Chapter 1: The Letorneau Plantation

This was one step, the first step, of a much bigger plot. The biggest plot the skaa had ever hatched. The nobility of Mantiz, a small city in the Western Dominance, would be overthrown. Some murdered, some merely replaced by skaa sympathizers, or, skaa themselves. Before a plan could unfold, however, you needed security. One of you had heard of Sastren, a coppercloud rumoured to be the very best at hiding people and plots. Before she would help you, she needed proof that you were serious, and she needed work done. Her request brought you here, to a the Letorneau plantation a half days forced march from Mantiz. Skaa work the fields while house guards wander amongst them, chastising those who slow their pace and whipping those who stop or fall in exhaustion. Here, somewhere in the house that overlooks the fields, is a notebook with detailed observations of suspicious skaa activity within the city of Mantiz. Sastren wants the book.

You were lucky. Several coincidences have made this job easier. Some of you with skaa blood are familiar with a family or two that works the plantation, and an order from the Canton of Finance requested an obligator visit the plantation and review and authorize the most recent batch of transactions. Above all, Zara Latorneau, the minor noble who oversees the plantation - and a fiercely renowned coinshot - is away on her annual trip to Luthadel to visit with the families her plantation supplies. The plan is simple: get in, find the notebook, take the notebook, and get out.

So, here you all are in the ashen fields overlooking the plantation. Beyond the plantation fields sits a quaint wooden house with statues of mythical beasts equally spaced around the perimeter. The sun hangs low in the sky, night will be upon you within the hour.

Beat: 5 minutes

Outside the House - Mateo, Dezire

Mateo leads the walk along the path, which is lightly dusted by ash. As you near the house, plantation workers notice your approach and hurry to clear the ash from the pathway a dozen or so feet ahead of you. Dezire notices their downcast, submissive gazes give way to a brief glare at the obligators back as they pass.

When you arrive at the entrance to the house a house guard, dressed in chainmail and carrying a long spear, approaches you. "Evening." He bows his head slightly in deference to Mateo, "We've been expecting you. I've sent for a servant to aid you while you are here with us. In the meantime, I can answer any questions you have, or take you to wherever you need to go."

I'll use bold blue headings on posts to keep track of different groups. It'll be smoother than splitting and rejoining threads all the time, as I expect in this game that the group will often be dividing like this.

In the Fields - Lynch and Hiram

After rubbing some ash on yourself you wait the for guard patrol to pass and move into the fields along side a group of skaa working hard to clear the ash away from and unearth some vegetables. They pause, briefly, as you join them in clearing away the ash, but quickly get back to work. Once the guards are out of earshot one of them, a young man who still has the spark of youthful determination in his eye, leans in between both of you and says, "Haven't seen you around before."

Inside the House - Mateo, Dezire

The guard smiles and leans his spear up against the wall of the house beside the door frame, "I'd be happy to show you around. It is indeed, not but skaa and ash in the fields. We can start with your chambers, so I can show your servant where to put your things." He turns and nods to the other guard at the door, who steps aside and lets you enter.

Inside the house is immaculate. Except for what you track in, the interior is entirely ash-free. An impressive feat for this particular plantation, given the thickness of the ash and the occasional windstorm that passes through. The guard leads you down a sparsely decorated hallway where a few paintings, made by an amateur hand, line the walls, and into a respectably sized bedchamber. The room has a decently sized bed, a writing table, chair, plenty of ink and paper and several shelves of books, "This is your room. We were not expecting you to have assistance, but we can find housing for your servant with the household skaa."

Before you can leave the room a young skaa man wearing a button up shirt that is missing the bottom two buttons, and a pair of trousers with a small tear in the bottom cuff of the right leg, enters the hallway. He stops suddenly, seeing you, and drops down and presses his forehead to the floor, "Apologies for being late. I am here to help with the household records."

Note: If there's a specific outcome you desire from a social interaction - then we can make a roll and call it a significant action. If you don't specify a desired outcome or result, then I'll just RP along (or call for a roll, if the situation requires it - but in general, it may not without a specific goal).

So, for example, Mateo may have been trying to get Dezire the opportunity to be alone in the house. If that was a desired outcome, then I would have asked for a roll (probably Charm or Wits, difficulty 1 -- success would've resulted in a flustered guard, who hurried to please the Inquisitor and lapsed on keeping an eye on the skaa servant). As it was, no specific goal was specified, so I took it to be just a continuation of RPing.

If you do have a specific goal/result in mind, use green text at the bottom of the post to let me know.

The skaa servant bows lower, "Sorry sir. Sorry." then scurries away like a mouse that just had its tail clipped. The guard thinks for a moment, but before he answers Dezire makes her pleading case. He seems to be thinking about something rather carefully before he responds...

Our first roll! This will be a Charm 1 roll. So you will roll dice equal to your Charm. But wait, there's more! Your dice pool is adjusted by Traits, Props and Circumstances.

Normally, when you declare a significant action, you should (to save time) also indicate which traits of your own you think are going to contribute to your success as well as any props you are using that you think will help. Then, I'll handle negative traits, negative props (but I do encourage you to do that as well) and circumstances (only the narrator handles circumstances). To save time, I've gone through your traits and made the following decisions:

+1 Obligator, +1 Eye tattoos (these together are granting you authority)
-1 Sincere (you are being deceptive, which cuts against your Personality)
+1 Dezire's Con-Artist (she's skilled at acting, and her pleading is likely to help your 'case')
-1 Circumstance (you're trying to convince the guard to go against his orders, when orders violations are harshly punished in this household)

The net result is Charm +1 vs 1

"Alright. Follow me." He turns to Dezire and stares down at her, "Don't leave this room." Then he straightens up, proud to have such an important responsibility, and leads Mateo from the room and down the hall. The pass another guard, whom he nods to, but says nothing - distracted as he is by the demands and importance of his current task.

Excellent! Just be sure to use the roller built into the post. It's both more convenient, and nicely separates post content from rolls.

When you succeed, the difference between your result and the target number is the Outcome. So you succeeded with an Outcome of 3. The greater the outcome, the better the, well, outcome! If you had failed, the difference between your result and the target is the number of complications you incur.

Now, nudges. Nudges are used to affect the story, and sometimes to gain mechanical benefits (small things like "regain 1 resilience as you catch a second wind in battle" and "the time to perform a difficult task is reduced by 1 beat"). Typically you'll use them to either grant yourself a bonus die on the next round, make an opponent suffer a 1 die penalty on their next check, or modify the story. After you make a roll, I encourage you to make a proposal for your nudges! To keep things moving I'll handle it this time.

Both Nudges (because the story effect is moderate, so it takes both) - The guard becomes flustered by the circumstance, and neglects to notify another guard on their tour that the skaa has been left alone.

I'll describe the tour a bit later, once those in the field have had a chance to act, and Dezire has had a chance to use her solitary circumstances.

The boy raises an eyebrow, "Aengus, eh? What do you need with him and his?"

The system basically says: if the action is challenging and/or if it there could be an interesting difference between success and failure, then there should be a roll. In physical scenarios, this is easy to assess. In social scenarios it (to me) depends on what you're trying to do, which isn't always obvious from the RP. That's why I said when RPing, if you have a specific goal in mind, state in in green and we'll make a roll. Because if you have a goal, then there is an interesting difference between success and failure! One thing that may take some getting used to is that in this system is that the GM doesn't decide the backstory of every NPC ahead of time, but in reaction to the results of rolls. Things like 'what side of the coin this kid is on' are shaped by the result of rolls (a possible consequence of this check may be that he's actually a snitch).

Thus, there's a roll involved here. A Charm 1 roll.

You get +1 for Connected, and given you description I'm also giving you +1 for Intense and +1 for Brawny
There will also be a -1 Circumstance penalty (he's suspicious and looking for opportunities to improve his circumstance)

Thus, your net roll is Charm +2 at Difficulty 1

Roger that, I was curious how things went since Aegus is a person now that wasn't in the story before, he's based off some of us knowing people or families at the plantation but that seems kosher and within the limits of my PC to state and create which was a concern, basically I was curious if we are allowed or can we make up stuff on the fly if it makes sense for the story with some sense of boundaries. I guess I'm going with the pair of 5s?

Lynch's intense gaze and sheer size quickly shock the determination out of the boy and he breaks their matched gaze, turning his eyes to the ash at his feet, "Yeah. I know him. He's been assigned to work the stables. It's around the westside of the house. Careful though, the guards are thicker around the house than they are around the fields. Skaa working the stables have a red rope belt they wear. A would-be rebel tried to steal a horse last month, and after whipping everyone that knew him they made it harder to hang around the stables without belonging there."

That's a result of 5 with no nudges. Success, with an outcome of 4! Very good.

And yes, players are also able to create story content just as you have done. The only restrictions is players shouldn't create story content that dictates outcomes (or, at least, you shouldn't expect your story content to dictate outcomes. If you describe Aengus as an old friend, that's fine, but that doesn't mean he'll be friendly -- outcomes are determined by the dice, and by the narrator)

The skaa smiles weakly, "Thanks. You new? Don't think I've seen you around." She looks around nervously, checking to see if any guards are watching, "It's a whipping for talking and not working. They like to punish relatives for crimes, not culprits. Depends who did it I guess, and how important it was."

@Lynch, that's another check - Charm 1, but this time no bonuses or penalties. Your change in approach doesn't use, or go against, any of your traits. Fortunately, it also removes the complications as the boy feels less threatened.

(OoC: Fair enough. Since I'm still learning I go for the pair of 4s I think no?)

The boy lowers his voice to barely a whisper, "Dell and Lorna, they normally work the stables but they've been unable to work since Dell had his ankle broken and Lorna her wrist. They were whipped for the theft. Guard captain got a little eager with them. They'll be in their hut." He provides sufficient details about the arrangement of the skaa homes that you're certain you could find it, "The thief though, he's good and dead. Strung him up, and just before he died suffocating they beheaded him."

You don't need to 'pick' dice - your result is always the value of the highest pair. So in this case, it is indeed a result of 4.

The boy shrugs his shoulders, then looks up, the spark of determination back in his eyes, "I want to leave. When you go, take me with you."

Inside the House - Mateo
The guard leads Mateo down the hallway and into the main chamber of the house. It has a vaulted ceiling and two staircases, one along each wall, curving up to a central balcony overlooking the main entrance of the house. Two guards stand on the inside of the entrance doors, and they nod in deference to you as you enter. The guard gestures to the stairs and says, "That leads up to the families quarters. You'll spend much of your time in the Lady's study where the ledgers are kept, so I'll spare you the redundancy and show you the rest of the house." He turns and leads you across the space into the opposite wing that you just came from. This part of the house has several guest chambers and a room for entertaining guests.

Mateo may make a Wits 2 check as a 'careful observation; as I'm sure during the tour he is keen to notice things that aren't being pointed out.

Also Dezire has 3~4 beats worth of signifiant actions to take while alone in the room.

Mateo follows the guard slowly, taking his time to pay attention to what the guard makes a point of showing, and more importantly, what the guard fails to mention. He takes note of the general floorplan and where guards are positioned. I must admit, I am pleasantly surprised at how well maintained this place is. I had expected something more rustic. You should be proud of your work here.

Wits 2 for careful observation

In the Fields - Lynch and Hiram

The boy smiles at Lynch, then quickly subdues the expression, "I'm Farrel. I work this field most days. In the evening I'm in the skaa village with the others."

Might have!

Inside the House - Mateo
The guard stands up a bit taller, "We do our best, what with the ash and the difficulty of transporting things from the city. It's the rigid discipline, I think. Gets more, better quality work out of the skaa." He points to a closed door, indicating that it's a storage room. Guards are positioned at the entrances to the house, and several regularly walk around to keep an eye on the servants who are scurrying about. On the walk Mateo noted that the guard had not pointed out a door in the corner of the audience chamber. When pressed with a polite enquiry he declared that it 'leads to the basement', as if that settled the matter.

Inside the House - Dezire

Dezire, deciding that the coast is clear, steps out of the room into the hallway and begins to carefully explore the interior of the house. Moving as quietly and carefully as she can manage...

Physique 2, +1 for Drive, +1 for Profession, +1 Prop; -1 Circumstance (frequent guard patrols, and skaa servants are nervous about being punished for other people's actions) so Physique +2 vs Difficulty 2

I'll wait for Hiram to finish up what he was doing.

Hiram nodded. He was well aware of the risk they were creating for the rest of the skaa as they sought to steal the notebook. He continued to work alongside her, and when they had some distance from guards, he quietly said, "I and a few others are new. I don't expect us to be around long, but when we leave, I don't want any skaa to be punished. I know they're all bad, but are there any especially cruel guards? As someone may need to be held accountable for our actions, I'd rather it be one helping them than one of you."

Inside the House - Dezire

Dezire skulks into the hallway and follows a guard patrol carefully through the house. In the wake of the guard she doesn't have to worry about the careful eyes of skaa servants, or the attention of guards other than the one she is following. This allows her to easily scan the house and identify possible escape routes - windows mostly, the doors seem to all be well guarded. She manages to creep upstairs and get a look into the rooms there. There is a large bedchamber, a restroom and a study. The study is mostly tidy, with books on the shelves, a ledge on the desk, and papers neatly ordered about. She tries the drawer and finds the desk is locked. Her intuition tells her that she has, at most, a few minutes before Mateo returns to the room...

Result of 5, Outcome of 3 with 1 Nudge. I've spent your nudge to make your prowl of the house take 1 less beat, affording you the opportunity to maybe do a bit more... thieving ; ). For the sake of expediency, if you get a nudge and succeed on the roll, edit your post if you have specific ideas of how you might like to spend it. Just think of the little ways that the outcome could be particularly advantageous, or things you would like to happen. If you don't, I'll just spend the nudge for you (normally it's a negotiation, but in this format that could make things take much longer).

You have 1 Beat before Mateo is back in the room. Picking the lock will be a Wits 2, +1 Prop, +1 Drive, +1 Profession, +1 Specialty should you choose to do so.. might make you short on time if you don't roll favourably though.

In the Field - Hiram and Lynch

The skaa worker furrows her brown and looks at her feet...

Hiram, Charm 1. I'll grant +1 for your Drive, but -1 Circumstance (the skaa is visibly frightened, and the conditions in the plantation are such that fear of punishment is a strong motivator to turn people in, especially 'newcomers' and 'troublemakers')

I have a 4 in my Charm Attribute....does that mean I roll 4d6? or just 1d6 due to your note about Charm 1? (I'm a bit confused on how the rolls are calculated)

Charm 1 means that the difficulty of the Charm roll is 1. You would roll your Charm, plus and minus the Circumstance modifiers (net 0 in this case), and hope to get double-1s or better.

Inside the House - Dezire and Mateo

Rifling through the drawer Dezire finds a notebook, but not the one she was looking for. It has notes describing what must be experiments with metallic alloys. Having skaa mistings of some kind ingest the alloys and attempt to burn it (a necessary course, as digesting metal typically results in poisoning). She doesn't have time to read carefully though. Pocketing the book, Dezire closes the drawer and gets out of the study. She sneaks down the stairs, back into the east wing and slips into the bedroom.

Moments later, the guard and Mateo enter, "If there is anything else you need, just ask."

I can't make an action take less time than 1 beat, but I can have you arrive in the 'nick of time'

In the field - Hiram and Lynch

The skaa worker looks back up to Hiram and leans forward, "If you're here to cause trouble, it'll be us that bears the burden. Those most likely to have done what you did will be tortured and blamed." She starts to walk away, carrying on with her work, then turns back, "It's the guards, mostly the captain, and the lady of the house, who see to the whippings." offering an answer to Hiram's question. SHe continues, "While I should give you over to them to spare us the burden of your actions, I won't. They'd likely beat me too anyway."

That roll is a result of 2, which is greater than or equal to 1 so you succeed. You also got a 6, which is a nudge. Nudges can be spent to give yourself small benefits. As I noted before, if you get a nudge and have an idea of how you'd like it spent edit your post and let me know in green text. Otherwise, to speed things up, I'll spend nudges for you when I post the resolution of your action.

In this case, your nudge keeps the skaa quiet.

Skaa Village - Lynch and Hiram

Lynch and Hiram make their way towards the skaa village, which is adjacent to the plantation but opposite the house. As the sun gets lower the workday nears its end, and the skaa start to make their way back to the village. This makes it easier for Lynch and Hiram to do the same, as they no longer have to pause and pretend to be diligently working to avoid the ire of the guards.

It takes a little asking around, but you quickly locate the house of the injured stablehands and give a gentle rapping on the door. After a moment the door opens and you are greeted by a young man carefully balanced on one leg. The other he holds out straight, a straight bit of wood is fixed to with by a pair of cloth belts, "Can I help you?"

Say that you want to squirrel away to the houses with the injured stablehands... :)

The man furrows his brown, leans out the door a little bit, glances around, then hobbles backwards, "Please come in." The interior of the hut is undecorated. A small cook fire is in the middle, a little table is up against the wall, and a small cot, just barely big enough for two people, is against the other wall. A woman is making a soup over the fire, she looks up from her work, "Shall I prepare more dishes?"

The man looks to you both and shrugs, "If you would like some food?"

Now that you've made that inference, and I've posted about Standings and Secrets, I can tell you that you've just uncovered a Major Secret - Zara Letorneau is not reporting skaa mistings to the Obligators.. I'll create a sticky a thread that tracks secrets you guys have uncovered and indicates who knows them, and their status.

The man nods and carefully sits down in one of the chairs, "What can I do ye for then?"

The man nods, "Yeah, I know Aengus. Poor guy's had to make up fer my absence I think. He's normally in fer shoeing the horses, but I bet they got 'im cleaning the stalls now too. He lives a few doors down. I could save ye some time and send for 'im."

The man whistles and a few moments later a young boy enters the house. He is told to retrieve Lynch's friend. A few moments later Aengus strides into the house. He's middle aged, his face and hands thoroughly worn by time and stress. Seeing Lynch he nods curtly, "Was wonderin' when you'd be turnin' up. Who's thisun'?" He nods at Hiram.

The woman smiles, "Daclish, glad you made it." She prepares him a full bowl of the stew, and hands it over before serving Hiram, Lynch then finally her partner and herself.

Aengus grunts, "You think you're the only one with plans. Listen, we're sick of being slaves. We don't expect you to free us today, or tomorrow, or ever. But lots of us, we're on your side. You want to stick ti to the nobles. Then, well, stick it to them in the gut so the bleed out." He folds his arms over his chest, "When I say us, I mean, a dozen of us. They've got the skaa right scared, but there's some will. We can help you, and we've been mindful. What're you here for?"

The soup is nothing to be excited about. A plain vegetable broth made from the small, withered and scarred products of the harvest and precious few bits of very tough meat.

Aengus nods, "Two of them are Dell and Lorna's. It'd be convenient, if when your'e done with 'em, if you could leave 'em with someone or somewhere I can' find. They may notice if a few of these go missing."

One of you can spend Influence and make a challenge roll (dice pool equal to your influence before you reduce it by 1) at difficulty 2 to 'call in a favour' from Aengus and get a report from him about things he's noticed lately around the plantation. I'll grant a +1 die from Circumstance for his helpful disposition and familiarity with several of you, and you can, of course, use traits to secure more bonuses if appropriate.

Yes, you can get bonuses/penalties based on traits of other characters. The roll I'm proposing doesn't have to do with stashing the belts - I apologize for making a story post that didn't align with the OOC suggestion. I anticipated you guys may want to get information out of Aengus about what's been happening at the plantation lately.

So, I would give you the following modifiers:
+1 Connected, +1 Circumstance -- so you're rolling 7 vs. Difficulty 2 to get information from Aengus about the happenings at the plantation lately.

Perceptive isn't helpful in this case, and Daclish may have described being a plantation worker in his background but his actually stated profession is "Tinker" in his traits. Also, again, as this isn't a roll for stashing the belts and getting them quietly back into skaa hands, not relevant either way.

Aengus nods, appreciating that Lynch cut to the chase, "Yeah skaa've been gettin' right nervous lately. The 'rebel', he was just gettin' out. Wasn't tryin' to incite a riot or anythin' they said he was up to. Noble's from other houses have been turnin' up, and stalking the village at night. Next day, a few folks got taken in for 'suspicion of rebellion'. Never saw em' again. Guards have been getting rougher too. Beatin' and lashin' folks nearly to death. They took Maark, and he somehow escaped in the night. Guards caught 'im in the stables trying to steal a ride. I'd been workin' late the night before. Had to shoe half the horses before mornin', and I saw the guards draggin' somebody into the house. Fella' looked too clean to be a skaa."

Damned good roll! Nudge used as you suggested - Aengus is also now quite friendly towards you

Skaa Village - Hiram, Lynch and Daclish
"The front door. It was late in the night, the mists were thick. They didn' think ne one was watchin' 'em. Had they seen me, I wouldn' be here talkin' to ye. Next day, Maark tried to escape."

Inside the House - Mateo and Dezire
Dezire and Mateo separately leave the room. Mateo first, then later Dezire. Mateo wanders up to the study, passing several guards along the way - they nod and defer to him. It would be inappropriate to challenge the obligators presence after all. Once inside the study he finds himself alone...

Dezire creeps down the hall, avoids the notice of the guards and safely crosses the house to the audience room. When she tries the basement door she finds it locked...

Mateo - I assume you are going to search the room? Wits 2, +1 Speciality because your expertise with finances will help you quickly tell the difference between many documents in here speeding up your search.

Dezire picking the lock will be a Wits 2, +1 Prop, +1 Drive, +1 Profession, +1 Specialty, -1 Circumstance (guards actively patrolling the room and area, so more pressure)

Mateo paces the room, getting a feel for where everything is, before checking the desk for secret compartments and starting to look through every document he can lay his hands on.

Mateo searches the room for what ends up being an hour. He finds many ledgers, which he will need the following day, and piles them up neatly on the desk. Searching the desk he finds no hidden compartments, and he is so focussed on finding something of use he doesn't even notice that one of the drawers has been rifled through (by Dezire earlier in the evening).

Result of 1, against Difficulty 2 for a Outcome of -1 with 2 Nudges. The bad news, is this is the first failure we've seen so now I get to explain failures... the good news is you got 2 Nudges so the failure won't incur consequences.

When you fail, that is when you Outcome is less than 0, you don't achieve your goal. As with successes, how badly you failed will be dictated by the result (lower number, worse failure). Additionally, for each point of negative outcome you incur 1 Complication. These are clear setbacks that impact the crew member who failed.. or the whole crew if you fail badly enough.

When you fail, nudges are used to minimize complications. Each nudge reduces the number of complications by 1. You can't use nudges in any other way when you failed the roll.

So, you've failed (just barely), and earn 1 Complication... which you spend 1 of your Nudges to reduce to zero.

Aengus frowns, "I dun' know what the obligators do, and I dun' much care if they're kidnappin' and killin' nobles. Maark's dead. Got caught. That's why we need red belts to be in the stables, and why our kindly hosts are injured. Guards makin' a point."

Lynch finally smoke up the wheels turning in his head, "Most nobles have as much care for skaa as they do for the shite they have someone scrap off derr boot, that level of head-up-your-own-arseness simply breathes I'm untouchable and my shite don't stink... wouldn't take much for them sort to think some of the nobles were less than themselves in a gauge o value too.

Maark's dead because after catching and beating him, they hung 'em then beheaded him.... they were doing something for him to be desperate enough to try and escape, we don't know what happened to him.... we do know they were cautious enough though after stopping him and beating him to hang and behead him... if it was some vanilla dickery of being a Noble they probably wouldn't have gone to such extremes... Makes me wonder... what they did anyway... did they have a reason to be scared of what Maark would do?

If you know the names or what the Skaa taken inside look like let me know... Sounds like me might need to go into that house and find out what happened to em, get em out if they're alive." looking towards Hiram and Dalisch, "Also there's a young bloke named Farrel or something round 'ere, says he wants off the plantation... he on the level or do I need to dig a shallow grave between here and the city?" he stated, his final statements part question on the young man and part vetting. Lynch didn't mind helping skaa that wanted help, he wasn't some fatherly sort that would baby him though and he definitely wasn't going to be the sort toting around a snitch for the nobles...

Lynch jaw was set wondering how they were going to get into the mansion tapping the space between his knuckles with the pad of one of his fingers as he thought.

Aengus lets you talk it out a bit before replying, "Ferrel is a good lad. Probably better livin' your life than ours, as he's likely to get 'imself into trouble 'round here. As fur gettin' into the house, only the servants are allowed in, and they all live in the house. No skaa go in or out, except by will of the nobles."

Nodding Lynch changed the line of questioning, "Well in that case do you know where a guest would be staying inside the house the Noble of the house wouldn't want to tick off?"

Aengus rubs his chin, "I might know someone."

Lynch, can you roll an influence challenge at difficulty 1; +1 for Aengus' trait 'Well Known', +1 for your own Connected and +1 Circumstance; then spend an Influence.

The stairs descend into the dark and into a small chamber. Three doors lead from here, one on each wall. In the main room there is a table with two chairs near it. A few cards are scattered on the table, as are the remains of an evening meal.

Yes, that's an Outcome of 3. Outcome is used by the GM to determine the results of tasks that can have 'degrees' of success. In this case, Outcome 1 I had planned to get you through the door as a guard entered, Outcome 2+ was flawless. It's nudges, which are 6's, that let you add details or find clever ways to support yourself.

"Let's go then. Thanks for dinner." he nods to the other two skaa then leads the three of you out into the village. The mists are particularly thick tonight. They dance about, swirling and flowing like some amorphous living blanket smothering the world in the depths of night. Most skaa are afraid of the mists, superstitious. They avoid them, keep their doors and windows sealed tightly to keep them out at night. Your current line of work, however, has required you to overcome that superstition - if ever you had it - as the cover of darkness is a boon not to be sacrificed because the mists settled in.

You are lead to another house on the other side of the village, and politely asked to wait outside. You do as asked and remain quietly concealed by the swirling mists. A few moments later Aengus comes back out, "Says they keep guests in the east wing. Also, took care to mention that there's a servant entrance around the back. It's not guarded because it's locked. It will get you into the house, then you'd need to find your way through the main chamber and into the east wing. It's usually locked, but he gave me a key he got his hands on when his wife was taken a few weeks back." He hands Lynch a worn iron key, "Said he hasn't the courage ta' use it, best put it in the hands of those who will."

Yes, you reduce the score by 1 after you roll. You recover 1 in each standing every day, and fully recover spent standings during a long breather (ie. a long break in the story during which characters recover, and do unexciting normal life things). Your nudge got you the key.

Outside the House - Lynch, Declan, Hiram
You follow the pathway through the skaa village until its edge. You can barely make out the glowing torches that line the house's balcony through the thick swirling mists. Guided by the faint glow, you approach the house then divert around the back as Aengus had instructed. There you find an unguarded door at the rear of the building.

Giving you a chance here to chat a bit before you go into the house, assuming you want to chat

In the Basement - Dezire
Dezire hears a faint whimpering coming from behind the door as she eases it open. Inside is a small chamber, and a young woman is strung up on the wall, her arms in manacles. Her dirt covered face is dampened by tears. When Dezire enters, the woman's eyes go wide, and she starts crying, "Please. Please no more."

OOC: Do I need to roll to hear anything?

Hiram leans up to the door and listens carefully. Hearing nothing, he puts the key in the lock and turns it. It quietly clicks open. The door swings inward and leads you into a narrow hallway with a door every three or so feet. These are probably the servants quarters. The hallway continues for forty or so feet. Standing at the end of the hallway, silhouetted by the flickering candle light in the room beyond, their back to you, is a single guard.

No, I've been sick and busy and haven't had a chance to advance any of my games that I am running

In the Basement - Dezire

The woman continues sobbing, "Heidi. Please. No more. I'm not a misting. Please." It is clear to Dezire by the way the woman talks that she is skaa.

Dezire finds a jug of water and offers some to the woman. She drinks deeply. The shackles are heavy and iron. It would take a great deal of strength, or the key, to get her free.

"But you'll get me out? Oh please. I haven't heard them say anything about a book. All I know is that they feed me metals, and then a man sits in a chair and watches me. They take notes, then they beat me until I retch. There were others." She glances around, and Dezire notices two more sets of shackles, empty, "They're gone now."

In the House - Hiram, Declan, Lynch

Hiram surges forward in a sudden burst of speed and wraps his arms around the guards neck and begins to apply a choke...

To recap -- you need to roll 10 dice and have 1 free nudge...

EDIT, you're probably getting exactly what you want as the guards result is 0 with 2 nudges.

The guard barely resists Hiram's pewter fuelled choke, and quickly goes limp as his consciousness drifts away. It was a risky maneuver, as most pewterarms struggle to control their application of strength, but Hiram manages to disable and not kill the man. He drags the guard back towards the rest of the group and lays the guard down on the floor. The pewter's influence fades and Hiram feels weak and vulnerable again.

The guard is wearing a chainmail shirt and has a polished short sword on his hip. He has nothing else of note.

The hallway you are in leads into an open chamber. To the right a swinging door goes to what is probably the kitchen, on the left is another hallway lined with doors and straight ahead an open archway leads towards a yet larger open chamber - probably the main entrance hall of the estate.

"Please..." the woman pleas as Dezire leaves the room. The door opposite the stairs leads into a room the same size as the cell. A few book shelves have been placed here, there is a desk, ink pots, piles of blank parchment and notes. A quick skim of the notes confirms that they are experimental reports. Mostly they contain information on alloy creation, the stability of the alloys and tests on traces of metal.

The third room has a workbench that is covered with lab equipment. There is an apparatus filled with water connected by hoses and clamps to a burner than sieve system. It looks like it would be used to extract trace metals from the water.

Dezire makes it back to the obligator's chambers without event. The guard movements are like clockwork, and she's already snuck around them once this evening.

Around this time, Mateo sits back in the chair and sighs heavily. While his search has turned up some documents that will make his work the following day more efficient, he failed to turn up the journal they were searching for. His eyelids feel heavy and the weight of a day of travel, and a tiring search of the office, begin to wear on him. Knowing he'll have plenty of time to continue his search the next day, he leaves the office and returns to his chamber. There he finds Dezire, waiting to share with him news of what she found in the basement.

I think it's fair to use the same check - nothing has changed yet, the commotion hasn't drawn attention ... yet. Mateo, you're back in the game!

Hiram, Lurch and Declan quietly move into the larger chamber, and into the east wing. By sheer luck, the guard patrolling the halls is on the other side of the house as they move through the area. As Mateo and Dezire are discussing what they know, the other three members of their team open the door and quietly shuffle into the room.

Guest Quarters - Dezire and Mateo
With a semblance of a plan together, the group splits again. Dez and Mateo remain in the room, discussing whether or not they should investigate the Lady's room tonight, and how they will approach it. There's a good chance the night is the best opportunity, as during the day not only are guards about and more alert, but there are also servants tending to this and that; then again, they've already taken a lot of risks doing the investigation that they have, and luck may not be on their side all night...

Skaa Entryway - Lynch and Hiram
Lynch and Hiram, skulk back out into the hallway and traces their path back to the servant entrance they came through. They find the guard still lying unconscious on the floor and are faced with their last task at the house for the night: dealing with the guard they knocked out.

Basement - Daclish
Daclish, determined to make a difference as soon as possible, follows Dezire's instructions and makes his way into the basement without detection. There he finds what Dez had before - a central room with a plain wooden table and three doors leading from it, one in each wall. The left door opens into a small chamber where a skaa woman, bruised and beaten, is chained to the wall. The right door leads to a chamber with lab equipment on it. The central door leads to an office of sorts containing a desk strewn with papers and shelves of books.

Hiram (maybe Lynch) - Outside
Hiram throws the body over his shoulder and steps out into the misty night. He burns pewter ((I debated between asking you to make a roll or just making your burn a charge of Pewter to carry the man, and remain quiet while doing it. Decided on pewter burning. Spend 1 charge.)), and as he does so the mists gather around him and swirl about his limbs like a child with many ribbons spinning about a pole during a festival. He carries the guard through the plantation and to the edge of the canal, a dozen yards or so from a small dock where barges probably load and unload goods to and from the plantation. As he prepares to do the guard in, he notices lights flickering at the dock. It's odd for there to be a shipment now, especially on such a misty night. Squinting he sees only three figures, and their boat is hardly a dingy.

((Lynch, it's up to you if you are with Hiram, have gone to the basement with Daclish, or are doing your own thing))

Dez and Metao - Noble's Room
The skaa and obligator make their way down the hall and back to the second floor. The guard patrols notice them, but upon seeing Mateo don't even acknowledge that they have passed. The two arrive uncontested in the noble's room. It is immaculate. Not a speck of dust on any surface. The bed is a large four-poster, and sits in the middle of the room. A wardrobe is on one side and a mirrored desk with a chair on the other.

(OoC: More likely I'd have gone to carry the body which would have been easier I think for me. Also to make sure the body is gutted nice and proper right before we dump him so he doesn't resurface later due to bloating.)

Mateo silently gestures to the wardrobe and the rest of the room while he heads straight for the desk. He pauses to examine the desk from a distance before moving in closer, looking for anything that might indicate an attempt to hide or protect something.

Basement - Daclish
The woman nods and remains quiet. While the metal itself shows rusting, the guards here have made a point of maintaining the important parts. The lock and hinges are well oiled and maintained. The anchors, which are steel bolts that have been driven into the stone wall, depending on what kind of anchors they are, might be strain under a good strong pull. He figuresthat with the right angle, and a bit of precision, he might be able to loosen an anchor with an ironpull... of course, if he pulls too hard he'd succeed but kill himself embedded the anchor into his chest...

If you go this way, I'll need you to spend a charge of iron and make an ironpulling roll - that's a pool with size equal to your rank in misting - iron!

Dezire, make a Wits roll please. You can just edit the post and add it in, but post in the OOC discussion thread once you do so I know to look again.

Daclish, when burning iron the first thing that happens is you will see faint blue lines that go from your chest and out to each metal object within range of your 'metal sense'. The thicker the line, the larger/heavier the metal source. So, yes, as soon as you start burning you'll be able to detect all metal in the area. You won't be able to tell from these blue lines what the object is, only that it's metal and 'how metal' it is, and where it is (because the faint blue lines always travel *directly* to the metal source). I'll grant you +1 for your Tinker profession as you're trying to 'unmake' something. It's not a mechanism, so your crafting expertise isn't going to help.

Basement - Daclish
The allomancer gives a solid heave on the anchor, but finds that it is, well, firmly anchored into the wall. His initial inspection was wrong, and the thing isn't budging anywhere. He's as like to tear the stone out of the wall before the anchor comes loose (note: a charge of iron lasts 20 minutes, and as beats are only about a minute long for you right now, you can still make use of your iron for a while)

Bedroom - Dez and Mateo
Between the two of them they find a small notebook hidden in a well concealed compartment underneath the dressing table. Dez works the small lock quickly and within the find a notebook. It's contents are written in some kind of code, but it's clearly an important item to Lady Letorneau for it to be stashed in such a secure, and well hidden place (Dez, I spent both nudges to auto-pick the lock).

Canal - Lurch and Hiram
Glancing towards the activity at the dock, Hiram notices that there are only a few men and a small boat. They seem to be unloading barrels of some kind from the boat and placing them in a small cart. A single horse stands at the ready to haul the cart, presumably back to the plantation house.

Canal - Hirma and Lynch
Lynch quickly slits the man's throat. He suddenly wakes, gurgles a bit, then dies. The two men prepare the body, weighing it down, and quietly roll it into the canal.

Basement - Daclish
Searching the area for metals Daclish discovers, of all things, an iron key in the desk in the one room. On a hunch, he tries it, and sure enough the key fits the manacles and the woman's hands are suddenly free as the bindings snap open. She stands there, rubbing her wrists... "What now?'

Upstairs - Dez and Mateo
Dezire gives the room one more thorough search. She finds a hidden belt of misting vials, probably steel given what they know of Letourneau. Misting vials are always worth a few boxings on the skaa market, at least, she could trade them for more vials she could use herself in the worst of arrangements. She also finds a small box with a good bit of coin in it.

Mateo tucks the book securely inside his robes and heads back to the room. He carefully closes the door behind him and lights a small candle and begins trying to decode the book.

Canalside - Hiram and Lynch

Hiram is able to, using the mist as cover, get quite close to the docks without being detected. He hears the men grumbling about working through the night. One of them says, "Well, 'least you don't have to shove a barge back up the canal before morning. You've just got a leisurely trip up the road." Listening more Hiram learns that they are unloading kegs of water, and that the delivery is to go directly into the cellar, via some path that does not go through the house.

Basement - Daclish
The woman's eyes widen as he closes the manacles again, "Hours. Another, a skaa woman, came and promised to free me. Before that, it had been hours. They bring food and water in the morning, and some days do their experiments later."

Thinking about the lab equipment Daclish it seems to be primarily a filtration and distillation system. There's a few oxidants, and accelerants that one might use to test the composition of mineral or metal shavings, but it would take chemical know-how to determine if, and how, to combine them in any particular manner.

Guest Room - Dez and Mateo

Returning to Mateo's room, the two get to work translating some of the notebook to confirm if it is indeed what they came to acquire. Mateo flips through the book, taking notes on a scrap of parchment, rubbing his chin and otherwise becoming deeply engaged in the analysis of the text. There's nothing quite like a good, technical, puzzle for a member of the Canton of Finance. He quickly decrypts the characters, it's a shifted alphabet cypher with a secondary shift between every third letter that is then mapped to a custom alphabet. Difficult for most to decode, but for Mateo it was almost obvious from the moment he started.

The notebook is indeed the one they came to collect. Mateo quickly discovers why their coppercloud was interested - the alias under which she had contacted them is listed amongst the skaa being tracked by the Letorneau people. The symbol beside her entry suggests that they believe, but are not certain, that she is a misting. Generally, the notebook tracks skaa and nobles thought to be Seekers, includes theories about the nobles linked to the skaa allomancers, and includes a few skaa thought to be other kinds of mistings. There is a special symbol noting skaa who've been detected giving off allomantic pulses but their particular aptitudes have not been identified. Mateo notes that a few of the nobles tracked in the notebook are also marked with that symbol. Curious.

Outside - Hiram and Lynch
The men load up a cart and take the barrels towards the house. They veer off the track just before and roll it around to the back. Then, they unchain a storm cellar door that was concealed behind some light brush. Once the door is open they start unloading the barrels and moving them into the cellar.

Inside - Daclish (and Dez)
Daclish leads the woman out of the basement and back into the main area of the house. He starts to make his way back towards the entrance they had come in via when Dezire lurks up behind him and grasps his hand, "This way." she pushes Daclish and the woman he is with, who nearly panics as Dez interrupts them, into a narrow corridor. Dez claps a hand to the woman's mouth and a moment later the shadow of a guard paces through the room they were just in.

Escaping the Plantation - Daclish, Hiram and Lynch
Daclish slips out of the house with the woman following close behind. Luckily, Lynch and Hiram see him and wave him over before he accidentally reveals himself to the men unloading barrels into the basement. The three agree that leaving swiftly in the night is the best course. Lynch reminds them of the young boy who had wanted to get off the plantation. Under cover of the mists, the trio returned to the skaa village and found the boy waiting and ready.

You strike out towards the road. You briefly discussed using the red sashes to steal some horses, but decide that your actions are likely to cause enough suffering for the plantation skaa as was.

In the House - Mateo and Dez
The rest of the night passes without event, and you are awoken with the rising sun and parting mists by the same servant boy who had been assigned to assist Mateo. The guards seem a bit more alert and anxious than the day before, but they do their best to hide from the obligator that anything is or went wrong. They provide Mateo with everything he requests.

Mateo does his best to look presentable after the long night and goes through the finances, page after page, making notes in a small book. All the cloak-and-dagger of the previous night had put him on edge and it was good to dive back into the world of numbers and simple arithmetic.

It takes Mateo a day longer than he expects, but after two days he's sorted and confirmed all the details of the Letorneau finances. Spotless. Perhaps oddly spotless, every noble household misses a clip or two here or there, but after double checking he is sure the books are clean. Signing off on them, he and Dez pack up and make their way back to the city.

In Mantiz...