Hmm, I can't say that I'd have that situation as a direct contested roll anyway, it doesn't make sense from a mechanical or narrative point of view . Surely the difficulties of the rolls are pretty much unrelated. The athletics guy's action is based on area boundaries and the difference between the time it would normally take and the how long they want it to take (within common sense depending on whether they have any sort of speed ability). The craft guy's roll is based around the complexity of what he's trying to assemble, how much he's rushing and any other minor environmental factors.

The result is entirely dependant on the time reduction part of the equation though which is a judgement call by both parties as to how fast they think they need to be. If the Athletics guy pushes to make it there in 'half a minute', but the Crafter has reduced their crafting time to 'a few moments' it doesn't matter if athletics guy rolls higher, he'll still be too late.

If they've both elected to reduce their times to the same timeframe then it depends on a bunch of other stuff, not least of which are just how fast athletics guy can move and how fast the the tech activates when the last piece is in place, and what it actually does.

So I guess if the GM wants her NPC to initiate a compel the GM can have a discussion with herself and pay herself a fate point if she decides its compel-worthy and then she can run the compel as if she herself initiated it and offer that fate point to the PC.

Life is really too short.

*sigh* sometimes I really wonder why I bother responding to some of these threads. I think I shall just not bother in future.

Compels come from the GM not NPCs.

Compels can come from NPCs. Exactly the same way that they can be done by PCs.

However, the description of the Knights of the Faerie Courts in their template does seem to indicate that they are effectively Oathbound - they are compelled to follow the orders of the lady, queen and mother and to represent their court well. Yes they have an amount of free will, but it's seriously restricted in many ways. If you take the harsher (and probably most accurate) version of an Oath from the Oaths, Bonds and Bargains section it means that the knight's patrons have a pool of compels that are already paid for and so cost no fate points to inflict and give none.

The rules define an exchange as being as little as 30 seconds, or as much as a few minutes. Thaumaturgy's big limitation is that the simplest spells take minutes to cast. My own POV on this is that Thaumaturgy exchanges always fall into the 'a few minutes' length, while combat defaults to 30 seconds. So while characters may have 'a couple of exchanges to react' that may only amount to a minute, while casting that ward may take 3 or 4 minutes - or you can rush through it in 2 (but that would obviously put the aspect of 'rushing it' on the spellcasting attempt  ). Obviously if the time the PCs have to prepare is 4 or 5 minutes then there's no real problem with them throwing up a simple ward, but the question then becomes why are they being given so much time and why would they spend it casting a ward when they could simply leave the area by other means?

The rulebook also states under the Optional rule that allows you to reduce complexity by sacrificing effect time:

The GM should also make it clear how short is too short—if the effect is shorter than a scene, why isn’t the wizard doing it with evocation?

Being able to perform a ritual with no prep isn't the same thing as being able to do it quickly. It just means that you have the materials with you to perform the ritual. Given the shortage of time you've really only got aspects to rely on if you need to boost the power. And there's always the chance that you'll need those fate points to re-roll the casting rolls.

Personally I never allow a Thaumaturgy spell (even a minor one) to be performed in under 4 exchanges in combat (so nothing less than about 2 minutes). It's not just the actual channelling of power you're dealing with, you need to take the time to create the circle and set up any ritual elements. Once you're performing the ritual you can't really take any other actions without breaking the ritual, and I'd be inclined to say that any dodges that require a great deal of movement will break the ritual as well.

Plus, Wards aren't portable. So no running away. And you've just shortened your ward's duration too... If you'd simply done an Evocation block you could either have the block against damage from the enemy while you run away (giving you shield or armour), or you could block their movement to give you a headstart. By comparison the ward comes in a shoddy second unless you absolutely have to remain where you are, and if you have to remain where you are then shortening the Ward duration isn't really an option because you'd want it to be in effect as long as possible, and you'll need to make it strong too because otherwise the enemy will simply break it down. Bear in mind they don't have to break it down, with a good enough roll, or a creative enough approach they could attack through it.

The skill you'd use to deliver the powder would depend on the way you were delivering it. I'd not allow stealth as an attack skill itself, but you could consider it as a modifier to the skill you are using.

As far as effects go, I think Belial666 has covered why it should deal stress rather than simply be a maneuver or a block. I'd agree also that you could attack either the mental or the physical track depending on how you view the powder working. If it's designed to simply put the mind into sleep mode then use the mental track, or you could have it drawing energy out of the body - basically targetting the opponent's endurance - until it is forced to sleep.

I'm not disputing the fact that you can create effects with the other elements that perform a similar function to a veil - obscuring a person or item from view - or that distracts the observer at a key moment so they are looking away from you as you pass. However the book defines a Veil (in the sense of proper light bending invisibility) as the special province of spirit magic, so I'd be wary of allowing any of the other elements to simply duplicate the effect of a veil.

The line about blocking all actions versus one target or one type of actions versus all targets is straight out of the block section for YS, but I don't have the book on me ATM to post it for you.

Page 210:

Generally speaking, if the block can affect more than one person, it can only prevent one type of action. If the block only affects one person, it can prevent several types of action—up to all of them—as context permits. You can’t use a block to prevent someone from making a defense roll.

But it is attempting to affect something inside - namely, the Ward in this case. Thus its efforts take the normal penalties.

Like Papa Gruff - who posted while I was still typing - I've always understood wards as being on top of existing thresholds, not within them, kind of like a protective layer over the threshold. In the same way that a magical shield and a dodge roll layer (shield first then dodge).

As for the penalties, a threshold gives three different penalties. a) a penalty in powers equal to its strength in refresh, b) a penalty to all rolls equal to its strength and c) a barrier against certain creatures that, if they cross it, it keeps attacking them at its strength and said attacks are irresistible and indefensible. Not all creatures take said penalties from thresholds though - only the really unnatural ones.

I can only find the following effects from thresholds in that section of the rulebook:

1. Works as a Block with a strength level equal to its rating
2. Works as a target to attack - the rating becomes stress boxes for purposes of tearing it down.
3. Works as a surpressor - which reduces powers used against it based on its rating: 'all affected abilities and spell effects lose a number of shifts of effectiveness equal to the strength of the threshold'. It's specifically supernatural abilities and powers though, so won't affect mundane skills, and it does seem to be specifically when the threshold is crossed by the entity - if you're attacking the ward, you're not crossing the threshold, you're hammering away at something outside it (like a shutter on a window). In the case of attack powers: 'this most often manifests as a reduction of the damage bonus provided, acting as a penalty to the actual attack roll only after the damage bonus has been reduced to zero.'
4. As a source of harm - an attack that the creature usually cannot defend against.

I'm not seeing a penalty to all rolls in there at all. The closest is the block that sets a target number for all actions through it.