|
Hydris Bane is quite tall for a halfling, his shoulder length blond hair being full bodied enough to make him look even taller.
Several moles as spread beautifully on his right cheek, betraying something of a boyish charm.
He beams as he chats excitedly, "Greetings fellow Pathfinders. I'm so excited to go on my first real mission. Drenge says he really loves my new style of Chronicle article headlines. I bet I'll make up a good one for this mission."
|
"Greetings. And may the silver flow freely from your purse. My name is Crushna."
The Vudrani man bows slightly and touches the silver star fastening his robes. He smiles at the halfling's enthusiasm.
"This is not what I had in mind when I left Radripal. What is your name?" He studies the halfling for a moment before inquiring, "And to what caste do you belong?"
|
A haggard Ulfen man approaches, his mouth twisted by horrible scars but smiling.
Ow-dee-doo! Dookinallkallmi Sven! Aymabuduh ole Rapeek, buttah 'ee cannae cum-a-day. Zo, Ai pid in. Ennyoo lite dite?
He begins shaking a cup of dice, with a hopeful look on his face.
Translation: Howdy-do! You can all call me Sven! I'm a buddy of old Rafiki's, but he can't come today. So, I'll fill in. Any of you like dice?
For any who haven't met him, Sven is an eternally level 1 character that I rebuild into real characters after they hit two. The combination of being Ulfen, Wolf-scarred, and Deaf add up to a Swedish Chef voice. I will be speaking more or less incomprehensibly, except when rolling Diplomacy. He tries real hard then.
|
A dusky skinned man watches this whole exchange silently, a somewhat dismissive smirk on his face that only deepens at Sven's introduction. He wears silver and black laquered scale and has a well-worn greatsword strapped to his back. On the left side of his neck is a tattoo. Though partially hidden by his clothing, the upper half of the symbol of Rovagug is nearly unmistakable.
Seems I might as well step forward. I am Rashid, knows as "the Destroyer" among the tomb robbers of the dunes of Osirion.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You're all seated around a large table, taking your classwork to become recognized field agent in the Pathfinder Society or a refresher class for those of you are already Pathfinders. In walks a a slightly portly man with a smile on his face, he does a quick head count and sees everyone's arrived. He offers a round of drinks from the sideboard to you all, anything non-alcholic as well as a variety of alcholoic beverages can be found, and while he'll nod at the non-drinkers a glint touches his eye at those who grab something stronger.
On the last part he gives a conspiritorial wink.
|
|
Crushna admires The Thinker's chiseled physique, but seems baffled by his introduction.
Perhaps we shall find common ground in the course of our exploration...
He spares a pitying look for Sven before turning his attention toward Rashid. His eyes narrow at the sight of the fanged spider of The Unmaker, and he assumes a guarded stance.
Oh, Enlightened one, guide me. They have sent me forth with tools of war and destruction. As the Matra is the path, let me be theirs toward Enlightment. Spirit in Silver, help me find their worth and forge us into a shining chain.
"I am as ready as I will be. Which way to this Fallen Fortress?"
|
|
Following directions given to you by Adril Hestram a couple hour trek out of Absalom leads you to the Fallen Fortress.
The ruined siege castle now being called the Fallen Fortress rises out of the churned earth of the Cairnlands. No doors or windows mar the otherwise smooth expanse of the tower’s walls. The tower is quatrefoil in plan; its eastern wing has largely collapsed, exposing the interior floors to the open air. Only the topmost level seems whole, though its eastern portion hangs precariously over the mountain of rubble left by the collapse. At ground level, the rubble frames a gaping hole in the side of the building that provides access to the tower’s darkened interior.
As you approach a pack of hungry dogs come out at the smell of fresh meat.
These are dogs, they are fairly quick and have a good sense of smell, careful, they bite.
Squares on the map that are covered in rubble provide difficult terrain.
Hydris
Crushna
Rashid
Thinker
Dog(red)
Fulgrim
Dog(purple)
Sven
Dog(yellow)
Hydris, Crushna, Rashid and Thinker you're up.
|
|
Once outside of the city proper Hydris uses his staffsling as a walking stick to help make the journey easier.
Hydris shouts "Stray dogs hate this one trick!"
Hydris steps to the side and drop one of his bullets into the thong of his sling, closes one eye to help judge the distance and fires at the red dog.
|
|
Crushna, Rashid, and the Thinker all step forward ad make themselves ready for the oncoming attack of the dogs.
The red dog takes off heading for the party's flank. Crushna's readied blast goes off and drops the dog in his tracks.
Fulgrim
Dog(purple)
Sven
Dog(yellow)
Hydris
Crushna
Rashid
Thinker
Fulgrim you're up.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Scratching himself on his backside, a surly-looking, soot-stained, cigar-smoking dwarf with smoked goggles in his hair that's starting to go from blonde to gray ambles into the briefing. He's wearing full plate armor* and has a well-used looking warhammer slung at his side. He puffs one last time on the stogie before spitting it to the floor and rubbing it out with a heavy boot, before speaking in a gruff accent.
"Howdy, all. Name's Fulgrim Stonebridge. Spent a good 80 years as a guard at Dongun Hold down Alkenstar-way, patrolman on the bridge o'the gods and all that. The missus says I need to..." He puts up fingers to do "air quotes" " 'Find myself' 'fore she'll let me back in the house and all. Bein' that she's a priestess of Folgrit and all, makes her head of the house...but that don't matter much to all you."
"What I'm bringin' to the party is my age and wisdom, yessir, that's right. Oh yea! I can tell what y'er thinkin, yessir!" He narrows his eyes and looks around until he locks his gaze on Rashid. "You there! You're thinkin' about... Beer!"
"Wait, wait...no...sorry, that's me. I'm thinkin' about beer. YOU'RE currently skeptical of my ability to tell what yer thinkin! Ha, told ya! Anyway...where we off to again?"
|
|
Fulgrim takes a five foot step towards the front line as the other dogs line up.
He shouts to Rashid. "You there, destructo-boy! Aim for the spot right on the snout. Dogs like my pappy used to have are weak to gettin' hit there, 'specially by rolled up papers and whatnot!"
As a standard action, Fulgrim readies a casting of Telekinetic Projectile but only if one of the dogs manages to get past Rashid, Crushna, and Thinker's positions.
|
|
Sven moves up making himself a target for the last down who moves up to bite him.
The dog misses Sven who is prepared for it, then everyone is able to step up and put the dog down before it gets the chance to da anything else.
You are able to make it to the front of the tower, where you can make out two doors. The southern door is full of rubble and unaccessible while the northern door is unblocked. So you all head into the northern room.
The northern wing of the tower seems to have escaped the worst effects of the collapse, but rubble still litters the floor and everything is covered in a thick layer of stone dust. Thick cobwebs cloak the ceiling and hang down the walls like gossamer tapestries. A single archway stands open in the southwest wall.
+2 visual
Always fails sound based
As Sven walks into the room an unnoticed Spider shoots a web out at him and entangles Sven. The spider remains in its web, 10 ft off the ground.
Thinker
Spider
Crushna
Hydris
Sven
Rashid
Fulgrim
Thinker you're up.
|
|
Nite twy, aydater!
Sven moves 10 feet into a position Rashid can easily flank with, provoking an attack of opportunity against my entangled AC (18). If the Spider connects, I'll use Misfortune on him. Should he miss, I'll hold it in reserve for its next successful attack.
As my standard, I'll hold for Rashid moving in for the flank and attempt to punch it with my cestus...because why not.
|
|
Fulgrim narrows his eyes and watches the fight with the spider unfold. As a Move-equivalent Action he takes out a cigar and lights it with a tindertwig, inhaling on the stogie and puffing out a bit of smoke.
"Hey, destructo-matic, aim for the body, not the legs. Do more good there, like my first girl I was sweet on...her leg-hairs, wowsa, not for the faint of heart!"
Combat Advice on Rashid as a Move Action, +2 Competence to his next attack on the Spider.
|
|
Sven moves around the spider provoking an attack but getting into position for Rashid to follow, while Fulgrim provides Rashid some extra encouragement.
Hydris moves in close to the spider and hurls a stone his way but the shot goes wide while the Thinker moves up behind him and strikes a single blow against the beast.
Crushna
Rashid
Spider 8
Sven
Hydris
Thinker
|
|
Crushna fires a blast of Earth past the body of the spider, and Rashid steps up and cleaves the body in two.
As you look around the tower you find a cocooned body of a dog amongst the spiders webs. The body is wearing a collared leather collared with a silver label engraved with the name "Kita", it also has lapis luzuli stones worth 50gp.
In the westernmost room you find a door to what you assume must be the stairway further into the tower, however the collapse has filled the room with stone and debris from above making it impassable.
How would you like to proceed?
If you sift the wreckage you find that this stairway is full of debris from here all the way up to the next floor, you believe excavation would take days of work to get through safely, and certainly longer than Adril gave you to get the report back to him
|
|
Hydris quickly makes some notes in his book.
"Letscheck this floor out throughly before figuring out how to head up... or down! I bet one of these towers has an underground keep with all sorts of scarry bones and stuff in it."
Hydris will head off counter clockwise to check out all the room, at least briefly.
|
|
At the sight of the silver label, Crushna touches the silver star on his shoulder and whispers, "Omrataji bless us."
Crushna stands still as he extends his senses into the stone of the tower and the surrounding debris.
His eyes open, and he informs the party, "This is indeed the stairway. However, there is too much stone debris to move quickly or safely. We will need to find another way to ascend the tower."
|
|
Each of you make your way through the innards of the first floor finding nothing much of interest in the scattered debris and cobwebs. As Crushna said the way seems to be blocked, but as he quests out with his stone power it becomes apparent that the outer stone can be climbed, if with some difficulty, and that a chunk of the second floor is open from the outside. Furthermore it seems where the wall has broken may provide more hand and footholds than the wall itself.
To climb the wall itself DC 25 Climb
To climb the ragged wall left behind in the collapse DC 15
Or you may find creative ways to lower the difficulty and/or help each other.
|
|
Rashid's eyebrow raises and he cocks his head to the side.
If I have offended you, sir, I apologize. It is known that the dwarves are a race tied to the workings of stone. And a man seemingly made of the stuff shows a connection as like calls to like. As you have not made it known your capabilities I had no way of knowing that I should have asked for your opinion as well. Shall I assume going forward that you have your own secrets involving the earth?
There is, perhaps surprisingly, no animosity in his words.
I would be happy to make the attempt up the tower if you would but give me a moment to remove my armor as it has a tendency to impede my climbing.
|
|
Crushna inclines his head at Rashid's apology.
"My own abilities are closely tied to elemental earth and stone. Allow me to demonstrate."
With a form that closely resembles the martial demonstrations of mountain monks, Crushna guides a small piece of debris in a circle.
"I am tied to the earth as much as either of our companions and have been since my youth in the silver mines of Radripal. Apologies accepted. And may Matravash cleanse our hearts."
Crushna eyes the wall again, using his sift ability to identify weak parts of the crumbling wall.
"Watch the left hand there. That rock will fall if you put your weight on it."