GM Dak - Thornkeep Adventure! (Inactive)

Game Master Dakcenturi

After Olik brings it to everyone's attention you all see something large move in one of the bigger trees. Looking for a moment you see a large and lanky moss-colored humanoid that has an elongated, toothy snout and appears to be covered in bits of foliage. He is obviously aware that you are aware of him and appears to be moving to action coming down from the tree.

Map updated

Round 1
Tam, Jirani, Olik, Monster, Sal, Malik

K:Nature: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Jirani tightens his grip on his ranseur and waits for the monster to come closer.

Delay until after the monster's turn.

"Troll" Olik states simply and begins an ancient Ulfen battle song. The beat is steady and deep filling those who listen with the courage to face the beasts of the darkened forests of the North.

Inspire Courage...BP 9/15

Assuming it's appearing aggresively?
Readied action for Tamarie
Knowledge nature: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Tamarie is peering through the woods, waiting for the right opportunity to release her arrow. She follows the beast, moving left and right, and her arrow does not leave until exactly the right opportunity.
When the beast emerges, her arrow strikes unerringly between its head and its breast. A stream of blood gushes down from the wound.

--
Assuming I have more than enough for the knowledge check:
"Fire! We need actual fire to stop the legendary healing ability of this troll. Shout out if you have a reliable source! Salador, have you stolen any fire bombs lately?"
She snickers for a moment while she draws her next arrow.

Malik pales when he hears what the beast is. He draws a wand and activates it, causing a feeling of confidence to wash over everyone.

Use Wand of Bless, +1 to attacks and saves against fear for 10 rounds

Laughing at Tam's question Salador answers.

My bombs already do fire damage

The group prepares for a fight Olik and Tamarie informing the party what to expect. Tam takes a shot and even with the tree banches partially obscuring her target the arrow finds it's mark. The troll jumps down out of the tree with ease, leaving a large thud and a slight tremble in the ground. He continues to move and smack at Olik with a slight grin or at least what appears to be a grin "Ah ha... more foods!"

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

His bare claws rake across Olik, slicing into his flesh.

Round 1
Tam, Olik, Monster, >Jirani, Sal, Malik

Jirani begins to circle around the troll and jabs his ranseur with all his might.

2H power attack, buckler, inspire courage, bless: 1d20 + 5 - 1 - 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 5 - 1 - 1 + 1 + 1 = 22
Damage, 2H, power attack, inspire competence: 2d4 + 3 + 1 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3, 2) + 3 + 1 + 3 + 1 = 13

AC is 17.

Malik, crossbow still in his hand, reaches over and touches Salador's arm. "Eternal Rose grant you favor!" he whispers.

Use Touch of Luck on Salador, granting him a re-roll on 1 d20 roll for one round.

Salador moves up behind Olik and throws a bomb

Bomb, Inspire, Bless, PBS: 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 27
damage: 1d6 + 5 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 13

crit confirm

Bomb, Inspire, Bless, PBS: 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 13
damage: 1d6 + 5 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 9

reroll if crit confirm doesn't help. Thank you Malik!

Bomb, Inspire, Bless, PBS: 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 12

With the battle joined Olik steps forward toward the beleaguered beast and attacks.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 4 + 1 = 15
Damage: 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 1 = 8

"Oiy, awake little sister the beast could use a bit more of your attentions!"

Jirani sllices into the creature, followed shortly after by a well placed bomb from Sal. The creature stumbles a bit allowing Olik the perfect chance to slice into him dropping him to the ground.

Bah :P next time I guess I'll need two trolls :P

"Ha, never mind seems we have things in hand!"

Olik flicks his blade to clear the trolls blood from it. The final notes of his song intertwine and fade off with their attackers defeat.

"Well seems the tales of trolls in the wood were not overstated." Spreading his arms wide to stretch his chest and shoulders he says, "Now we begin to fight foes that perhaps will be worth their own song one day. Seems odd to put such a beast down without a spear though. For some reason the old tales always seem to have it done thus." He shakes his head a bit with a chuckle. "Let's put fire to the creature and be on our way."

Sal do your bombs count as fire attacks or do we need to burn him still? Also Dak do you mind if I do a minor bit of retcon to have Olik pickup the bugbears weapons? RP reasons only :)

Bugbear weapons is fine. Yes his bombs do fire damage so that counts to surpress his regen.

"Nice work Olik, you sliced him in half beforz I could find a decent spot to fire my arrow into."

She nods and scans their surroundings, checking for mmore of these foul creatures.

Doesn't Jirani use a "spear"like weapon?

Yeah he was using a ranseur which is spear like :D

"Ahem." Jirani shakes his ranseur. "I played my part for the story. Perhaps they used longspears for their reach. I don't think I'd like to get too close to one of these if I could avoid it. Get healed up, brother. That was a nasty swipe, and there's no telling what we'll run into next."

"So you did brother, so you did!" Olik chuckles, wincing a bit and putting a hand to his wound. "And you're right about this. Let's see what can be done."

Singing a short melody he once again places his hand over the wound knitting the worst of it.

CLW: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Afterwords he walks over to the trolls body and then the tree it seemed to appear from checking for possessions of value it might have had.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

After having dealt with the troll and looking about the ruins you find the remains of what you only assume are the people you came looking for. They are dismembered and some parts gnawed on.

Tamarie will look through their possesions for items that are clearly theirs, to identify tbem later when we get back to the city.

Olik rises from the trolls corpse holding a small flask he pulled from it's belt. "Has an old label on it. I think it says it's a curative potion." CLW potion

When he sees the bodies he becomes more somber and gives Tamarie a hand before trying to put the bodies in some semblance of order.

Looking at the bodies their is little gear, you do find a journal that does identify the remains.

Well I for one do not want to go in that manner. So what shall we do next?

Salador looks around quizically.

"Perhaps the journal will give us some clues. Otherwise I'd say we poke about the ruins and see what there is to see."

"Agreed!" Tamarie replies.

"I think those are both good ideas, Olik. Perhaps we should start exploring the ruins, first. Maybe we can find a suitable place to camp within if it gets late. Then we'll skim through the journal at camp. I'd feel rather exposed out here."

"It would also be a good idea to find a safe place for these wizards' remains until we return to town. With the troll gone, other scavengers may be attracted. Just in case the Mages have their own rituals for the dead they'd prefer to us burying them out here. Hm... as long as it doesn't include animating them..."

"Incidentally, in what language is the journal? I suppose it's too much to hope that it's in Taldan, Osiriani, or Elven?"

Olik nods at Jiranis wise words, "Let's take a look about these ruins then." Sword in hand he works with others in the party to scout out the ruins first looking for threats and then to get a feel for the ruins themselves.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Got a bug in his eye unfortunately :)

Malik sighs in relief as the Troll falls. "I'm very glad we were able to dispatch that creature so quickly." he says. When the bodies are found, Malik pales, and he steps forward to say a prayer for their souls. "May we take a moment to cover these unfortunate people? I'd rather not leave them exposed to the sky while we search the ruins." he says, his eyes sad.

"I'm afraid all I have with me is a bedroll. I'll be happy to use it to help carry them back to town, but until we know if we have to spend the night here, I'd like to keep it clean."

Jirani helps scout the ruins.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

The ruins have odd writing all about them, but the site is mainly empty. It appears that the mages had been ambushed by the troll as they were getting ready to depart the ruins.

With the ruins appearing secure for the moment Olik assists Malik in tending to the bodies before he takes a closer look at the writing to try and decipher it.

If it's not Common, Skald, Varisian or Elven he'll use a scroll of Comp Language

Are the ruins a collapsed building/buildings or do we see a way down into the ground?

No stairs down or anything, mostly buildings.

Looking at the journal you can not decipher the language. Infusing yourself with magic to comprehend the writing you are now able to read the journal. It appears to mostly be research around the old goblin kingdom of Zog. The only note of relevance to your immediate duty is a mention of the tapestry that you had already seen. There are notes about different colors and a puzzle to unlock the door.

"Well, I guess we can take heart in finding these mages for the Circle."

Jirani unfolds his bedroll. "We can collect the bodies in my bedroll, and Olik and I can carry them back to town with us."

Sharing what he has learned the Bard looks to the sun to see how much daylight they might have left to travel this day.

Did you say a puzzle to unlock doors. That is very interesting. what exactly does it say?

Salador looks to Olik.

The notes on the door are random and scattered, really the only thing you can sumize is that there is some sort of puzzle involved with opening the doors and it has to do with colors and a star.

The day is running into late afternoon. It would likely get dark on the trip back to town.

"Well, we either stay here all night, or we walk back, and get back a few hours after dark. Exposed either way, probably a toss-up which is more dangerous. I guess here we at least avoid bandits, presuming they're smart enough to steer clear of the troll's territory, but still, I hate the idea of another one coming to check on him and finding us..."

"True but at least we have the ruins to provide some defense and to help hide our fire. Let's rest the night and travel on in the morning."

Malik nods to Olik's idea and unslings his pack. "Well, whose turn is it to cook?" he asks with a grin.

"Mine," Tamarie says with a grin, "but are you sure you want to be taking that risk after last time?"

She starts collecting wood and gets a fire starting, all the while whistling a tune that seems to be stuck in her head. When that big oaf of an Olik grins when he hears it, she throws him one of the logs at an inopportune moment, like when his hands are full with his cooking gear.

"I'll take first watch."

Jirani stows his concerns about a fire attracting scavengers, trolls, or bandits, grinning at Tamarie's antics. He looks for Malik to join him, and sets to looking for a safer, more respectable place for the bodies of the wizards to spend the night.

If it's not cold here, Jirani can put the remains in his bedroll, and sleep under the stars. For the watch, how about: Tamarie, Salador, Malik (darkvision during the dead of night), Jirani, Olik?

Works for me

???: 1d100 ⇒ 52

The night is uneventful, you wake to a new day well rested and ready for another day.

Olik spends his guard quietly singing to himself as he watches the new day birthed in the East. The first touches of light visibly shine through the tree leaves and morning fog adding a serene beauty to the verdant forest. Once the sun has risen past the far off horizon the bard goes about the camp waking his fellow Pathfinders from their slumber.

As they rise he kicks the remaining coals to get a small fire going and prepares a small meal for everyone before they head out.

Back to town then?

Tamarie wakes rested, and helps prepare a morning meal of bread, nuts and fruut.

"Everybody sleep well? We going back to town now, yes Jirani? Olik?"

Malik rises in good humour, smelling the fresh air with relish. "Ah, there is nothing quite like the cool morning air in the forest." he says. He settles down to pray for a few minutes after packing up his things.

Jirani wakes up, not looking forward to the day's task. He sets to collecting the bodies in his bedroll while the spellcasters prepare for the day. When everyone is ready after the small breakfast, he directs Olik to take the foot end of the bedroll while he carries the head, so the two can carry the wrapped up wizards' bodies back to town between them.

Making your way back through the forrest is it a brisk trek and not all too bad, aside from lugging two bodies back with you. The forrest is calm and siren and it is a welcome walk after the few fights you had the day before.

Getting closer to town everyone notices what looks like a few men hiding in some brush up ahead.

Map updated ignore that the tokens look like Gnolls, they are humans :P