[D&D 4e] Rescue at Rivenroar: Watch out for the ogre... (that almost rhymed)

psolms

This is the IC thread for the RaR game. You all know the drill.

The Party:

Alecthar playing Jadir, Eladrin Warlord
hermenegilde playing Aneril Farstrider, Elf Druid
likethesearchengine playing Taniel, Halfling Sorcerer (for short (get it? short?) im gonna call you google)
stratslinger playing Tho'rinn, Dwarf Cleric
Raddue playing Dolth Thral, Dwarf Fighter
VanityPants playing Liam, Human Rogue

First description post coming in a jiffy.

psolms

Chapter 1: Brindol

Ah, the life of an adventurer. The open road; interesting people; strange new towns; the craazy parties. It's a good life, and you have chosen it.

Jadir
Your search for your brothers has led you to Brindol. Not that they are in Brindol, but its led you here anyways. Its been a long road, and you are looking for a place to pass the night with either company or solitude. Your choice. The Antler and Thistle tavern seems as good as any. Or better than any. Youre friggen here, deal with it.

Aneril and Taniel
You entered Brindol about a week ago. Its a pretty cool town, but you guys seem to prefer forests and crap like that. Thats fine. I'm not judging you. Anyways, its late, and you're just hangin out in the bar at The Antler and Thistle. Coincidence? Yes. Ignore it. Also, ignore that man behind the curtain.

Liam and Dolth
I dont know why you found yourself in Brindol, at the Antler and Thistle. Luck? Coincidence? Fate? Poor storytelling? Who knows. The point is you are here. Liam, you may find it of note that there is a poker game going on at one of the back tables. They look like suckers. You could probably take them for a decent amount of coin.

Thor'inn
You are at the Antler and Thistle for one reason. Beer. If you dont drink beer (what are you, some kinda pansy?) you're here to preach the good word to the drunks who need it most. Also, they are often the most receptive to the good word.

hey guys, welcome. i hope you enjoy my narration style. if not, tell me now. anyways, the key points here are these:
-you dont know each other (except where noted)
-youre all in the bar
-theres a card game at one of the back tables
-the place is pretty busy (and filled with all kinds of races)

feel free to rp some cool stuff, join the poker game etc.

also, heres a map:

tell me where you would like to be.

Alecthar

Jadir walks into The Antler and The Thistle and goes immediately to the bar. Searching for errant kin is thirsty work. He sips his ale and looks out over the room full of patrons Busy place, suppose it makes sense, the ale's tolerably good and not watered down.

A card game in the corner catches his eye. Jadir strides over to the players.

"Mind if I join you? It's been a while, but I imagine I remember the rules."

Raddue

Dolth, standing just inside the door of The Antler and The Thistle sees the sparkle in Liam's eyes at the sight of the poker game and leaves the scoundrel to his work without saying a word. Striding up to the bar he orders a strong ale and takes an approving sip. The road to Brindol has been a long one for Dolth and though he'd never admit it to anyone, he just wants to spend a couple of precious minutes winding down.

Old habits die hard, however, and after only a couple of sips he starts casting his gaze around the room looking for people who might end up causing trouble.

Perception for drunkards, shady-types and other social refuse: 1d20+3 → [8,3] = (11)

psolms

"Sure, have a seat. 10gp is the buy in." replies one of the patrons, holding back a chuckle. "Names James. This here is Armin and Lucky."

the poker game will work as follows for everyone who wishes to join.
texas hold em.
first check: luck check. straight d20 roll. (determines pocket cards - nat 20 will give you your 3rd card automatically)
charisma check: d20+cha mod to see your reaction. alternativly, you could try a bluff check instead.
bluff check to raise/call/bet.
insight/perception check to get a bearing on their hand.

luck and bluff. thats the game.
round 1: pocket cards face down
round 2: the flop - 3 community cards face up
round 3: the turn - 1 community card face up
round 4: the river - 1 community card face up
betting after all rounds, including the river.

min bet is 1cp, max bet is 1gp.

so the rolls should go:
luck - get cards
bluff/cha - reaction
perception/insight - gauge other players reactions
bluff - raise/call/bet (no check to fold)

psolms

Dolth:
You see a bar. 10-15 patrons. Drinking. 4 players now playing poker. One is a decked out Eladrin. Looks like he's seen some trouble, but he doesnt seem to be causing any right now.

Jadir:
You now have 10gp on the table. There is another 30gp in play - Lucky has about 15, James has 10 and Armin has 5.

psolms

sorry about the triple post, but if any of you have images for your characters (i have liam and jadir so far) go ahead and pm them to me, otherwise ill find something that sort of works. also, PM me your wish list.
4 items.
a lvl 5
a lvl 4
a lvl 3
a lvl 2
just want to have them for packet distrabution.

Alecthar

Jadir receives his cards. They seem fair, though not amazing. He does his best to hide any reaction to his hand. He looks at the other players surreptitiously, trying to gauge their hands as well.

Rolls
Luck: 1d20 → [12] = (12)
Reaction: 1d20-1 → [17,-1] = (16)
Perception: 1d20+7 → [3,7] = (10)
Betting: 1d20-1 → [20,-1] = (19)

Raddue

Dolth downs his ale after his scan of the place, flags the bartender and says, "I do think I'll have another one o' those ales." When his tankard is refilled he follows up with a question, "do ya know a dwarf by the name o' Bolim? He came 'ere from Hammerfall Forts a couple o' years ago."

stratslinger

Tho'rinn gets up from the table he's been sharing with a pair of shiftless-looking halflings, and heads towards the bar.

Moradin help those two, he thinks to himself, there's just no _drive_ in the lads...

He reaches the bar, orders another ale, and surveys the crowd from his barstool, looking for any who might be in need of and receptive to his patron's guidance.

Perception: 1d20+3=5

Beer is good. I like beer.

psolms

Dolth:
"o'Bolim, eh?" The bartender replies, "I'm not really sure... maybe if you gave me a streetwise check, you could ask around the bar."

Tho'rinn: or Thor'inn?
Lets just use your passive perception, shall we? One guy at the bar seems to be sobbing into his drink.

The Poker Game:
Jadir, you have an 8 of clubs and a 7 of diamonds.
James looks at his cards and has no visible reaction.
Armin looks at his cards and hits his hand on the table in anger.
Lucky looks at his cards and stifles a laugh.
You look at your decent cards and have no visible reaction.

James bets 1 cp. Armin, despite his outburst, raises to 5cp. Lucky calls. Jadir raises to 10cp.
Total pot: 21cp.
James raises to 15cp. Armin folds. Lucky calls. Jadir calls.
Total pot: 50cp.

Im going off your early rolls of perception and such to determine calls.

Community cards on the flop: Ace of spades, 2 of Diamonds, 9 of clubs

go ahead and roll bluffs.

VanityPants

Liam was happy to be back in the city. The clink of fresh coin on the table was always something to catch his ear, and he watched slyly from the corner of his eye. Dolth be damned, his fingers itched to hold gold, he was tired of just holding steel -- life on the road was never easy.

Seeing the game already started, Liam wandered over to check up on his future marks, settling into a chair at the table beside Armin, he leaned back. Seeing the man distracted by his anger, he tried his hand at another game of luck, casually stretching his arms and slipping his fingers through Armin's pocket, looking for any spare coin.

Just a little won't hurt anyone, and Dolth will never know.

Thievery: 1d20+10 = 24

Raddue

psolms wrote: »

Dolth:
"o'Bolim, eh?" The bartender replies, "I'm not really sure... maybe if you gave me a streetwise check, you could ask around the bar."

1d20+4 → [6,4] = (10)

Oh yeah. What rockin' rolls.

psolms

Sorry friend, the 10 doesnt even beat his passive perception.

Armin looks over at Liam reaching into his pocket. He grabs his arm, stoping his attempt. "What'cha got there, friend?"

you better be able to talk your way out of this... otherwise, youve started a fight without everyone being here. how could you?

psolms

Dolth:
Asking around, you cant find anyone whos even heard of o'Bolim. But dont lose hope. This is just one bar in the town that you can fail your streetwise checks in.

VanityPants

What a clumsy mistake! Liam's cheeks must have turned a little red, but it worked out in his favor, instantly turning a bashful look towards Armin.

"Ah, sorry about that, after a mug or two my hands like to wander ... "

Oh god, Dolth, don't look over here ...

Bluff: 1d20+9 = 29 -- Oh god, I hope I'm not using up my dice luck before we get to any fighting!

Oh, wait! Sorry! I wasn't putting the results in those descriptions. The first one was a 24 and this one was a 29, sorry, I'll add them in the link text from now on.

psolms

"You're lucky I dont chop it off." Armin replies, shoving Liam away. Standing up, he punches Liam in the gut once and shoves him to the ground. "Dont let me see you getting handsy again." he says, sitting back down. Hopefully, you've learned your lesson and will take a quick 5 damage (or lose a healing surge). Well, theres no hoping about the damage. Take it.

why didnt you say so earlier? technically, you should have beat it, but lets just say this. you were able to take 5gp and palm it, but he caught you pulling your hand out. you can keep the 5gp in exchange for the 5 damage.

Alecthar

Jadir continues to play. One hand's probably enough, with thieves about I'd rather not have my money lying on a table.

My hand sucks.
Bluff: 1d20-1 → [16,-1] = (15)

I figure after this I'll take myself back out of the game, don't want to spend too much time playing poker when there are RP shenanigans afoot.

Additionally, I'll get my wishlist to you shortly.

psolms

youre on a straight draw man, its good.

You make an aggressive play. Betting 20cp. James folds. Lucky re-raises another 20cp. You're pretty sure he's bluffing. To save time, you call. Trust me.

Total pot: 1sp 20cp
The turn is Jack of hearts.

rp shenanigans will be had by all. once all have had a chance. for now, enjoy the poker game. (and feel free to indicate your bets if you want to actually wager gold instead of copper.
protip: an aggressive bet with a decent bluff will probably make him fold.

VanityPants

"Oof!" -- Liam took the punch as well as he could. He'd expected as much, and anything short of a bar room brawl was gravy at this point. He cursed his luck under his breath, rubbed at his stomach and promptly turned away and walked over to Dolth.

"Rough crowd ... I'm near as clumsy as you tonight, old man."

Alecthar

Jardir bets aggressively and hopes his Bluff is fairly convincing.

Bluff: 1d20-1 → [12,-1] = (11)

psolms

Wow. Your low bluff beat his lower insight. Nice. You take the pot of 1sp 20cp after wagering 55cp. Net gain of 65cp. Feels like maybe a waste of time. Bet more next time, maybe? Or not, your call.

Raddue

Looking up in time to watch Liam take a mighty punch to the abdomen, Dolth puts an abrupt end to his conversation (if you could call it that) with the barkeep and strides over to the boy who's just managed to get back to his feet. "Serves ya right ya bastard," Dolth says. "When I twas your age ya were liable ta lose a hand fer somethin' like that. Why can't cha just be on da level fer once in yer damned life? We just got 'ere fer Moradin's sake an' already yer makin' lots o' friends."

VanityPants

"Ahh, here comes the speech again." Liam puffs out a long sigh and runs his hand back through his hair. "It must be hard to remember that far back, before there was fire and all." He smirks at that. "I'm just having a little fun, is all. Nobody got hurt ... much." At that, he rubs his stomach again.

stratslinger

Tho'rinn (yep, Tho'rinn!) notices the scuffle, but upon seeing the tension abate, decides the poor soul sharing the bar with him may just be in more need of help at the moment.

"I couldn't help bu' notice the long face on ye, lad. Tell me, wha' troubles ye?"

Insight roll (would that work?): 1d20+3 → [3,3] = (6)


Here's hoping this just means I'm saving the good rolls for once we really get going...

likethesearchengine

Taniel sits at the end of the bar, nursing a pint of (quite decent) ale. He is willing to enjoy watching the foibles of the other bar patrons as he passes time until Aneril has had enough of other people.

He smirks to himself as a human pickpocket dips his hand gracefully into the pouch of a card player, but then gets snagged on a button... drawing ire and a swift blow from his mark.

He turns to Aneril, whispering, "Guard your coin purse, there are sticky fingers about."

Hermenegilde

"Who would try to steal from me? " answers Aneril.
Indeed, Aneril pretty much looks like he's been fighting a bear in mud pit, tufts of hair going in all directions, tears in his clothes, mud and leaves all over.
Waving towards the card game, Aneril speaks to Taniel again.
"This always struck me as an interesting behavior from people, lying for money, and they always seem so satisfied when they win."

Couldn't find how to change the sheet name, so I redid it.
Aneril Farstrider, Elven druid

Raddue

Dolth says to Liam, "I always knew yer mouth would get ya in trouble, but I guess I should 'ave figured yer hands would too."

I'm going to be away from my computer for the rest of the day but I might have access to this thread via my phone, I'll check it out later. The fiancee is graduating so we're going to her graduation and then to a party afterward.

Alecthar

Jadir is dealt another hand. His luck is decidedly average, and Jadir has difficulty covering his disappointment. As he goes to look at his fellow players, stray smoke from a pipe or the fireplace wafts into his eyes, making them water and rendering Jadir unable to see his opponents. Despite this, Jadir bets well.

Rolls
Luck: 10 = 10
Bluff: 13-1 = 12
Perception: 1+7 = 8
Bet: 18-1 = 17

I'd like to bet a bit more agressively this time around.

likethesearchengine

Taniel regards Aneril for a moment, and then lets out a short laugh.

"Too true, you do look like you're going to take root at any moment and starting sprouting pine cones."

He gazes at the poker table. "Tempting, to be honest, though I don't like to mix beer and betting. Really, who - besides you - doesn't like a little extra coin jingling in his pocket? Crazy elf."

"Besides, " he adds with a wry smile, "if they want to let me lie to them in exchange for their money, I'm quite willing to oblige them."

He sighs as his smile fades. "But not tonight, I think."

I will be out of town May 8 - May 15. I should be able to manage to get in the one post per day, but it will be hard to do more - internet access will not be easy to come by. Sorry about that, but after that it should be clear sailing.

psolms

Tho'rinn:
Despite your tenuous grasp on the situation, you can tell this guy is a beggar. You're pretty sure hes winding up his sob story. He leads you to a table close to the door.

"Well," he begins, "I dont know how my life could get much worse. My wife kicked me out of the house, I've got no place to stay, and not a gold peice to my name. Do you think..." when suddenly, you see... (see the All description)

Jadir:
Ace, 7 off-suit in the pocket seems mediocore, but you hit a break. You paired your ace on the flop. From what you can tell, no one else has hit anything, so you are slow playing like mad. By the time you've set your trap, committing both Lucky and Armin to a full 1gp bet, you see...

All:
The doors to the tavern fly open with a bang. 4 small hobgoblins run through the doors. The first one runs straight to the man telling his sob story and kills him with an axe to the chest. It looks like his life could get worse. The second runs to the druid and the sorcerer by the bar, but his sword goes wide of the druid. The third attacks an old drunk man near the door, but he falls over, dodging the attack, and the fourth attacks Tho'rinn, but his armor glances it away. For a raiding party with the element of surprise, these guys sort of suck.

Roll Initiative!

great, everyone is here and we can get the party rolling. (get it? rolling? man im good)
Hobgoblin A - attacks Sad Sap. kills Sad Sap.
Hobgoblin B - attacks Aneril- miss!
Hobgoblin C - attacks old man- miss!
Hobgoblin D - attacks Tho'rinn- miss!

Map:

in case you cant tell:
Jadir is at M3
Aneril is at B12
Taniel is at C11
Tho'rinn is at G11
Dolth is at J3
Liam is at K1

The humans are the patrons.

Alecthar

Jadir grabs his money, stuffs it in his bag, and whips around toward the hobgoblins, spear in hand.

It'll take more than that to get the drop on me.

Initiative! (1d20+4=21)

psolms

Well, thats one way to deal with it... anyways, theres still 30gp (give or take) on the table and if these guys die, well, no one will claim ownership...

Alecthar

Sweet, sweet thievery.

Raddue

Dolth gives a sideways glance at Liam then unsheathes his axe and shield before calling out, "time ta earn yer keep, lad, there's goblin's about!"

1d20 → [20] = (20) Woohoo natural 20!

Alecthar

Jadir takes a look at 5 others in the room who seem to have a bit more guts than the rest.

"To arms! Don't let them take you by surprise!"

Unfortunately, with the noise of the assault, Jadir's voice doesn't quite carry to the Elf at the other end of the room.

Everyone but Aneril gets a +2 to their Initiative, due to my class feature "Combat Leader". Aneril doesn't get it because he's more than 10 squares away from me.

stratslinger

Saying a quick prayer to Moradin for the poor man's soul, Tho'rinn takes up his hammer.

1d20+2 → [3,2] = (5)

Nope... bad rolls not done yet (and the +2 here accounts for the bonus Jadir's "Combat Leader" granted.

Awesome.

Hermenegilde

Aneril comes of his stool, pivoting on his staff to dodge the hobgoblin's attack.

Init 1d20+3=23!
You can keep your +2.

likethesearchengine

Taniel sets his pint down on the bar as he watches the hobgoblin make a clumsy attack against his friend, and hops down to the floor.

Initiative: (1d20+6=10)

VanityPants

Liam shares a glance with Dolth, slipping a dagger from a sheath at his forearm.

"Hah, just try to keep up with me, baldie."

Initiative: 1d20+4+Jadir's Bonus 2 = 13

Raddue

I might not be around the house for the next couple of hours so here's my turn:

Move to J8. I can't really do anything else.