DM Nick's-Ferelden "The Calm Before the Storm" (Inactive)

Game Master HarbinNick

Maraas charges!

Charging Power Attack 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21 for 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (3, 5) + 6 = 14

Aloris shakes the hair from his face, rising to his feet fully and pulling the worn shortbow from his back. He notches an arrow, loosing it at a gentlock.

Aloris would aim at either of the targets, choosing one that wasn't engaged in melee combat. If both are in melee he'll take a -4 to his attack roll.
Shortbow attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Shortbow damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Dargail moves to attack the next Genlock. Power attack:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16 For:1d10 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

[Ooc]Competely forgot to make my initiative check. I will make it unless the DM already has./ooc]

Initiative:1d20 ⇒ 17

-Aloris's shot strikes, but the Genlock seems to shrug off the pain, perhaps the arrow simply lodged in his armor...sadly, that's not the case for the sword wound he recieves from a chargin Qunari. Maraas deftly decapitates the Genlock with a sideways swing, its headless corpse remaining standing for a second, before falling to the ground.
Dargail swings his weapon into the other Genlocks chest, splintering the brestbone and collapsing its lungs. It spits blood and collapses.
End of combat time
The Genlocks didn't manage to wound anyone so there is no danger of taint. You see 5 dead Genlocks scattered around you, and the 6th has fled deeper into the forest. The trail leads to the farm, but you have a stranger in your midst...

Dargail looks at the bodies and then at Maraas. "Well by the stone it seems we tied big guy." Dargail looks at the new elf. With his usual expression he appraoches the elf. "So elf mage, whats yer name and how many minds are in that head?"

"Good fight dwarf. My, my" says Maraas at the new comer. "You Fereldens do have many sarabaas."

"Good fight dwarf. My, my" says Maraas at the new comer. "You Fereldens do have many sarabaas."

Dargail nods at Maraas's statment. "Yeah your telling me. They're like cockroaches. Seems like my work is never done.

Aloris lets the bow fall limply at his side, stepping towards the bodies and closer to the group. His hair is a shaggy mess of earthen brown locks framing an angular jaw. Intricate tattoos spider across his tanned skin, circling dark eyes and identifying him as one of the Dalish.

He looks over the lot of group, letting his gaze linger on the elves before speaking to Dargail. "Ah, little Durgen'len, distrustful of magic? At least you don't stand out among your clan." He gives a short laugh. "It's not your fault though. Your people can't even find the fade. Never-the-less, my name is Aloris, First of the Survik clan."

Thought Dalish called the fade by a different name? Oh well.

Dargail's brow narrows. "I am Knight Lieutenant Dargail Bogan. One of the few, and I mean real few, proud dwarves of the Chantry Templar. And ye ma good elf are an apostate. An one of em tribe elves too. Where's yer clan huh? Ya know I have half a mind ta turn ya in. But given the circumstances I ain't. Bein detached from da fade has been one of ma greatest assets in ma line of work so don't think for a second dat yer words offend me. Now, mage, if you'll excues us we have some darkspawn ta hunt. I'll save huntin ye fer later." Dargail turns from the Dalish to the others. "Now. The little fella dun ran dat way. We could go afta him, which would be my vote. If dere are others, I'm sure he'd lead us right to em. Otherwise we continue onto da farm. Or…" Dargail looks back at the Dalish. "We could simply apprehend this wild mage an turn im over to da Chantry. Make some good coin dat way I wager. Though I'm more interested in da darkspawn at the moment."

Not that I was able to find, and I did a couple searches.

Aloris quirks his head at Dargail's comment. He looks him up and down, shifting his free hand to his hip. "You're an unpleasant little thing, aren't you?"

Kalyn spends some seconds looking for her dagger, then carefully extract it from the genlock body and clean it from the blood on its cloth.
The she makes it in a haste toward the rest of the party.

"Wow that was easy, almost too much easy,now i feel i can take an archdemon myself"

Then she approches the dalish spellcaster.
"Andaran atish’an my friend. I'm Kalyn of the alienage of Denerim, glad we made in time"

I'll just see what develops, head toward the farm, or burn the apostate dalish elf now. Your choice.

"I'll say head toward the farm before more come, if ever. No point in staying here anyway.Tell me if you want me to scout in advance some more"

"I still think we should head after the one that fled." Dargail looks at Aloris. "Okay buddy, for now I'm not goin to turn ya in. Just so long as you don't give me a good reason to. If you so much as cut yerself intentionally fer any reason, or I hear another voice come out of your mouth, then I'mma gonna jump ya. Ya hear me boy?" Dargail looks at everyone. "Okay, We got one vote for the farm and one ta go afta the little beast that ran off. Any other votes?"

Found out what the Dalish call the Fade. They call it "The Beyond". Had an elf in the video game explain it to me.

"He is likely to rejoin his kin. Reports say they are at the farm. Logically, by going to the farm, we acheive both ends."

Marass seems to be speaking to himself aloud.

The farm is about 3 miles down the road. You can hear the normal sounds of the forest and country side, but nothing unusual. At this point it would require tracking to follow the Genlock, not that it would be difficult since you saw the direction he ran off in, and it is daylight, and you have a DRUID with you.
In addition since nobody has mentioned it, there is a total of 50 gold coins on the bodies, as well as 5 darkspawn shortbows, and 5 darkspawn shortswords (all small size). Such weapons have limited, but potential resale value.Posted about value of money in the other thread

The genlock did run toward the farm ?

The genlock did run toward the farm ?

Actually it ran North...away from the road entirely and deeper into the forest flanking the road.

Kalyn is looking far off, almost as she isn't there at all, at least with her mind.
She looks toward the North and in the forest.
"The little pest ran away from the road, i'm no tracker though, and won't risk following it alone.Maraas is right, let's go to the farm"

Aloris furrows his brow, moving his gaze from one person to the next. His eyes settle on Kalyn, squinting as she speaks in old Elven. He spends a moment listening to the group as he loosely slides his bow over his quiver.

He gives a light chuckle at Kalyn's comment about tracking. "Tracking is no difficult skill. But what is all this about a farm?"

Dargail lets out a sigh. "Guess de majority wants da farm. Makes sense as thats suppose to be where we'd start our investigation anyways." Dargail looks to Aloris. "We been asked by de Chantry to investigate mysterious attacks on a farm just outside of Ostagar. So far there is strong evidence pointing at darkspawn as de culprit. We have a witness, arrows, and now dis ambush, so at dis point I'm almost convinced. Though in my long career of weeding out truths, I never stop considering other possibilities no matter how far out or unlikely dey may seem. Dis mindset comes with years of investigating. I have seen a lot. Now if you want to make some money or simply want something ta do, feel free ta join us. Just so you know, you gotta work for yer own kills. No freebies."

Dargail sets up at the head of the group. "Okay, to da far we go." Dargail will lead the group to the far.

Aloris quirks a brow, stretching the tattoos on his face. "Ma nuvenin, little Jailer." He pauses, looking around the area once more. "I'm interested in seeing this farm, though. Seeing the truth in it, I mean." He flashes a toothy smile, nodding at Dargail. "Lead on, then."

Aloris will follow the party.

The road to the farm is uneventful, and after half an hour you arrive. There is a several acre field of rye, a large patch of cabbage, and a a 2 stroy farm house with attached barn. You can hear the sounds of dogs barking at your approach. A man with a Mabari hound approaches you, with a hoe over his shoulder. He looks to be about 40 years old, and asks you Hail strangers, what can I do for you? Are you come with good news or bad? Nothing happened to my daughter, did it?
perception DC 10 or Sense motive

Dargail examines the man. Sense Motive:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Dargail approaches and waves to the man. "Greetings an well met good soldier. Yer daughter is fine. She ired us te take care of yer darkspawn problem. Lucky ya ta have such able body men and uh woman at yer service. This big fella here is Maraas, a very practical fella. Then this young lady is Kalyn, don't turn yer back on her. The sophisticated elf boy dressed as a mage is Aldo, nice attitude on dat one. The other Dalish here is Aloris, not sure where he came from or where exactly his allegiances lie but for now I'm not worried. And I am Knight Lieutenant Dargail Bogan of the Templar. Now down te brass tacks. Where ya seen these darkspawn yer daughter mentioned?"

Perception 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

"Such sad fate is mine, everyone misunderstands me"

The farmer continues Well you see everybody thinks I'm lying cause the darkspawn attacked a cow. But you see, a cow can smell things a mile off you and I would never see, in fact it was the cows and my dogs that alerted me to what was going on. I've had a cow, actually it's Marina's cow, that started lowing. i'd pay no mind normally, but it starts really making noise, and my dogs go crazy. Turns out a whole party , 10 or more of the little darkspawn buggers, are shooting at my cow. I guess they figure she is the sentry for the area. Anyhow, they bring her down but by then I and the dogs are on them. The genlocks took down 1 Mabari, but I and the other dog killed 3 and ran off the rest of them. But I have no idea what they are planning. I've told the Chantry but they seem rather distant...
2 Mabari and a soldier could certainly do what he said. The cow side of things is a bit strange but who knows? Unless you have profession darkspawn hunter and cow herd this could go on all day.

"I think we can dispense with story time. Just tell us which way the darkspawn went."

Aloris scowls at Maraas's comment, and looks to the farmer. "It's an easy thing to believe, shemlen. Beasts have better senses that your people, and it's expected that they'd notice sooner than you." He pauses, and lookes to Maraas. "You might not be wrong, though. It's best we look into this darkspawn attack. I'm guessing there's some sort of village or den or something in the area that they're coming from."

The farmer points south, pass the field of rye. Cross the rye patch, and into the woods. That's where they retreated to after killing the cow. Not sure how far away they may have gone. And you should be careful, they had a little one with some magic or something, one of the little buggers got up and kept fighting even after it had lost its head to a blow from my scythe. Don't know much about magic to be honest.
Knowledge Arcana or Knowledge Dungeonering for information about darkspawn magic

Kalyn gives a quick look around the place,already knowing there is nothing here for her.
"I'm just a scout really, i'll follow the decisions of the party.Luckily we have experts of magic here"

Sorry about the silence guys, just got a new job workin' at a pizza lace and it's kickin' my butt,I'll try to get caught up this week, feel free to dmnpc me if need be. Expect something from me tommorow hopefully

being italian, i would love to come help you :-)
i just am never tired of eating pizza

Aloris nods at Kalyn and shoots a glance in the direction of the farm. "Perhaps you should scout it out, then? It'll be better if we know what to expect." He claps a hand roughly on her shoulder, flashing a wide smile. "Try not to get yourself noticed, either. Be like the moss; ever present, never interesting."

In case the GM will request for rolls and if the party is willing to wait Kalyn scouting again

Dargail joins the group thinking to himself trying to remember what he could about darkspawn. Thing was, he never actually had to fight them. His time was spent monitoring the provings as opposed to venturing into the deep roads.

When Kalyn decides to go scout a head of the group Dargail nods. "Just be careful. I trust yer skills.....just be careful." Dargail's expression and monotone voice seems to have a ever so slight edge of worry or concern to them.

"I agree with Dargail. Come back to us little one."

Kalyn smiles in return to the party concern "Don't worry i like my body as it is to take unnecessary risks"

Kalyn
The forest is wild, with only a few game trails as possible leads. As you follow the most promising one, you stumble upon (literally) a bent tree snare.
Reflex save DC 16 or be hung upside down 10 feet/3m in the air. DC 23 escape artist check
Not a great perception roll there

Reflex save 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Kalyn evades the tree snare, than ducks and waits there a few seconds, trying to detect presence around her

Yep, with 15 points buy i had to leave out something and i went for wisdom

I need another stealth and perception check when you get a chance. You've been undected even after your trap event
Avoiding the trap You continue scouting ahead, there are signs that darkspawn have been using this trail...broken arrows, a few blood stains, and darkspawn tracks. They lead deeper into the forest...

Not sensing anything, and starting to see darkspawn's signs Kalyn decides that she reached the point at which she is taking unnecessary risks.
She goes back to the party.

Dargail paces back and forth continuously. He keeps mutter. "She's taking too long. Something must of gone wrong. Is she alright? Should I go in after her or is she just taking her time. I hope nothings happened. I would hate to lose a companion so soon. Hell I'd hate to lose one ever. Oh where is she? Dargail continues to stress as he waits for Kalyn's return.

Kalyn you get back to the party. You've found the trail but where it leads you don't know.
You all feel relieved to see the elf woman return from the woods

"Sorry it took so long, i had some problems this time but nothing i couldn't handle.Found darkspawn presence and traps along that trail.Didn't go much further though, don't know where it leads"

"It leads where it leads. We have need to travel this path, and so I will until a new one is shown to me."

Maraas makes to start off down the path, but pauses to make sure his companions are with him. He will stop if they do not follow.

Aloris grins. "You're a pushy bunch," he says, and starts after Maraas and the rest.

Dargail takes a sigh of relief. "Thank the Maker. It is going to take me a while before I can accept that someone so small and not clad in 5 tons of armor can still be so capable. My apologies for worrying. Now let us get after these wretches. Big guy, you better hope there are a lot of them because if there aren't you won't get any kills." With that Dargail draws his weapon and move quickly after Maraas

Kalyn shrugs and pretends sadness.
"What? No rest? AWWWW"
Then she joins her companions
"Thanks for the compliments Dargail."

I need to know who is on point(first in marching order) and I need perception checks from everybody and iniative rolls You file into the woods, the game trail is barely wide enough for 2 people, and the undergrowth is thick. The trees are older here, some as big as 10' around. You hear a few birds, but nothing unusually.

Perception 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

Initiative 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

"You and your steel wall should take point, master templar. I will guard the rear. Besides, you'll need the head start to beat me in kills."

Maraas chuckles, the first sign of mirth he's shown thus far.