Aubrey's Eberron campaign. (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

"Drim's in the lands of Dol Dorn now. I'll go and dig her grave."

As his friends search the strange pavillion, Janosz drags the demon-wolf carcasses out into the glade, where he beheads them with Drim's greataxe. He then does the same thing with the four dead worgs, before cutting down some smaller trees to make stakes for the wolf heads. After that, he starts digging a deep hole for Drim's body.

Good old traditional hero's burial, with the heads of your defeated enemies keeping watch over your grave. Is there enough rocks around to make a repectable cairn? Also, when that's done, I'll skin these wolves as well, giving me six more pelts to barter or sell in Droaam. Survival/skinning check 13+11=24.

You should be OK for rocks.

Good points. Also, no shovel.

As the party members peek outside, they see an increasingly angry and flustered Janosz making a futile attempt to dig a proper grave using sticks and weapons as a shovel. "I can't belive it", he mutters to himself. "I carry enough weapons to arm a small village. I have magical oils and draughts. I wear enchanted mail. But do I have a simple digging tool?" Foiled by the hard earth, he finally just sits down, defeated and embarassed.

I can use the stakes and pelts to make a litter, which we;ll then tie her body to. If we can take down the tent, we might need a second litter for that, too.

Let's assume Trose uses his dragonmark to cast Identify on the tent.

Trose, using his innate magical ability, finds the command word to make the tent collapse onto a small bundle, easily portable in a backpack.

sweeeeeeeeet.

oh, my connictivity is in and out today; they're fixing it.
I have no shovel, but I shall say (sob) a few words, and consecrate her grave.

Let's assume Trose uses his dragonmark to cast Identify on the tent.

Trose, using his innate magical ability, finds the command word to make the tent collapse onto a small bundle, easily portable in a backpack.

Niiice! But is it still full of wolf crap and barghest droppings? If it is, we will be needing more shovels...

Runzyl looks deeply disappointed as Janosz makes his statement to the worgs and watches them depart. He growls when it is at last determined that the monster had truly fled. At Drim's burial, he maintains himself with the utmost reverence, adding his own words to the sermon heralding her bravery and willingness to sacrifice herself to aid her allies.

when the grave is built,
Make sure you're not drinking soda pop or steaming hot coffee/tea when you hit this spoiler for everyone...

Who's that? It's Elton Rod!

What's the plan now?

After the tearful, sombre ceremony, Rodergo pipes up:
"We should get back to the campsite; The Alphabet Brothers will...not be happy."
What time of day is it yet?

It's late afternoon.

By the way, I short-changed you on xp - forgot about the worgs outside you defeated. Another 430xp.

Let's head back, I guess. I'll heal everybody first...rolls forthcoming...

I healed Runzyl, LB, and Janosz back to max hp; 3 charges of a clw wand.

Thanks! That puts me at 7362 xp - does that sound about right?

"As deaths go, hers was not a bad one. Having said that, I still feel terrible about it. Does anyone know if she has a family? I guess I'll ask Arek about it when we get back." Janosz takes a last look at the cairn before turning to leave. "Let's get back to the other guys."

Hmmm, I'm a bit late to the post here - personally I would have suggested that as soon as we realised that the barghest had escaped we make all haste back to the alphabet brothers before the fiend makes mince-meat of them ... or maybe I'm just being paranoid. Anyway, probably too late to rewind the clock now.

"Drim was a fine warrior and a loyal follower," speaks Lightbringer at her funeral. "She died as a warrior, and can be proud for that. She can rest easily in the knowledge that we will avenge her when we catch this cowardly fiend. May Host and Flame embrace her spirit."

Lightbringer then suggests that the group quickly return to the base camp and Drim's fellow mercenaries.

Vattnisse, that sounds pretty right on the xp front.

I thought of the same thing, but if the bastard can teleport, he'd have gotten there first no matter what. :(

I thought of the same thing, but if the bastard can teleport, he'd have gotten there first no matter what. :(

Good point

plus he can turn into a ginormous wolf or something, so we're not gonna beat him in a footrace.

Which reminds me...

Aubrey, can Janosz do a quick Track check around the glade's perimeter to see if he can find the barghest's footprints? I'm not really in the mood to track him, but it could be good to see which way he went. Or if he just disappeared into the ether... My Track check, if necessary, is 9+11=20.

Janosz detects no barghest tracks.

duuh...
Ez, can you send your bird ahead, give us a status report on the halforcs?

when the grave is built,

Make sure you're not drinking soda pop or steaming hot coffee/tea when you hit this spoiler for everyone...
** spoiler omitted **

Excellent! Rod, as a bard you make a great cleric.

"I suggest we hold what we manage to loot in common for now, and not worry about divvying it up until we are safely back home. We'll draw upon the cash for supplies as we need."

This is not a subtle attempt to ake someone else to the book keeping. It is way more blatant than subtle.

I noted the tent, the 1,300 g.p., the portrait of Dorian Gray, and the gems in the party loot section of my character sheet. The magic winnebago tent of grooving is gonna come in way handy.

"Aye, let's off a goodly haste. I worry for....."Rod looks around, paranoid, for the beast; could it be about even now, skulking with some infernal power?
"LB," he whispers into where the warforged paladin's ear would be, assuming he had one,

"Aye, let's off a goodly haste. I worry for....."Rod looks around, paranoid, for the beast; could it be about even now, skulking with some infernal power?

"LB," he whispers into where the warforged paladin's ear would be, assuming he had one,** spoiler omitted **

Lightbringer replies in a low voice; “I can do so without it being particularly obvious – and you are wise as usual in your suggestion. Know though that the fiend would need to be lurking quite close before I am able to detect it.”

Lightbringer takes the time to detect evil for several moment as he walks, scanning slowly from time to time in case the fiend lurks nearby or follows unseen. He will do so again once they reach the base camp (unless immediate events prevent it).

"Kadesh stayed behind. He's probably scavenging near the camp."

After the brief ceremony, the party trudges back to the camp. It is dark by the time they get back to the remaining half-orc mercenaries, but Runzyl’s night vision prevents any accidents. The forest is eerie and silent, filled with shadows and mist. It is a relief when the road is reached and the glow of the campfire spotted.

When they return, the three half-orcs are initially happy and clap their employers on their shoulders in relief. Then they spot that Drim is missing. “Where is she?” asks Bool.

"She's... um." Janosz' voice cracks a little as he walks over to the mercenaries. "Drim's dead, guys. She fell while fighting more of those gigantic demon-wolves. We found the demon-wolves' lair and cut our way through packs of worgs to confront the wolves' demonic father and his spawn. We killed his sons, but not before they felled her; also, the fiend made its escape. We built her a traditional cairn at the battlefield, facing the sunrise. I swear that.... hey, hold on for a second." Janosz straightens up as a sudden thought hits him.

Excitedly, he waves the other party members over. "Y'all remember that I couldn't find any tracks of that hell-ogre or whatever it was after it escaped? Do you know what I think? It is still inside the magical tent! It used some sort of magical trick to hide after we killed its followers, and now it's waiting for us to do something stupid. It probably can't get out while the tent is collapsed, so we might not need to worry about it right now. But we'll need to thoroughly check it out soon, preferably with some magical help. What do y'all think?"

"She died in battle. I....I couldn't get to her in time. I failed her. I'm sorry, you guys. I truly am, more than you can know."

At the news of Drim's death, Arek and Caeshto look horribly downcast, shaking their heads in sadness. Bool balls his fists, shaking for a moment with rage, before turning abruptly, grabbing his axe and storming into the dark beyond the firelight. The crashing echoes around the forest as he attacks the undergrowth and trees, yelling and cursing in Orcish, before he returns sweating with exertion a few minutes later, throws down his axe and flops dejectedly on his bedroll, staring up at the night sky.

Arek and Ceshto look at him in concern, sharing uncomfortable glances. Eventually, Arek murmurs, "She died well? That is good. What magic tent is this of which you speak? We would be avenged."

Bool sits up, seizing his axe again. "Yes," he growls, "Where is the beast?"

I thought they'd kill my ass.
"We have this tent with us."

Janosz switches to Orcish as he talks with the mercs.

"Siddown, Bool, and put the axe away. It's a damned demon! Remember the ogre from the tannery? This guy is just as tall, and probably twice as fat - and it is smart, too. Worst of all, it can't be harmed except by magic or enchanted weapons. We can't just rush in and start swinging, especially as both the shaman and the witchdoctor is low on their mystical energies. Hell, I like you guys - rushing in now is a virtual death sentence, and I won't have any of that. It can't get out now, and we can wait. We'll use that advantage to make a plan." Janosz' face splits into an unpleasant smile as he continues. "Make no mistake about it - we will avenge Drim; someday very soon, I'll engrave the fat bastard's face right here along with his hell-spawn", he gestures over his left upper arm. "And even if he isn't in the tent, he'll come looking for us. We killed his sons and took his home. He can't ignore such an insult."

"As for the tent - it is quite a sight. It's a pretty decently sized structure, but if Trose speaks the command word it magically shrinks to the size of a big loaf of bread. And inside, it is as big as a barn; it even has stone floors and a butler! It is full of wolf crap, though, so we'll need to empty it out before we use it. And we need to exorcise the demon."

I thought they'd kill my ass.

All in due time.

All three half-orcs look confused. "So what do we do?" asks Ceshto.

I guess we wait until morning, have our powers up, open the tent, and go at this fiend if indeed he is within.
I got's 4 magic weapon spells max, and I want to buff all the weaponed folk. That's 3 for the alphabet brothers, and 1 for 1 of us.
That leaves LB to cast magic weapon on himself, my question is this: does at least one other partymember have magic weapon wd-40 oil?

I have one bottle left.

OK, so what is the plan?

Camp normally again here tonight, with a vigilant watch in case the barghest is out there.
Prep spells accordingly in the morning.
Set up the tent, buff(?) and investigate after spell prep.
If nothing is there- back on the road. (Maybe there will be a fluff type of consecration (assuming we don't have crunch to back it up?) and ask the servant to start cleaning up.)
(We should check for hidden doors and ask the servant this time.)
Not sure about the pre-buff cause we may burn Rod's arsenal of spells on a false hunch. If it turns out something is in there, I have 2 more Burning Sword scrolls to help it out.

Generally agree with Ezreal – while there’s a good chance that the thing might still be in the tent somewhere, we don’t really know what it’s capable of – it may be long gone.
We’ll rest and prepare, but lets not go crazy with the buffs until we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Maybe a magic circle against evil would not go astray just in case, but I’d advise against using up expendale items until we’re sure what we’re dealing with.
Regardless, Lightbringer will stay vigilant and watch, and pray for bless weapon again for the next day.

I'll second all that as well. I'm keeping my entangle in case the barghest is outside.

here's the spells I'll prep.I deleted my last post because I went back and reread his monologue, and I don't think he's necessarily trapped in the tent now.
next set contemplating:
0lv 3light, 2 det magic
1lv mweapon(x4) (d)sanctuary
2lv bull str(x2) spiritual weapon (d)magic circle against evil

"Might I suggest finding some water, alike a pond, and opening the tent inside, at the very least it will be washed out, and at the most, demon-breath will be put under."

Night passes uneventfully. A new day dawns, a cool clammy mist descending to make the day a washed-out, milky white.

OK, what are you doing?

I perform protective ward rituals, 10 minutes long each, on Runzyl, Janosz, and Trose, wasting 2 turn undead attempts.

"Shall we enter this tent?" I still don't 100% know what was agreed upon. Do we want to buff and enter? I'm going with the above listed spell list.

Can't hurt to cast magic weapon on a bunch of weapons and maybe magic circle against evil. Potions and such should probably wait until we know it's in there. And if it isn't, we then move on towards Droaam.

"It would not hurt to examine the tent once more. Perhaps the beast is trapped within. If he has fled, it is best to know now. Let us go."