ARENTINE: Story Update

After conquering the dangers of the Shahamunti Mountains, the party saw the grim city of Khare on the horizon. Heading through the wasteland foothills that mark the beginning of the vast and terrible land of Kakhabad, they enter the city, and are greeting with streets streaming with blood and effluence. They make haste to refresh their supples before heading to a Harper safehouse in the northern quarter of the city. There they met a Harper agent, a rather scruffy and jittery ranger called Dogbone. He seemed unable to help them with their quest, appearing quite confused as to why Baba Yaga would send them to find Suzzarn. He informs the party that Suzzarn is no sage, but in fact one of Lord Azzur’s (the supposed ‘ruler’ of Khare) lickspittle courtiers.

The party choose to follow Dogbone’s advice to find an alliance in the city with one of the factions who run the streets; the Hanged Men, the Court of Jakob, or the House of Pale Lanterns. They also learn that it is the House of Pale Lanterns that is run by the infamous Forkiz Geung, the very same man who holds Orrind hostage. They make contact with all three gangs, and acquire a mission to investigate some disappearances at a dungeon named Conrad’s Point from Pavel Flind, the doyen of the Court of Jakob. Not fancying allying with the Vecna and Orcus worshippers, the party take this intelligence to the Hanged Men’s doyen Bad Krum, who sends them to investigate Conrad’s Point to see what the death cult is up to.

Upon their arrival at Conrad’s Point, they encounter a moribund cultist, who informs them that the dungeon is infested with demons. Sure enough, the party find and dispatch several bloodthirsty demons and abyssal traps. Bursting into the final chamber of the dungeon, they encounter another group of demons led by a huge bull-headed demon who introduces himself as Zod the Immortal. Full of hubris Zod announces that we will enjoy feasting on the party and, rather cryptically, that “he will not wait for the Eclipse”. After a furious battle, the heavily wounded Zod swoops into the fray, snatching up Alain Fu and escaping down a pit deeper into the dungeon…

Chase Rules

The Movement Check

A character’s Move check is +2 per point of base speed.  For an unencumbered human that moves at speed 6, that’s +12.  In a self-powered race like a footrace, you can add your STR bonus to this in a given round but then have to make a DC 15 Fort save to not become fatigued from the exertion.   Use this same formula for other movement types (riding, swimming) because it takes differing speeds into account well. 

The Chase Track

Rather than keeping up with specific distances, a chase has distance represented by an arbitrary condition track.  It’s defined relative to whoever’s in the lead, and has six levels -

1.       Close Contact – within melee range of leader.  Subject to all obstacles the leader has to deal with.

2.      Point Blank – close range can make any ranged attack without penalty.  Take leader’s obstacles or take an alternate path at DC 20.

3.      Short – Take leader’s obstacles or an alternate path at DC 15.  -2 on ranged attacks.

4.      Medium – From this far back, it’s usually easy to avoid obstacles.  -4 on ranged attacks. Can’t use ranged 5.

5.       Long – -6 on ranged attacks. Can’t use ranged 5.

6.      Lost – you done lost ‘em.   If you have allies still in the chase and you can still run (not fatigued or just giving up) you can run after them sufficiently to at least arrive on the scene once it’s all over, but you can’t get back into the actual chase.

For each 5 points by which you beat the leader’s movement check,  you close by one category on the track; similarly you slip back by one for each 5 points by which you miss their check.

Chase participants start at a chase level that makes sense – if they are right there with the leader and take off after them when they take off, they can start at point blank.  If they’re a round of movement away, or pause to shoot or take another action before they get going, start them at medium range.

Obstacles

In a chase, there’s a bunch of different kinds of obstacles and complications that can come up.  Here’s a sample but not comprehensive list.  In general the checks to pass these obstacles are DC 15.  If you fail the check, you drop back one level on the chase track; if you miss by 5 you take 1d6 nonlethal damage from a collision or similar mishap.  This is an urban specific list.  In a crowded urban environment, each round has a 1 in 3 chance of bringing a mandatory obstacle, or the leader can deliberately head towards obstacles as desired.  Roll 1d8 for what type, or choose one:

1.       Simple (Acrobatics/Melee) – barrels, gate, street vendor’s blanket, etc.

2.      Barrier (Acrobatics) – fruit cart, unexpected turn

3.      Wall/Gap (Athletics) – “end of alley” wall, fence, ditch, open manhole, pit

4.      Evasion (Perception) – spot where he's gone

5.       Traffic (Endurance/Dex) – pedestrians, mule team, orc pirates

6.      Squeeze (Str/Dex) – crawlspace, hole in wall

7.       Noxious (Endurance) – tannery, factory, sewage

8.      Terrain (Dex/Acrobatics) – gravel, mud bank, slick cobblestones

Chase participants farther back on the chase track can choose whether or not to hit the same obstacle.  Chasers in close contact have to negotiate the same obstacles as the leader.  Chasers in point blank can take the obstacle or make an alternate check at DC 20 to avoid it – for example, “I can’t swim, I’m going to run around the reflecting pool instead.”  Chasers at short range can take the obstacle or an alternate check at DC 15.  Chasers farther back can generally avoid routine obstacles, but the DM can require them if it’s logically necessary (the leader swam across the river, for example).

Actions

Anyone in close contact with the leader can conduct melee attacks on them.  Whoever wins initiative gets to determine if attacks or Movement checks happen first.

A character can take a ranged attack but automatically drops back one level on the chase track when they do.

If the chase goes a number of rounds equal to anyone’s CON score they have to make DC 20 Fort saves each round or become fatigued, and effectively drop out.