GM Rat Sass's Legacy of Fire (Inactive)

Game Master GM Rat Sass

The one to my west as opposed to the northwest. Unless one of them is injured. I attack the injured first.

Round 13

Still unseen, Mahdi shakes the wand, trying to force out another monster from the dwindling supply within.

Full round action to activate wand of summon monster.

What's going on terrain-wise to the left/west of the purple gnoll? Is that closed doors/a solid barrier, or open doors and a continuing hallway? On my next round, I may cast a spell with a point of origin down there, but I'm a little unclear how far back I could place it.

Vanish, round 4/5
Haste, round 6/6 (Round 13 is last round)
Flaming Sphere, round 4/6

All doors are open in the corridor where the gnolls are. You may assume that the corridor opens to a room similar to the one you all are in.

Eeeeexcceelllent. *Mr. Burns voice*

Round 13

Ami and Yeen move up to attack...and attack. They start with the top gnoll, then move to the bottom.

Yeen:
1d20 + 8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 8 + 1 + 1 = 25 to hit; (bite,haste,divfav)
1d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 1 = 8 damage.

1d20 + 8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 8 + 1 + 1 = 12 to hit; (bite,haste,divfav)
1d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 1 = 8 damage.

1d20 + 8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 8 + 1 + 1 = 22 to hit; (bite,haste,divfav)
1d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 = 9 damage.

Haste Bite:
1d20 + 8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 8 + 1 + 1 = 13 to hit; (bite,haste,divfav)
1d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 1 = 6 damage.

Ami:
1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 8 + 1 = 18 to hit; (slingstaff, melee,haste)
1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 damage.

Haste Staff:
1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 8 + 1 = 15 to hit; (slingstaff, melee,haste)
1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 damage.

Though Yeen finishes what Aldebert had stated, Ami is unable to hit the second gnoll.

Round 13, Init 17

Pent's jaw drops, as he watches his bolt fly true, and bounce harmlessly off the big dog. "Sarah suck out my eyes, shine 'em bright, and return my sight, how did that not dent the dog for true?!" He reloads his crossbow, and sends a bolt at one of the smaller dogs, hoping to be of some use in the raging offense.

MW Light Crossbow: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 6 - 4 = 20 for 1d6 ⇒ 2 damage

"Odie, you should step in there and open the path a little wider for our sidle through."

Round 13, Init 20
The dwarf gives a quick nod to the gnome as he moves closer to the fray.

He follow's Ami's lead, starting from the top and moving down.

+1 Cold Iron Horsechopper, full attack, moved, hasted, cover: 1d20 + 10 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 10 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 24 for: 1d10 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 1 = 16

Horsechopper, Iterative, moved,cover: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 5 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 23 for: 1d10 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 1 = 7
Confirmation? Horsechopper, Iterative, moved,cover: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 5 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 14 for: 1d10 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 5 + 1 = 11 + for: 1d10 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 5 + 1 = 9
If confirm: total damage of 36

+1 Cold Iron Horsechopper, haste attack, moved, hasted, cover: 1d20 + 10 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 10 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 12 for: 1d10 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 1 = 7

As the remaining guards fall and the cleric looking gnoll behind the larger gnoll takes notice of Mahdi's action and flees, something very unexpected happens. The large gnoll's shoulders appear to slump as it tosses its blade to the ground. The blade instantly shrinks. The gnoll's shoulders keep getting smaller. Suddenly it is clear that the entire gnoll's body is getting smaller and appears less and less gnoll in nature. Soon, standing before you along is a wounded humanoid with red hair and reddish tinted skin. Clearly this is the creature that attacked Mahdi moments ago. In the openness of the hallway there is also something familiar about the creature, but you're not sure what. It opens its hands, to reveal that they are empty, but does not speak immediately.

Combat may or may not continue based on the PCs actions. Beyond the sound of the retreating gnoll's footsteps there is no additional sign of others joining the conflict.

Ami looks at his brother, trusting him to end the threat quickly. He pets Yeen's neck, waiting for the next neck to tear out.

Aldebert stutters a moment, unsure of what to do. Surely the smite evil was working? Is this not the embodiment of evil? is it's purpose not to die? ...but it gave up! Does that matter - is it not merely a plot, a ploy, some deep dark plan to ruin you all?!

As he hesitates he uses his other paladin ability to Detect Evil on the reddish creature. He must confirm what he believes...

"Uhh..." is all he says, as his hammer, held high, is temporarily held from the final blow...

The creature speaks quickly to Aldebert. Gesturing with disappointment in the direction of the fleeing gnoll.

"It is clear that I have underestimated you and your fellows. And overestimated the ability of the gnolls to remain.. organized. I would say more, but I am afraid I may take my leave sooner rather than latter."

Round: 14, Initiative: 4

Aldebert hesitates, Perhaps it's just a spell? Something that makes it look like the creature's evil, but they aren't really.

He ponders, Yeah, and maybe pigs fly. This, this, thing is evil. Maybe not as evil as it was a second ago, but still evil. Evil is evil moron!

He decides, Die! then you fool. You plotted against us, and against civilization - to your doom!

Aldebert nudges Gretium up (5' step) and swings on the creature, certain of it's evil nature.

Hammer (magic): 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 8 + 2 = 23 (smite) damage: 1d6 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 6 = 17 (smite)
Hammer (magic): 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 3 + 2 = 13 (smite) damage: 1d6 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 6 = 17 (smite)

As the hammer swings toward the creature's head it vanishes.

Pent throws out a quick detection, trying to make heads or tails out of the creature's crazy nature.

Knowledge(Arcana) Check v DC 21: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

"AW. JUST GREAT!! Arse-hole ported away, he's not there, not by Maddie's trick of the light. Nothing to shoot at, to swing at, to poot at, to shake a fist at, to piss at, to pounce at, to sneer at, to..."

The gnome pulls up his pants, and strides over to the weapon left behind.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

"What do you make of this, Maddie?"

Ami looks at Mahdi with alarm.

"What was that, Mahdi!? Fix it! Bring it back! Make it come back, Mahdi!" Ami begs Mahdi.

(A small fire elemental pops into view near where the cleric would have been-- the end result of Mahdi's summons, no longer needed, it seems.)

Mahdi, however, is nowhere to be seen when you look at him. At least, for another six seconds. Then he fades into view.

"What are you all asking me for?" he snaps. "What do you think I am, a wiza-- don't answer that."

Scowling, Mahdi tries to ascertain what just happened. Detecting magic, etc

Kn Arcana: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

"I doubt he simply turned unseen," Mahdi says, unhappily. "At least, not with the simple trick that I used. Probably something more powerful. That blade is magical, however."

Despite that, Mahdi doesn't yet move forward to take it, clearly hesitant to leave the safety of the group after feeling a shiv to his kidneys not so long ago.

"None of this is adding up. Was that supposed to be this infamous Maul fellow? But he was either a shapeshifter, or under some illusion spell, to appear as that hulking gnoll. Bah! I mislike tricks-- fire burns to the heart of things."

Shaking his head, Mahdi gives it another twenty or so seconds to see if their unseen foe is likely to re-emerge, before he walks over to the blade to investigate it.

Spellcrafting the enchantment on the dropped blade: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

Does Mahdi have any idea as to the species of our new friend when in his red-skinned, red-headed form? I've got all the knowledges, so if there's a chance he might be at least able to recognize race via a description he's heard, etc, I'd be willing to roll for it.

Base roll: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Knowledge (arcana) +13, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +10, Knowledge (engineering) +8, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (history) +10, Knowledge (local) +10, Knowledge (nature) +10, Knowledge (nobility) +8, Knowledge (planes) +13, Knowledge (religion) +10

Aldebert lowers his hammer. Red faced he turned to his brother, "I'm sorry I hesitated. I just had to be sure. He's evil, no doubt about it. That said, he's not as evil as these other gnolls - which makes no sense to me whatever."

"He was clearly our enemy, and sought to destroy us in favor of the gnolls." he shakes his head.

"Are we all OK? I've a few cuts and scrapes, but I'm otherwise able to continue on. And you" he points at Otah grinning, "Nice fighting. You had him on the ropes, I really thought he'd fall to your blade there. I like how you leap in and out of combat - I'm no where near as maneuverable." he pats Gretiem as if to apologize to him.

He then turns to Mahdi and waits for him to speak.

Knowledge(Planes): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Pent perks up as Mahdi materializes. "There you are!" He ambles up and pantomimes the backstab of the janni, while funneling Her healing to cancel out the savage attack.

Cure Moderate Wounds: 2d8 + 6 ⇒ (8, 3) + 6 = 17

"You, uh, you were pretty lucky, Maddie. The stab of a janni... let alone a stab to your backbone..." Pent's tongue fumbles to put together another thought.

"Not sure what we did to attract the malice of the wannabe genie genie..."

Satisfied with his patch-up job, he eagerly awaits pushing forward, out, up, whatever it takes to leave the Beast behind.

Ami looks at Pent, wondering if this is another one of the gnome's jokes.

"Did you mean 'dab of jelly'? What do you mean, gnome?" Ami asks, his mouth still hidden by scarf. "Mahdi?"

Yeen snuffs around, looking for more gnolls to slay, and Ami lets him as they wait for more answers.

Mahdi scowls, rubbing at his forehead as he examines the blade itself, and listens with half an ear to Pent's chatter and Ami's questioning.

"A janni, yes, I think so as well. I assure you I didn't feel very lucky when this frozen blade buried itself in my kidneys," he mutters, one hand still rubbing at the small of his back. He nods a grumpy thanks for the healing.

"Jannis are genies, after a fashion. Beings from another plane, creatures with great magical powers at their disposal. If we're lucky, the blasted bastard decided to go home and leave us alone." Mahdi's tone isn't very optimistic on that front.

"This still... If this was supposedly Maul, who killed Rokova... then was he in disguise all along? I wonder if there even was a Rokova," Mahdi grumbles. "Well. Let's take what we can from these corpses, and try and find another exit from this place before the dog-men manage to find the shreds of their courage and converge on us again."

Mahdi will look over the bodies of the bajillion gnolls around us. ;)

Mahdi will look over the bodies of the bajillion gnolls around us. ;)

Ami and Yeen in join Mahdi in his searching, but Yeen searches throats to rip out and Ami searches for a few good gnoll ears for drying in the sun and piercing with string.

Pent clicks his tongue, and throws a thumb at Mahdi when Ami asks his question, and Mahdi answers. Content that the firestarter is explaining things well enough, the gnome shuffles over to the dwarf.

"Odie Odie Odie... you are a welcome addition to our clan. Carried your weight, and that's a lot." Pent pokes Otah in the side. "Yep, quite a lot." Pent chuckles, tapping the side of his nose.

For the slowing down of excitement, the gnome feels a bit of calm settling in. He surveys his mates. Mahdi and Ami sifting through the carnage. Aldebert and Otah trading compliments over how to create carnage. He nods to himself, hoping to see Kelmarane soon and see the bottom of a very steamy bath.

"Are we all OK? I've a few cuts and scrapes, but I'm otherwise able to continue on. And you" he points at Otah grinning, "Nice fighting. You had him on the ropes, I really thought he'd fall to your blade there. I like how you leap in and out of combat - I'm no where near as maneuverable."

"I can continue. The leaping is not a common tactic seen amongst my kin. They aren't as excited about it as you are though, thanks. My hope is that the manual I'm working on may bring interest to the style."

Carried your weight, and that's a lot.

He turns to the Pent, "Why the jabs at weight? You might make a dwarf self-conscious." he says with a laugh.

"What exactly is a Janni? Is that like a were-gnoll?"

Otah will help search the room as well.

Beyond the blade the janni left behind all the equipment the gnolls were using does not seem magical. Though it does occur to those searching that the gnoll that fled had a wand of some sort.

Pretty sure roll20 has a visual record of the number of slain gnolls. Basically the last two were 'guard' gnolls so they have slightly better equipment. The rest were just grunts. I'll aim to get the breakdown of equipment sometime today. Is poor Otah going to haul all this gear out like some sort of dwarven mule?

"A genie huh? We've attracted the attention of a genie?" he looks to the group, "That's not good. They're sneaky..."

He shrugs and helps to catalogue the loot and carries what he can to help Otah.

Lareg, I suspect we're just grabbing the items that are particularly valuable or portable. Masterwork and magic items of course, but also other loot until we're loaded up. Don't want to leave it in Gnoll hands, and who knows how quickly we'll return. That said, feel free to hand-wave some sort of 'you can carry out loot worth 100gp' or whatever is easier. :)

The loot sheet is current, minus the details on the sword we just picked up. Wouldn't happen to be a greatsword would it? sized small? hehehehe. Once we get the value of that, and what we can carry out, I'll sell the lot and we'll distribute the gold. Do we need a wand of CLW? If so, I'll set aside the 750gp for it.

When Ami is sure there is no more gnolls about, he will help load up Yeen with what they can carry. They won't carry anything that keeps Yeen from running through the sun and sand.

Ami and Yeen can't wait to run in the sun again.

"Why the jabs at weight? You might make a dwarf self-conscious."

"Oh now, there are all forms of weight, Odie. You're packing a lot of muscular weight now, aren't you?" Pent squeezes his scrawny old-man arms. "I'm nothing to a Roc, flying about looking for cattle for its predations. You've got more to offer, way more meat on your bones, so don't take offense for the offense you bring to our strike team here. Take pride."

"As for janni genie knowledge, listen to good ole' Maddie for the message. He knows quite a bit. Far as I know, they are the lowest on the totem, but even that is not to be trifled with. They're like a bad reputation. It follows you no matter how hard you try to shake it."

Pent feels himself growing stronger, as they get closer to sun on their faces. "Almah should be pleased to learn about our affair here. Yes, indeedy."

Aldebert loads up Gretiem with as much as he can reasonably carry, and walks beside him to ease his burden (medium load with Aldebert, no more - no need to run... I hope!).

"I don't know Otah, you are pretty, uh, broad. I mean sure most of that is muscle, but you want some general mass on there too or the gnolls will just push you around."

He pats his belly, "Me, I don't worry about it. As long as I can still fit in my armor, I figure I'm doing OK." he grins.

He walks through the complex, leading to the sun, "Man, these gnolls can move when they want to. Quite a route!"

Is poor Otah going to haul all this gear out like some sort of dwarven mule?

Dwarf power!

Alongside Ami using Yeen as a pack animal, Otah loads up as much as he can reasonably carry into and strapped onto his pack.

Otah looks down at himself, "Me too. I think I still have room in here for a feast when we get back."

Ami, who has neither much muscle nor fat, had little to add to the conversation. What he does have, he admires: a growing necklace of gnoll's ears. That is something to be proud of.

It's clear the gnolls have scattered as everyone moves through the building. Tools and misused weapons lay about. A few scrambling gnolls can be seen in the distance. Further, as you make your way back above ground it is clear that there are portions of the structure that you haven't investigated. Whether gnolls remain in these areas it's tough to tell. The broken down wagon and signs of recent passage by other working wagons leaves the impression that those who could fled.

Little pressed on time this weekend. Figured I'd do a quick shift / scene change. Things that remain. 1) Return to Kelmarene right away? 2) Investigate the remaining areas? 3) Beyond Yeen and Gretiem there appears to be no luck way for others to travel.

Aldebert first surfaces out of the stinking cave that is the gnoll home. He breathes deeply from the fresh air of the surface and squints at the sun to make sure it's still there.

"Ahhhh." he sighs.

After a few deep breaths, he turns to the others. "Let us make sure none remain below. They may have had prisoners, and I suspect if they did, they'd leave them behind. I want to make sure that's not the case before we leave. Agreed?"

I'm envisioning a quick search through the complex. Just a 'pop your head in' & take-10 perception sort of thing. Nothing heavy, but Aldebert would want to make sure no one was left behind. Then homeward, largely on foot I suspect.

Ami gets off Yeen to allow the cat to run circles around the party in the sun. The cat is clearly excited to be free, to run in the open, to out again. The excitement matches Ami's.

Ami, smiling with his eyes, looks for more gnolls to slay...no better way to end the day, but is only somewhat disappointed to find the majority has fled.

Ami agrees with his brother's plan, but gives Yeen a few moments of freedom before calling the cat back to do more work.

"Yes, brother. We should save any remaining slaves or prisoners the gnolls might have taken. My guess is that the gnolls would have taken them as food for the road, but we should search."

Mahdi cracks his knuckles a bit as they finish taking anything of a reasonably profitable value-to-weight ratio from the corpses. Huffing and puffing, he drags the gnoll carcasses (their throats ripped out now, courtesy of Yeen) into a rough pile (until he gets too lazy to do that). He finds a broken beam of wood, lights it on fire with a jet of flame, and lets it burn long enough to leave the end charcoal.

Mahdi scrawls on the flagstones around the gnolls in foot-high letters, using his impromptu charcoal stick.

(Gnoll) To all jackal-men who see this: run. Run far, run fast. Or burn. This place is ours now, and we will return.

Satisfied with his work (and out of breath) Mahdi tosses down the beam and wipes off his hands. Whuff.

"Probably will need to do something about the salamanders too," he observes. As creatures of fire, he rather wishes he could learn from them instead... but the creatures aren't cooperative, so. "But not today. This complex is too valuable to leave forever: what a fortress it would make, if properly secured, and those chambers below-- why, the room with the almond tree alone... That's worth study. When we return, I will bring with me other spells than fire, to deal with the salamanders."

Mahdi doesn't object to working with the others to look for prisoners, or other gnolls..... mostly he cares about the 'other gnolls' part, and deals with any they might find with about as much compassion as Amiamble does.

When they finally emerge into the open air once more, Mahdi takes a deep breath of wind that doesn't smell like gnoll lair, anymore. "That's better. Now: I know it seemed a long time, in there, but because of the tree I doubt it's even been a full day's passage. It's possible our mounts might still be alive. We'd have to figure out where this entrance lies in relation to the one we came in at, but that should be doable, I think."

Take 10 on a Kn Geography for an 18

While he's trying to get a sense of their position, Mahdi turns back to Ami. "You still have the scroll, yes? Valuable as the axe we claimed is, my gut tells me that scroll is even more important. I will study it when we return to town, but that might be the work of many months. I suggest we speak of it to nobody, for now."

Otah emerges from the complex with the party, less enthused about seeing the daytime sky. He is, afterall, a dwarf and used to the confines of rock tunnels. He does, however, enjoy the respite from the raging obsession of gnoll blood from some of his shorter companions.

"Finding prisoners is a good idea. It would be a shame to let starve to death those whose tormentors we have made fled.

Otah will take a stab at doing some mental backtracking: Knowledge (Geography): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

"I think... we came in from over there." he points in a direction.

A bit of back log info. that would have been encountered prior to surfacing.

Faded tiles have cracked and crumbled into small piles at the foot of mud-brick walls. Once colorful mosaics are painted with sloppy, blood-scribed warnings written in Draconic and punctuated with gnoll scalps spiked into the walls.

Above ground

Protruding from beyond the safety of the western temple wall stands a fortified gatehouse built around a forty-foot-diameter dome covered in pale blue, flaking mosaic tile. Behind the dome stand a pair of slender spires. The top of the northernmost spire sheers off at a jagged angle about three-quarters of the way up, while the other bears
extensive cracks circling its foundation.

Will be updating Roll20 momentarily. PCs are near building 'C' as seen on the new map. Basic info. on the other buildings incoming.

Taking 10 on perception is just fine. Please note which area the group is focusing on. Geographically Mahdi will need to move out of the courtyard area to better gauge where everyone initially entered.

A

Two small minarets guard the entrance of a low stone structure topped with the ruins of a small dome. Centuries of mountain winds have sand-blasted the western faces of the minarets to a smooth, polished finish, while the eastern sides facing the temple walls still bear illegible traces of ancient icons and calligraphy.

B

A lopsided minaret, its stacked layers sloppy and precarious, casts a long shadow across the courtyard. A weatherworn coil of stairs scrambles about its perimeter, ascending a hundred feet or so. The stairs slope slightly toward the outer edge and no rails exist to prevent an unsteady climber from tumbling off onto the shards of rubble below.

D

A trio of towering minarets stands tall at the center of the temple courtyard.

E

Along the east wall stands a thick gatehouse of ancient stone flanked by pale, crumbling minarets. On either side, worn steps burrow into the structure and twist inward, leading up to an open patio of cracked-tile mosaic. Holes in the surrounding brick indicate where wooden beams once spanned the patio, perhaps supporting rows of grape vines. Elsewhere, dry fountains, broken shards of pottery, and a worn stone trough indicate traces of what was once a lush and well-tended garden. Currently, the gatehouse’s sole decoration consists of swarms of black flies buzzing above scattered piles of fetid dung.

F

In the southwest section of the temple rises a large, bronze- plated dome set atop a raised stone foundation. The dome is badly cracked and a gaping hole mars the southwest wall. Several human-sized, brownish-black, egg-shaped objects lie about the yard surrounding the dome.

G

Rising from the center of the temple grounds is a tremendous dome of stone, brass, and crumbling plaster. The great dome sits on a octagonal base, inlaid in intricate geometric patterns with thousands of colored glass tiles. Time and the elements have reduced their once bright colors to faded pastel hues of blue, green, and yellow. In several places, the tiles have been completely worn away, exposing plaster and brickwork beneath.

"Oooo that's a dangerous thing, when dwarves start thinking..." The gnome walks up alongside the outstretched arm, using it like someone would use a telescope. "Yep, the closer you get to Odie, the more you can smell the kiln firing between his ears." Pent ribs Otah.

"If our mounts are still alive after all this time, I suppose we should try and kill them ourselves by riding them all the way back to Kelmarane, eh?"

"So, a sweep of the entire, massive, cyclopean complex? No better time than the present, I suppose. At least we know how to get out now." The gnome turns back towards the House, and readies to follow folk back in for what is sure to be a very brief survey of the place.

"I suggest we speak of it to nobody, for now."

Pent turns to Mahdi, with a light shake of his head. "We have the attention of a janni, Maddie. For all we know, he's listening to us right now. You listening janni man?? We're not any men here, we're protectors, so you need to vanish off, never to return here, you hear me?" Pent's eyebrows raise enough to see the upper whites of his eyes.

"Oh, Maddie, that brings me back to our wereleopard, it does! I was just thinking of all things I'd like to do to the janni who stabbed you in the back, then I remembered all the things I was thinking about doing to the wereleopard... where was I...?"

Pent remains within the gravitational pull of Mahdi, to make sure that his accounting is witnessed, for the noble work it is.

Aldebert takes some time to take in the beauty of what once was. Magnificent!

He mumbles, mostly to himself, "I wonder what it would take to reclaim this in all it's former glory."

In his head he starts doing some calculations, but the numbers run high very quickly. "Maybe in pieces... over generations... and here I am without proper armor." he sighs at the magnitude of the work to be done here.

...but the wonder of the place sticks with him, and plants a seed.

- - -

Shaking his head to clear it of Pent's long ramble about 'another thing', he suggests, "Let's get our steeds first, if they yet live, and bring them here with fresh water and food. They must be thirsty and hungry for we left them with some - but they've probably already gone through it. Then we descend again and look for survivors, or anything else of interest."

Ami finds his hands working Yeen's reins (more of a tuft of fur) in cadence with the gnome. He finally, after all this time, has grown used to the prattle and ululating logic of the rhymes though he is not sure how close to sanity, let alone Sarenrae, the gnome actually stands.

Still, the gnome contributes (in as much holy aura as gaseous emissions) and Ami decides that he is finally a tolerable companion.

As they explore, Yeen sniff and searches with his nose as much as Ami uses his eyes. They tend to drift in and around Aldebert and his explorations, trying to cover more area around Get'him.

In Area F, is there a particular focus to the religious significance to the Temple? Any extra info? 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10 Know (religion)

When Pent launches into the Fifth Crusade of his song, Mahdi blithely retrieves his earplugs and puts them into his ears without even trying to hide the gesture. Note that it doesn't stop him saying, near the end: "Disprove, you nit. You can't 'disproof' somebody. It's not a verb."

***

"...I'm a fan of whoever wrote this," Mahdi says, tapping briefly at the wall with the spiked gnoll heads and the Draconic script. Actually he's not: he's rather put out, because he thought his own threat inside was nice and impressive, and now he's feeling upstaged. Hrmf.

"Possibly the salamanders? Or something else that speaks the scaled tongue..."

Mahdi squints once out in the bright sunlight, his eyes having to adjust after the day underground. "Oh-ho, what have we here..." As he realizes the scale of the above-ground structure, he's momentarily, and unusually, speechless. Soon enough, however, that passes. He wanders out amid the crumbling pillars north of where they exited, turning in place as he takes in everything. moving to the red square I drew

"This... is.... this would be magnificent, if repaired!" he says, beaming. "I told you all! My retirement home!" ...wait did he say that out loud. "I mean... our retirement home of course. And fortress. Yes."

After spinning in place a few more times, Mahdi moves back towards the gatehouse. "Let's see if there's a way up either of those spires! I want to see this place from a little elevation!"

I'll make a few KN checks too, if permitted, to see if Mahdi has any particular tidbits about the place to know

Kn History: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12 Get your nat ones away from me, Ami
Kn Local: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16
Kn Religion: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

"What's it say, Mahdi?"

"This... is.... this would be magnificent, if repaired!" he says, beaming. "I told you all! My retirement home!" ...wait did he say that out loud. "I mean... our retirement home of course. And fortress. Yes."

"This place seems like it was very nice in the past. Perhaps a little red paint and some charcoal on the walls would do it well." he chuckles as he imagines how the mage might decorate such a fortress.

Otah looks around, his eyes drawn to the pile of dung and the eggs.

"Do you think we may have found the nest of the giant bird we saw on the way in?"

Mahdi squints northward momentarily, shading his eyes with one hand. "There might be an exit that way," he points out to the others. "Well? Should we try and explore this whole surface of the complex now, or leave through that gap, and attempt to circle around the mount and find our beasts?"

OOCly I'm fine with poking around some more; got plenty of spells still here

Ami takes a cue from Yeen, letting the cat lead him to some strange eggs.

"Mahdi, look!!! BROTHER!!" Ami points at some eggs. Ami looks around to see if others see what Yeen had discovered.

1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10 Know (Nature)

Aldebert joins his brother and examines the eggs.

"They seem pretty big, brother, what do you think made them?"

"Come Ami, Mahdi has found a shortcut to our friends steeds. We should see to them before searching further."

Aldebert still wants to head out, get our mounts (if alive) and bring them back here before continuing the search. But yeah, then we search some more - anywhere first is fine as long as we cover everything.