Rise of the Rune Lords (Inactive)

Game Master fatmanspencer

Rigel just shrugged as the others took a look at the various tracks all around, wondering what kind of strange person broke into a tomb while goblins were causing havoc and put a couple animated skeletons there to harry any who came after. Hopefully they'd find out soon enough. Curious, he hurried after the others if and when they picked out something and decided to follow it.

Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Runt starts following the tracks inside to see what they did while they were inside.

As you all gather around and look, the prints seemed to have disappeared to all but Runt. Runt realizes that while you killed a few goblins here, there was at least two humanoids with them, and they left heavier than they came in, along with 3 of the goblins. You swear by the pattern and direction, they are going towards the Sandpoint Glass works, but due to the festival taking place near by, you lose track in the muck and other debris as the tracks lead you to the main road. Whoever was in the crypt, if they where not those skeletons, was carried out. You did notice before going off that no other body was missing, and one would almost swear the skeletons Ansleys fought would had to have been carried in, since there are no prints for them outside of in the crypt, and even then they are not nearby any empty wall slot

Syeira shivers and wraps her arms around herself. "That's beyond disturbing. Who carries skeletons with them? And why steal a body?"

"Goblins!," Runt exclaims as he points at some scratch marks in the stone. How he recognizes them as goblin tracks is beyond you.

"And friends. Went that way with something heavy."

If you want more info out of her than that you will need to ask her questions. You may have noticed she doesn't talk much.

I do hope we catch up with them. I'll bet these fellows would not mind denting a few goblin heads, foul creatures. I'm sorry Lamashtu, I know I should be accepting of all monstrosities, but I hate them. But I also know that you encourage us to fight amongst ourselves to prove who is stronger, so please forgive me and help me slay them.

Rigel shook his head, perplexed. Who would try to add skeletons to a crypt and creep off with something heavy (obviously the body)? Seemed rather strange, to the actor. The bard watched Runt with curiosity and amusement as she looked about and pointed at some marks she announced as goblin tracks. Then he shrugged...he hadn't found a single thing, so it was something to go on, at any rate.

Then Rigel's eyes narrowed as he picked up on something the diminutive woman said. "Friends? What friends?" He glanced at both of the other women, as well, hoping they could shed some more light on the situation.

Responding to Syeira Ansley shakes her head and sighs.

"You would be amazed what people will do if given a chance. In some ways carrying a skeleton is on the harmless side of things that I use to see."

When Runt speaks up she gets Ansleys full attention.

"Well done, working that out. Guess we will need to follow up on where they head too."

Syeira shakes her head at Rigel's look. "I don't know what friends. Maybe another bugbear?" She directs her next question to Runt. "Do you know what manner of creature left the heavy tracks?"

Runt would be able to tell the tracks that was carrying the heavy load was split between two different boot prints, up until the disappeared. They could have been loaded into a wagon at that point, or the tracks covered in the rush and battles of the previous day. The only other hint Runt gets from the tracks is that they occurred BEFORE the attack, but not by much. Maybe a few hours?

Runt looks around when the get to the end of the tracks
"Gone"

"Maybe you ask around? Here... before bugbear."

Runt suggests asking around with evident distaste.

"Or just keep going that way"

It's obvious what she prefers.

Rigel looked to the other women, then shrugged. "I dunno, Runt...you're the tracker, here. Why don't you just lead us on and we'll see what happens?" The actor pulled out a dart, just in case. Hopefully the goblins and their friends were long gone, but you never knew for sure.

"OK. Follow!"

Runt keeps marching in the original direction of travel, hoping to pick up the tracks again. She will keep going for another 15 minutes. And if that does not produce any results... well, I'll RP that if that occurs.

Syeira simply nods in agreement with Rigel, the thought of the encounter with bugbear still fresh in her mind. As she sees Rigel ready a dart, she pulls out her crossbow just to be safe.

Ansley falls in beside Runt.

"You are full of surprises, lead on."

If no one else wants to add anything I'mma move ya'll on tomorrow night

I'd like to see the results of their attempt to follow the direction of travel first, then I plan to have the group do some gather information to see if anyone spotted them getting into a coach or something on the road if that does not pan out. But you need to respond ot my previous post before I can make another one.

As Runt and company plow through the path, they do intact pick the trail back up. It leads out the city, going from what you can tell into the forest surrounding the town. However, Runts sharp eye also notes the prints are now less heavy, and fewer in number. You can't tell where the split happened, as the muddy path disrupted that, but you notice tracks to different paths in the city, some down to the market, others to the town hall, even the dock and the glassworks.

*grunt*

Runt scratches her head with her grunt.

"Split up here. That way, that way, and that way."

But Runt is really most interested in the goblin prints and, perhaps, the curious cloven hooves. Can she continue to track the tracks of the one with the largest cloven hooves?

After squatting to look at the tracks Runt has pointed out Ansley grunts as she stands up.

"If they are heading to different areas I guess we should check each of them. The market we have already covered in the attack I would think. Town Hall, I would think goblins would have been noticed by now. Docks and glassworks I cannot speak to really."

Looking at the others with a shrug.

"Any other ideas? Not really sure what we are looking for I guess."

Syeira tries to see what the small human sees but can't make heads or tails and just shrugs her shoulders at Ansley's question. "Your guess is as good as mine. Earlier the tracks pointed to the glassworks. Perhaps we check there first?"

Rigel shrugged. Tracking things in the wilderness was not an expertise of his, and the small woman seemed adept enough at it. "The Glassworks sounds good enough to me. Shouldn't it be open right now? I guess the workers would know if a few goblins were rucking amok, right?" He smirked, thinking this was probably going to be a dead end.

I'm confused on the hoof part, but the tracks to the wilderness and the glassworks and docks all seem the same age, as if the groups broke up, or was forced to break up. You can also ask some of the other adventure parties to check other areas, but you may miss out if you do so on gold and items.

OK. Where did I get the hoof thing from? I could have sword it was from this game but evidently not. Scratch the whole hoof thing. Looks like we head on towards the glass works.

Alright, I'll get ya'll along today or tomorrow. Was the site down for anyone else the last few days?

For about half a day.

All yesterday it was down for me.

"Rigel probably has the right of it. Lets see if we can get some of the others around to check the dock. I assume the market and town hall would be readily apparent if trouble."

Rigel nodded at Ansley's words, a bit smug that she agreed with his wise assessment. Not that it had taken much brainpower of his to come up with it...I mean, a business in town was probably not a haven for goblins, and it wasn't in the wilderness, meaning the group could quickly get back to their goings-on in town when the circus of goblin-chasing ended.

Since I'm not sure if anyone is ready to move either to the glassworks or what, I'm going to say glassworks is where ya'll are collective moving.

On the way to the glassworks, you do bypass other people, milling about as they set up stalls or are just about their daily business. This starts to disappear however once you get closer to the glassworks, until finally you are on the approach to it. The forboding building has for sure seen better days, and possibly worse. For now however, you can tell the tracts still head straight towards the front door, with the windows shuttered, and the furances down.

"More tracks." Runt points to the ground where you see feet prints that do not seem any different to you, but impress Runt.

"There." She now points at the front door but seems reluctant to lead the way in.

As the dwarf (human dwarf, not dwarf dwarf) led the group to the Glassworks, Rigel let out a low whistle. It was a pretty remarkable building for a relatively small town. What a steal Sandpoint had made in getting the proprietor to set up shop here. As Runt pointed to the front door, the actor shrugged and stepped forward, knocking on the door firmly.

"Well it does look as though this is the place, or at least a place, we should be looking. Lets see if anyone answers."

Syeira cringes a bit as Rigel knocks on the door. "We don't know who or what could be in there." Outwardly, she stands back a bit and readies her crossbow.

"Hopefully whoever or whatever answers is friendly... but based on last night, I wouldn't be too sure..."

As brave Rigel knocks on the door, you hear skittering and low noises, as if there are oversize rodents in the area. However, nothing jumps out and attacks you, but you do notice the door is barred, and doesn't seem to budge. It could just simply be locked, but you feel if anything alive was in the first few rooms, they know you are here now.

Are there any windows to look in?

Sorry abotu the delay, lost the forum at work. However, to answer your qeustion, there are windows to look in, if you choose to.

Runt goes up to a window, jumps up and down, and tries to get a view into the place.

As Runt jumps up and down, she notices that for a business that is closed for the time being, the red glow from the forges are suspiciously bright, since all the workers are at the festival. You recall overhearing some of them say how odd it was that the old man who owned the place gave them the time off, since he normally did not slack off nor tolerate those that did.
Additionally, Runt is surprised by how grimy the windows are, as on a few more hops up she realizes all she can make out is the glow from the forges.

Runt gets a little frustrated and finally asks for help.

"Let's go in one of the windows. Can one of you see if we can open one?"

Ansley looks up at the window and shakes her head.

"Little chance of me getting in that way I think. Get on my shoulders and you can open it."

Ansley drops to one knee in front of the window clearly thinking this is a normal thing.

Rigel frowned as the two short women look to be about to bust in a window, but he can't fault their logic. The actor looked about to make sure there was no one nearby. He wasn't sure how well-known these three were around town, but he knew he was a strange face around here, and strange faces breaking and entering usually meant trouble of some sort. Rigel does manage to be a bit amused at the former guard captain helping in this endeavor, but it just was that kind of day.

Runt climbs aboard after a suspicious pause, but only a slight one. Typically problems occurred when she was the one on the bottom. Should be safe enough, she thinks.

Once balanced on top of the sturdy dwarf she tries to pry open the window with her falchion. without breaking it.

Syeira can't help but giggle at the absurdity of the scene. A small human standing on the shoulders of a dwarf trying to pry open a window. All they need is a normal sized cloak around Runt and it would be like one of those farces she saw back home.

She then whispers to Rigel with smirk, "I'm sure there will be a great epic play written about this that you can star in"

Make a check to do it to see if the window breaks or not. lets call it a... dex check.

dex check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

Try as Runt might, a loud popping and shattering sound breaks through the area. You arent completely sure, but you know that if anything was paying attention to your entry into the building, it certainly knew the location and method you used to enter.

"Ooops. Well, nothing for it now but to dive in."

Which is exactly what she does, leaping from the dwarf's shoulders into the building. If the door is nearby she will rush over to open it.

As Runt dives into the building, Syeira's demeanor switches from playful to serious. One of their own could be in danger now. "Their own? When did she start thinking of this group as more than just a bunch of strangers?"

She moves closer to the door and readies her crossbow, listening to anything that might sound like Runt is in trouble.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

"Did she dive in? Ughhhhh."

Ansley looks around at the others.

"Door?!"

She moves quickly towards the door to go in that way.

Rigel shared a wicked grin with Syeira, not exactly sure he's ready for the live-action version of the play she suggested. But ready or not, it seemed, action was needed as the small woman crashed through the window. Breaking and entering wasn't exactly what he had in mind, but it did seem odd that there was no one about at this time of day.

The actor sighed and rushed off with Ansley the short distance to the door, hoping he won't be asked to break it down and show that what muscle he had was mainly for fluff. One had to look good on stage, after all.

You hear excited goblin chatter, and Runt sees them staring back at her. All three of the little monsters. You can tell they where unaware of your presence until you dropped right in front of them, and now you have all their undivided attention. What do you do?