"Commander man, we need a rest. All of us. Sorry about your barbeque boy by the way. He should have surrendered though."

The commander's jaw tightens, and for a moment it looks like he might run Val through with his own sword.  Then he pulls himself together, and merely says, "He had nothing to fear from death.  He was a virtuous man and goes to his fulfillment."

B goes about and finishes collecting Astra, Oleg and Val's weapons.  She leaves Oleg fettered, but helps him to his feet.

C calls to the proprieters in the storage room, "Fighting's over, but best you stay in there for now," then shoves the furniture about, pushing tables to clear a space, and setting five chairs in a row.  (He is clearly not the unquiet spirit expert of the group.)

"Have a seat," the commander orders Astra and Oleg.  He holds out the manacles to Val.  "We put these on you - " he raises his voice to add - "and your sniper friend comes out" - then finishes, "or there can be no deals."

"Seriously? Manacles? No. But you have my word that I will sit quietly and listen."

"And our sniper friend stays where they are. As insurance. You have our weapons already, we're no threat."

"Listen, you godsforsaken undead moron," I hiss at Val as I take one of the chairs.  "You was told we surrender by our - employer, so sit the fuck down, do what this guy says, and shut up.  I got family to get back to after this is done, so if you wanna get killed, do it on your own time."

"Been there, done that, got the bloody shirt.

"How many cards are we holding, kid? One. Exactly one. And she's out there with some shredding weapon. Now you shut up and listen to what they have to say."

[I don't have a lot of time to post this morning.  Pepper Turn 7]

[This is what I intend: Pepper escapes through the window as soon as Oleg says "We surrender".  She would not lurk around for the blather.  She makes for Oleg's clawfoot, mounts and gathers up the four horses and makes to move around the far edge of the stable to the right and into the brush into the SE.  She whistles for Fondue with instructions to climb to the top of the stable and wait (if you doubt a goat can climb to the top of a building you have never been around goats.  She then crosses through the brush to the south in a large circle to emerge from the NW corner of the map.  She motivates the clawfoot to charge the front door of the cabin while she stealths across to the north side of the bridge where she sets up a cozy sniper nest.  Soon as the first enemy comes through the door, she will shoot him or her in the face.]

[I gotta run.  Tell me what rolls I need to make and I'll post them as soon as I am able.]

[Oh, at all some opportune time she will signal Fondue to scream from the top of the stable.]

"What do you want, boss man?" I ask the commander, trying to steer the conversation away from me being chained up.

They won't do squat to stop me turning into a bat, but if they're blessed they'll certainly tickle as I metamorphose.

[A stealth would be good to see if we hear you leave. Or would it be obvious?]

"Cause she was so useful at turning things around when we was getting our asses kicked two minutes back?" I scoff.  "And there's no we here that's got you and me in it, got it?"

[edited until we figure out what's going on with Pepper]

[A stealth would be good to see if we hear you leave. Or would it be obvious?]

[The window itself has no cover or concealment; it'd be impossible to miss someone going through it, yeah.]

"Cause she was so useful at turning things around when we was getting our asses kicked two minutes back?" I scoff.  "And there's no we here that's got you and me in it, got it?"  I raise my voice.  "You gonna disobey Master Olegov's orders, Pepper?"

"For fucks sake Astra, I'm the same person as I was before you knew I could shred people with my teeth."

"I don't deal with humanlike undead that aint under anyone's control," I grit out.  "Anyone that do, they tend to wind up dead or one of 'em.  Like your hum- elf self would probably tell us if he wasn't dead.  And that's all I got to say on it."

"Newsflash kid, you've been dealing with a humanlike undead for the last few days. And I'm under control, I'm under my control and that's the only bloody control I trust.

"Now if you want to act like a peasant, why don't you run back to your peasant family and tell them you couldn't handle anything outside your tiny world."

I glare at her, quite furious.

Bloody peasant superstitions! I thought she had a brain, but no, just another brainless idiot.

If only.

I turn my head away, done engaging the vampire.  Nothing good ever comes of that, either.

[I don't have a lot of time to post this morning.  Pepper Turn 7]

[This is what I intend: Pepper escapes through the window as soon as Oleg says "We surrender".  She would not lurk around for the blather.  She makes for Oleg's clawfoot, mounts and gathers up the four horses and makes to move around the far edge of the stable to the right and into the brush into the SE.  She whistles for Fondue with instructions to climb to the top of the stable and wait (if you doubt a goat can climb to the top of a building you have never been around goats.  She then crosses through the brush to the south in a large circle to emerge from the NW corner of the map.  She motivates the clawfoot to charge the front door of the cabin while she stealths across to the north side of the bridge where she sets up a cozy sniper nest.  Soon as the first enemy comes through the door, she will shoot him or her in the face.]

[I gotta run.  Tell me what rolls I need to make and I'll post them as soon as I am able.]

[Oh, at all some opportune time she will signal Fondue to scream from the top of the stable.]

[All that in one turn, eh?  lol]

"What do you want, boss man?" I ask the commander, trying to steer the conversation away from me being chained up.

They won't do squat to stop me turning into a bat, but if they're blessed they'll certainly tickle as I metamorphose.

"You restrained or decapitated," the commander says, his voice and face hard.  "Your status as a crime against God and nature aside, you attacked first." 

[I suggest a very good speech check (or something!) if Val wishes to change their minds!]

"You retrained or decapitated," the commander says, his voice and face hard.  "Your status as a crime against God and nature aside, you attacked first."

"Uh, I seem to recall getting a spear jabbed into me before any of us made a move," I interject. "I could have taken a shot at you the moment I was close enough. I didn't. You're the aggressors here, not us."

Ghosts don't count, I think.  Obviously.

"You retrained or decapitated," the commander says, his voice and face hard.  "Your status as a crime against God and nature aside, you attacked first."

"Uh, I seem to recall getting a spear jabbed into me before any of us made a move," I interject. "I could have taken a shot at you the moment I was close enough. I didn't. You're the aggressors here, not us."

"What she said. What does your god think about lies?

"I don't know if you've actually noticed, but you're in a country that has stood an undead army for decades."

[Diplomacy to be not decapitated: 10 + 12 = 22]

"It's a ghost," he says, in a what the fuck is wrong with you tone.  Ghosts don't count.  He does not, however, decapitate Val.  "Sit," he says, pointing with his sword.

I sit.

I sometimes know when not to push my luck.

[I don't have a lot of time to post this morning.  Pepper Turn 7]

[This is what I intend: Pepper escapes through the window as soon as Oleg says "We surrender".  She would not lurk around for the blather.  She makes for Oleg's clawfoot, mounts and gathers up the four horses and makes to move around the far edge of the stable to the right and into the brush into the SE.  She whistles for Fondue with instructions to climb to the top of the stable and wait (if you doubt a goat can climb to the top of a building you have never been around goats.  She then crosses through the brush to the south in a large circle to emerge from the NW corner of the map.  She motivates the clawfoot to charge the front door of the cabin while she stealths across to the north side of the bridge where she sets up a cozy sniper nest.  Soon as the first enemy comes through the door, she will shoot him or her in the face.]

[I gotta run.  Tell me what rolls I need to make and I'll post them as soon as I am able.]

[Oh, at all some opportune time she will signal Fondue to scream from the top of the stable.]

[Let's break this into pieces. 

1.  I need a new initiative roll from Pepper, and from any PCs who will be aiding Pepper's endeavor. 
2.  First thing for Pepper is to get through the window unnoticed.  Stealth check while using the bar as concealment, then an acrobatics check to pass the window smoothly as she uses her move action to go outside.  I'll give Pepper a surprise round 0 if she succeeds at the checks.  If she fails the checks, it'll be round 1.  The reacting NPCs will have their first turn round 1.
3.  I count six squares to Oleg's dino, but the window would be difficult terrain, so account for that in the move action. 
4.  Enemies' warhorse mounts, when unmounted, are hostile combatants with their own intiative and moves, I believe.  The pony is also a mount, but not enemy and not a combatant.  I am open to the idea of Pepper using some sort of standard action nature check to turn warhorses non-hostile.  There are four of them, though.  Make a case for why I shouldn't require four separate actions?  Perhaps one action at quite a challenging DC would suffice?  Let's go with that.
5.  Pepper'll need something to string the horses along if she succeeds at turning them non-hostile and wants to take them all with her, since she can't ride them all at once.  Rope?  I believe tying that would be a standard action as well. 
6.  Are you thinking of the goat as your minion, or is it still my NPC?  If it's a minion it uses your moves (and I'll need some goat stats), if it's an NPC it'll need checks to be compelled to act.  How will Pepper communicate to it that it's to get onto the roof?

That's enough to be starting with, I think!  Fire away!]

"Sort the situation with that sniper," the commander orders his surviving subordinates.   [B and C roll initiative.]

[The PCs interacting with A outside of combat time are welcome to continue doing so while this thing plays out with Pepper.]

"Tis a strange place," I say, leaning against a post for comfort, "and I've seen stranger than vampires here. A roving revenant warforged, for example. I didn't know those things could have souls, let alone one strong enough to bring em back. Purposeful thing, though. You could see that in its unblinking, phosphorescent eyes."

"And I saw a gallows tree once. Hung seventeen gnome spies from it, they did, and left them there to rot. Something in that oak tree went... bad. Uprooted itself and went on a walkabout, seventeen shrieking gnome corpses swinging in the wind."

"Strange place this is, yes," I say, pondering. "Vampires can be downright pleasant."