(01) The Approach

[zygarti]

Flin tries his hardest to keep his armour from clanking around.

[acodispo]

Witherun checks the string on his bow and the fletching on his first arrow and prepares to enact Thanis' plan.

[waysoftheearth]

Okay, so I have this:

1. The entire party quietly makes their way to where the woods end and the moathouse comes into view.
2. Everyone but Tass will conceal themselves at the edge of the woods. Garamon, Stern, and Flin up front, the others in the second rank.
3. Tass draws the guards' attention and, hopefully, leads some of them back toward the player position.
4. When Tass and his pursuit get back to the main party within 30 yards, Thanis, Witherun and Flin fire missiles at Tass' pursuers.
5. This is the signal for everyone else to jump out of hiding (no one holds back) to surprise/ambush the pursuit and beat them up (so, straight into melee).
6. Assuming the ambush goes well, we then head to the moathouse.

Update coming tomorrow...

[waysoftheearth]

Having agreed a plan, the company heads toward the moat house.

A light drizzle sets in as they make their way along the winding forest path... and the day is beginning to wane as they first sight the structure through the trees and rain, perhaps 100 yards off. Plotting a cautious route forward, they find an ambush location where the path hooks around a thick trunk. Anyone coming around the old tree would suddenly be targeted by shooters 30 yards down the path, and set upon by those rushing from the understory to their flank.

The party gets itself set just so, with Thanis, Witherun and Flin 30 yards up the path ready to loose their missiles, and Garamon, Stern, Goldwen and Wraislin laying in wait to the side of the path, just so:
. . . . . . . . . . . --. . . . Thumpers. . . \ . . . . T . . . . . .`---S____---,. . . .Shooters . . X \ . . . . . . . Tree | . . . . . . . . . . \ . . . . . . . . . . . \ . . . . . . . . . . .`- <-- Path . . . . . . . . . . . Moathouse --> . . . . . . . . . . .

With this all in place, Tass skips ahead toward the moat house to see what fuss he can rouse...

[waysoftheearth]

It scarcely takes Tass more than a minute or two to navigate the last of the forest path before he pushes out of the forest canopy and into the drizzly understory around the moat house clearing. He creeps up to within 60, 50... 40 yards of the gate. There is scant cover left between him and the arch.

Despite (or perhaps because of?) the rain Tass spies that the woodsmen are now nowhere to be seen.
The moat house guards are huddled under around the archway to keep from getting wet. A couple of them look to be preparing a fire. The others appear hunched and despondent, probably waiting to be relieved by the night watch...

Tass knows they are there, so in principle, he can't be surprised by them, but is there a patrol or counter ambush out there that might surprise him? 1d6=1. No.
Does Tass surprise the moat house? 1d6=4, of course he does!

What will Tass do with his moment of surprise?

[mgtremaine]

Tass eyes up the guards and gets his whistle out......He proceeds to whistle an annoying high pitched tone. Moving back quickly once he sees the guards moving. He will continue to intermittently use the whistle to keep them following as he makes way to the ambush.

[waysoftheearth]

"What was that?" startles one of the nearest guards, stepping into the drizzle to scan the woods in Tass' general direction.

What was what? asks a grumpy old grognard under the arch.

That peeping noise, says the first, still looking.

It was nothing. Probably a frog being eaten suggests the grognard, clearly not keen on getting wet in the last hour of his watch.

Tass can't see how many of them are huddled under the arch, but a few others are peering into the woods dubiously...

PFHEEEEEEEEEEP! Tass gives another blast on his whistle and jumps up and down so they surely can't miss him.

Look! There! Yell a couple more guards, pointing right at Tass now.

Right, snarls the grognard, annoyed as much at being wrong as with having to deal with whatever it is. You lot grab 'im then! he orders sharply. And be quick about it!

Most of the guards grab their spears and crossbows and lurch into action, breaking into a light run to round Tass up, and the chase begins....

The ref dices for their reaction to this strange and--from their perspective-- thoroughly inconvenient event.

2d6=7, so they are initially "uncertain"; this leaves the door open for a further check.

When Tass keeps blowing his whistle and jumping about, this check is triggered:

2d6=10, so a "positive" reaction, which implies positive morale. This means they obey their standing orders, which would be to keep control of the local comings and goings, and therefore investigate any possible deviation or interference.

How many will chase after Tass? 2d6=8! LOL!

[mgtremaine]

Tass would laugh "Well about time" and take off weaving in and out the forest cover. Every so often he'd give a quick blast on the whistle making sure the poor guards don't get lost.

[ehiker133]

Goldwen hears the diminutive troublemaker's whistle, shakes her head, and whispers (mostly to herself), "At least he's finally putting that annoying thing to some GOOD use..."

She grips the leather and wire wrap on her mace with white knuckles and glances down to check the buckles on her shield. This is always the part Goldwen hates the most - waiting to see if the trap works as planned or if they'll have to improvise when it doesn't, like they always end up doing...

Good luck, Team!

[waysoftheearth]

Tass skips along the path, dodging low limbs and skirting trunks. Nimble as a squirrel he merrily leads the pursuit, blasting his whistle now and then like a pied piper. The guards duly give chase, crashing through the understory, cursing and yelling and making a such a ruckus that Tass knows exactly where they are.

All too quickly he reaches The Tree. He turns to wave one last time--the pursuit only a dozen yards behind now--before vanishing around the corning, and diving into the understory where Stern, Garamon, Goldwen, and Wraislin lie in wait...

The only other detail to cover off is whether the pursuit can actually catch Tass before he reaches the ambush site. Given his lead and the set piece nature of the chase, i'm ruling it could only go awry by some incredible misfortune from left field. Basically, a snake eyes incident; falling into a ditch, running into a wild boar, etc.

Does anything bad happen? 2d6=6,4 so no. Tass leads them on like he's done it a hundred time before. Oh yeah, he prolly has