Vojtek shoulders the trap easily. Lets go.
Eyes alert for more traps and danger, the young Varisian lad leads the group onward.
The path continues its slow, meandering descent down the side of the ridge, before opening onto another clearing, larger this time, where more than a dozen boulder-sized chunks of ice litter the pathway ahead, beyond which can be seen a strange hut sitting perched on tree trunks atop a small mound of snow-covered earth.
As Kappi approaches the pillars of ice, he sees a shivering young Ulfen girl among them!
AHHH!!!! Knowledge check?
Are you okay girl? Are you cold? I think I have a blanket...
Kappi starts to pull a blanket out of his pack.
Vojtek's misconceptions about the role of women that have caused a bit of friction within the group intruct him here. The rough chivalry of his upbringing dictate that as a man it is his responsibility to care for women in a situation like this. In reality, Vojtek might rush to the aid of most anyone shivering in the snow, especially given the apparent tactical advantage the party has.
He whips off his cloak and approaches the young girl, ready to offer it with as friendly a look he can muster.
The young lass darts away as Kappi calls out to her, a look of terror on her face as she moves deeper into the ice structures.
As Vojtek moves forward, she suddenly appears again off to his right, her hands raised in front of her face and a plaintive cry: I'm sorry! Don't hurt me! I never meant to call you names!
Diplomacy
Kappi stops as the girl runs away. He doesnt mean to scare her. Not sure what to do he looks back to Davosh then to Ali.
...Seems legit...
"Stop the girl! This is not a place for children!"
Ali rolls her eyes at Vojtek--the man can swing a sword like you read about, and has the courage of three, but a silvered tongue has he not...
Hey, sweetie, it's OK. I won't let anyone hurt you. C'mere and let's see if we can get you warmed up...
<--meh. "Yes, Mr. Kettle, you are, in fact, quite black."
When Davosh shouts "stop the girl!" Vojtek reacts. He already believes the strange man has a direct link to the ancestors, so the reaction is nearly instantaneous. He breaks into a sprint with his cloak held out like a net before him.
-OOC- lol
As Vojtek sprints toward the girl, the figure scurries toward another ice block and then reappears off to the barbarian's left, looking distraught with a pleading tone: Please don't keep me here! It's so cold...I miss my mother.
In what language? (If Taldane, is there a discernible accent?
Common (which is Taldane). There is a northern accent to her words, probably Ulfen.
Vojtek, STOP!! Ali hopes that the barbarian's sense of propriety at being commanded by a woman will be jolted enough to confuse him into inaction, if only for a moment. She then puts on a much more soothing tone.
Hon, we won't keep you here--I'll get you out. C'mon over here and I'll warm you up, and we can talk about finding yoru mother, OK? Ali slowly approaches the waif with a smile, and an outstretched hand.
She whispers to her companions through her smile watch out for tricks boys...
Ali approaches with a soothing voice, but the girl runs away behind another ice boulder. She reappears again in a trice, off to the left, this time with her arms folded and her face in a pout, with an indignant tone:
I don't want your stupid doll! I want to go HOME! Take me back!
Kappi is completely at a loss of what to do. Luckily he does catch Ali's whispered warning to watch out for tricks. So casually slipping his trusty tomahawk into hand he tries to ignore the girl and her strange behavior and scans the area for danger.
Perception
Ali approaches with a soothing voice, but the girl runs away behind another ice boulder. She reappears again in a trice, off to the left, this time with her arms folded and her face in a pout, with an indignant tone:
I don't want your stupid doll! I want to go HOME! Take me back!
who the hell is she talking to??
As Edward makes his way through the ice boulder maze, the girl vanishes and then suddenly appears again: I have to get away! she says, this time focusing on each person near her in turn. And you should too, before they see you! Before she sees you! Run! RUN!
Ali, Davosh, and Kappi notice the girl's image start to shimmer then as a chill wind stirs and the blocks of ice seem to move!
Edward's detect evil pings as images begin to appear within the ice blocks — here the same girl seen among the ice maze is on here knees crying as other children stand over her, shouting and throwing things; there a white rabbit lies prone in the snow, blood trickling from it while the girl stands with her face in her hands; and elsewhere the child stands with her face and hands pressed against a window as a figure moves away on the other side of the glass. Other blocks show tormented faces frozen in silent screams, blue and white from cold.
This is a haunt.
Not trained in Know(Religion), so no check here
Ali has her bow in one hand, and draws a flask of alchemist's fire in the other, as she casts about trying to figure out what the crap is going on.
<--+2 vs enchantment, +1 vs spells cast by evil arcane casters
Plus 1 if this cold-based for some reason.
wait… what is the will save DC?
Ali is frightened for rounds. Since I (the player) don't know the source of the fear, i'll leave it to the DM to determine her direction when she turns to run. :-(
Will save
Internally cursing himself for giving in the overwhelming feeling of dread, Kappi turns and runs away more or less along with Ali.
"To the 9 hells! Edward! Spread your divine power! Channel!"
|
Yes I know it is a move action for me to concentrate on an object, or a standard action for the area, but when your out of combat those actions are considered automatic. Entering init just slows down time to track each of those actions the actions never stop because init tracking stops, only tracking the time they take is stopped. Do ya get me? If not and you want it to only be in init, then the players need to be able to start init when they want.
So I guess my point is, that I asked for a Detect Evil out of combat. The detect evil could have picked up the Haunt according to the first paragraph of haunt rules.
Now I'm not saying that I for sure would have found it even though chances were good that I would. Thing is my attempt wasn't even acknowledged, and a successful detection could have changed our actions. It's ok as a DM if the PC's thwart damage or traps, or cool shit... Great thing if we avoid it we still get XP for it too :D
<~~~Shaken 1 Round
<~~~shaken penalty taken
Round 1
Davosh what the heck are ya sayin? Everyone move out of the ice blocks
Edward moves towards the hut as part of his move action he draws his long sword.
Ali and Kappi flee, but Vojtek, Davosh, and Edward are not afeared of what they see, with the latter moving past the images toward the hut.
Init repost:
Ali 25
Vojtek 21
Edward 16
baddie 10
Kappi 8
Davosh 4
Its okay, its been a crazy week. (Thanks again everyone.). Yes, I share everything I know.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Vojtek rushes up to the hut and stands with his back to the wall, looking over his right shoulder into the doorway. Does he see anything?
A small hut constructed of heavy logs and bearing a patchwork roof of shaved bark shingles stands here on four posts, each a single tree trunk whose gnarled roots resemble the toes of a giant chicken. The roots make the posts appear almost like legs.
Inside the hut's open doorway, a small figure sits on a carved wooden chair, staring across the clearing at the trail up which your party came.
Men! Vojtek shouts over his shoulder, forgetting Ali's gender in the excitement, Get up here and look! A child's toy!
Vojtek makes a warding gesture at the weirdness of this place and the eerie doll. He steps into the room and feels an immediate disorientation, as though the room were strangely angled.
He examines the doll, then picks it up.
Does this mean Kappi can sheepishly walk back to the others?
"Uh-oh.... Ummmm I'll try to stop them and slap them back to reasonableness."
As Ali and Kappi sheepishly make their way back to the clearing, Edward and Vojtek examine the doll.
Its face is that of an old crone, though a closer look shows a strong resemblance to the Ulfen girl image seen previously, including the flaxen hair. Far more unnerving, however, are the doll's mismatched eyes — one a blue gemstone, the other a small round mirror about the size of a coin.
How I handle this is 100% dependent on the answer...
What? It's just a doll. ;-)
You'd need a rockin' Kn: arcana to learn something.
How much does Kappi think the doll's eyes are worth?
Appraise
The lad is still skaken from his frightful experience... He unwraps his head scarf to see if any of his black hair has turned white like in the stories.
Cursing her fright, Ali tromps back to the group.