Quote from AlaricBrand >>

the referee can't know what is of interest to the player,

That's where me saying things like, "Does Brand see any sign of..." come in. Though I do also see me saying, "But why didn't you mention the X, of course I would be interested!"

However, those decisions have to be made by you whenever I roll a dice...so I'm not sure it's any different.

In terms of excitement and interest, pausing mid-narrative to say "Roll perception" is a real downer! I'm happy to only roll when I ask something based on what I have seen dues to passive perception. But, happy to defer to what works best for you...you are doing the hard work.

[[ Move: ]]

---

Surpirsed, having thought Melitta long gone, Brand pauses mid-flight and tries to suppress the after-effects of the fear that he had previously willingly embraced.

He watches cautiously as events unfold, suspicious of any activity nearby. [[ I assume the two on the roof continue to retreat... ]]

Brand waits, ready to flee, moving up the roof line stealthily and cautiously to get a view of the front of the house, and main street below.

[[ He will not do anything that causes loss of visibility of Melitta ]]

[[If Brand moves away from the edge of the roof toward the roof line he will lose sight of Melitta unless he gains a lot of altitude while doing so... A lot of altitude, if he wants to go to the roof line.

But that's it for today. Ciao.]]

[[ No worries. How did the tabletop go? ]]

Surpirsed, having thought Melitta long gone, Brand pauses mid-flight and tries to suppress the after-effects of the fear that he had previously willingly embraced.

He watches cautiously as events unfold, suspicious of any activity nearby. [[ I assume the two on the roof continue to retreat... ]]

Brand waits, ready to flee, moving up the roof line stealthily and cautiously to get a view of the front of the house, and main street below.

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ No worries. How did the tabletop go? ]]

[[It went well. The players seem to enjoy it, and there was no major issues with the character, powers and equipment conversions. It also helped that the players were familiar with the 5E rules.]]

Surpirsed, having thought Melitta long gone, Brand pauses mid-flight and tries to suppress the after-effects of the fear that he had previously willingly embraced.

He watches cautiously as events unfold, suspicious of any activity nearby. [[ I assume the two on the roof continue to retreat... ]]

Brand waits, ready to flee, moving up the roof line stealthily and cautiously to get a view of the front of the house, and main street below.

[[We'll leave combat for the moment.]]

Hovering above the roof, Brand keep switching his attention between the two people stealthily moving away across the rooftops and Melitta down below in the back yard of the house. His attention is drawn to Melitta when Adzo comes into sight and drifts down to where Melitta has resumed her hiding—out of everyone's sight except Brand from his elevated position. The two of them then head towards the back gate at which point Melitta just simply disappears from view. 

[[ Interesting, does Brand see any magic being used? Does the gate move? Does she pop out of visibility, or fade? No sound?

Also, any sounds from inside house? Or activity of the other people on the grounds? Have they had any shouted conversations, or responses to "what's going on?" Etc?]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ Interesting, does Brand see any magic being used? Does the gate move? Does she pop out of visibility, or fade? No sound?

[[Melitta is at a distance such that the Stone of Unseeing's secondary effect of being able to see magic is not of any use (i.e., at the back gate she is more than 30' away). However, Brand does remember that she had her back turned towards him and did seem to fade away over the course of a few seconds rather than suddenly disappearing.]]

Also, any sounds from inside house? Or activity of the other people on the grounds? Have they had any shouted conversations, or responses to "what's going on?" Etc?]]

[[Brand has heard no sounds from inside the house next door for quite a while now, but the man in the back yard is getting anxious as it seems no one has answered any of his calls for information about what is going on. To this end, he has now gone out of Brand's sight under the edge of the roof to the back door of that building.]]

From his vantage point high above the building becomes aware that he is not the only observer of what is going on. In the buildings across the other side of the service road, there are now a number of open windows with curious neighbours looking out to see what all the shouting is about.

From his vantage point high above the building

Isn't he on the roof, near the edge, at the back? Does that make a difference to any of what he saw or heard, or is it dramatic licence?

Fwiw, he's considering going back in to get the rope.

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

From his vantage point high above the building

Isn't he on the roof, near the edge, at the back? Does that make a difference to any of what he saw or heard, or is it dramatic licence?

[[Sorry, yes. I forgot about the bit that had been crossed out. Brand is standing on the roof near the edge, but it doesn't make much difference to what he sees and hears except for the two figures skulking on the rooftops; he can no longer see them at all.]]

Fwiw, he's considering going back in to get the rope.

Was the top of the roof within 30' of Melitta when she started fading?

[[ Edit...if it helps, if Melitta was much more than 20' horizontally when she started casting or whatever, then he would have seen nothing.]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

Was the top of the roof within 30' of Melitta when she started fading?

[[ Edit...if it helps, if Melitta was much more than 20' horizontally when she started casting or whatever, then he would have seen nothing.]]

[[Correct. Brand saw no evidence of a magical spell being cast when Melitta disappeared because he was too far away. Note also, that Melitta would also have a magical aura that Brand should be able to see using the special sight of given by the Stone of Unseeing. He might have seen that when she was closer to the building, but wouldn't see it when she was at the gate.]]

[[ Just confirming for future info, no impact now: the gate didn't open and close after she faded? ]]

Brand glances around then cautiously slips back into the house. Barring any immediate concerns, he quickly unties the rope, stows it under his cloak, and leaves, heading a few houses along the roof, following the path taken by the  other departees. After a house or two he pauses, cautiously moving nearer the roofline, the to get his bearings and make note of the location of Melitta's house.

[[ Pausing here because I'm sure you'll throw something at me]]

[[ Aside: Does 5e have a superhero variant, or did you manage to shoehorn it into magic etc? ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ Just confirming for future info, no impact now: the gate didn't open and close after she faded? ]]

[[I stopped my description at the time because I thought Brand might want to do something. The gate did open and close after Melitta faded from view and Brand saw Adzo lift a bit higher into the air and head off to Brand's left.]]

Brand glances around then cautiously slips back into the house. Barring any immediate concerns, he quickly unties the rope, stows it under his cloak, and leaves, heading a few houses along the roof, following the path taken by the  other departees. After a house or two he pauses, cautiously moving nearer the roofline, the to get his bearings and make note of the location of Melitta's house.

[[ Pausing here because I'm sure you'll throw something at me]]

---

[[ Aside: Does 5e have a superhero variant, or did you manage to shoehorn it into magic etc? ]]

[[No. I was able to describe some existing characters using a combination of races, some aspects of character classes, feats and magic items. There are some contemporary weapons, such as fire arms, defined in D&D Beyond, which made some items of equipment easier, but I also defined some of that as well.]]

Brand recovers his rope and slips back outside where he finds the raiders of the house next door assembling in the back yard. From what he can overhear, it seems the appearance of some sort of monster in the attic has been too much for them and they have decided that discretion is the better part of valour.

[[Considering this, does Brand still want to try to follow the two people he saw escaping across the roof tops?]]

Actually, he will watch and listen to this lot, to see if they disperse, and see if they reveal anything about themselves. He wasn't actually planning on following the other two, he assumed they were the two women or Jay+1, and their path was likely safe. It's potentially best for all of he doesn't know where Melitta & Co go, though he would be curious.

How many caltrops in a bag? He may collect those. Bearings would truly suck to collect.

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

Actually, he will watch and listen to this lot, to see if they disperse, and see if they reveal anything about themselves. He wasn't actually planning on following the other two, he assumed they were the two women or Jay+1, and their path was likely safe. It's potentially best for all of he doesn't know where Melitta & Co go, though he would be curious.

How many caltrops in a bag? He may collect those. Bearings would truly suck to collect.

[[Probably about a dozen, and he could easily pick them, and even ball bearings, up with the Stone of Far Reaching, though both would be covered with oil.]]

Brand attempts to eavesdrops on the raiders from the roof top. In all there are eight of them and they are not wearing any form of group identification. They are also aware that they are being observed by people across the way, so they are now keeping their voices lowered as they huddle in a group and confer.

[[Make a Perception check; under 10 will be considered a fail in terms of experience.]]

Perception: 5

Edit: I'm really not looking forward to the payback on these recent rolls!

Edit 2: happy to move a little closer if he can get more info

Straining to hear, Brand is able to follow most of what is said.

It would seem there is a definite leader of this group that all defer to: a man they refer to as Severn. The group is full of consternation in that the dirty Arion worshipper not only seems to have gotten away, but that he left some sort of monster to guard the place. The group, as a whole, wants to know what Severn is going to do about it.

One person asks whether he will go to the Temple and get the Seekers of Donai to come and kill the monster. Another suggests that, seeing as there are eight of them, they should be strong enough to find and kill this monster themselves. This suggestion is not received well by most of the group.

Severn deliberates for a while and then says that the only way to ensure that the monster doesn't escape is to burn the building, just like the hidden Arion Temple was burnt last tenday.

This idea is met with some trepidation by some of those in the group, but they soon get drowned out by those eager to kill the monster and destroy the pagan's filthy lair.

The decision being carried by most of the group, they start carrying their torches inside to execute the plan.

Brand is about to decide what to do, when he notices more torches coming down the service road in the opposite direction from that in which Melitta went. It is group of four men, two of which are wearing helmets that he recognises as belonging to the city guard.

[[ This is why I need to roll 20 more often! All the back-story I miss because I roll a bloody 4. This is much better! ]]

[[ Also, there should be nine of them, then he could be Severn of Nine; or is there a dead one on the ground? ]]

Brand makes an estimate of how long he has before the guards meet the group, and uses that time (may be zero) to gather up some caltrops into his sack (or that bag they came from if its up to the challenge), -- perhaps both -- before making a timely return to observe the continuing interation....

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[ This is why I need to roll 20 more often! All the back-story I miss because I roll a bloody 4. This is much better! ]]

[[ Also, there should be nine of them, then he could be Severn of Nine; or is there a dead one on the ground? ]]

[[LOL. There is no body on the ground. The thump that Brand heard earlier was inside the house, not outside. He probably notices one of the men holding his arm as if it is hurt.]]

Brand makes an estimate of how long he has before the guards meet the group, and uses that time (may be zero) to gather up some caltrops into his sack (or that bag they came from if its up to the challenge), -- perhaps both -- before making a timely return to observe the continuing interation....

 [[Brand is on the roof of the house next to the one he laid the caltrop trap in. He suspects there is not going to be enough time to recover his caltrops before the two groups see each other. However, he might want to relocate next door anyway so I will stop here to find out what you want to do.

However, that will be tomorrow. Ciao.]]

Brand endeavours to position himself for best observation of the groups when they meet.

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

Brand endeavours to position himself for best observation of the groups when they meet.

[[I need to know how close he wants to be (i.e., Is he on the roof top of the house where Melitta was, or is he going to stay on the neighbour's house?]]

Depend where the two groups meet: Whichever gives the best ability to observe. If he sees an aura, he'll be more circumspect, but I assume that won't happen given he couldn't see Melitta's.

I'm not entirely sure why he's on the neighbours roof. Last thing he did was retrieve rope from Melitta house: is that in the direction the two people on the rooftop fled? Or did he move away from the bathroom hole to observe the 8 people?