Lost Lands - The Winding Journey (Inactive)

Game Master Lord Manticore

Once everyone has gathered into the cave, the manticore looks down at you. "I have found another cave in the mountains, what you humans would call a 'cache.' I will take my family, and Amor," pointing at the elf, "with me. However, as my mate cannot fly, I will need to lead her to this place and it will take a couple of days to do that. I ask a favor."

Shi'Vatha steps forward. "As do I. There is an issue we need to discuss, and it may have bearing on your favor request. I have listened to your story, and while I believe that you had no intention of killing anyone, you are still equally responsible for the deaths of the boy and his mother. More so the boy. Had you not grabbed them, they would not have been placed in danger. And grabbing a mother and her child is foolish, as it increases the likelyhood of something bad happening. Before you lose your temper, imagine how you would feel if someone grabbed your mate and offspring, and when you attacked the person, you accidently knocked the cage off a boat into a river. Would you claim full responsibility for the deaths, or would you blame, rightfully, the person who took them for at least half that responsibility? If you would, then you have to acknowledge a debt to the family of the woman and child." He looks at the others, specifically Celene. "Not all agree, so I am speaking for myself, no the group."

Something wasn't adding up for Echane, and until it did she would remain quiet and observe. But what could she see? A manticore, it's mate, and their child had been the initial cause of the deaths, but.. why?

Looking over at the 'taur, the manticore responds, "I am listening, what do you propose?"

Shi'Vatha nods as he continues, his estimate of the mandy core going up. "You said you had access to treasures. Perhaps one of them can revive one who is dead. Or can be given to a temple in exchange for such a spell. My former mentor accidentally killed a girl one time, we were in combat, and the girl jumped from under cover holding a weapon, she was afraid and didn't realize my mentor meant no harm. She gave the temple one of her weapons, which was enchanted, to repay for the mistake she made, and had the girl resurrected. The father should not have fired unless he could be sure of his aim, so he bears some responsibility as well. If you restore, or at least make it possible to do so, the child, then the father can be responsible for bringing the child to adult hood alone, or raising his wife himself."

Note raise dead (a 5th level spell) only works on those dead for 1 day per caster level, so the mother and child are out of bounds for that. Resurrection would work, assuming the man knew where the remains were, but it's a 7th level spell. Highly unlikely a manticore would have a scroll or items worth 12,275 gp (something one wouldn't expect to come from a CR 5 creature which would have stuff worth about 1-3k).

Selene raises an incredulous eybrow at Shi'Vatha's words, the eidolon having taken a direction they had not previously discussed, nor a particularly possible outcome.

The manticore continues to stare at Shi'Vatha, weighing his words. "I know nothing of what can 'resurrect' creatures. As to payment, that can tie into my favor. I do not carry the kind of riches that you may find with a dragon, but I have accumulated some wealth over the years. If you are willing to watch my cub for two days, while I transport my mate and Amor to our new nest, then you may have what I have accumulated here."

Shi'Vatha is not an expert on items, magic or cost. :) He just knows his former mentor gave someone something shiny and someone else was brought back to life. He doesn't have the rule book memorized. :) If the mandy core doesn't have enough riches, then at the very least he can pay a blood geld to the father. That is likely perfectly legit given the level of society, and he'll likely end up paying more than the blood geld would rightfully be. I try not to metagame my character's thoughts and motivations. I try to think of what they would know, and not know. Shi'Vatha's outlook is highly skewed as he's effectively been a sidekick to a major mover and shaker (12-15th level character) for a long time, and that skews your perception of money and resources.

Shi'Vatha shrugs. "The child is innocent in all this sordid affair. I would no more leave it unprotected than I would kill it for your sins. I would take no pay for such. Nor will I do it to make you pay your debts. However, if you wish to make your debts right with the father, then I will convey those wishes to him after your cub is safe." He looks at the rest of the group. "Obviously I cannot speak for them."

"That is what I wish. When my family is safely transported, I will tell you where my cache is. I can assure you, it is not far from this spot." He looks at the party one more time, then says, "In this, do we have a bargain?"

Felicity nod, I will ensure the safe arrival of your family.

The manticore pops a claw out, and scratches two grooves in the rock, forming an 'X.' When this is done, he places his paw on top of the mark and motions for Felicity to place her hand on top of his paw. "I believe you humans have something something similar, called a binding?"

Felicity slowly looks around at the group, Humans?

"Well, you may all look different, but you are called humans, right?'

This unit, I, am technically a synthetic life form. Felicity stops and points at Shi'vatha, I am unsure what that is, but it is not of human origin.

Shi'Vatha's tongue lolls out. "I'm cute." He helps her identify his category.

"So, do we have a binding?"

We have a binding.

"That is good." With that, he steps back, turns to his mate and cub, and begins growling orders. They answer in return unless you speak lion, you have no clue what is being said, but you get the feeling that the manticore is telling his family what needs to be done. In context, you have learned that the lioness is a typical animal; the cub is a manticore, like his father, but speaks only broken Common at this point.

Soon, the lioness, the manticore, and the elf (perhaps the title to a new book?) start down the hill, the elf riding on the manticore's back. The manticore turns just before descending, and says to the party, "If I am not back in three days, my cub will know where my 'cache' is. He will be able to tell you. After that, you are released from the binding; I will likely be dead, and my cub will have to learn his way in the world." Before you can say anything, the manticore turns back around and begins his descent.

Shi'Vatha nods, then moves over to the cub.

He pulls out some of the horseradish and offers it to the cub. "Careful, it bites back."

He'll take over playing with and training the cub using his claws, given he's the expert in the group on claw to claw combat.

Thanks Shi'Vatha, you beat me to the punch. Now I'll have to find some other way of taking care of you...oops, thinking out loud again. LOL

The cub takes the horseradish and begins chewing it. He asks you for more in an excited voice. You can play this part out if you wish.

Afterwards, you notice that the cub seems very jumpy. That horseradish really does seem to give a kick, at least to this creature! It's kinda like it's on a caffeine drip or something. He spars with you, and enjoys the training. It's not easy to fight when you have wings.

Think of him (in appearance) as Battle Cat from the old He-Man cartoons. The cub speaks in a mixture of growls and broken English.

@Everyone else: Please make Perception checks.

random: 1d100 ⇒ 73

Shi'Vatha shakes his head. "You can have some more after your training is done. I only have a small amount. If we eat it all now, we won't have any tomorrow." Never too young to start training in discipline. "Now, wings can get in the way." He points to his own small wings, which are decoration at this point, much like the cub's wings. "Now, it's important to keep them tight to the back when not in use. They are fragile and a target for enemies. Once you can fly, any damage to them will remove that ability, so you want to protect them."

Shi'Vatha will speak slowly and go back over anything the cub doesn't understand, helping him with his common.

Um, there's a crowd of angry bees coming towards you!! NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEEEEEESSSS!!

WTF?

Just seeing if anyone else was awake this morning. No one's rolled a Perception check. Sorry, Shi', just feeling very snarky this morning. I blame it on the bees :P

I'm awake, more or less. I was just going to watch the bees chase Shi'vatha around for a while.

Well, we could do that...:p

Shi'Vatha chomps on horseradish and breaths at the bees.

You knock out a 5' square of the swarm. The rest are falling back on their secondary positions, stingers poised to strike.

Sorry. For some reason I thought I had posted my perception roll.
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Shi'Vatha tosses more horseradish to the cub, and lets the cub breath on the other half.

LOL Those bees are dead. But I think the cub ate too much, he's looking a little green.

Nothing seems to happen the first afternoon. As night falls, you'll likely need to setup a watch to keep an eye out for anyone. Let me know the watch order.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
For us spellcasters, without at least 8 hours we can't refresh our spells in the morning. Not a bad thing if we haven't cast any, but still.

Shi'Vatha takes all the watches. :) I honestly think we can have pretty much 2-3 people awake all the time. Note that those spellcasters who don't need sleep only need rest to regain spells. So you can still sit still and be alert without moving around. Still more likely to notice something than someone asleep.

My house rule has been that, if you haven't cast any spells from the previous day, then you don't need to kill 8 hours reading the books (or praying, depending on spell source) all over again. In one previous campaign, way back in the 3.0 days, I had one situation where my wizard hadn't cast any spells for almost a week. In that case, I ruled that he would have to do the 8 hours, but only because he would start to forget some of the spells that were going unused. It was ad-hoc as hell, but it worked. So the same applies here.

I'm going to fast forward this a bit, to the good part...

On the first night, there is nothing of interest. You do notice that the manticore left little food behind for his cub. You don't know if this was to test his cub in hunting, or if he expected you guys to do it. By morning, the viable food is gone, and the cub's stomach is audibly growling. What do you guys want to do?

We'll handle this situation first, then we'll move on to the evening.

Realizing lack of food is becoming a problem, Felicity addresses Glornug, You are the hunter among us, would mind finding suitable food for the young manticore. Additional food for the rest of us would also be appreciated.

DMPC Glornug: Glornug notices that the food supply is running low and heads off to try to hunt down some deer or maybe a goat. Several hours pass in which he does not return. The cub is willing to eat some of the trail rations, but does not particularly care for the taste of cooked and dried meats.

It is about an hour before sundown and you can hear some noises coming from nearby.

Everyone roll Perception, please.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22

Regardless of what, if anything, Shi'Vatha hears, he takes the opportunity to make it a lesson for the cub. He carefully moves as quietly as possible, showing the cub how to move his feet to make as little noise as possible, and uses his hands to point how/where to move and to look and pay attention.

Stealth: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

From the mouth of the cave, Felicity patiently stands watch, remaining alert for Glornug's return.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Echane sits just inside the cave, watching and listening to the world. It had been a few days since she'd last done this, and found it relaxing.

Selene flits from shadow to shadow, blening in with the background as she explores the cavern, pausing only to look at the manticore cub and its fledgling natural weapons.
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Perception, Manticore: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (20) + 16 = 36

Stealth, Manticore: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Given the distances involved, only the manticore notices the following and then points it out to Shi'Vatha:

Shi'Vatha nods. "You will stay here." He admonishes the manticore cub firmly. He then stealthily moves to the other three in the cave. "There are humans outside, coming up the path. Torches and pitchforks. I see two ways to deal with this. One, I can sneak out and intercept them outside the cave and send or lead them off. You would then guard the cub and do not let it's courage out weigh it's survival instinct." Shi'Vatha twitches his left ear for this plan, as he whispers it. "Two, one or more of you go to talk to them, and send them home. While the rest stay and guard the cub. I do not think any of you can sneak from the cave without them noticing, however, I am not the most nuanced with humans, so both plans have drawbacks and strengths." He then twitches his right ear for the second plan before returning to the cub to make sure it doesn't try to sneak out.

Remaining in the came, Felicity considers the current situation, We could remain hidden for now, but if attacked we should attempt to run. There should be no unnecessary deaths. Killing the villagers would be as incorrect as allowing our charge to be killed.

Listening from near the cub, Shi nods, and whispers back. "I agree. If I went, I had intended on following them and then distracting them if they looked likely to head to the cave. A few well thrown pine cones and some laughing would likely make them chase me. And I'm good at hide and seek." He chuckles, his tongue sticking out comicly.

"It is likely that man has finally worked up the courage to come here for his revenge and likely has convinced others to join him. If you talk to them, mention that we have already been here, the Manticore is gone, and we plan on staking this place out for a time to be sure it does not return," she says. "I doubt they would wish to wait around with us rather than tend their crops, so they will leave the matter with us."

** spoiler omitted **

I'm fine with that. I just wanted to clarify a point about the situation, that I wasn't sure was made earlier. No worries.