"Thank you Elijayss".
With that out heroes are lead out into the dark of night. They are lead down some streets into a back alleyway where a cot is moved, revealing what appears to be an old root-cellar trap door. You go down a narrow stairwell into a small basement. Elijayss goes to a wall and opens a secret door that leads to a long, dark and narrow tunnel. You are lead through this tunnel that continues for a good long while before sloping up into a dark cave. Elijayss leads you out of the caves into hilly and lightly grassed region outside of Port Balfor.
You travel through the night for a good number of hours until you come to a large mountain range. Elijayss finding a good sheltered area and has the group make camp. He then says,
"We will settle down to rest here before we enter the Goodlund mountains. They are too treacherous to travel at night and thus we must push on through the day. Once we hit the Desolation proper though, we will only be travelling at night. The heat of the Desolation is oppressive even during the Winter so travelling at night is the best way to avoid this. We will sleep the rest of the night and depart the late morning. It will be two days of travel before we clear the mountains and enter the desolation proper. Conserve your strength as the journey will be difficult."
"We should set a watch for the night".
"Well, I can take the first watch. Anyway need to do some training and go through my forms. Somehow I feel rusty these days" offering as Jor stretches his arms and shoulders, warming them up
We would not want to make the same mistake as the Qualanesti elves did as they fled the Green Overlord on their way to Silvanesti. Many of their people died in the desert because of the heat, which is ironic seeing that they have the Tower and the Speaker of the Sun, the Black Robe states.
"I join Alathea on the first watch."
As they travel closer to Kendermore and into greater Desolation she becomes even more quieter, with plenty of her thoughts and memories of surviving in and around Kendermore for many years. Wondering on who have been last against the dark forces.
The night goes uneventful and you rest into the morning just so you can get your full 8 hour. The only disturbing thing is the slight smell of scorched earth on the wind, probably wind that has blown from the Desolation through the mountains.
The journey through the mountains is difficult although Elijayss seems skilled at navigating the mountain paths and does seem to know the lay of the land. There is a few points where you have to climb though in order to avoid extending your travel but working together and using a few ropes you are able to bypass any obstacles. Other than the occasional vulture your trip that day is pretty uneventful and you make camp in a rocky outcropping in the evening.
Fortunately nothing jumps out at you at night and your rest is not interrupted during the night. You do notice however that the temperature is noticeably warmer making you think you are getting very close to the desolation. The smell also is somewhat more prevalent.
The day of travel is a treacherous one as the mountains become more stone then earth and the rocks are noticeably sharper. Elijayss makes sure you take mountain paths rather than climb though as the walls of these mountains are noticeably scorched and jagged and some could probably cut you if you tried to climb them.
The result, EARTHQUAKE!
As you are moving through the treacherous mountains suddenly the ground shakes violently making it difficult to keep your footing and loud rumbling noises are emitted as rocks are dislodged from the stony cliffs and start raining down on you.
"EARTHQUAKE! Take cover!" yells Elijayss
In addition there is also the potential of a fissure opening due to the quake. Its a 20% chance.
Fortunately no fissures open under you during this quake however it does make the journey slower as you have to wade through difficult terrain forcing you to travel an extra 1/2 day into the night in order to make up for lost time.
Reflex
24/32 hp
Jor is knocked off his feet by the shaking ground but is able to grab himself before being violently thrown over a ledge. Terevalis and Athola are able to keep their footing despite being pelted by falling stones and the violent upheaval of the ground.
Alathea and Gabriel attempt to keep their feet at the sudden shifting of the Earth.
Alathea Reflex Save
Gabriel Reflex Save
Gabriel keeps his feet steady while Alathea simply lacks the balance to do so.
Reflex Save #2
The Gods are not with her or perhaps the Lord of Bones sees a threat from the servant of another God, the Cleric stumbles and rolls of of the cliff slamming to the ground below!
Gabriel HP = 48/56
Alathea HP = 26/42
Alathea takes a nasty fall from a ledge and is buried under falling rocks. Eventually she is dug out and while pretty banged up has no broken bones. Nonetheless the quake in the area and now the paths are more difficult to transverse.
Elijayss says, "We will have to travel longer today to make up for lost time. The quake has loosened a good deal of rock it seems meaning we will have to take the trail slower to avoid further injury. Once we get into the Desolation proper we should be alright to continue a normal pace."
Alathea gingerly moves her limbs to make sure they are alright, she then calls upon the power of Zivilin to heal herself and her wounded allies.
Channel Energy
Channel Energy
"Very well Elijayss, lead on now that Alathea has healed our wounds."
The journey is slow going through the cracked trail but the party continues on. Eventually you crest one of the rocky hills and look upon the Desolation. The sky is covered with black shadows of smoke and the smell of sulfur and brimstone assail your nostrils.
The desolation itself is covered with black and crimson sand that is only illuminated by occasional glowing fissures in the earth as well as a massive volcano off in the distance. The large volcano is probably one of the largest mountains you've ever seen and looks to be active as you see streams of glowing lava spilling out from it. You also see in the shadow of the peak what might be buildings of some kind, although obscured somewhat by the darkness of these lands and perhaps many days from where you are. This is certainly the most harsh and unforgiving land you have ever seen.
Elijayss gives you a moment to take in the sight and points to the buildings off in the distance and says, "Kendermore lies there in the base of the peak of Malystrix. The Crags are also nearby and we will be stopping there to replenish our supplies and meet the Oracles. From now on we travel only at night as during the day the heat of these lands are oppressive. We will push on the rest of the night and make camp at dawn and rest for the entire day to recover from any fatigue."
So anyway all of you are going to do a forced march so make me a DC 15 Fortitude save. If you fail it you are fatigued until you get some rest. Elijayss has a +15 on this check (8 for desert runner and endurance, 3 for constitution and 4 for class for being a 5th level ranger.)
Elijayss definitely shows signs of a skilled traveller and is able to fight off any exhaustion during the forced march.
However random encounter checks will be made.
The party moves from the mountains into a rocky region with numerous boulders and large rocks but is also a prime sight for an ambush.
Elijayss unfortunately seems distracted leading the party and is somewhat off his game when it comes to perceiving the area. This is his undoing as from out behind rocks leaps out a number of hideous humanoids with frog like feet, scaled skin, lizard-like tails and heads like snakes. There are 10 of them in all attacking. Nine of them wield wicked looking glaives while a larger more imposing has a trident and a shield.
Unless you can make a DC 28 perception check they get a surprise round.
Gabriel is able to force march with his training he is used to it. Though he is unable to spot the enemy with there well placed ambush and is surprised by them.
Fatigue Check
Perception Check
fORT
Perception
Link to map
Normal Sligs
Bravo Slig
The snake like creatures leap out from the boulders catching the party off guard and hissing like serpents. Four of them are able to charge out and make attacks
Only one of them is able to land a wounding blow on Elijayss as he is unable to dodge it but the other one deflects away magically due to one of the rings he's wearing.
The other Sligs likewise move in and surround the party in such a way to box them in with their glaives.
Elijayss Moonshadow
He yells to the party, "Its Sligs! Watch out for their spit, its acidic and they will try and spit it in your eyes!
Seeing he's surrounded he decides that a melee approach would be better and draws his Bastard Sword. Terevalis can tell its of eleven make and probably magical.
Initiative
Iniative
A fatigued character can neither run nor charge and takes a –2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue causes the fatigued character to become exhausted. After 8 hours of complete rest, fatigued characters are no longer fatigued.
It looks like Nuitari and Lunitari are in conjunction from the tracking chart or that it is in a favorable position.
"Evil one, move deeper into group now!", as she tumbles away from the nearest slig pass the slig nearest to Alathea as to create a flacking situation with Alathea. She attacks the slig with the shard.
Althoa steps in and stabs one of the sligs with the Shard of Light. It screams in pain as the weapon digs into the wound. Unfortunately the creature having the drop on Athola is not caught off guard by the attack so is able to keep his vital locations protected. Nonetheless it is a solid blow.
Still waiting on Jor and Terevalis who will go before the Sligs. Terevalis you are in AOO range though so any spells you want to cast should be cast on the defensive or move out of the reach of a glaive. The Sligs have bites AND reach weapons so count as threatening at 10 feet and next to themselves.
The Black Robe will take a 5' adjustment and then cast a fireball centered so that the Kagonesti is right out of the influence but catches the rest of the sligs.
Ast trer fre indicne he says as he gets a bit of bat guano out of a pouch and a fiery explosion detonates in the midst of the sligs.
Favored of the moons feat plus Moon position +2 to caster level and DC.
DC 21
The fireball blasts out hitting 5 sligs and the Bravo Slig.
The explosion of magical fire runs over the Sligs although as Terevalis finds out the Sligs are well suited for living in a heat-encrusted region and the fire does not burn them as badly as one might expect. Nonetheless the fire is hot enough to exceed the amount of heat they can normally deal with.
Elijayss says, "A powerful spell Terevalis but a good deal of creatures of the Desolation thrive in the flame. Cold would be a more valuable resource."
But these are now weakened enough to kill easier/ replies the wizard.
Elijayss says, "Fair enough Terevalis."
He then steps forward and takes a swing at one of the injured Sligs with his Bastard Sword, wielding it two handed.
Unfortunately the blade misses its mark.
The elf is quite impressed with himself with that fireball.
Round 1
Laughing and unsheathing his greatsword, Jor begins to twirl it in his hands while increasing its speed and causing the air around him to cause some screaming noise
"Ah, its been some time since I had the chance to show some skills against my opponents".
Jor makes a threatening gesture with his greatsword and attempts to intimidate all the Sligs that can see them
Unfortunately the Sligs not being the type who understands flashy swordplay seem unphased by Jor's actions. They give him a confused look and then hiss and prepare to attack.
The Slig Bravo moves in to engage Elijayss in combat him being the closest target. He moves in and stabs with his trident putting a power attack in for good measure.
The attack penetrates the defenses of Elijayss and drives into his chest striking a serious wound.
The other Sligs then respond in kind, some spitting, others attacking with glaives or bite.
Terevalis's deflection magic blocks the acid spit and the one on Elijayss misses him.
Gabriel and Jor though get hit in the face by this foul fluid and quickly try and wipe it off as it burns their flesh and eyes.
Terevalis takes a blow from a Glaive for damage.
Know Arcana Are these things impacted by cold since they are resistant to fire?