Rynjin |
For whatever reason, greed, curiosity, a lust for adventure, or something more, the three of you have decided to travel to the Devil's Gorge.
It is a barren, unforgiving expanse of sand, red rock, and sparse shrubbery. Only the caves dotting the hillsides provide respite from the heat, and other, fouler things lurk within them.
Ugash and Dorla arrive by train in a small mining village, Pyre Rock, the last stop on the Red Line. It was once a boom town, the frontier of a new wave of expansion into these hellish wastes, the land positively full to bursting with iron, gold, crystal and initial surveys even showed signs of adamantine and mithral buried deep under the ground.
But it quickly became clear that any concerted mining effort here was impractical. The almost unnatural heat and dryness was bad enough, but the deadly creatures lurking in the caves and roaming the wastes hunting for food (and where life is scarce, anything that walks on two legs or four, or even more is edible) made the whole project a bust.
The only ones who remain are the miners too poor to relocate again, the ones too desperate for any break to leave, outlaws...and people like you, who go where no one else dares to recover treasures none are brave or skilled enough to retrieve.
Ugash and Dorla only take one glance to see all there is to see in Pyre Rock. The village (and even that is generous) consists of a saloon with a sign proudly proclaiming "The Only Beer in Town!", and a number of small ramshackle sheds that probably serve as the home of the people who live here.
Parked out front of the saloon is a Thunder Cycle, a surprising indication that the two of you may not be the only treasure hunters here.
Dorla |
Dorla sees the Thunder Cycle, and realizes it belongs to her travelling companion Thetsu. They had separated for the last leg of this journey, agreeing to meet up here. She goes into the saloon, looking for Thetsu. Just before she enters, she reminds her clockwork familiar, Churrup, to be quiet and stay out of trouble here.
Rynjin |
You're here specifically looking for a lost magic artifact (of unknown shape, size, or function) that's rumored to be in a cave the locals call "The Den of Old Bones". Many people have tried to go in, but none have come back out. Whatever it is that lurks in the cave is deadly, but tends not to venture outside.
Thetsu |
Thetsu had split off from Dorla on a whim to check an old location his Master once frequented. Expecting nothing and getting nothing, Thetsu moved on with a shrug, further determined in his course of actions up to this point. He leapt upon his Thundercycle and headed for the rendezvous point.
Ahhh, I dunno what I was thinkin comin here. Shoulda just stuck with Dorla.
Later when Thetsu arrived at the saloon, he plopped down at the counter.
"Hey Barkeep! A cold one and a couple questions for ya if you don't mind."
"Knowin the rumors, where's this Den of Old Bones at? A couple mates and I wanna try our hand at clearin it out."
Thetsu waves at the two as they enter the saloon. He is immediately recognizable from the locals due to his strange garb.
"Dorla! Glad you got here safe and sound."
Rynjin |
"S'your funeral. Remember to pay your tab before you go." the man replies.
"The Den's up the trail a ways, 'bout twenty miles east of here. Guess I should give ya the usual warnings. Nobody's ever returned from the Den alive, and any possessions you leave behind are our property 'n all that. I'd appreciate it if'n you left us some valuable. Little charity might buy you a better seat in the great beyond."
Rynjin |
"It's hot as f##$ing balls out there, so we get a few who die of heat stroke every year before they even get there. Sometimes skags attack travelers on the trail too. It's a pretty well marked trail though. Dozens die goin' up every year so it's probably the best road around here."
It's hot enough that unless you have an Endure Elements kind of solution, you could end up being Fatigued/Exhausted and taking nonlethal damage with too much time in the sun.
Rynjin |
Not really. This is basically just Death Valley, California. Where the temperature can reach up to 130+ degrees during the day, and has an average daily temperature of about 110 degrees. Looking it up, it's 96 degrees right now...at 10 PM.
The monsters come out at night because it's too damn hot to come out during the day.
Ugash |
yeah...fahrenheit...that is totally not informative to me...lets google it...max temperature is hot, average is, well, ok. I like the idea of fighting a lot of monster in the way but perhaps we can just hurry up there and just deal with the heat damage.
Rynjin |
Well, the book uses Fahrenheit too, so nyuh. Average temperature of 110 means you're making DC 15 (+1 for each subsequent) Fort saves (with a -4 for any worn armor or heavy cothing) every 10 minutes unless you find shade and rest for a bit.
Failure means you take 1d4 nonlethal damage and are Fatigued from heatstroke until you recover that nonlethal damage. The Survival skill can give you a bonus to these saves.
The 20 mile stretch between here and there would (potentially) take you 6 hours and 40 minutes at a walk (Hustling would be faster, but trigger even more Fort saves to suffer Fatigue and nonlethal damage, potentially leading to Exhaustion before you get there), and would thus trigger a grand total of 40 saves vs Heat, though at night the save drops to once per hour, triggering only 6. Of course, that's when the monsters come out in force.
Ugash |
Well, the book uses Fahrenheit too, so nyuh. Average temperature of 110 means you're making DC 15 (+1 for each subsequent) Fort saves (with a -4 for any worn armor or heavy cothing) every 10 minutes unless you find shade and rest for a bit.
Failure means you take 1d4 nonlethal damage and are Fatigued from heatstroke until you recover that nonlethal damage. The Survival skill can give you a bonus to these saves.
The 20 mile stretch between here and there would (potentially) take you 6 hours and 40 minutes at a walk (Hustling would be faster, but trigger even more Fort saves to suffer Fatigue and nonlethal damage, potentially leading to Exhaustion before you get there), and would thus trigger a grand total of 40 saves vs Heat, though at night the save drops to once per hour, triggering only 6. Of course, that's when the monsters come out in force.
Somehow that seems exaggerated. Anyways, it seems it would be more annoying that I thought in the beginning. Is the desert windy with dunes? or more of the rocky type
Rynjin |
Not exaggerated, those are the rules for Heat and Overland Travel (30 ft. land speed = 3 miles per hour). It's more of a rocky desert, like I said before.
The bartender looks puzzled.
"Uhm, there's the outhouse I guess."
"Or I could rent you my back room for the day. I got all that needs doin' done."
Dorla |
Darla to bartender: "OK, I'll go outside. This should only take a few minutes. Thanks."
Darla to Thetsu: "I'll be back in just a few minutes."
Darla goes outside and finds a shady spot (perhaps in the shadow of a building) to make her extracts and infusions for the day. They take 1 minute each, so it won't take long.
She makes 4 extracts of endure elements, 1 of enlarge person, 3 of cure moderate wounds, 1 of cure serious wounds, and 1 of haste. She also brews a mutagen that adds to dex and lowers wisdom. Remaining elixers for day: 1 level 1, 3 level 2, and 2 level 3.
She returns to the saloon and hands Thetsu 3 bottles. "Your usual, plus endure elements," she tells him. (They are cure moderate wounds, enlarge person, and endure elements)
She looks at Ugash and says "If you're travelling with us, you can use these," and hands him two small bottles. "One will protect you from the heat, the other will heal you if you're injured." (protection from elements, cure moderate wounds)
I've still got a cure and endure elements for Lemmy's character when it shows up, I'm assuming we know someone else will travel with us
Until further notice, assume that every morning I make replacements for these if needed.
Ugash |
Not exaggerated, those are the rules for Heat and Overland Travel (30 ft. land speed = 3 miles per hour).
I mean, the rules for heat seems exaggerated, under those rules nobody could live in hot climates, but anyways
Ugash only awaits while drinking a beer, it will be a not enjoyable travel.
I wonder if mages of the past could wave a finger every minute or so and have unlimited provisions of water...
Rynjin |
Rynjin wrote:Not exaggerated, those are the rules for Heat and Overland Travel (30 ft. land speed = 3 miles per hour).I mean, the rules for heat seems exaggerated, under those rules nobody could live in hot climates, but anyways
Yeah, they could. Most places don't regularly get above 110 during the day. The other rules are a save per HOUR (not 10 minutes) and a short rest in the shade negates the need for another hour.
@Dorla: There is a well.
Thetsu |
Thetsu nods thrice.
"Ive got a good idea of where the trails at, we can take off at dawn when the last person gets here. With your potions, the heat shouldnt be a problem either." He says to Dorla before she leaves, with a slight frown at the mechanical dragonling but rolls his eyes and dismisses the gesture.
"So big man, you do any treasure hunting before this or are you usually a gunsword for hire." Thetsu says trying to strike up a conversation to pass the time.
Thetsu |
"The only thing we know is that whatevers in there is dangerous since no one has ever returned from the cave."
Thetsu |
"How did you manage to build a racist robot anyways?" Thetsu says as he takes another swig of his drink.
Dorla |
His original master was a vanaran rogue. His master used him to find traps by making him walk into them. And he also mistreated Chirrup in other ways. He's actually a lot less negative about vanara now than before we met you.
Dorla walks over to the little dragon, picks him up, and scratches his favorite spot on the back of his head.
Silly little dragon, you know Thetsu wouldn't hurt you like that.
Chirrup closes his eyes and makes a sound almost like a purr.
Rynjin |
Not unless you want to wait the weeks real-time it always takes him to come up with a character (or never, as Ambervale).
Transportation is often by vehicle, like Thetsu's Thunder Cycle. The people in this particular place are too poor to afford either vehicles or animals.
Ugash |
If the traveling and the heat condition are not a big part of the adventure, we could have a mine adventure where we recover a lost vehicle that is in the middle of a dangerous but near place, or someting
Rynjin |
That sounds cool. You could build a jeep.
Knowing the length of the journey combined with the heat is likely to be a problem, you ask around about obtaining a vehicle.
While nobody has one for sale, about a mile out of town is an old dumping ground, where the village used to deposit broken down mining equipment and other junk. For a while after the mines stopped being used, the Pyre Rock dwellers still used it for dumping all the junk nobody wanted that treasure hunters left behind as well as their refuse (making a trip once a month by cart), but about a year ago it fell into a sinkhole, and now lies a good 60 feet below the ground.
The sinkhole was connected to a cave, and since everybody knows caves are bad news around here, it was abandoned before anyone was eaten once suspicious sounds were heard coming from within.
If you could clear out the cave, get the vehicle and some spare parts out of the sinkhole, and fix it up, it would make your journey a lot easier (as well as the transportation of any loot you might find in the Den of Old Bones).
Rynjin |
How heavy are vehicles? I'm wondering if Dorla should prepare an infusion of ant haul.
Unless you think you can lift a car, that might be wise. =)
If you want a more exact answer, I'm thinking a more lightweight version of a Steam Wagon (that trades the Medium Armor for getting rid of its Ponderous quality), so it's a Huge sized vehicle, and likely weighs something on the order of 1500 lbs at a minimum when full assembled.