of the hole, and then finding a hiding spot and waiting, Horizon made his way up the street to the gap, killed the two guys (only 3 rounds right? 18 seconds give or take monologue time), found a hiding spot and waited. I can't imagine they took too much longer than that.

Whilst that chronology does makes sense, there's the issue that both groups heard Zilean's yelling at the same time (Horizon mid-battle, the others when they were all on the other side already), so Horizon would have spent a few minutes idling after that.

Meh, assume equalized. Or that Horizon heard the yell before he went strutting about.

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Horizon's disguise appears to be working rather well: even though a few of the people in the camp noted his presence, nobody is paying him any actual attention, or caring about him walking around. He even got passed by a robed guy who completely ignored him, walking past in a hurried pace towards the shack in the southeastern corner.

Did Horizon spend a few minutes recovering from the fight, anyway?
Sorry about not posting much, I've been so tired lately. Though, maybe we should do something about that cultist heading towards us.

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Leaning into the shadowy folds of the tent, Jeraylia squints her eyes to adjust to the darkness, and surreptitiously observes the cultist heading towards them.

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I don't mean actually leaning on the tent, though. Don't want to alert anyone inside with the movement. So, is the cultist carrying anything?
Perception check: 27 (18 + 9perception).

Also, how's the invisibility coming along? I really want to know what is inside this shack we are next to...

The cultist does not appear to be carrying anything, in his arms, or otherwise hanging on his belt or robe. If he has anything, it would be within the robe, but his hurried gait does not reveal anything obvious. He appears to be a gray-haired Drow, and his face is clearly displaying a lot of worry and uncertainty.

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The Drow is about to reach the shack's entrance (on the north side of it). What are people doing?

I'm open to suggestions, though I think our group was largely waiting on Rolf to cast his invisibility spell.

Deciding that entering the big tent while alone was a bad idea, he heads north along its perimeter to the northern tent. He stands just outside, peering in to investigate the humming noise.

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Perception: 17+10= 27

Which way did the cultist's drag their late coworker off towards? Just thinking we could start a fire near the remains to make it look like an accident if we need a distraction. Like the embers caught alight. Might not come up, but more information is always nice.

He was dragged westwards, towards the pit. They're still dragging him.

Brony, are you looking into the tent itself (poking your head in through an opening/entrance to look at the inside, or lifting one of the tent cloths, or something), or just observing its from the outside (its lit, so you can see stuff via shadows)? Roll stealth in either case.

The first one, lifting a flap if necessary. If When they spot me I'll just make it look like I'm supposed to be there.

Stealth: Nat1 oh goody

Lol racism. Just as planned.

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Horizon takes a step in, kicking the already spilled bucket aside. "Ok, what did you do wrong, and why do I need to fix it?" He strode forward, listing towards one of the cultists. "I have other things to do, you know." As he says this, he makes sure to study each of them, watching carefully what the one focusing on the crystal does.

The trio look at each other, continuing to point an arm at the crystal, and occasionally gesture their fingers in a odd manner with it, before snapping back at Horizon:
"What do you mean, 'fix'? You're supposed to replace that 'promoted'-*he makes finger-quotes with his free hand, accompanied by a rather snide expression, as he says this* -Drow that just left!"
"Bah! Bet he won't last two hours before he's 'demoted'. Serves him right!"
"Can we cut the chat short? I need a break."
"Yeah. My arm is killing me!"
"So, unless I'm mistaken, the only one doing things wrong so far is YOU! You gonna hop on it, or what? We got better things to do as well!"

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Gonna need an arcana or perception check for that "what are they doing" observation. Also, out of curiosity, is Horizon still wearing his mask?

"Listen you, that ass didn't tell me anything." Horizon punctuates his feined irritation by getting in his face and poking his chest. "He just said 'go here, it's important'. I figured it was some kind of emergency the way he rushed me. So what is it exactly I'm filling in to do? And try to be concise, I hear we're in a hurry."

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If there's a way to conceal it under the robes, he'd have taken it off. If not, then he wouldn't just leave it somewhere, so he'd still be wearing it.
Perception: 19+10=29
Bluff, probably: 13+12=25

Paying close attention, Horizon memorizes the gesturing they're doing, and is fairly certain he can mimic it (situational bonus).

"Figures. Look, its real easy, okay? Just make sure this thing- *he points to the crystal* -is running without any hiccups, with the rest of us. Needs like three on it, or you-know-who gets riled up, and usually we have a fourth as backup. Oh, and if you're feeling tired, say so. You're of no use if you pass out without warning."
"Look, it was ONE time, okay? Gimme a break!"

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You hid your mask under the robe then. If you're trying to do what they're doing, you'll need to make an arcana check.