Aubrey's Other Eberron Campaign - The Unbinding (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

N15 on the branch. As I did spesify the rope what would be the action to open it? Move? In case that comes relevant, I have a good bit of slack, actually would that give me penalty on moving around?

init: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15

initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Please place Portforged on O15 on the branch.

N14
init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14 Canoe, O13, please.

Init: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (13) + 0 = 13 sleeping in canoe L17 for James and L18 for myself

L17 and L18 are both outside the canoe and in the water - I'll stick you in N16 and O16 to save time.

Bat initiative 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

Initiatives
Nalverren 22+
Bat 22-
Cole 17
Wultram 15
Rehil 14
Will 13
Portforged 5

Ashshar and Vaard?

@Wultram: the rope won't interfere unless you try to do something acrobatic.

Map updated.

Vaard Init: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17 ; Ashshar Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

And Nalverren has the jump on us all.

Initiatives
Nalverren 22+
Bat 22-
Ashshar 20
Cole 17+
Vaard 17-
Wultram 15
Rehil 14
Will 13
Portforged 5

Nalverren.

Nalverren readies his bow to take a shot when the bat gets within 60ft.

atk: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 1

The bat swoops at the group on the canoes. Nalverren fires his arrow but the darkness and the bat's twisting flight defeat his aim.

Charge and bite attack on Rehil. 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 2 = 15 to hit, damage 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Has Rehil had his rabies shots?

Not having a good angle on the fight, Ashshar draws his shield and javelin out. Cole, however, finds himself in the thick of melee quicker than he'd expected.

The longspear thunks to the canoe's bottom at his feet as he frees the massive lizardfolk war maul from its resting place over his shoulder. With a wordless roar, his body's great internal engine grinds into overdrive, and he swings the maul in a reckless but powerful upward stroke.

Drop longspear, draw war maul, rage, then power attack the bat-thing.
war maul: 1d20 + 9 - 1 ⇒ (10) + 9 - 1 = 18
damage: 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (6, 5) + 10 = 21

Vaard, having a much cleaner shot than his fellow guide, draws and hurls a javelin.

javelin: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Cole smacks the bat in its ugly, vaguely demonic face with his maul, eliciting a shriek.

Vaard, then Wultram.

I edited in Vaard's actions above ... sorry for the confusion.

Vaard's javelin sploshes into the river a hair's breadth from the bat's head.

Wultram.

Wultram curses still not quite aware of what is happening having been roused from his sleep. After short moment of contemplation he draws an arrow from his quiver and casts a simple spell on it. With now the arrow shedding light letting his human eyes work properly now he drops the arrow to the tied up canoes figuring those next to the bat can benefit better from it.

Wasn't sure if I would need to roll something to drop the arrow on the canoes or not, even if it dropped into the water it would likely float so not sure if it makes a difference any way. Anyways said arrow now sheds light as a torch for 30 minutes. On different note I really need to get better range spells.

Wultram's spell lights up the battlefield. The bat is revealed in all its hideous glory with its furry body, leathery wings fifteen feet across, enormous ears like a hare, and tiny beady black eyes.

Rehil.

Wultram's spell lights up the battlefield. The bat is revealed in all its hideous glory with its furry body, leathery wings fifteen feet across, enormous ears like a hare, and tiny beady black eyes.

Rehil ducks the giant airborne vermin's teeth and rips his sword two-handed across its throat.

Curve blade: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13 .... damage: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Has Rehil had his rabies shots?

As long as he can dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge, Rehil doesn't need rabies shots.

He could however use some better rolls.

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a horse-sized, demonic, dire bat.

Also, Will ... then Portforged!

But before that...

Rehil slashes the bat with his gifted curveblade, severing a wing. The bat splashes in to the water, flaps fitfully and submerges.

End of encounter. 150xp each.

BOOM!

Cole watches the big creature crash into the water. His shuddering sounds grind to a slow halt as he sways with the rocking motion of the canoes.

"Well, that certainly could have gone worse." He looks around, "Nice job all around."

Then he sits back down, resuming his stoic vigil of the darkness.

Wultram dismmisses the spell and moves back to the spot he was sleeping in, glad that the danger was managed without big issues. "We are definetly not getting paid enough for this." The man mumbles to himself as he tries to get back to sleep.

"yes it could have indeed gone for a whole lot worse' he says reminiscing about the large dragon fly that wanted to eat him as he stand watch for a good 20 min before going back to sleep

With the night's drama passed, the following morning is bright. The sunshine, however, only makes the temperature soar and the humidity continues unabated. A few of the sleepers in the canoes also discover they have been subject to the attentions of leeches, and they bleed from a number of small wounds on exposed, and some less exposed, flesh.

However, the landscape is changing subtly. The valley is getting narrower, and the river is now more confined within its banks rather than sprawling out in the forest. When the jungle affords a view, such as when the river bends, it is possible to see high forest-clad ridges in the distance above the trees. The lowlands are now becoming the highlands. Then Ashshar points ahead. "There. There it is."

Empty Mountain is not especially impressive. It doesn't glower menacingly or intimidate with an unclimbable fortress-like fastness, nor is it capped with glittering ice at airless heights. Instead, it is a low conical shape, covered in green, with a flattish top as if its summit had been roughly chopped off. From here the lake in its crater, as described by Ashshar, cannot be seen, nor any Demon Age ruins or invading humans and warforged.

"I think two days, maybe three, we will reach the mountain," intones Ashshar.

"Some dry land will be good. I can stand three days' march if it will keep us away from the leeches. Do any of you think we've got more Finbacks behind us?"

I make us at 3715 xp.

I am at 4,115 so one of us has made a sizable mistake, I suppose one of the harder encounters missing/doubled could be the culprit so not that big mistake.

"I will cherish getting some solid ground under my boots." Wultram echoes on the sentiment.

Yes, that's a big difference - at least two encounters-worth. As usual, I have no idea, so could you investigate? Anyone else have a view?

Bigger club has the xp right. I missed 400 xp for the big fish.

Are we actually getting onto dry ground now or were we just at a bend in the river looking at a brighter, drier future?

After all the fun I've had? You are sticking with the river for the moment. I'm just doing a bit of foreshadowing but the killer fish, insects and leeches will be with you for a while.

The mountain disappears behind the trees as the river bends again. After about another hour the travellers are confronted by a low waterfall in the river. A silvery churning curtain about one hudred feet across, it blocks the way ahead.

"We will need to carry the canoes," says Ashshar

… I'm just doing a bit of foreshadowing but the killer fish, insects and leeches will be with you for a while.

grumble grumble insects grumble grumble leeches grumble never eat fish again grumble grumble

Cole is once again amazed by the disgusting trials weathered by flesh-wearers (I’m assuming—having no actual blood—that the warforged aren’t plagued by the leeches …. let me know if i’m incorrect about this). He takes more than a few opportunities to jibe any leech-complainers about their “tiny, hungry pets”. He continues the merciless joking with the same unrelenting endurance he exhibits in combat.

How high is the waterfall? And will it requiring actual climbing? Or just hauling the canoes up an incline before dropping back in the water above the waterfall?

At the appearance of the cascading curtain—and Ashshar’s announcement—the massive warforged emerges from a bout of his usual quiet. His silvery eyes scan the waters, then the surrounding, still-sodden land.

Any possible threats that Cole can see? Or anything not immediately obvious but useful to our needs?
Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28

A considering, deep rumble rolls out from his chest. When he responds, it’s in halting draconic. He punctuates the awkward words with emphatic use of gestures to aid in his attempted draconic communication.

He looks at the group with a shrug, his tone a bit defensive. “What? It seems useful to know their tongue.” Knowing not everyone in the group speaks the tongue, and might not have been paying as much attention as he has, he continues, “I asked what kinds of creatures might live in this area. Or if he expects any threats while we carry the canoes.”

Vaard leans over to Ashshar and whispers:

Draconic:

The waterfall is about thirty feet high, sweeping over a low cliff. However, there seems to be a climbable path on one side.

Cole only: Survival check, DC 20:

"And how many more days do we have to keep on going? at least we made it farther than that poor skeleton guy"he says

"Jame and I will carry the luggage as the take the canoe" he offers

"Wouf !"

Nalverren, catching the interchange between Cole and the two natives, will translate his inquiry.

Rehil watches and listens to the interchange between Cole and the lizardfolk. He impressed with Cole's performance.

Happy Thanksgiving. I may not post again until Monday.

Survival DC20: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Cole grunts and doggedly begins trying again to ask his questions in halting, broken Draconic. Only a few attempts in, however, his words stop as his eyes focus intensely on the surrounding trees and vegetation.

"We have a problem," he says in quiet common, "there are mating sounds out there that seem out of season ... as I understand such things. We may be being watched."

He then nods towards a specific strip of land near the waterfall, "On the plus side, that over there looks climbable."

"Mating sounds of what?" Wultram asks readying his spear and tries to hear these sounds himself hoping to get an answer to his own question.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
Knowledge X: 1d20 ⇒ 12 If Arcana or Religion then +7, otherwise +1 and untrained.

Wultram's experience of the sounds of mating are sadly limited.

Is this the point where I am supposed to make a joke about natural 20 charisma? :P

"Mating sounds...out of season? How can you tell? What sort?"

Before everyone gets over-excited, what Cole means is there are animal mating calls that are out of season, suggesting they are fake and being used as signals, not that there are cries of ecstacy echoing through the forest. He made a Perception check and a follow-up Survival check, which is how he knows. I didn't really expect to have to define the precise type of animal nor its specific life cycle. I know, you hate these DM's who don't do proper world-building. ;-P

"so we are being tailed and watched. Great nothing we can do about untill we get attacked or ambushed. Its not like we aren't on our toes already;" he says with a grin

"so shall we continue our journey?"

So how heavy are these canoes?

Rehil listens carefully but detects nothing out of the ordinary. He shrugs. "Move fast enough and maybe we can evade them all together. This portage makes us vulnerable though."

Moderately heavy - they are made of wood. But each crew can carry them up between them. The basically goes over a low cliff about 30' high. On the left-hand side of the waterfall there is a rough natural stairwy you can carry the canoes up. But it will be tricky to do it in a hurry - it requires fairly easy Climb checks and so on.

"We don't want to get caught on the slope carrying the canoes. I'll scout the top. If it's clear we'll bring the canoes up one at a time. That will leave half of us free to face any threat during the climb. Anyone else want to come?"

If there are no objections Rehil will hurry to the top of the slope and have a look around.

Climb: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Stealth (at the top, not during the climb): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

"I'll go as well."

perception: 1d20 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 6 + (3) = 13 (+1 to spot traps)
stealth when Rehil does: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Cole nods, "It's a good plan. I can help carry or escort the carriers. Whatever you all think is best."

He keeps his position, watching the wilds around them as the two scouts ascend.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21

william will take the time as everyone isn't moving to go to the restroom and then will resume guarding the canoes

Nalverren and rehil reach the base of the cliff and begin to ascend.

Nalverren needs to make a Climb check.

climb: 1d20 ⇒ 7

looks like he might not make it up there to do any looking around...