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"Ha! We could make him do labor; that'd be pretty ironic, right?" Weiman states, not really knowing the exact definitions of "irony" or "coincidence."
It would be ironic at that, Bruxo muses, thinking on it for a moment. What do you say, slaver? Shall we put you to work and subject you to the same treatment you and your kind gave to this lot here? motioning to the huddled slaves. Or perhaps we should put one of them in charge of you, to administer that treatment, hmm?
The guard is absolutely frightened of you guys, particularly the human Cuisinart Vasilios. He's also told you about as much as he knows.
Valeros, blades in hand, moves towards the wooden building, eager to apply his magically heightened strength to the next batch of guards.
Looking over his shoulder, he says, "You guys coming?"
After you! Kyra will follow Cuis... eer, Valeros.
The man does not fall asleep but will stay put with the slaves outside.
You enter the wooden building. Piles of excavated earth litter the ground. A vast chasm, a jagged wound into the plateau, reveals a long shaft that drops into the pillar’s core. In the middle of the open room, a rickety scaffold clings against the chasm’s edge winding its way down into darkness. A rail system runs atop the scaffold and mine carts wait to descend into unknown depths. Lanterns swing from high beams creating shadows that dance amidst the loose dirt. Armed workers expeditiously load the carts while following orders bellowed by a beautiful woman with a simple bronze trinket coiled in a snake motif dangling from a silver chain on her lithe neck.
The woman and four of the men leap into a cart. The other two men draw maces and turn to guard against the oncoming Pathfinders. An empty card stands behind them.
Valeros steps quickly up to the guards, blades swinging.
Valeros moves up the guard and gives him a nasty wound across the shoulder. The respond, attacking with their maces.
Kyra will move up toward the guards and use Command on the uninjured one. Flee! Run as fast as you can away from here!
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Raphael moves quickly to Valeros's aid, trying to draw attention by moving to flank.
move to flank guard 2 (provoking AoO @ AC-30), PA and fight defensively, swift action go into Crane Stance, free action release one hand after attack
AC-34
hp-66/66
fighting defensively, crane stance, blessed
Valeros sees the two guards move to flank him and braces himself for the smashing impact of their maces, but somehow the clownish halfling has distracted them. Both of their blows miss narrowly, and Valeros grins and shakes his head at them, saying, "You won't get that chance again, should have hit me when you were still alive."
His blades then whirl and flash, hitting home over and over.
Kyra casts a spell but the man is steadfast in his resistance. Raphael moves into position with Valeros and hits the man hard. Valeros then finishes both of them off. The party can hear the other cart careening down the mineshaft.
Kyra will join the bard in the cart. We need to go now!
Valeros leaps into the cart along with the others, asking, "Does anyone know how to make this thing go? Or how to make it stop?"
Each cart holds six Medium-sized creatures. Two PCs may control the cart (one “drives” and rolls the Ride check, while the other PC may aid the driver). Keeping the cart under control requires a Ride check at DC 1/5 the cart’s current movement speed rounded down (e.g., a cart moving at speed 100 that requires a Ride check must succeed on a DC 20 Ride check). Whenever this check fails at speed 60 or higher, all PCs make a Balance check DC 15 or suffer 1d4 non-lethal damage while being severely jostled about inside the cart. The PC who drives must make Ride checks whenever he takes damage and whenever the cart strikes any object. If there is no one actively driving a cart at the end of an initiative pass at speed 60 or higher, all creatures inside the cart take 1d4 non-lethal damage. All attacks made from within a cart are at a –2 to hit. Each mine cart is made from iron with two-inch-thick walls and has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10. Additionally, attacks targeted at the track and scaffold requires overcoming a hardness of 5 and 20 hit points.
Assume each cart begins with a movement of 30. There are a total of 1,000 feet of movement that needs to be covered before the carts stop in Rachikan. Each turn on his initiative, the driver of the cart can make a Ride 15 check to increase the speed of the cart by 20. Failing this check keeps the cart at its current speed. Keep in mind that the faster the cart travels, the harder it’ll be for the driver to control the cart (see above). If a following cart ever hits the cart ahead of it, they are considered to be in adjacent spaces to one another (so PCs or NPCs can hop from cart to cart or attack each other with melee weapons) and both carts immediately assume the speed of the fastest cart. While this isn’t totally realistic, it’s much easier to calculate for combat purposes. If a driver ever fails a Ride check by more than 20, the cart crashes and everyone inside takes 1d6 damage for every 50 feet of movement the cart is currently traveling at (e.g., if the cart is traveling at speed 100 and it crashes, everyone takes 2d6 damage). A DC 15 Reflex save halves this damage.
Cart 1:
Position: 0'
Speed: 30'
Occupants: you guys!
Cart 2:
Position: 30'
Speed: 30'
Occupants:
Talia
Guard 1
Guard 2
Guard 3
Guard 4
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Weiman chimes in still getting his last leg into the cart. "Make it go! We don't want to give them an advantage!"
-Posted with Wayfinder
Kyra will cast Guidance on everyone, assuming she has the time.
As everyone clambers into the cart, Valeros takes a quick look at the long control levers at the front and says, "Hmmm, kind of like driving that supply cart I..borrowed...from that drover in Cassomir. Boy, Madame Vanissa sure regretted saying I could spend the festival with as many of her girls as I could carry..." A nostalgic smile on his face, he calls out, "Everyone in and hanging on to something? Here we go!"
He shifts both levers forward, releasing the cart's brakes, and calls out, "Everyone, lean left a bit, it'll help us pick up some speed on this turn!"
His grin changes from one fueled by memories of nights in Cassomir to one of exuberant excitement as he feels the cart accelerate under his control. "Yeeehaaaa!"
Valeros removes the brakes and hits a few levers and the cart lurches forward, careening towards the cart full of Aspis nastiness.
Talia, the leader, begins to cheer the men on . Two of the guards take control of the cart and try to speed it up.
The third guard takes out his bow and fires at Valeros.
The fourth guard reaches out and knocks a lumber beam on to the track!
Cart 1:
Position: 40'
Speed: 50'
Occupants: you guys!
Cart 2:
Position: 80'
Speed: 50'
Occupants:
Talia (inspiring)
Guard 1 (driving)
Guard 2 (aiding)
Guard 3 (bow is out)
Guard 4 (knocked log)
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Short Round Weiman tries to help guide the cart during acceleration time!
Weiman also reaches into his Bag of Holding and pulls out a trombone (causing a certain Taldan noble to gain the Sickened condition for 1 round if he is on the Material Plane, no save.) The halfling looks around and tries to yell over the noisy carts, "Can anyone play this?!?"
Kyra looks at the halfling with confusion and disdain. Please guide us from all this, I beg you.
Valeros urges the cart onward, deftly shifting it side-to-side as the beam on the tracks threatens to tip the cart. He watches as the guard's arrows flies wildly off-target, then lifts the cart's brakes off entirely on a straighter stretch, giving it a burst of additional speed.
A quick glance over his shoulder at Weiman gives him a moment's pause, and he suggests, "We're pretty close, think you can hit their leader with that thing? Best use of a trombone I can think of."
Short Round helps out Valeros in driving the cart while pulling out a trombone to liven up the occasion. Kyra rolls her eyes and calls to her goddess to guide Valeros in driving the cart. Valeros is getting the hang of the cart and speeds it up, hoping to catch the Aspis on the tracks. Meanwhile, Bruxo tries to put the occupants of the lead cart to sleep.
Three of the guards slump over, asleep
Cart 1:
Position: 40'
Speed: 70'
Occupants: you guys!
Cart 2:
Position: 80'
Speed: 50'
Occupants:
Talia (inspiring)
Guard 1 (driving)
Guard 2 (aiding): asleep
Guard 3 (bow is out): asleep
Guard 4 (knocked log): asleep
Lindum and the Imp cast spells on the remaining people in the cart and both spells seem to be effective. Raphael puts a couple of arrows into the driver.
Talia begins to shout nonsense at the driver, who promptly draws his mace and hits the woman.
And the carts continue to lumber forward on the rickety track as the Pathfinders close the gap on the Aspis!
Cart 1:
Position: 110'
Speed: 70'
Occupants: you guys!
Cart 2:
Position: 130'
Speed: 50'
Occupants:
Talia (inspiring): 3 dmg, confused
Guard 1 (driving): 9 dmg, shaken, confused
Guard 2 (aiding): asleep
Guard 3 (bow is out): asleep
Guard 4 (knocked log): asleep
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Weiman looks around at the group's misunderstanding of the trombone. "I meant for some to play a jaunty tune, but I suppose throwing it would work, too."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Kyra witnesses the scene in the cart ahead of them and urges their cart forward.
Valeros laughs aloud as he sees the only two conscious Aspis guards busily trying to kill each other. The cart is already catching up with the one ahead, and it seems unlikely that their prey can spare much attention for driving the cart. Valeros simply keeps his own cart under control and lets its greater speed bring it close to the other.
"Anyone want to jump across and finish them off?" he calls out.