3.4 Children on the rampage

[harknail]

Once people became aware of how many children were missing, they became concerned. One teenager remained, a girl named Fhathana who had been badly injured by a Drake but lucky enough to survive. When her parents questioned her about where the others went, Fhathana denied knowing anything. But Harknail, Llewelyn, Romra, and Tol realized that she knew more than she was letting on.



Harknail said so out loud to the group, "She knoweth more than she sayeth." Popol and Blastishy tried talking with her (using Diplomacy), but didn't quite convince her to talk though they did figure out it had something to do with a drake. Stria got impatient with this an scared the girl into talking (Intimidate roll of 30!), not by threatening her, but by making it clear that if they were dealing with a drake, that many of her friends were likely to soon be dead. She finally confessed the full story.


Fhathana said, "The teenagers and older children of the village rallied while you were gone. They were anxious before you arrived, but ever since you killed those drakes, we've had bloodlust in our hearts. Someone reported seeing a wounded drake in the marsh near here, and they’ve all armed themselves however they could and marched off to kill it before any of our parents realized what was going on." She finishes in tears, "Please, please keep the drake from hurting any of them."

[My apologies if I used your character in a manner that doesn't fit their personalities. If I did, please let me know and I'll edit this post.]

The adults are quick to offer directions to the marsh, a spot where the river becomes very wide, slow, and mostly shallow. Llewelyn, Romra, and Dart can easily follow the directions and lead the others.

[tag all]

[sageaqua]

Dart Say's to the girl, "Honey, it takes years of training to be as skilled as we are. I trained for more then ten years to do what I do. Attacking an injured creature is either easy or fare more dangerous then hunting one that has not been hurt. It depends on how the creature was injured. But I'll tell you something no hunter alive likes to hunt an injured animal. Nothing is more dangerous then a hurt animal. Nothing!" then Dart gets directions looks at his map. Then heads to the swamp. He give the original map to who ever wants it.

[Rojito]

Romra says nothing through out the questioning of the child. But there is understanding in his eyes as she speaks her story. When the story is finished and the group finds out which way to go, Romra will lead the way useing his natural abilities with nature to try to find the fastest and easiest path.

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

It is now clear to Blastishy he will never get the work he wants to done, but children need saving. Blastishy says nothing to the rest of the group as he fallows them yet the gnome my need to hear something before a fight brakes out once more. In darts mind he can hear this: " If the drake or drakes harm or even try to harm the children I am putting them down no questions asked. It is on us to save them at this point. Bring the children home alive is all that matters to me."

[sageaqua]

Dart falls back and says. "All children do stupid things. It is a part of being a child and it is always up to us adults to do even stupider things because we worry about them. Do you have children?"

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

At this remark Blastishy face hardens, In darts mind once more "I have no reason to tell you if i do or don't. It is a rather personal matter and i wish not to talk about it at this time . So i kindly ask you not to ask this question ever again. I am very protective of all my kind and that is all you need to know. Blastishy says this rather calmly but firm it is obvious he does not like to talk about his family with others.

[harknail]

Not that this affects what Blastishy says, but in this game setting Shardminds do not have families and they don't reproduce. On occasion some crystal remnants of the living gate comes to life as a shardmind. Most of the characters wouldn't know that however, but Blastishy would of course.

[harknail]

Apparently Rangers and Wardens are faster at making their way though a forest and marsh than children who've lived in the area their entire lives, for the party catches up with the children just as they come in sight of the drake.

The crowd is mostly teenage boys and girls ranging from 14 to 17, but some children as young as 8 are with them. All are armed with pitchforks, shovels, rakes, and clubs. They are agitated and angry and heedless of danger in their fervor to attack the creature.

The warwing drake languishes in the marsh, scratching ineffectually at its head. With great effort, the creature hoarsely speaks a few words in Draconic, “Can’t ... stop ... pain. Not ... want ... fight.”

The drake seems delirious with pain. But even so, it will probably fight back if attacked, and a single swipe from a drake could kill a child.

This is a skill challenge. You need 8 successes before 3 failures. Possible skills to try are:
Bluff: to convince them that the drake is more dangerous than it seems (that might not really be a bluff but it's the skill to use)
Diplomacy: to try calming them down
Intimidate: Order them to stand down, shame them into protecting their parents, or simply assert that the group is more than able to handle the drake.
Insight: To read the mood of the crowd. This might help determine which skills would work best.
Heal: Approach the drakes without weapons and try healing it to prove that this one isn't malicious (could be painful if it is).
Nature: Show off how much you know about drakes.
And as always, feel free to come up with other uses of these or any other skill. Creativity is good (but might have a high DC).

[sageaqua]

Dart screams at the children "Are you out of your mind's? Your going to attack a very dangerous creature with farm tool's and no armor! I've never seen anything so stupid in my entire life! All of us have years of training! Every last one and none of us are new bee's with toy's! We use weapon's of war! Not farmer's tool's. And how are you going to feel when your brother or sisters are killed! And you have to tell your mother's and fathers that you didn't look out for the little ones. That's drake can bite any of you in two! Now - I'm not letting you get anywhere near it either. It's your choice! I see just one of you attack the drake and I'm taking you out! Your going to get everyone of your Friends and family killed! Do I make my self clear!
nature roll best guess as to the drakes true abilities currently +7[dice=20]
intimidate roll of the eldest Kid +4[dice=20]
bluff +4 [dice=20] Dart does not intend to attack the Kid's but he does want them to think he well.
they are not bad rolls but they are not useful rolls either. Dart is moving in between the Kid's and the drake and he point's out to any party members that the drake is talking.[rand=11233533755876124592988477088511270136510021984611375442170538008]

[at]

As Dart called the children morons it was plain to see their anger grow, and at any moment he expected one of them to leap forwards to prove themselves.

A smile spread across the mage's face as a thought struck him, and as Dart continued to rant his voice began to raise in pitch...


(Barbatos attempts to stop Dart putting both feet in it by making a mockery him before he can inflame the childrens anger)[dice=20]+8 insight to notice what's about to happen
[dice=20]+13 arcana and prestidigitation or ghost sound to turn dart into a squeaking comedy gnome, steam out the ears and all, and hopefully distract the group long enough for a more level headed individual to step forwards.[rand=579892917671976319771108165546633478179672808923706674951106889865]

[sageaqua]

Dart is trying to provoke the kid's into thinking. With a group that large a few of them should be thinking about the little kid's with them. Turning Dart into a joke is under minding what he is saying and hurting the situation not helping it. I know Dart's goal's may bug the people in the group but stabbing him in the back means he would not be helping you when you truly need it. If that's your goal then by All means continue to provoke him.

[harknail]

Only one roll per round please, otherwise one person could fail the challenge singlehandedly before anyone else gets a chance.. I'll announce when the second round starts.

Darts's first roll is a nature check to examine the drake, so I'm going with that instead of the tirade. That means Barbatos doesn't get a chance to make a comedy of Dart's tirade.

Dart studies the drake and decides that although in pain and although it says it doesn't want to fight, it looks every bit as deadly as the previous drakes.

Barbatos studies the crowd and senses that the villagers are frightened of the warwing drake but want to prove their worth, much as the group did. And the young villagers are highly agitated!

1 success, 0 failures, insight may be used again.

[harknail]

By the way, I thought the Dart's rant was reasonable and it was along the lines I had suggested, but it tried to do too much at once. In a skill challenge you need to make one point a time and roll for that point.

And by the way, those were bad rolls, bad enough that Dart would have made things worse without Barbatos interfering. Barbatos may have stopped those from being 2 failures, but now we'll never know...

[at]

Aug 30, 2011 11:11:32 GMT -5 sageaqua said:

Turning Dart into a joke is under minding what he is saying and hurting the situation not helping it.

In character - Barbatos has no faith in Dart, given his frequent use of magical compulsions and death threats.
Out of character - Damage limitation, Dart had already put one foot in it and was working on a second when Barbatos tried to shut him up.

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

The sight angers Blastishy it was the children that were attacking the drake not the other way around. not letting his anger get the best of him Blashishy does what he does best, trying to stop things from causing more bloodshed.
diplomacy
[dice=20] +8= 26
In the kids minds they hear Blastishy's voice " children this drake has done you no harm or ill, it wishes to be left alone. your parents are worried sick about all of you. I know that was not your intention and that you don't wish to worry them. Yet right now that is exactly what you are doing by doing this. they have ask me and my friends to bring u back home safe and sound."[rand=89647785690613099557422690559179045300081372261057943901268299669]

[nobu]

Tol

I dont know how to talk to brats all that well i so move between the drake and kids giveing that lizard my back for the moment. I swear to which ever god that will listen that if fate makes it take a swing at me ill take care of it for the kids. Looking over at the kids my sword appears being held along my leg somewhat visible.

"i'll handle this beast, go home." in a quite and scary tone, and if any of them saw my performance earlier they would no my skill with a blade.

Intimidate
[dice=20] + 13. ( dont think the fire will be necesary yet)

lol do i get ant bonus from my performance earlier cause that roll was disappointing. Was fixing txt for edit
[rand=11062833410687745609673143830150462000392680056392782007602509111]

[harknail]

Blastishy realized that the young villagers have already worked themselves into a froth and refuse to be calmed with rationality, no mater how well it is phrased.

Future diplomacy checks will automatically fail, Insight is no longer useful (a second insight would have revealed this). Diplomacy is a fine thing to try, but it doesn't work this time.

On the other hand, Tol's calm and naturally scary manner does cause the advance to pause for a moment.

2 successes 1 failure. Tol did roll high enough to get a success. Blastishy rolled more than high enough, but in this case Diplomacy just won't work

[harknail]

The killing machine, as Dart has dubbed Harknail, puts away his sword despite the tense situation. While he couldn't understand what the Drake said, that did sound like words. And that elevated the drake from beast to person in Harknail's mind. That didn't mean that it wasn't a vicious killer, but it wasn't acting aggressively now.

So Harknail set out to test it's motives, risking himself in the process. Moving up to the drake he made use of his healing skill to do what he could for the beast.

Heal: [dice=20]+8=24

Harknail successfully treats the claw gash on it's side, but it still seems to be in pain. The creature allows Harknail to treat it, demonstrating yet again that this drake is not like the ones that beset the farms.

3 successes, 1 failure[rand=792338501196354607002786104567349789931785548105820347074721939862]

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

Seeing his words are of no use, Blastishy knows that healing the injured drake is about the only think he can do at this point that will help
Heal[dice=20]+11= 28[rand=84162053512409338361383082810789581526757916435640548605215735734]

[harknail]

Still the first round, though that will work very well once I announce the start of the next round. So hold that heal...