Killilli’s Dragon Heist

The scarecrow reaches the edge of the maze. Almost at safety, it leaps to get behind the cover of the hedge but Aimee's blast strikes it, tearing it into tufts of hay that rain down on the field. 

A female halflings voice can be heard from the cottage, "What is this ruckus out here? I've got a sending stone right to the townsguard! The Griffon Cavalry will be here in minutes if you don't scram!"

(Combat over)

"Hi! We just took care of that nasty scarecrow for you, if you were polite, you'd say 'thank you'!"

"A-hem," Kerri gives Aimee a look. "Terribly sorry Madame!"

Aimee gives Kerri a much friendlier look back and sights on the woman,

"Hi, I'm Aimee! The bartender sorta sent us! Are you Mae May? Can we do your maze? Do you know if there are more scarecrows in the maze? That would make it so much more exciting!"

The shaky voice calls out, “Sc, scarecrows? Don’t be silly, that’s just a tall tale! The Maze is closed, has been for a while now, so you can go ahead and leave me alone or I’ll consider this to be trespassing!”

"Madame," Kerri says, "we're just trying to help. And if one of these creatures came out of the maze more could come."

Aimee waves the lady over and points and what is left of the scarecrow,

"Right there! You just missed it hopping around!"

Aimee goes over to inspect it asking, cheerfully, as she does,

"You're not into any sort of dark and vile magic are you Mae May?"

Investigation: 4

Insight on Mae May: 10

Mae does seem distraught, her voice quivers as she answers you. “No, not at all! Who are you to be making these accusations?” She seems guarded, but her fear doesn’t seem to be put on.

She pauses for a second as you search the body, which seems indistinguishable from a regular, if severely scorched scarecrow. Where the flesh has burned away however, you can see a large heart slowly stopping beating in it’s chest.

After a few seconds, Mae begins again, her disposition has changed somewhat, though she still seems terrified. “I’m... I’m willing to cooperate to the fullest with the order. Do as you need, I honestly don’t know anything about these scarecrows, I’ve not left the house in months.”

To May Mae,

"Not judging, just asking and I'm Aimee!"

Then to Lyss,

"Hey Lyss, you seeing this? Weird!"

Then back to May,

"Huh? Uh, Lyss, I think we need to go in the maze, right? Or maybe burn it down? Would that be easier? Kerri?"

"GROSS!"

"Probably easier, but I really wanted to go though the maze, I heard it's fun!"

“Please! Don’t burn down my maze!” The voice exclaims. ”I’ve lost enough already.” The voice starts to break as you hear whimpering and sobbing.

The Maize Maze towers ahead of you, looking oppressively in the dark. The wind howls, as crickets chirp in the distance. (How would you like to proceed?)

"Hey, May Mae? You got a map of the maze?  I don't want to burn it down either but it seems dumb to run in there if it's full of scarecrows!"

Kerri pulls some gold from her pouch and approaches the women, pressing it into her hand. "We'll get this sorted out for you, I promise," she says gently.

"Kerri, you've got it backwards! They're supposed to pay US to fix their problems!"

Lyss squints her eyes at Mae May, looking over at the tiny hut. If she hasn't left her hut in months, where does she empty her chamberpot?

Insight?: 18

As Kerri approaches the hut, she see’s terrified green eyes with deep crows feet looking out from a little shutter on the door about four feet up from the ground. Passing the gold through the shutter she stammers. “Thank you, thank you! Um... ye.. yes. I have a map.” She hands a folded piece of paper through the slit. It appears to be a very roughly drawn birds eye view of the maze. “Please, I am begging of you though, I planted and planned this maze with my late husband..... it’s all I have left if his memory. I know he would have wanted me to keep it open, and I was planning to do so. I just.... can’t find the motivation to do anything now he’s gone.”

(how much are you giving her? Just one? Deduct from character sheet.)

(the map will help you navigate the maze, but it will still take ability checks depending on how you use it.)

(Lyss, from the tone of her voice and without asking her you can’t tell much about her waste disposal, did you want to investigate)

Aimee will peer at the map then twist it. Then twist is again. Then look at the back of it.

"Is this cheating Lyss? Having a map? But I guess it is different since there is stuff that could kill us in there?"

She looks at the map again and then declares,

"The problem is always in the middle! We should head to the middle!"

((What type of roll to route the way to the middle?))

"Maybe a little cheating, if we were just running the maze, but since we're hunting scarecrows, I think it's okay."

You can trace the route to the centre with your finger fairly easily. Looking at the maze though, it looks quite overgrown with twists and turns that aren’t quite detailed on the map. (Survival for navigating to the center if you are ready to enter, might be a different check depending on how you approach it though, but just trying to follow the map would be survival)

Kerri gives the women 3 gold pieces. "Perhaps in opening this place again would give you the strength to keep going on," she says gently. "After all, I'm sure your husband wouldn't want you to just give up on what he worked on."

Lyss nods and gives Kerri a pair of thumbs up. Mae sounded kinda like some of the old beggars she knew from the streets, ones with nothing left and no family to look out for them.

"I'm pretty good at getting around in streets and alleys, I've got a sorta make of Waterdeep in my head, you want me to see if I can get us through?"

((Lyss can roll Survival, with help from one of the others, or help if they'd like to roll?))