Aardvark's "Nothing Venture Captained, Nothing Gained" Shattered Star Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Troy Malovich

Faedrin nods, conceding the point to Dareon, but adds, "While technically true, I can't imagine Ayala would let us explore the rest of the Crow unmolested. If we come across her, it'll surely lead to violence. We should expect it is all I'm suggesting."

Once everyone is gathered and prepared, hopefully still in the earlier hours of the morning, he leads the way back to the boat the group used the night before. As they walk, he turns to Esmeralda, "What do you mean by 'bolster', exactly?"

She laughs audibly as they walk, gripping the warm furs about her neck and straightening them as she looks back to Penance. "Normally I use all of my enhancement magic on him, but Penance is... fickle. By "Bolster" I mean "Improvement." magic. I'm more than capable of making the lot of you stronger, or more agile depending on the situation." she points out. Straightfaced, she continues to claim; "Control is the most important thing to a person like me. At least when combat is involved." she says with a shrug, not denying the fact that it might be more than just then.

"Yes, I know the meaning of the word, thank you. What I didn't know was which spells you intend to bring to bear." He regards Penance briefly then looks back to Esmeralda, "I appreciate your willingness to help, but I've some magics of my own. Yours will likely go to better use bolstering Penance than they would focused upon me, I think." He shrugs and glances to the other two in the group, not willing to speak for Tanjvats or Dareon.

Kascio stumbles back in, out of breath. "Damned hard to find a proper dagger salesman this late in the day. Found one. Only slightly bloodstained! Are we ready to go?"

Did we have a conversation about whether you can use enlarge person on your eidolon? Share spells and all, but it says humanoid and Penance is an outsider.

"Yes, I'm ready to go. Don't bother "enhance-bolster-improving" me either. I don't need your indecision and control when I can take care of myself already." replies Dareon, doing a final double-check on the things in his pack and his available flasks to see if he's missing anything. He's not.

"I'm not sure we need to bother with the smokescreen approach this time, no? They no we'll have been on the way."

"I agree, Dareon. I don't see much point in a stealthy approach, given all that's happened. I'd intended for us to walk in through the proverbial front door unless there are any objections?" He looks to the others, his eye brows arched inquisitively.

We did, and summoners make an exception to that for their Eidolon. I believe it was a few discussion pages ago, though if you want certainty, I can always go and make a forum post. At the moment it goes, though.

"I see..." is all Esmeralda says. She didn't appreciate that man's level of pride, that was certain. "Regardless of how we get up to them, avoiding their view is still in our favor." she points out.

"I'm not so sure," says Dareon, turning to Esmeralda. "If we really are expecting violence, it might be beneficial for us to get done with killing the wererats before we try to explore the rest of the Crow for little tiny treasures. We won't have to look over our shoulder for ambushers the whole time if we get done killing first. Either that or we scare them by our approach and we don't have to deal with them at all."

"Then let's go in sneaky, Ambush them, and kill the bastards. This "Shard" is obviously worth it's weight, right? What if they just run off with it?" she asks. "Stealthy approach is more for that, than anything." she claims. "Then again, someone will be on watch... Regardless, whatever we do, we need to do fast."

Faedrin sighs and shakes his head. He opens his mouth as if to respond to Esmeralda, but he seemingly thinks better of it and instead goes quiet.

"I think you're wrong, yet again.", responds Dareon. "We're in no rush. We have the upper hand. There's nowhere for this Ayala to go that we can't follow."

"Not only that, but we don't even know where Ayala is within the Crow. We can't ambush her, because we don't know where she is. And there's nothing we can do about that."

Kascio nods. "Alright then. You've got the lay of the land. I'll follow your lead and shiv anyone who needs shivving. I'm not masterful with traps and locks, but I can do my best. Tell me more about this shard. How will we know it when we find it?"

Dareon fishes the Shard of Pride out of his pocket, keeping a firm grip on it with his thumb and displaying it in his palm. "It'll probably look a lot like this, and it'll probably make you feel really, really weird once you touch it."

"Speaking of that, we might need to designate a holder for the Shard. It's not going to be me, seeing as how I've already got one, and I'd really like to not have to just knock someone out and lug them around."

Kascio studies the shard without touching after noting the posessiveness Dareon displays. He raises an eyebrow he mentions knocking someone out. "Is there a reason you'd need to knock someone out?"

Dareon's eyes flash towards their resident elf - "Ask Fade.", he says.

"Seems... strange." she says as she looks at the shard.

Tanjvats raised a tentative hand halfway to the shoulder.

"I'll do it if no one else wants to. I should be easy to subdue if it comes to that," he offered.

And it's unlikely that the voices in my crazy head will make room for anyone else he added grimly to himself.

Faedrin shoots an uncomfortable glance at the shard as Dareon produces it, "It will be similar in shape at least." He points to the ioun stone set in the face of Dareon's shard, "The shard we find likely won't have a stone set in its face like this one. And without such a stone, the shard will, in a very short time, begin to exert an influence over whomever bears it. The experience is-" Faedrin hesitates here, obviously still unnerved by his previous experience with the first shard, "-disquieting. When we find the shard, we'll want to return to the manor as quickly as we can so Shiela can identify it and set the proper stone in place to suppress the shard's influence."

As Tanjvats volunteers to carry the next shard, Faedrin offers him a respectful and sympathetic nod.

"Well then! I'll do my best not to need to be knocked unconscious. Shall we be off then?"

Faedrin nods at Kascio's suggestion. "So long as everyone has what they need, by all means." He gestures with a sweep of his arm and falls in beside Tanjvats.

Posted a summary of all things looted during our previous foray in the discussion thread. If anyone wants equipment that Faedrin returned with, say so now to bring it with you (like rope or grappling hooks or whatever) =)

Testing the weight of his pack, Tanjvats decided to drop his old rope and to instead carry the lighter, silk rope he took from the Tower Girls.

(He tried to find an appropriate place at the manor to leave his old rope, maybe with the caretaker.)

With that done, he took a deep breath, gave a slight smile to Faedrin, and walked with him down towards the shore.

The group gathers together and makes their way to the shoreline, where they use the craft they had previously to reach the piling. The trip is quiet and a bit morose, some of the members trying to reconcile the events of the day prior, while others haven't quite been taken into the fold.

Reaching the Crow itself, one thing is obvious to those returning. One of the boats is missing. You travel up through the ground floor chambers, and then the long stairwell taking you almost two hundred feet up into the piling itself, before finally emerging into the large open chamber at the top. All that's left is to cross the ropes to the small platform and then up into the secret hatch in the ceiling. It would be a good time to let the two newcomers know what the plan is to get across, while avoiding the almost two hundred foot drop into the water below.

Kneeling down and looking to the water, Esmeralda practically cringes. "A nasty fall, that's for sure..." she says as she turns to look at Penance. "Won't be terribly difficult to bring him across if you lot have made the trip before. How'd you get across the last time?" she asks, simply as she watches the water flow beneath.

Tanjvats explained the process and showed the ring of feather falling.

Thinking for a moment, he spoke up.

"If some of the Tower Girls have fled, perhaps they took the time to weaken these ropes. Can anyone check to see if they're safe? If so, I'm happy to go first, and we'll string this silk rope across to transfer the ring back."

"I'll go, Tanjvats. And I studied feather fall this morning, so you can hold onto the ring. Though, with the boat gone, I don't expect Ayala would have spent much time rigging the place behind her. She had no idea how soon we'd be back after all." With that, Faedrin steps out onto the rope and skirts across with apparent ease.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Kascio grins a crooked grin. "I have some trust in my abilities, but if your friend died from a fall, I'll wait for the ring." As soon as the ring is back, he puts it on, takes a deep breath and walks across. Acrobatics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

Awaiting her turn, Esmeralda cringes. She'd not been used to this sort of... display of dexterity in her travels. Where she had Charisma and Penance's brute strength, she certainly lacked in grace, that was for certain, and she was far from confident in traversing the expanse. The fall was also a rather... prominent deterrent.

Awaiting her turn with the ring, however, she admired it for a moment, enjoying the look of it and knowing it was worth something. Alas, she had to share. With that thought in mind, she turned to her Eidolon. "Penance, you'll be last. Worse comes to worse I can just summon you from the aether again and pay you for the mess up... that said, don't mess up." she says as she points to the ring.

Taking a deep breath, she does what she can to cross the bridge. Provided she's about to fall, Penance will reach out to grab her as well, like a good Eidolon. Tapping herself on the center of her chest, she traces a rune about it that glows a soft blue.

Cast Guidance

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 + 1 = 12

Provided he makes it across the rope, Faedrin opens the ceiling hatch in the same manner as before and slips up inside to make room on the platform.

As he waits for the others to cross, he calls up a cantrip to light the passage. Alone in the passage, his thoughts wander.

I hope Ayala had the sense to just up and run. I'd like to get through at least one day with these people without someone having to die.

The ring comes back to me, right?

When his turn came, Tanjvats did his best to hook up his new second story harness correctly.

Gritting his teeth so that his fangs were bared, he moved along the rope to the far side.

Acro: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (18) - 3 = 15

Dareon tries to cross the rope after stowing his shield and giving the Shard a quick stroke for luck.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Considering passing the ring back was the procedure for those with less than reliable footing, I would say yes it goes back to Dareon before crossing.

As each member crosses well enough and follows Faedrin up into the hidden tunnel in the ceiling, Dareon is the last to cross. He takes one, maybe two, shaky steps before something comes over him. Maybe it was a sense of vertigo after his last fall, or even just a momentary instance of blacking out, but luckily his descent is slowed by the ring's magic. Allowing him time to grasp at the nearby ropes or ledge before floating all the way to the bottom.

Dareon, DC 15 Reflex save to catch the rope or ledge (decreased due to your slow rate of fall).

As she watches Dareon fall over, Esmeralda looks back towards penance and shrugs. "Fairly certain the big lug can do better than that, at least." she explains. "Wonder why they even have this here, don't you?" she asks, looking at the others. "Seems a bit treacherous. The rat girls pretty capable on their feet or something?" she asks, trying to learn as much as possible.

Reflex Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

Dareon flings his hand out to catch something, hopefully the ledge, when his foot slips the rope. "I am not a thug!", he roars.

Tanjvats stifled a gasp as Dareon almost fell.

Gathering himself, he responded to Esmeralda. "I think this is what the Tower Girls rigged up to allow access to these other portions of the Crow. There's no other way to get to levels two and three, according to our map."

Kascio swears as the human nearly falls. He unslings his rope and tosses it to the human, anchoring himself to haul the human back across the gap. He welcomes any help in holding the man's weight.

Faedrin pokes his head back down through the hatch in the ceiling above the ledge, "What's the hold u- Dareon!" His question shifts into a startled cry as he sees the man clinging to the ledge and struggling to haul himself back up. "He has the ring, right?" When his worries are allayed with assurances that Dareon does indeed have the magic ring, Faedrin's expression softens and the worry departs. He shouts a jest across the span to the struggling human before disappearing once more into the overhead passage, "Testing the magics yourself in case you want to walk out of any more windows, Dareon?"

"This is not a time for jest, Faedrin!" roars Dareon, trying to pull himself up. Taking one hand off of the ledge, he grasps Kascio's rope and hauls upward.

Strength Check: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (10) + 3 - 4 = 9

"Pull!"

Strength check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7 Kascio begins to slip as the man's weight pulls him toward the edge. "Help would be appreciated!" He calls, trying to remain polite as the panic in his voice rises.

Penance is still on Dareon's side and waiting to go last - I'm thinking the beefy eidolon might be best suited to help haul Dareon back up - especially since there's only room for one person on the ledge on this side of the tightrope.

"Penance! Assist him!" She says, gesturing out to the man and drawing 1 gold from her purse. However the small amount of gold she's providing seems to hinder his decisiveness.

Penance Strength Check Strength Check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

It's a good thing the eidolon decides to do so, as the one hand he holds on the rope is just enough to keep Kascio from sliding off and allow Dareon to get back over the ledge. Now, Dareon just has to still cross to the platform.

Dareon huffs and lets go of the rogue's rope, letting Kascio draw it back in. He growls and tries to stride confidently across the gap a second time.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 3 - 4 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 3 - 4 + 2 = 12

Faedrin nods approvingly at Esmeralda as Penance arrests Dareon's fall. "Nicely done, Esmeralda." He arches an eyebrow at the gold coin in her hand as Dareon begins his second attempt at crossing, "What's the coin for?"

Kascio straightens up, re-rolling and stowing the rope. He mutters something under his breath that sounds like "Oh yeah, big and creepy steps in at the last moment and gets the glory.. yeah that's fair..."

Seeing them pulled up nicely, Esmeralda tosses the coin to penance, who catches it with a swift grab, turning around and placing it in his pouch. With a smirk, Esmeralda says "Payment for Service..." she explains. "And Kascio, don't worry about it." she says with a chuckle.

Almost everyone has managed their way across the ropes, the eidolon excluded. The others are able to make their way down the dark small tunnel to the opening in the ceiling of the next room. Once they are all gathered, they can continue forward.

Esmeralda, unsummoning him is a standard, and falling can only be interrupted with an immediate. If Penance falls, you will not be able to unsummon before he hits.

Tanjvats placed magical light on his shield so that others could see and began the process of leading everyone through the remainder of this level to the stairs leading down.

Kascio removes one of his favorite daggers from its sheath and rolls it around his fingers nervously. He keeps an eye out for any movement or strange levers or floor-plates.

"Fellows before we venture on, I must request we wait a moment, as I need to summon Penance once more. He's far too bulky to go over such a wire..." she points out as she seems to breathe an easy sigh, allowing a symbol to disperse from her forehead.

"How long can we wait? I'm useless without him."