Chase Through the Plague Quarter

How they win

Catch the thief, Nell Crane, before she reaches the river, and get the vial back unbroken.

How they lose

Nell escapes across the river with the cure, and the Lantern Ward loses a week of work. Or the vial breaks in the struggle.

Distance

How much of a lead: The thief starts 4 zones ahead. Catch her at 0; lose her for good at 8.
What changes it each round: Each round every pursuer makes one check to cross the next zone (Athletics to climb, Acrobatics to leap, Survival to read her trail, DC 12, DC 15 on rooftops). Each success closes the gap by 1, each failure opens it by 1. Draw a complication card on any roll of 5 or less.
When the gap closes, or opens: At 0 the party corners her on the bell-tower stair. At 8 she reaches the river and is gone with the cure; the chase ends and the bells begin to toll.

The opening scene

A shutter bangs open above the apothecary and a small figure drops into the alley with something that glints in her fist. She looks back once, sees you, and runs for the rooftops.

Who is in it

Nell Crane, the rooftop thief The quarry: a desperate thief stealing the cure for her brother — fights like Spy

How it plays out

Nell does not fight. She knocks over laundry, kicks loose slates behind her and, if cornered, holds the vial over the drop and bargains. She is stealing the cure for her fevered brother, and says so if anyone asks why.

The ground

Features and cover: Six zones: the chalk-marked alley, the laundry lines, the collapsed bakery roof, the quarantine barricade, the charnel yard, the bell-tower stair. Doors are nailed shut with red plague crosses.
Hazards: Rotten roof slates (DC 13 Dexterity save or fall 10 feet and lose a zone). A barricade watch-fire. Two zombies wake in the charnel yard if anyone makes noise there.
Light: Moonlight on the rooftops, darkness in the alleys, the barricade fire as the only bright light.

Rules it is built for

Complications (roll d6): 1 a risen corpse lurches out of a doorway; 2 a rotten ladder; 3 a barricade guard shouts halt; 4 a dead end, go back one zone; 5 a family begs for help through a boarded window; 6 a shortcut, close 2 zones.

Making it fit your table

For a faster party, start her 5 zones ahead. At levels 5 and up, give Nell a potion of climbing and raise the rooftop DCs to 16.

What it is worth

The vial of cure, returned to the Lantern Ward. If the party lets Nell keep one dose for her brother, she becomes a loyal rooftop informant in the quarter; if they turn her over to the barricade guards, the Sealed Gate owes them a favour. 50 gp in a stolen purse she drops on the laundry lines.