Post in game comments here.
Hurray!
Ok here's my avatar for this one, I will get you an updated sheet asap Tike
Ok here's my avatar for this one, I will get you an updated sheet asap Tike
And my axe!
<rolls eyes>
Nice I can get on that bandwagon!
smurf loving asshats
The most important recent event in Torch is the loss of the town’s eponymous feature. A strange violet flame has long burned atop the hill the town is built around, and these fires burn hot enough to allow the smelting of skymetal. This has given Torch a singular source of income. Smiths, metalworkers, and scavengers from miles around come to Torch to use its flame to smelt and work with skymetals.
Now and then, the flame has pulsed and blasted a beam of fire into the skies above town, during which time it isn’t safe to be atop the hill, but until a week ago, the flame has never gone out. Now it has, and no one in town knows why.
Without the flame, the town’s primary source of income has been removed, and with a number of significant tithes to the Technic League coming due soon, the town’s leaders are growing desperate to re-light the violet fires. One of Torch’s most beloved leaders, the wizard Khonnir Baine, discovered strange activity in a number of hitherto unknown caves below the city’s central hill, and even recovered a deactivated automaton now stored in his home behind his tavern, The Foundry. But when Khonnir returned to these strange caves to try to learn more, he vanished. The town has grown increasingly desperate for answers, and now looks for the return of their missing wizard as well, but with so many other local and visiting adventurers having gone missing in the caves, fewer and fewer volunteers are stepping forward.
The group of you have come to know each other through Khonnir and just returned from a 1-week excursion to purchase supplies for Khonnir to find the Torch extinguished and the town in a state of minor chaos. You gathered the information above and have found yourself at the Copper Coin discussing the possibility of volunteering to take the next expedition, specifically to find your friend and mentor Khonnir.
The Town Council has posted notices offering a 4,000 gp reward for the return of Khonnir (alive or dead) and another 4,000 gp reward for reigniting the Torch.
Dicio will order wine and spiced lamb as we discuss what to do, "Well this is unexpected," Looking at Arthul, "What did you touch? How did you break this?" Dicio smiles as he says this
"I am not opposed to going into the caves to find Khonnir, and finding the reason for the Torch going out, I am also not saying that we should go."
D20 roll = 20
Kelryon notices his mug is empty, again. "ALE!"
"Damned frilly elves with their 'I might do this, I might not do that.' Make up your skinny, assed damn mind. Me focus be on Khonnir, the gold isn't a bad second though. And me goal of the ultimate Skymetal Mace ain't gonnur happen with that fire cold."
<ooc> Apologies but I don't know how to use the OOC marker text. Also, how do I roll the D20 in the post? I just rolled a dice on my side so not to hold things up. Have sent screenshot of roll to email gmail thread.</ooc>
"Oi now, Kelyron, you mind your manners in here. Dunno what kinda antics you tolerate at the Foundry, but here we expect ya treat the staff with courtesy," a 30-something woman cuffs the dwarf gently on the back of the shoulder as she comes by carrying a tray of drinks, dropping one off for the dwarf, the rust colored foam barely sloshing over the side.
Katrina Lawson, part owner and bartender has always been a friendly sort, but the stress of recent events is apparent in her eyes as well, her joking aside. The tavern appears to be a third filled from what it normally is with many of the local laborers out of work and the out of town craftsmen having moved on.
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Hey, I was safely with you lot for the last week! Unless I somehow did it with my mind...
What started as good natured humor, trailed off into something more serious and a bit meloncholy. Apparently the desperation of Torch is rubbing off on more than the bartender.
I keep telling you I have these bizarre dreams with dragons and fire, and... Ah, there's no way I really had anything to do with this!
A mischievous twinkle in Arthul's eye betrays his jest:
Still, four thousand gold pieces each seems like it'd be worth it to investigate the torch and find Khronnir, am I right Die?
Oh, it'd be great if you want to come too Kelryon. I've got this huge pack of junk, and someone has to carry it!
"No reason to be surly Kelryon, I am simply saying I am fine either way. Khonnir has been an able teacher and there is still much I could learn from him, but we must also consider that anything that is keeping him from coming home, could potentially be more then we can handle. He is, after all, a powerful wizard."
Leaning in to keep this more private, "I did hear a rumor that some people think that Garmen Ulreth and the Ropefist thugs may have something to do with it, now granted, that could just be people wanting to blame those that clearly are less the savory, but often times, those who are less then savory are behind the bad things that happen."
Once the meal is finished Dicio will leave a decent tip as his funds are not tied to the forge and he likes Katrina and her husband.
"I am going to go check on Val, she has to be beside herself with worry and she may know more about what her father was doing and where we may want to start looking. If we decide to help of course."
That works for me, I heard some muttering about gremlins, but again I think that's likely people blaming undesirables for their misfortunes. Let's talk to the daughter and maybe even look around at what Khonnir has been working on. We can decided what else to do from there.
One of the drunker workers overhears Arthu;, "Issh 4,000 gold total ... not fer eassshh. I mighta gone in for 4,000 easssh ...", the man waves a tankard around like a shield.
You head down the street, a short walk, to the Foundry Tavern, approaching from the street on the west side. As you arrive, you hear a terrible racket and crashing of metal and wood, accompanied by a shrill blood-curdling woman's scream. It's coming from Khonnir's home!
Ah, the finer points of spoken language are all but lost! Here's to 4000 eassssh, and those that are touched in the head!
I'll raise my drink and finish it.
So lads, are we off?
That doesn't sound good! Let's get in there now!
I'll draw my weapon and charge into the house.
The Copper Coin - 1600
"What? But...but...They still have more ale back there! Grumbles something about too much hero-ing and not enough drinking.
The Foundry Tavern - 1700
"And people say dwarves are the foolhardy ones. Whelp, might as well feed that fallacy a bit more."
Readies his mace, shield and carefully charges in behind Arthul.
Spells Prepared
Cantrips -
- Detect Magic
- Read Magic
- Ray of Frost
- Dancing Light
Level 1- 2 Memorized
- Color Spray
- Charm Person
4/Day
Arcanist Reservoir
5
Dicio sighs, "And so it begins..."
He will follow Arthul in and be ready to cast depending on what is needed.
The party races between the Tavern and Foundry to find themselves at Khonnir's front door. Arthul shoulders through quickly and looks left and right down a short hall. The sound is coming through a pair of serial doors to the right so he heads that way, the others following.
As he approaches, the door explodes open in a spray of splinters and iron pieces. A spindly metal contraption about 3 feet in diameter moving on 3 spider-like legs. It has a vaguely humanoid top with 4-clawed hands a the end of thin arms and a single eye in the middle of its metal forehead. It begins to rip the wall apart to the south of it, tearing stones off like they were paper with amazing alacrity.
You can see Val huddled in the corner behind the creature.
Spells Prepared
Cantrips -
- Detect Magic
- Read Magic
- Ray of Frost
- Dancing Light
Level 1- 7 Total
- Color Spray
- Charm Person
4/Day
Arcanist Reservoir
5
Init -
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Dicio appears stunned "That, that is truly amazing, Khonnir spoke about things like this, I wasn't sure if they were real..." his voice fades away
"We must not destroy this, think of all the things we could learn from it"
Kelryon grunts, "If we can knock it down a peg I can disable the damn...thing."
Initiative:
Is this thing attacking you?!
I think we take violent action and try to study it after the fact!
Knowledge Engineering: Anything I can determine about this contraption?
If no one replies, Val says she's under attack, or the drone does anything agressive before my action, I'll attack (should be able to take a 5 foot step as needed):
To Hit: Damage:
The odd creature ignores the party, steadily ripping the wall and door apart piece by piece. As it moves west however, it closes on Arthul and once it notices he isn't moving it turns to grab at the scavenger with surprising speed.
However, Arthul is faster, bringing his axe down with a single crushing blow. A series of flanks and shoes highlighted by a couple sparks are the last sounds it makes before it shudders to a stop.
After a couple moments, Val emerges from the corner. "Is it ... dead?"
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Dicio gasps in distress, and starts to move forward to the creature before realizing that might seem callous to Val
He stops and looks at Val and says, "Are you ok Val?"
As he asks he is unconsciously leaning towards the creature
"Uh ... yeah, that thing ... Dad said it was inert when he brought it up. Don't know what happened, it just started going crazy!" She hugs Dicio when she recognizes him
"So glad you showed up when you did ... what brings you here?"
Dicio smiles at Dal and looks happy about the unexpected hug "We were coming by to check on you and see how you were doing."
"We are thinking about going to look for your father and thought you might know what his plans were and give us a good place to start looking"
Moving to the drone, "I don't remember your father ever showing this to me, it's fascinating." rubbing his chin, Dicio kneels down to start looking at it more closely
Knowledge Engineering -
Her face scrunches up at the mention of her father, "This all happened after you left. He went down through the water into the caves they uncovered. He took some local folks after the first expedition didn't return. He came back with that thing and said he would study it later but wanted to head back in to uncover more. A third and fourth expedition also went in and didn't return. And then Dad went back again and hasn't been heard from."
Dicio recognizes the creature as some.sort of automaton but doesn't know its function or abilities.
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Dicio scratches at his head and sighs, "I sadly have no idea what this is, I am not completely certain but I do not think it will bother you any more/"
"Can you think of anything that happened right before this came alive?"
"Did your father have any maps of the areas he was exploring? That could be very useful to us when we go and look for him."
"How long ago did your father go back?"
"It started buzzing and humming first, very faintly yesterday but didn't move until.today.". She grimaced again.
"Sorry, have a splitting headache today that just won't go away. Anyhow, let's see. The fire went out a week ago. Dad went in five days ago, came out with this thing and then went to report to the council. He rested for the night and then went back in the next day with his team again."
"No maps unless he made some. No one new about this area until just recently. The council would know more. If he had any maps, I'm sure he would've given them to them."
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"How long have you had this headache? Did it start around the same time this contraption started waking up? You mind me giving you a quick check up?"
"Get that damn wry smile off yer face. I'm a dwarf!"
Dicio nods absently as Val answers his questions, clearly still focused on the drone. "Mmmhm...5 days ago...uh-huh the council, yes...maps"
"Yeah, I guess it started around the same time... didn't really correlate the two."
Whoops, I tapped that a bit too hard I guess. Sorry gents!
Arthul's body language indicates that he is not sorry :)
Any idea which way he went Val, or any indication which way we should start searching?
"The entrance to the caves is through the Weeping Pond. Dad found some unusual tracks their and convinced the Council to send expeditions down. As I understand it, the entrance to the caves under the city are quite a ways underwater. The Council would know more"
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"Alright Val we will go speak to the council and see what we can do to find your father, keep your ear out and let us know if you hear anything that will help us in our search"
Council sounds like the place to start. Val, do you have someplace safer to stay, can we have someone take a look at you for that headache?
Heal Check: (Not even sure I can do this untrained)
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"I should be OK, he only brought one of these things back." Val smiles
Bidding your leave of the young girl, you head to see the Council.
This evening, you approach the town Hall on the east side of the city, past the lake and across the square. One of the grander buildings in Torch, only Dolga Freddert is there when you arrive.
Dolga is the town's oldest councillor having been here since the city was founded over a century ago. The old dwarf is currently fussing over a sheaf of papers grumbling about "desk riding" as you approach her.
"What do you need? Speak up, boy!"
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Trying not to be irritated, "Evening Dolga, my friends and I have decided to go and find Khonnir. We spoke with Val and she mentioned that you or another member of the council may have a better understanding of where to start, what Khonnir was looking for, and perhaps may have a map of where Khonnir has been going."
"And if there are no maps, could you point us in the right direction to get started?"
My companion speaks true, we'd like to help in anyway we can, but we'd like to make certain we search in the most likely area, and have all the information possible to aid us.
Dolga's demeanor changes near instantly as she hears what you say and recognizes you, "Oh, praise Brigh! I thought we were out of able-bodied folk to go in after Khonnir!"
She comes around the desk, setting down her spectacles to take each of you by the arm, in a warrior's embrace.
"“There’s an underwater passage connecting the caves to Weeping Pond.
Khonnir noticed a large number of human footprints on the pond’s banks—he was there the day the fires went out testing the water to ensure it hadn’t suddenly grown more toxic—and he realized that a sizable group of people had entered the pond but had not emerged."
"We sent four teams in all, but only one came back to report what they found—Khonnir’s first expedition. Khonnir spoke at length with the council before going back in, and he confirmed what his group told us, despite how outlandish it sounded. The first team was a group of half ling adventurers, the second a group of local thugs, and the fourth a small adventuring party devoted to the worship of Brigh from out of town. Khonnir’s team undertook the third and fifth expeditions under Black Hill, and it was on the fifth expedition—his second trip—that he went missing.”
"They reported that the caves are inhabited by several enormous vermin and other scavengers, along with some strange humanoids who had the ability to blend into the shadows of the cave walls, and a
nest of gremlins. Khonnir believed this indicated a deeper connection in the caves to the Darklands, but of more immediate interest was his discovery of a wall of solid metal deep in the caves. A wall made of a
skymetal alloy called glaucite. He said it was like the kind we mine from the hills and surrounding plains, but formed into a structure with doors. It was near one of these doors that Khonnir found the broken automaton that he brought back after his first expedition.”
"No map from Khonnir, but if you're on the job, I can give you some other assistance."
"Were there any kind of markings on the doors? I know this sounds stupid, but did anyone try to open the damn things?"
"Khonnir is my friend, so I will do my best to find him and bring him home, we will also see if there are any clues as to why the fire went out and see what we can do to relight it"
"Any assistance the council can offer to help us succeed we will of course be grateful for."