Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti |
What sort of dragon eggs might those be, Lorde Toede? inquires the Black Robe, in goblin.
High God of Krynn |
Toade turns a glace to Terevalis and his eyes fall upon the staff and he sees a glimmer of recognition in his eyes. His shrived hand moves up to his chin and strokes it in thought and a smirk. He then mumbles some more and then the Chamberlain says to Terevalis, "Lord Toade is intrigued to see a wizard bearing the Staff of someone he once knew. He once knew a young wizard in Red Robes bearing that same staff who threatened him with a curse if he dared take it away from him. Still the Great Lord Toade is appreciative of your respect you show by speaking his native tongue in his presence and will answer the question you have asked of him. The Dragon Eggs are those of the Amphi Dragon, a breed of dragon he has great respect for. Lord Toade fears these bandits will sell his eggs to nefarious criminals or worse use them for despicable ends."
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti |
Spells 3rd level: penumbral disguise, stinking cloud, Monster Summoning III, Storm Step, Excrucating Deformation, Shape of the Beasts 1
4TH LEVEL: Summon Monster IV
sECOND LEVEL: Badger's Ferocity, Create Pit, fear the sun
1st level: alter winds, longshot, air bubble, mud ball
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti |
With a smile the Black Robe adds, in Goblin Amphi dragon eggs you say? Of course, that makes sense. The love that His Lordship had for Hopsloth during the War of the Lance is well known to those who have studied and even lived history.
High God of Krynn |
When Terevalis mentions Hopslotch, you think he sees a tear fall from the eye of the old Hobgoblin and then a murmur with the Chamberlain saying, "Yes, Lord Toade does miss his noble mount that was taken from him far before his time. While no dragon can replace his Hopslotch he hopes to raise a new brood of dragons under his gentle care for future generations."
He then looks to Gabriel and there is more muffling from him and then the Chamberlain says afterwards, "Lord Toade expected a Knight of Solamnia would say something to that effect. He merely wishes that their banditry be brought to an end so they can commit no further thefts. If you kill them there or bring them in alive for trial and execution, he cares not so long as they no longer trouble the town of Flostam. The safe return of the Amphi Eggs is the most pressing matter."
High God of Krynn |
Toade looks to Alathea and mumbles more and the Chamberlain says, "Lord Toade's contact has told him that no one got a good look at the thieves as they struck in the dead of night. Their tracks did not appear to be human, more claw like and those that spotted them think they saw an outline of some hunched beings with insect-like arms. Still, we do know where they have left to. The ruins of Micah, an old ruin of an ancient civilization. The ruins are less than a day's ride from the town and should not be too hard to find."
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti |
In goblin, the elf will add The penalty for stealing from the Lord of Flotsam, shall be swift indeed. he says with a bow.
High God of Krynn |
Lord Toade mumbles some more and the Chamberlain says, "Lord Toade in his great wisdom feels he has chosen the right people for this task. A map shall be provided to show you where to travel. He also asks if he can provide anything to aid on your quest before your departure. He wishes that you pursue the thieves as soon as you are able to do so."
High God of Krynn |
Lord Toade nods his head and mumbles more and the Chamberlain, "Lord Toade has heard your request and will see to it that your entire party is provided with a swift horse for your travels as well as a days worth of provisions. He does agree that a horse will get you there and back quicker than on foot. As for the ruins there is no available maps of its interior. You will have to perform a search of the ruins yourself."
Jor Majere |
Jor is looking for the food and drinks, listening to the pleasantries and mostly just smiling and trying to fit in with others as he looks around and wonders what does all these "necessities" cost actually
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti |
Do you have crates or something else that would be used to keep the eggs safe? he inquires.
Know Arcana to see what he remembers about amphi dragon eggs 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (3) + 17 = 20
High God of Krynn |
To Terevalis's question, Lord Toade mumbles and the Chamberlain says, "Lord Toade does believe the eggs are quite resilient and can take quite a jostle. Still he believes it would be prudent to wrap them in cloth and put them into a thick sack to better protect them from harm once they are found. Such will be provided with the horses before your departure."
High God of Krynn |
Assuming that you have nothing more to request, more mumbles come from Lord Toade and the Chamberlain replies, "Lord Toade thanks you taking up this quest on his behalf. He now dismisses you from his presence to get to the task that you have been assigned. Messenger Mandok Ovrira, come foward!"
The man who guided you to the manor approaches and bows. Lord Toade mumbles and the Chamberlain, reaches into his coat and pulls out a scroll and hands it to the messenger. The Chamberlain then says, "Provide these adventurers with this map to Micah as well as take them immedately to the town stables. Requsition five horses for these adventurers as well as whatever other supplies they need. Charge any required fees to the town coffers, by the order of Lord Toade, Ruler of Flotsam."
He bows and says, "It shall be done Lord Toade."
Lord Toade nods approvingly and then gestures towards the door and mumbles some more, the Chamblerlain says, "You may depart on your quest adventurers. Do not return until the task is compleate."
With that you are ushered out into the Foyer.Mandok looks over the party and hands the map off to Terevalis, "I believe you would be the best one here to handle a map such as this."
The scroll has a reasonably drawn map, showing the route to get to the ruins and some features of the surrounding region. Judging the distance you probably could get there with a 5 hour ride.
Mandok then says, "Please follow me and we shall see to getting your horses and other provisions."
With your agreement he leads you through the town and eventually you arrive at the town stables. While the place looks closed for the night he approaches a nearby house and bangs on the door. A voice yells from inside, Oai! Who goes there!
Mandok Ovrira yells out, "Open up in the name of Lord Toade, ruler of Flotsam. Your services are required."
The voice yells back, "We're closed! Come back in the morning if ya want horse services."
Mandok Ovrira yells back, "I don't care about your business hours horse merchant. I have my orders and you will provide your services now!"
You hear some grumbles and an older looking man opens the door looking tired from a long day of work. Mandok shows his badge to the stable master and the man's eyes widen when he sees it. "Oh! Forgive my impertance good sir. I could hardly believe that a servant of Lord Toade would come to my stables in the evening. How can I be of service for the lord of Flotsam."
Mandok Ovrira snorts and then says gruffly to the man, "I need four riding horses with saddles, one pony with a saddle, five cloth sacks, five horse blankets and 10 field rations. You'll get reimbursed at the Town Hall for the expenses tomorrow."
The Stable Master nods and says, "I'll get right on it, let me just get a few of my people to help me prepare the horses."
So after gathering a few of his people you're taken to the stables and the stable master and his assistance prepare your horses. Each of you gets a riding horse or a pony in the case of the Kender. You also get 2 food rations, a cloth sack and a horse blanket. The horses are of common quality though and definitely not the combat trained type so they'll be useless in any kind of fighting but should be quick in getting you to where you're going.
With Mandok's help the town gates are opened and you ride out into the night and toward the ruins after double checking the map to get direction and distance. Mandok then waves you off and returns back to the Toade manor to report your departure.
Random Encounter Check: 1d100 ⇒ 96
Fortunately its an easy ride and no creatures come out of the shadows to attack you along the way although it is pretty dark out. However one thing Terevalis notices is that BOTH the Goat Skull and the Dragon Turtle are not present in the sky, which means that both Chemosh and Zeboim are running about on Krynn at the moment.
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti |
The elf shakes his head, the gods on Ansalon? This cannot bode well. Either way the will of Nuitari and of magic shall be enforced and propogated/
High God of Krynn |
Eventually early in the morning (About 3:00 AM) you seem to have arrived at the location of the map. At the base of a low hill near the coast a wide curved wall of pure white stone marks the boundary of an ancient ruined town. The walls like the ruins themselves seem to disappear at the far end of the hill and beneath the ground, as if the land itself was in the process of consuming it. A road paved with belched flagstones enters through a gate and winds through the crumbling buildings. Pieces of once mighty structures are scattered among like toy blocks of a giant child. The location is as silent as the grave. Your horses look pretty agitated getting close to these ruins as though sensing something "Wrong" about the place.
High God of Krynn |
As for Terevalis, he knows this once was a great Elven city back during the Dragon Wars. It was crafted with the power of Wild Sorcery far before the days of the Orders of High Sorcery formed. The city was destroyed not only by the dragons and their allies but also when one of the Dragon Orbs failed to hold a dragon and it escaped causing a backlash of magical energy that destroyed the city from within. The ruins are a testament of the dangers that wild sorcery can inflict for it crushed this once great city into the earth.
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti |
I am capable of taking care of myself, However, are you able to discern if this place has evil around it?
The elf will begin to chant and detect magic.
High God of Krynn |
Terevalis, as for the detect magic, you get vague readings from the walls as magic was used to create this city. You also pick up a lingering Necromancy Aura, hinting there is a lingering amount of spirit activity here. Still once again its fairly weak and there are no manifested ghosts in the immediate area.
Your party wanders into the broken plaza of this once great elven city. Shattered ruins of what might have been fine elven homes remain, although it looks like any valuable materials used in their construction has been long looted by scavengers over the many years these ruins existed. As you weave through the buildings making use of what remains of a road to guide you, the route eventually abruptly ends as a large slab of stone has fallen on top of the road.
You also come across the chewed remains of a band of goblins. Their weapons and armor sprawled on the floor, but its all poor quality goblin make and if there was anything of value on them its been looted. You also find various globs of sticky substances and chitinous husks definitely not something you'ed normally find on a goblin. Whatever killed these Goblins also made a feast of them it appears.
As for further routes, there appears to be two routes around the giant slab of rock, cracks in the rock that open up about 10 feet and decent downward. One heads down to the North-west, while the other heads down to the North-East. Both seem like the only way to proceed forward. What do you do?
High God of Krynn |
The city was built before the Second Dragon War but after the Silvanesti were created. So yes it technically is the ruins of a Silvanesti City. It was build far back in time when the Silvanesti empire rules a large areas of land. Micah was a border city at the far edge of the Silvanesti lands and was one of the first attacked during the second dragon war.
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti |
The elf will use a charge from his wand of mage armor.
Shall we face the dawn as we travel in this city, destroyed by sorcery? he inquires?
Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti |
Shirak! he commands as the globe of crystal on the Staff of Magius erupts in a daylight spell.
Alathea of Solace |
Now inside of the Ruins, Alathea casts Locate Object focusing on the Dragon Eggs.
"Zivilyn, Tree of Wisdom, show me the path to rescue the Dragon eggs stolen by the thieves..."
High God of Krynn |
Casting Locate object, you can tell the eggs are further down in the ruins to the north and you will have to travel in the tunnels to get to them. However each path is equidistant towards your goal. The east or west passage will both lead you in the direction of where the eggs are and the spell in no way tells you which will be the safer route. What tunnel are you going down?
Athola |
"Remember the shard is also a light.", tapping the hilt of the sheathed shard.
Athola takes a look at the entrances to see if she can determine which was used more recently. Also to see if there is a mechanism to check for intruders.
Survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23 Tracks, marks, etc
Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (2) + 13 = 15
"I will go ahead first." She would move ahead stealthy as possible looking for dangers.
Stealth: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (5) + 22 = 27
High God of Krynn |
Ok well Athola looks at both paths. One path seems to have some odd looking marks in the stone and some dried slime, hinting beastial feet of some kind. That's the east tunnel. The west tunnel has no tracks whatsoever and does not look like anyone has entered the tunnel for a long time. Either way you hear no sound. What tunnel do you go down?
High God of Krynn |
You follow the eastern passageway as it snakes downward into the darkness of the earth. The stench gets stronger as you travel and eventually you emerge into a location that perhaps at once time was a fine marble structure although shattered in many places from the buried state of the city. You see shattered icons that have been ripped away from the walls, which resemble the form of a harp although defiled and broken on the grounds with their reliefs painted over with other markings, a symbol that resembles a deformed claw of some kind. Before you can get further bearings, something reacts to your entry into this section of the city.
Group Stealth Check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Everyone make a Perception check DC 21. If all of you fail, your attackers get the drop on you and a surprise round.