Kernithar's blade adds to the viscera as it flurries into the newest target.
Mikhail continues to wade forward through the oncoming Spriggans crying out, "For Abadar and the Sword Marches!"
Aristu floats down through the trap door and into the room below. Incanting and weaving his hands, he adds his own lightning to his brother's.
In a few moments of extraordinary violence, the leadership of the Sword Marches slaughters every single remaining spriggan. The shriveled bodies of twisted gnomes lie everywhere on the floor in pools of blood. Maegar Varn's kitchen is absolutely wrecked, but silence suddenly reigns.
COMBAT OVER
Mikhail begins treating the wounded among them.
Piotr keeps his solifugid close by until it is clear that the last of the spriggans have been killed.
"One of the spriggans called upon the Rose Queen," states Piotr.
He continues, asking his companions, "Do you suppose that the disappearance of everyone here was due to the same events that affected us?"
"Thank you for tending my wounds, Mikhail. I did not wish to meet Pharasma today."
Kern cleans his blade on the clothes of the nearest spriggan, wiping off any mess of the battle as well. He begins removing an ear from each spriggan and placing them together in a bundled clothe.
Mikhail goes to search the leader to see if there is any explanation for what was happening.
Piotr will survey the area, using a cantrip to scan the area for magical auras.
You search the upper floor and the spriggans within them.
You find that the leader had a magical crossbow (+1 striking crossbow) and a magical morningstar (+1 morningstar) as well as a suit of chainmail. Each of the lesser spriggans wore studded leather armor and bore a regular morningstar and crossbow.
The leader also has a magical bag (a Type I Bag of Holding) and inside that is yet more treasure! A beautiful longsword with the Varn family crest enameled on the pommel sits in the bag (+2 grievous longsword), a magical wand of spectral hand, a ring of wizardry (type I), a Staff of Illumination and a beautiful composite longbow (+2 thundering composite longsword) all fit in the bag along with 900 gp in assorted coins and jewelry, a small payroll coffer holding 80 gp, and an assortment of gems worth 500 gp.
Looking around the rest of the level, you identify the rooms (see map).
Dovecote- Wire cages hang from the rafters of this chamber, and the floor beneath is spattered with droppings. Sacks of seed are stacked near the door. The cage doors stand open and are empty but for a sprinkling of feathers. There's nothing here to find.
Master of Dispatch's Quarters - These quarters are now a chaos of broken furniture and scattered parchments. This is Cephal Lorentus's chamber - he is Maegar Varn's wizard, birdkeeper, and master of dispatch. His small library has been utterly destroyed by the spriggans, and a search through the scattered parchments reveals only mundane
correspondence between the colony and Restov. There are a number of mentions of conf licts with the Nomen centaur tribe, but nothing to hint at what may have befallen the village. You also find some pages torn from Lorentus's spellbook. They include the spells paralyze, ghostly weapon, blindness, spider climb, expeditious excavation and humanoid form.
Maegar Varn's Room - The only hint that this room once housed the leader of Varnhold is the large map of the Nomen heights tacked to one wall. The map has been torn to shreds, and the other bedroom furnishings are either similarly ruined or else missing. The one thing you can glean from the ruined map is the location of the Nomen tribe camp (see map).
Everyone gains a Hero Point (to a maximum of 3).
I believe so.
Piotr attempts to understand what he has found in the upper floor of the blockhouse.
"The bow looks like centaur work, to me," states Piotr.
Kern finishes his grisly task and assists in the searching of the building.
"This bow, the wood that it's made of only grow in the Nomen heights. Only the centaurs there know how to craft this type of wood. It's a wonderful weapon, but doesn't help us understand where all these people went. Shall we clear the bottom floor and go chat with Roslin?"
Alister spends a length amount of time in Varn's room, looking at the remnants of the map and then searching around the room. He shakes his head, frowning at the Varn family sword. "I hate to have to show her this, but yes, I think Roslin needs to see it." He walks over and examines the bow that Kern has identified. "If the Spriggans had this, then it's likely they attacked the Nomen too. They can't have killed everyone here. Maybe the Nomen warned the town and took most of them away?"
"Let's head down and see if there's any Spriggans left. Perhaps we should try to take one alive."
"If you believe there are more enemies about, I'll need some time to recover. I feel a rasping in my breath from that morningstar blow I took."
Aristu gathers up the loose pages from the wizard's spellbook, then follows as Alister leads them down a level.
"If you want to take a spriggan alive, I can try and enchant one."
Mikhail begins treating the wounded among them.
[dice=Roll 1 for Aristu, Piotr and Kern]1d20+17
[dice=Healing DC 30]2d8+30
[dice=Roll 1 for Alister and Mikhail ]1d20+17
[dice=Healing DC 20]2d8+10
[dice=Critical Success on roll 2]2d8
Someone walk me through this and how much healing came from it. I don't know what the "one roll" thing represents.
Are we ready to proceed? What's happening with the enormous pile of loot?
STATUS
Kernithar - 50/102 hp
Piotr - 64/80 hp
Alister - 96/96 hp
Aristu - 60/72 hp
Mikhail - 112/112 hp
"We should take it. Much of this was likely looted when the town was struck. We can perhaps return it if we can find the villagers." Mikhail says.
Alister collects the bag of holding. "Quite useful." He places any remaining magical items, coins, or gems into it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"That's very optimistic, Mikhail. I've spent decades finding people and never have I been so clueless. There's not even a starting point."
An edge of frustration can be heard in Kern's voice.
"But I do agree to return this property, should it's owner come to light."
Once the group has taken a breather and tended to their wounds, Alister leads them downstairs to see if there were any remaining Spriggans in the fort.
Kern will follow, hefting the Varn family sword from hand to hand to feel it's weight. The centaur bow slung across his back.
"I never understood how you people wield such heavy weapons. This blade is lovely, but I feel like a lumbering giant swinging it about."
Moving through the lower floor (see map), you move through the Well Room, which contains a well. Kernithar notices something below the waterline and retrieves what prove to be four potions of water breathing.
Next you find the barracks. Abandoned by the humans, it has become a filthy nest for spriggans.
Next you enter the Sergeant-at-Arms's quarters, now thoroughly ransacked. This room once served as the abode of Howitt Gurney, adventuring companion to Maegor Varn and weapons master, armorer, and sergeant-at-arms of Varnhold.
Then you enter the Armory which, shockingly, is still well-stocked. Perhaps because the weapons were not sized for spriggans? Hanging from racks and packed in chests are 12 suits of padded armor, a breastplate, seven wooden shields, 20 spears, three short swords, two handaxes, a shortbow, two longbows, four light crossbows, 2 heavy crossbows, a +1 morningstar, 200 arrows, and 220 crossbow bolts.
Last of all you come to the strongroom, a bare space for archers to use loopholes to slaughter anyone who gets past the gate. You're glad you didn't come in that way.
No one but you is alive in the fortress.
Mikhail claims the crossbow bolts for later use.
Kern will snatch a batch of arrows. Once outside, he will refocus with Nature.
Piotr will fill his quiver with crossbow bolts, leavin everthing else behind.
Alister decides to take the magical morningstar and place it into the bag of holding, but otherwise feels that he can leave the rest intact. "So it looks like either the rest cleared out or they all had come upstairs, which is understandable."
"Let's clean up the mess upstairs and show Roslin. Whatever happened to her Varn and the others, we shouldn't leave rotting Spriggan corpses up there."
The younger Medvyed goes to find Roslin and present her the Varn family sword.
Mikhail will go to deal with the fallen enemies.
Aristu goes along with Alister to find Roslin.
Roslin is waiting in town with the horses.
"I'm glad you're alright," she says. "It sounded awful."
Kern hands the Vern Family sword off to Alister as he moves to the stables.
"Thank you Lady Roslin, it was much more awful for the spriggans than ourselves."
He says passing by her to sweep over the grounds, the fort, and other buildings outside the fort main. He's looking for any signs of people leaving or a timeline. Anything he can piece together to determine what happened here.
Kern is very determined to find any hint at where all these people went. After his search, he will assist in the pyre/clean-up.
You have a system that lets you search at great speed, finding details and secrets twice as quickly as others can. When Searching, you take half as long as usual to Search a given area. This means that while exploring, you double the Speed you can move while ensuring you’ve Searched an area before walking into it (up to half your Speed). If you’re legendary in Perception, you instead Search areas four times as quickly.
Roslin accepts the Varn ancestral weapon. She doesn't mention her fear that she is the last of her father's children.
As Mikhail works to create a pyre on the outskirts of the town, Kernithar goes looking once again for signs of the departure of the townsfolk.
Kernithar relays his findings to the group.
"South. It seems our journey is to the south. Everyone just walked away to the south as far as I can tell."
"A hopeful sign at last." Aristu looks to Alister, "Is there more to do here, or should we head south?"
Alister nods to Roslin. "Small comfort, I know. But we will find out what happened to your father. And hopefully, we can bring him and his people back." He takes a deep breath, wondering once again if Faisul had seen all of this.
"Ok, South it is. Gather any provisions. Who knows how long they walked. I don't know why they didn't take anything with them, but it doesn't mean we can't."
Kernithar will tend to his own wounds while scouring all of Varnhold for any more clues or provisions.