CrazyHedgehog's Serpent Skull

Game Master CrazyHedgehog

Slicingsong assists Yekskya with his examination of the campsite.

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

As promised, Slicingsong chants over some water, turning it into a rich golden mead for Aerys to take the edge of her addiction off.

Enhance Water used

Is this a good time to step back in?

Welcome back Grym!

Sure John, welcome back. The group recently achieved second level, so now's a good time to level up Grym.

While a camp is set up for the night, Yekskya and Slicingsong spend some time having a look around the area. You are surprised - not far from where you are setting up tonight's camp, you find some discarded refuse from another, earlier campsite. Amongst the campsite, you find Captain Kovack's tricorn hat and a couple brightly colored scarves which you remember as belonging to the scholar Ieana, a fellow passenger. You are also able to trace their trail, leading south into the interior.

What's more, as Yekskya examines the satchel filled with potions from Captain Kovack's cabin, you are able to identify a few of them. The satchel contains 4 potions of cure light wounds , four potions of lesser restoration , and a potion of remove disease. The remaining three potions remain a mystery.

Slicingsong, when you and Zaghigoth prepare your alcoholic brew for Aerys, she is embarrased but grateful that you would think of her. She offers to help with keeping watch at night.

"These could be helpful everyone. I'm not sure if any of the rest of you have magic to examine the rest of have the experience to identify them by taste." Yekskya shares the details of the potions with everyone.

"So the captain and Ieana seem to have been here and are heading south. Perhaps they have a similar idea of setting a signal for a nearby ship. But why did the captain strand us to begin with. Let's look over that logbook again." Yekskya examines the logbook for any evidence about the captain's plans. I looked back through the thread and I don't think we've read the logbook before. Apologies if I just missed it.

As evening falls, Faey and Jask return, but with little to show for their foraging. Faey promises to have another look in the morning before the group moves on, hoping to find enough to keep everyone going.

I assume same arrangements this evening for the watch as previously?

Yes, let's stick with that order unless we fall victim to a flaw in it. :)

Oh, this is troubling information. Ieana must have been a witch working some charms on the captain. But, I fear this will only exacerbate the situation with some of our fellow castaways. Yekskya shares the information from the log book with Zag, Slicingsong, Grym and Cat away from the other survivors over the course of the evening.

Zag shakes his head solemnly in response to these new developments. "This is a strange thing, I say. This Iena...hm. I don't think they would be looking for a ship if she wanted the Jenivere to come here in the first place, I say. I wonder if she is looking for something, perhaps on a ship that has run aground here."

"That is an interesting thought Zag. Though they will have to get off the island sometime. Do you think we should try to press ahead to catch them in case they are moving slowly through the wrecks? Or should we not worry about them for now and make our own way in our own time?"

"I have no true destination. But I will help the rest of you with whatever path you choose, I say. If you look to find a way off the island, I will help you find it...though, hm...I would like to know of this Iena's motives...between her influencing the captain, everything else that happened on board, and the restless spirits of this island...there is something at work here, I say." The half-orc looks up at the nightsky ominously, narrowing his eyes as if searching for answers overhead.

"That is a good approach to life Zag. I, for one, would like to find a way off the island, if only to complete the task I set out to accomplish. But, it concerns me that this woman may have exerted such influence on our captain as to cause him to abandon his duty to his crew and passengers. And, it worries me what her own motives might be that cause her to put such a low value on life as well."

"Hmm. The trail leads mostly in the direction we were heading anyway. Let's see if we can catch up and get an explanation."

Are we able to tell how many days earlier the other camp was set? Survival if needed 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

-------

Examining the tracks, you estimate they were made in the last day or two. You follow the tracks some way from the camp, but the light is failing, making following the trail difficult. Luckily, the tracks seem to be following a thin trail leading south.

As you are heading back to the group, Shiv makes a deep rattle in his throat and swishes his tail in warning. Looking up, Grym and Slicingsong see three pairs of eyes watching in the gathering darkness, just before three deeply tanned humans leap out of the shadows onto the trail. They are deeply scarred and covered in pentagram-shaped tattoos, and when one of them sneers at you, you see that his teeth have been filed to sharp points. Two men and one woman, they all leer at you with glittering eyes. They hold broken scimitars, which they wave in your direction!

One of the natives is 15feet ahead of you on the trail, the other two are 15 feet away behind you, on the path leading back to the camp. The natives tried to surprise the group, Grym, Slice and Shiv can act during the surprise round, along with your opponents. I'm not sure if a few poeple are still on holiday, I can NPC some characters if need be.

Initiative
17 - Shiv
16 - Slicingsong
12 - Zaghigoth
10 - Yekskya
5 - Rowena
3 - Grym, savages

Ran out of time to post up a map, will get that up tomorrow.

I'm here, but way, way down in the order. Fight might be over before I go.

CH, Cat's initiative should be modified with a +5 (+3 from Dex, +2 from trait), not that it does her any good at this time ;-)

Surprised by the sudden appearance of the savages, I am slow to react, despite Shiv's warning sounds. Drawing my rapier, I look at the three enemies that think they can take us on, disbelief evident on my face.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Status: AC: 16 - HP: 10/10

Taking advantage of his advanced warning, Slicingsong charges the lone savage.

Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 231d10 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Current AC 14 because of the charge.

Shiv shuffles towards the pair behind the group, snapping his jaws with a hiss.

Zag moves after the beast, drawing his falchion as he moves, and strikes out at the same one.

Attacking the one on the right

Shiv Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Bite Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Zag Falchion: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Falchion Damage: 2d4 + 3 ⇒ (4, 2) + 3 = 9

Current AC 15. No shield.

Is this a new day? It was evening and mention was made of watch, but I don't know if we actually skipped to the morning. Just wondering for spells.

------
Surprise Round

Acting quickly, Shiv hurtles forward at the nearest attacker. The crocodile's jaws clamp down on the female savage, inflicting a terrible injury. The woman screams and pulls away her bloody leg.

At the head of the trail, Slicingsong charges ahead to attack the lone savage. He lashes out and hits with a mighty blow; the savage looks terribly hurt. Grym draws his weapon and readies an action to attack any other savages emerging from the jungle.

The savages attempt to strike back. The lone savage hacks at Slicingsong, getting in a vicious stab with his broken scimitar. 7 points of damage to Slicingsong. The woman attempts to beat off Shiv with her sword, but her frenzied attacks don't seem to penetrate the crocodile's thick hide. The other savage pushes his way through the bush to help, but the bushes hinder his attacks.

Map of the trail

Surprise round over, on to Round 1. I've uploaded a map, jungle squares are considered difficult terrain (counts as 2 squares of movement) and provides partial concealment against ranged attacks. Cat, thanks for the update on Initiative, I've noted it down for future rolls.

I'm still going to hold on before posting. One or two of them might go down before me in Round 1 and that will affect my actions.

I'll update Grym tonight once I get some time after the wife and kid are safely tucked up. Well, tucked up is an overstatement for the kid, who has recently taken to sleeping at the oddest angles she can possibly come up with!

Slicingsong, slashes desperately with the wide blade of his totem spear, hoping to finish his opponent so he can heal his wound.

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 111d10 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

I meant to point out that Zag's action in my previous post were for round 1, so I'll just attribute them to his actual turn now.

As Zag misses the native woman with his falchion, he grunts at his failure but again orders Shiv to attack her.

Shiv Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Bite Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Maybe not down to a too crazy number of options now...

Round 1

If Slicingsong's foe is still up...
Yekskya stands his ground and fires two arrows in quick succession into the native threatening Slicingsong.
Attack (Composite Longbow +2 Strength, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot) 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 1 - 2 ⇒ (10) + 6 + 1 - 1 - 2 = 14
Damage (Composite Longbow +2 Strength, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim) 1d8 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 9
Attack (Composite Longbow +2 Strength, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot) 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 1 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 1 - 1 - 2 = 5
Damage (Composite Longbow +2 Strength, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim) 1d8 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 8

If Slicingsong's foe has fallen...
Yekskya darts up the trail, stopping 10-feet behind Shiv and fires an arrow into one of the natives threatening Shiv.
If the one on the trail is still up, he fires at that one, otherwise, he'll fire at the one in partial cover.
Attack (Composite Longbow +2 Strength, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim) 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (15) + 6 + 1 - 1 = 21
Damage (Composite Longbow +2 Strength, Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim) 1d8 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 12

Round 1

Once again, Shiv clamps down with his jaws on the poor woman savage. The woman shrieks shrilly as sharp teeth tear through flesh, and she collapses.

Slicingsong slashes desperately at his foe, but his opponent seems to be toying with him, keeping just out of reach. The man gloats, a feral glint in his eyes, just as Slicingsong manages to get past his guard and slash into the savage's chest. He goes down in agony!

Zaghigoth attempts to do the same to the remaining savage. However, just as the half-orc attempts to lop off a head with his falchion, the savage ducks and the blade hits a nearby tree.

Yekskya rushes back up the path to help Zaghigoth and Shiv, loosing an arrow at the remaining savage. Unfortunately, the expert shot is deflected by the trees and hits quivering in a tree inches from the man's head. He looks at it in surprise and roars a bestial challenge. Sadly for such a terrific shot, only rolled an 18 miss chance for concealment.

Rowena looks up the path to see the fighting. Looking at the brush, she sees an opportunity and moves into the jungle, attempting to sneak up behind the savage warrior. Grym moves up to flank Slicingsong, scanning the darkening jungle for any more attackers.

It's the same day as before - you came across Kovack & Ieana's old camp while you were setting up your own, just as it was coming up to twilight. You followed their trail a little bit into the jungle along a path, until it became too dark to follow properly. So you can still use this day's allotment of spells, Zag.

Updated map

I'll be out of town this weekend, so will be incommunicado again. Plan to be posting again by Wednesday.

Nuts, I was thinking partial cover versus partial concealment. Hopefully we'll have him by the time it gets back around to me.

Slicingsong chants in his own language, making vines of green energy reach for and close his wounds.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

HP: 15

Two Lvl 1 spells remain.

Nuts, I was thinking partial cover versus partial concealment. Hopefully we'll have him by the time it gets back around to me.

Yeah, I seem to have a bad habit of muddling up cover and concealment, but in that instance had meant concealment. It's unfortunate, Yekskya had otherwise made a great shot but I guess it was blocked by the jungle foliage.

Round 2

Shiv pads into the jungle after the last savage. Though small, the crocodile manages to clamp his jaws around the man's arm for a vicious bite. The man yells and attempts to back away, but Zaghigoth is there beside him with his falchion, and with a terrific sweep of his arm takes off the savage's head. The head flies through the trees to land in front of Rowena. I think perhaps Zaghigoth is on holiday just now, so NPC'd him and Shiv. Shame, Zag jot a critical strike.

For a few tense moments you check the darkening jungle, alert for any more attackers but you see none. Regrouping, you see that the attackers were armed with broken scimitars and are heavily tattooed. Many of the tattoos feature pentagrams, and you see that their teeth may suggest that they are cannibals. They also each wear an amulet made of red pearl.

Yekskya crouches over the dead natives and looks at their features, "This is a grim sign. Native islanders might have been a welcome help to us here, but these look like they might be more likely to eat us than help. I'm sad to say there are other tribes like this further north and east. I've never seen anything like these pentagrams before however. What do you make of those and these red pearl amulets? I suppose we should bury the bodies and take the amulets in case they are helpful later. We should take care to hide them though."

Actually, I just completely forgot that Shiv and I were on the top half of the initiative. Apologies. (Though it seems I roll much better as an NPC!)

Zag scratches his chin as Yekskya looks over the corpses. "Red pearl means something of blood, I say. Warrior badges, or might be signs that they have eaten of enemies?"

Mentioning of cannibals brings all sorts of bad jokes to mind, but I cannot really find the humor in these circumstances. "I agree. We'd better make these bodies dissappear permanently. And I think we definitely need to be seriously on our guards." Spitting at the head lying at my feet, I add with a grim look on my face: "Dammit. As if we didn't have enough problems with the critters of the jungle and such looking to eat us, now we also have humans after our skin. I like being eaten, but not like that." Looking at the others, I realize that they hardly know me just yet, let alone my sometimes very offensive sense of humor. Shrugging I turn around: "I'll go get a couple of shovels from the camp, so that we can put these bodies in the ground. Be right back."

Yekskya grins and his deep brown skin picks up a tinge of red before he recovers and adds, "Good thinking Cat. That will be a lot easier than using our hands." As she races off, he adds, "Can any of you tell if the amulets are magical? I'd hate to take something that's cursed and going to turn us all into cannibals ourselves."

Rowena stealthily retraces the path through the darkness back to where the camp has been set up, wary for any danger. Despite the sounds of the jungle - and at one point you feel a whoosh of large wings flapping overhead - you arrive without incident. The others look curiously at your arrival and ask what you've found, but they help you gather the shovels. They seem shocked to hear there are people living on the island, and begin to watch the darkness. Aerys says she will help with keeping watch tonight.

As Rowena is just leaving the camp to return to your group with the shovels, Jask appears. He appears a bit concerned as he asks, "Anyone seen Faey? We were foraging for food and firewood, but we got separated at dusk. I thought she'd just beat me back here, but I don't see her." He seems concerned.

Grym shakes his head at Jask's question. "No, although we did find some natives. They weren't so friendly and now they're not so alive. How long ago did you last see her? If there is one group of natives here, there may be more..."

Slicingsong hums a bit of a tune with hands outstretched to see if the defeated natives were carrying anything with magical properties.

Detect Magic

Grym: sorry, Jask arrived in camp and spoke to Rowena; the rest of you are still with the bodies of the cannibals!

Slicingsong: You carefully check the bodies and their gear, but with your detection spell you do not discern any magic among them.

"Hmm. She should not be alone here. This island is even more dangerous than we suspected. We should see if we can find any sign or her passing."

Survival to track: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

After you hide the cannibals' bodies in the jungle, the rest of you return to camp, and Jask attempts to find the place where he last saw Faey. It's further from the campsite than you expected, but eventually you find yourself on the bank of a small river, next to a grove of thorny vines. "Faey was wanting to examine these thorny plants in more detail, so I left her here while I kept having a look around." In the darkness, it's difficult to see much apart from the plants, which form a seven-foot-tall wall of green leaves and intimidating six-inch red thorns.

"We could wait for daylight, but if it rains, all traces of the path may be lost to us. She may not have until morning to live anyway. If she lives now. I think we must track her captors immediately."

survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Anyone else with Survival should roll to assist. Alternatively, if someone has a bonus to Survival higher than 5, lets consider this roll my roll to assist.

Survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Grym looks around, trying to find the trail.

"You're right, Slice. I'm not much of a tracker, at least not in this kind of terrain. But I'm willing to offer what help I can. We can't leave her to her fate." Quickly checking my gear, I look at the others: "Y'all ready? Let's move out and go kick some cannibal ass."
Will take 10 to aid another on survival check, since I can't beat Slice's roll.

Makes it 30 by my count?

Zag nods. Best to go now, I say. Me and Grym should be able to keep eyes on tracks. We will find her. Looking around and spotting Aerys, Zag waves her over. "Can you keep guard? I will leave Shiv here to help. Danger abounds in these woods, I say. Be careful."

Giving Shiv the Defend command on Aerys/camp.

Survival: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

With all of you checking the site, you can quickly piece together what happened. from the footprints, you can tell where Jask left Faey and moved off into the jungle while she examined the plant. From the other direction, four cannibals must have snuck up on her and after a brief struggle, seem to have overwhelmed her. They carried her south through the jungle, but fairly quickly three of them turn to head in the direction where you ran into them on the trail. The other seems to be carrying Faey on his own, and heads further on through the jungle before he too angles towards the trail. Once there, he picks up speed - from the length of his strides you think he may be jogging or hustling. Faey doesn't seem to be putting up a struggle that you can tell, which would indicate that she's unconscious, or worse.

You can also tell from the size of the cannibal's feet that he is probably an adult human male, and that he's fast even carrying the weight of an elf. The are still heading south, and have perhaps as much as 15 minutes head start, though that's difficult to tell. A track score of 30? My goodness. You can determine that the cannibal you're following is hustling while carrying Faey, moving at a medium encumbered speed of 45ft per round.

Aerys agrees to organize a guard at the campsite, and Shiv slithers away into the jungle towards the camp.

Those with speeds of 30ft can hustle at the same speed as the cannibal, and we can determine whether you catch the cannibal by making Dexterity checks as per the pursuit rules on p.171 of the rulebook. If you want to stay together as a group, it may be more difficult to catch the cannibal, as you would have to run and may tire out before you catch up with Faey's captor. Moving on the trail through jungle hampers your movement by 3/4 (the cannibals' movement has been modified by this as well).

We must remember this spot. These are the viper nettles supposed to help those struggling with drink. But we have more pressing needs now. Grym, can you run? I fear we may not be able to keep to your slower speed.

"Good eye Slicingsong. We'll be back." With those brief words, Yekskya flies off into the jungle as quickly as he can with bow in hand.

Very much aware of the urgency of the situation, I fall in behind Yekskya and Slicingsong as they make a dash after the lone cannibal, hoping we will catch up in time to save Faey from a grisly death. My elvish eyes helping greatly in following the path in the dusky light of the jungle.