It's near dusk. The trip took most of the day.
As everyone is discussing what to do and get in preparation for the trip Dash opens his trunk and pulls out some essentials, which he packs into his bag. "Alright, I'm ready," he says with a bit of self-satisfaction at his somewhat paranoid level of preparation before such a situation arises.
When the group enters the abandoned town Dash starts looking around, and at Circe's question he stops scanning to think for a moment.
"I've never really been out to this area Circe and I've got no idea what made people leave."
Al took a look around the desolate place. "Is this the place the map told us to go, or do we have to explore the town a bit?" He got off of his horse and did some stretching.
Circe consults the paper where she wrote down what the blank said.
There isn't an X marks the spot on the map. It just points to the general area.
You see nothing of note other than a small settlement that has been abandoned from this range.
"Mind if we wait till its a bit darker? My senses are a bit enhanced at night."
Circe shrugs. "I can see in the dark so it doesn't make much of a difference to me. We may as well eat a late dinner now anyway. We don't want a growling tummy to give away our position while we are sneaking about."
You can wait as long as you like.
"So...abandoned town in the middle of an overgrown forest... I'm feeling a bit vulnerable here and by a bit, I mean a lot. The coming night isn't helping either. Honestly, this was really NOT a good idea."
Hemlock seems genuinely worried and fingers the small clay bombs hanging from his belt absentmindedly.
"We should either head back to more civilized digs to camp which I would prefer, THEN come back here in the daylight, or while we still have some light lets find one of these places that ISN'T a murder shack and hold up."
Scanning around Hemlock is trying to take in every corner and dark shadow in the abandoned town.
<---KICKIN, Hemlock is really unnerved!
Muttering to himself, "This is so an ambush...why? I don't know but it just is..."
Dropping his satchel, Hemlock begins to pull out several small vials and proceeds to mix up a really complicated elixir, the smells and sounds from them curious and a bit unpleasant. After an short time, he stoppers two vials and sits back much more at ease.
"Ok. I'm good to go."
Dash walks up to Hemlock as he is about to down his potion and claps him on the back. "Don't worry so much Hemlock, we'll be fine. I mean sure, we have no idea who brought us here or what they want, but nightfall is coming. Remember, the shadows exist to hide and protect us," Dash says cheerfully, with the tone of a proverb. He then looks at his friends and looks down a bit sheepishly as if he forgot who he was talking to. As he looks back up he says, "Then again, maybe Circe and I should just keep watch tonight."
"Thanks Dash." Hemlock hangs the elixirs he just made on his belt and stands up, slinging his satchel over his shoulder, "I'm not so worried about the dark so much as the things which like to hang about IN the dark. Also this is the woods, wild, uncivilized, DESPITE these buildings. All manner of things live in ruined cities. At least in town you get thieves and the occasional necromancer and his undead minions. No owlbears, giant spiders, trolls." Hemlock laughs to break the tension.
"Anyways I'm ready to go now and explore before it gets too dark."
"Eewww. I hope we don't see any giant spiders." Circe makes a little frowny face at the thought of any spiders, giant or otherwise.
Circe had made sure to sit a safe distance away from Hemlock while he was mixing stuff up. She also sat upwind so as not to smell his vile concoctions while she was munching on some dried fruit and a piece of cheese.
It's dusk, so it's getting dark even as you're talking.
"I think we should not waste time if we can help it. A town is much more interesting to search than a field. We might not be done searching by the time it gets dark, so all can be happy." He sticks a loaf of bread to hang out of his mouth and saunters off toward the abandoned buildings.
"I think we should not waste time if we can help it. A town is much more interesting to search than a field. We might not be done searching by the time it gets dark, so all can be happy." He sticks a loaf of bread to hang out of his mouth and saunters off toward the abandoned buildings.
At this range you see nothing interesting and no signs of life.
Hemlock will follow behind Alabaster and as we get close to the houses, he'll drink his Detect Undead potion, extending it, and begin to scan the area.
"Should we call out? Let whoever or whatever is here know we are coming? I mean....supposedly they ARE expecting us."
Hemlock hooks the empty elixir to his belt in preparation to be used again, in the process stumbling slightly over a tree root.
"Well, if someone is expecting us, then they likely know that we are here already. I'd rather not start shouting out until we know what might be lurking about."
Circe takes Rae out from where she'd been sleeping under her cloak and asks her to fly around a bit and look for any people.
"Good idea, Circe. Also, let us check out some of the buildings as well, as there might be clues within."
"Well, if there was some kind of crisis here to cause the town to be abandoned, perhaps people would have congregated in the town's temple? That might be the best building to find and search through first."
Circe looks about for any temple/church looking builing.
Nodding in agreement with Circe,"Less likely to be inhabited by the undead too if the grounds are still consecrated. Just an observation."
Akdyi begins to look around, his two different colored eyes twinkling in the coming night as if starry light were contained therein. "If you start shouting and give us away, I'm leaving.
"That is a very good point Hemmy and makes it sound like a great place to camp at if we can find it. That way there's less of a worry of any undead little nasties living there."
"I wasn't ACTUALLY considering yelling, but if we found a good defensible position, and set up a good ambush spot, it might bring...'things' running, not that there are any 'things' here. Maybe a bear or two. I'd hope that our contact would want to meet us and would already know we were here though."
Hemlock looks around expectantly,"But apparently not."
"The message never said anything about a contact meeting us here. Just that we could find answers here. That could mean physical evidence of a past occurrence that we would have to be smart enough to realize what it meant, maybe someone's journal that has been left here or perhaps this is where the mysterious animator of skinless maids got his start?"
"Frankly, it is a bit insulting that you think only scary things live in the dark Hemmick. It is only MOSTLY scary things living in the dark," Dash says sarcastically. "But Circe's idea is a solid one. Why haven't we scanned anything here for traces of magic?"
Spellcraft:
"Good idea, Circe. Also, let us check out some of the buildings as well, as there might be clues within."
This really is a little hamlet of a town. You see a few shops along main street (maybe 10), a town hall with a bell at the far end, and a temple whose marking appear to be missing.
As you all get closer you notice that this place is very deserted. There are scraggly plants growing up the side of the buildings, windows are broken, several doors and windows hang half ajar or fallen completely and move only when the wind pushes them.
"Well, if there was some kind of crisis here to cause the town to be abandoned, perhaps people would have congregated in the town's temple? That might be the best building to find and search through first."
Circe looks about for any temple/church looking builing.
You see what's probably a temple at the opposite end of the street from town hall.
No one finds magic traces anywhere, including the temple as you get within 60'. After being in the Academy so long the place is actually Creepily devoid of magic. Or sound.
Only whate I already revealed. Thus far it's just an abandoned town.
You're all paranoid for some reason. What's up with that?
Not paranoid, I just rolled stupid high, much more so than any other PC. Figured I might have found something nobody else did.
Not paranoid, I just rolled stupid high, much more so than any other PC. Figured I might have found something nobody else did.
There isn't always something to find. :-). Try checking inside the buildings.
I'll reward a good roll though.
You notice the there are a few sparse footprints. Mostly destroyed by weather. However, if this place is truly deserted there wouldn't be any prints at all. It's weird really.
"Well, that looks like it used to be some kind of temple. Let's check around the outside and then go on in and look about. Shall we think about spending the rest of the night inside it? I don't know how well I'll be able to sleep in this town, but it's been a long day of riding and I don't think I can stay up all night."
"I would only object if it seems like it is a temple to some evil god or demon lord. I am sure we would be better off outdoors. Either way, I can sleep and so someone can wake me for second or third watch."
"We should probably check all the buildings as we make our way down to the temple. If there IS anyone here intending to do us harm, I'd rather not be surrounded. And yes, I am being paranoid. "
Hemlock will wander up to the nearest building, fingering a bomb on his belt ready to load it and toss. He'll peek into windows and doorways to see if anything is lying in wait muttering to himself,"Probably cultists in every shadow....gonna wind up without my skin for sure...."
If the inside looks unoccupied he'll enter the first building and look around for signs of why the place was abandoned.
"Even if we check all the buildings on the way to the temple, what about all those building on the other side of it that we aren't checking? I'd still rather do a thorough search of the temple first and then spiral out from there in the morning searching the rest in daylight. I'd rather we not miss any clues in the dark."
Without looking back at the rest, "Just checking this one out. Maybe we can get an idea of what happened here."
Al walks over to the hut Hemlock is in. "It would not hurt to try out one building, but you should not go in alone." He peeks in the doorway in the fading light and takes a scan around the room while Hemlock does more thorough searching.
Alabaster looks into what probably used to be a modest inn. Everything is old and covered in dust and cobwebs. Chairs and tables are randomly knocked over. Many bottles are broken, but not all. The floor is pretty old. It looks like it has it's fair share of termite holes. Something happened here, but it's hard to say what. You had a barfight once that messed up a place about this bad. Maybe that was it. Maybe not.
Hemlock looks into what was probably the general store at one point. You see shovels and other farming hand farming implements. Some sacks and boxes of what are probably some sort of food staples. Maybe flour and such. A few rows of shelves with various sundries. It looks like no one has been here in a long time. The whole place is covered with dust and much of the wood looks rotten.
Hemlock sighs gratefully, as it looks as if there are no cultists or skinless horrors waiting inside the building,"Just a general goods store. Looks like it's been a long time since this place has seen any customers but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. Just abandoned. Although, they left all their goods when they left. Must've left in a hurry."
"If we are goign to the temple, I'm good with that plan. Let's head there before if gets any later. Hemlock will leave the ruined bulding and rejoin the rest of the crowd.
Aky summons a swirling cloak of starry light that surrounds him like armor.
He then walks up to the temple, cautiously, peering about.
Aky sees nothing out of the ordinary from the outside. It's actually sealed up quite well, though the door is dilapidated with age.
So the group determines that the temple would be easily fortified and held up in. Dash jimmies the front door. Sturdy, but disused with age. It actually needs a little grease to get moving. Luckily ha had a bit for just this occurrence. Al steps up and cracks the door peering in. Deciding it's safe enough he pulls the door all the way. The stone structure is effectively one large room with apulpit on one side and a few pews. The front door is solid oak and there is a small back door of similar build, though much smaller. The roof is older with a few streams of light peeking through. There are a few tall narrow windows each at least ten feet off the ground and peaking at the roof line. They all depict various religious scenes.
The tattooed seer peers around inside, looking for anything out of place.
The tattooed seer peers around inside, looking for anything out of place.
Given the general disarray of the place you would say that it was ransacked at some point. Out of the corner of your eye you see a dark stain almost hidden by an overturned pew. You shift the pew for a better look and you realize you know what it is. A bloodstain.