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Alarien is a lightly-tanned, athletic young elf with platinum hair she wears to shoulder-length. Her eyes, pools of deep blue sans any white, give her a fey, almost alien beauty. Unarmored, she wears a red silken blouse and black pants, and leather boots--her only weapons seem to be a shortbow, a dagger, and a well cared-for elven curve blade that she devotes entirely too much attention to. She is quiet throughout the trip, though she does engage in conversation when others speak to her.
Content to eat her trail rations for the night, her pointed elven ears twitch when she picks up wolves' howls. She frowns, and is ready when the wolves arrive, her hand on her blade. A rasp of steel on leather, and her sword clears its scabbard; she eyes the wolf warily, ready to defend herself if attacked.
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Alessio is a consistently fussy fox-person who stands a mere 5ft tall. Furry arms poking out of his leather armor surrounded by pouches and bags of all sorts. He spent the evening enjoying the fresh venison as he positively abhors the trail rations unless absolutely necessary. His longspear leans against a tree near his blanket.
He stands quickly at the sight of the wolf. Sensing imminent danger he elects to fling a bomb at the closing threat.
Alessio's thrown flask hits as wolf 3 fails to dodge it.
The wolf (wolf 1) sniffs the air as it moves toward the camp fire. It bears its teeth as it moves into the camp.
Round 1 - Bold may Act
Wolf 3 (-9)
Alessio
Alarien
Wolf 1
Barred
Geirahöð
Jerrid
Qarma
Wolf 2
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Qarma had been nibbling on what looked like rather hard and stale trail rations, but had spent more time taking swigs out of a flask she fished from some pocket somewhere than she had eating. Occasionally she shakes her chin-length red hair off her face, her eyes following various sounds in the woods, though her body seems to stay relaxed. When the wolves appear, however, she moves into a bit of a crouch, flask set aside and right hand reaching for a blade at her belt.
The wolves fall upon the deer haunch and drag it off into the woods.
The rest of the night passes uneventfully and you awake the following day to the sun glinting through the trees. After breaking camp you continue your trek through the Fangwood. As mid morning approaches the trees begin to thin, revealing a field of short, green grass that leads to the shores of a wide, calm lake reflecting the overcast sky above. A dense fog hangs over the center of the lake, obscuring the far side. Near the shore of the lake, a dark form lies next to the water. Closer investigation of the dark figure reveals it to be a human. There are huge bite marks all over the upper torso.
Everyone except Alarien sees a glint in the sand near the body that turns out to be a very well made short sword and a pouch of coins. The
coins look newly minted from the capital city of Tamran; they bear the likeness of Forest Marshal Gavirk, nominal leader of Nirmathas.
About half a mile east along the shores of the lake you see an old campsite.
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Once they find the body Barred just shakes his head mumbling about it being a bad way to die. He examines the sword but shrugs think his silver shortsword may be more useful some day.
Walking with the others Barred is happy to have some other Pathfinders with him. He talks a bit, getting what little bits of background he can on the walk. When the reach the campsite kneels, examining tracks and the old fire pit.
"From the looks of this place it has been abandoned for some time. At least a couple of months I think. The firepit has seen a fair bit of weather I would think."
The path eventually leaves the Grey Lake behind and the land rises steadily. The trees in this part of the forest are very old and quite gnarled. The trail leads ever deeper into the Fangwood, through a twisting maze of trees and confusing ravines. As it tops a small rise, a broad valley spreads out before it, the opposite side of which looks like a writhing serpent. Yet between the two lies a steep hill sloping down into the valley. A cold rain starts to fall, making the ground slick and treacherous. The map you were given shows the Crypt of the Everflame at the bottom of this gorge, which is marked Serpent’s Gorge on the map that was given to your party.
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Alarien notes the presence of the dead body and the abandoned campsite wordlessly. As the party arrives at the top of the steep hill, she moves to whoever has the map and takes a look at it over their shoulder. "That is our destination?" she asks, looking up from the map to the gorge. She looks back down again at the map, searching it for where the town of Kassen is in relation to the gorge. After locating it, she begins her descent down the slope.
As Alarien begins her descent she makes a mis-step and slides down the slope about a third of the way. There is good news and bad news in this. She is closer to the bottom, and that is good. The bad news is that she slides through a thicket and is scratched by the thorny branches then lands on a rock sustaining scratches and bruises.
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Jerrid examines the body with the others, but doesn't provide any more information that would be useful. He does take up the finely crafted short sword and pouch of coin for the group's treasure collection. He'll hand the sword over to anyone that wants to use it.
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When it starts to rain, Jerrid puts the hood up on his traveler's cloak to help alleviate some of the cold. Looking down the slope though, he realizes he will get real muddy most likely.
Barred manages to slowly make his way down the slope with the use of a knotted rope. He manages to make it without incident.
Jerrid also makes it down the slope without any issues.
Geirahöð joins the others at the bottom of the slope.
Alessio begins his descent, but missteps very early, and quite badly. He slides all the way to the bottom of the ravine. Along the way he runs through the same thicket as Alarien, strikes several rocks and lands awkwardly at the bottom spraining his ankle.
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Alarien loses her footing as she begins her descent, and though she manages to plow through a thicket, she is able to regain her footing before any further mishap befalls her. Gritting her teeth, she looks back up toward the others and calls, "Mind that first step!"--just in time to catch sight of Alessio's even-worse fall.
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Qarma can be observed noting landmarks and points of interest, at least mentally if not on paper, as they go, her eyes always shifting to take in more of their surroundings. She says little to the group, though she is not unkind. Every once in a while she takes another sip from her hip flask. Upon reaching the slope Qarma sees the careful use of a rope but elects to take quick steps forward, trusting she will stay on her feet.
Qarma makes it safely to teh bottom, and the group is together there. You take a second to look around.
An archway of stone is set into the side of a small hill at the bottom of the valley. Moss has overgrown many of the details, but one is still quite clear. The keystone of the arch is carved
with a flame symbol with a stylized rune in the middle. Beyond the archway is a darkened tunnel that leads to a pair of massive wooden doors, one of which is slightly ajar. A pair of horses and a trio of ponies lie slaughtered next to the archway, each corpse still tied to a post set into the ground nearby. A swarm of flies hangs lazily in the air above them.
A group of 5 people from the village came up here 3 days ago to prepare for your arrival. Their task was to enter the crypt and prepare it for you by disarming traps etc. These must be their horses and ponies.
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Jerrid investigates the gruesome scene. "It looks like they might have been ambushed. One of the saddle bags still has stuff inside."
Jerrid pulls out the 2 days' worth of rations and 2 pints of lamp oil to put in his own backpack. "They might be useful later. There are also someone arrows in here if any of you can use them."
Jerrid then goes to investigate the horses and spots human bones beneath one. "Some bones here. Maybe they can give a clue."
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Alarien swats at the cloud of flies over the beasts of burden, attempting to disperse the noxious cloud. "This is a bad sign," she notes, allowing Jarrid the 'honor' of getting his hands dirty inspecting the corpses.
When Barred hands her the wand, she looks at it, then at him, then back. Taking the wand, she says, "I'm not sure I will be much better. But I will try." The swordmaiden notes the wand's command word, then attempts to will it to work on Alessio.
After multiple attempts, she frowns in pique and looks back to Barred. "I think you may be better off trying it. I'm not getting anywhere, here."
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Jerrid looks at the skeleton. "That is real old and looks to have been trampled by the horse. I suspect it might have been an undead. That would explain why the horses were slaughtered like this."
He gets up from his inspection and looks at the door. "Well. We might as well get this over with and head in."
Jerrid moves to the doors and attempts to push them open. However the strain of moving the horse's corpse might have temporarily drained him of strength.
Jerrid and Qarma put their shoulders to the door. They do not quite have the strength to shift it between the two of them.
The combined efforts of the party (some contributing more than others, but who's watching) manage to push the door open.
As the heavy doors swing open, the faint light from outside reveals a long chamber with risen platforms on either side. A faded painting of Kassen is on the far wall. The room appears to be the site of a gruesome battle, with two bodies piled in the center and a number of skeletons scattered around. An echoing wail can be heard somewhere in the distance, beyond this foul chamber.
Geirahöð and Jerrid can barely see in darkness. It is only the light coming through the doorway that allows them to make out the vague features of the room while Alessio, Alarien and Qarma see a little better than their human counterparts, but Barred can see just fine in the darkness of the crypt.
There are two packs against a wall. One pack contains a large pillow and two quivers (each containing 10 blunted arrows). The other pack has 2 days’ worth of rations, a full waterskin,
and a pair of smokesticks.
There is also 8 piles of bones here. Two seem to be smashed, but the other 6 seem to be just piles of bones with no substantial damage.