GM Woran's The Confirmation. (Inactive)

Game Master Woran

The link to the map is located above the Campaign Info/Gameplay/Discussion tabs.

The map link is active at the top of the page, and you can access it from your own campaign tab. I cant put it in my own profile, as I GM multiple games, and then you'd get a bunch of maps in there not for your game. I agree that if this was the only game, it would be easier to put it in my own profile. But alas, I am a busy critter. So also apologies for messing up the cookie. Haastige spoed is zelden goed!

The last hippogriff, severely wounded, flees at the threat of a ancient gold dragon.

We're out of initiative

"Oh dear, that wasnt fun at all!" Janira exclaims. "Is everyone all right?"

"I see that you're wounded as well, Araklifest. Well, of course the traveling merchant has healing options with him! Can't have my potential future clients die in the field, now can I?"

Rico uses his wand of CLW to take 5 --> Araklifest heals 5 hitpoints.

"A bit miffed that I can't seem to get a decent blow in, but otherwise fine, much thanks to Rico's healing. Araklifest, much thanks for handling this one, it seems I am quite out of practice as of late."

May Flower checks the downned Hippogriff, she knows she deald non-teathal damage but she wants to make sure it will survive and shake of it's wounds eventually.
Heal check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
She also drags it off to the bushes and leaves the carnivorous feed with it to speed it's recovery.

"Flee before the Magnificent Gorrec!" Gorrec shouts after the fleeing Hippogriff.

He turns to his companions "Very well done, You managed to beat our dangerous foes. I will make sure your names will be mentioned as the great companions of Gorrec the Magnificent"

Janira offers to heal any wounds. "Adult hippogrifs are very territorial. Something must have scared them, as the young are usually a lot more docile."

With wounds healed, and the downed hippogriff taken care of, Janira but
encourages you to pack up and move on in order to reach the caves by dusk. "I believe that if the we don’t reach the caves tonight, any gillmen who are present may leave before we arrive. That would be a bad outcome."

Traveling on, the terrain gets more difficult the closer you come to the mountains. Steep inclines, overgrown paths and fallen rocks make it slow going. Janira looks worried. "We're loosing valuable time. Does anyone know to find a shortcut?"

People with survival may make a check.

May Flower searches the undergrowth for hidden game trails.
Survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

I'll try to Aid May Flower
Aid on Survival: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (18) - 2 = 16

Gorrec also tries to Aid May Flower
Aid on Survival: 1d20 ⇒ 15

"Look there, that looks promising"

"Thanks Rico and Janira for healing me. I was glad I was able to fight the critters well, but it was the first time I was really wounded in a fight."

When May Flower asks for help, searching for a shortcut, Araklifest apologizes: "My survival skills are nothing you can depend on. I'll try but I fear you can't trust my directions."

Aid on survival: 1d20 ⇒ 9

May Flower quickly and accurately finds a path trough the forest and the party is back on track in no time.

After an hour, the dense forest opens to a wide clearing at the base of a sheer cliff. Thick vines cover the surface of the cliff stretching 30 feet overhead.
“Here! The cave entrance is behind those vines,”
Janira says with a broad smile as she walks to the cliff’s face. She
pulls back several layers of vegetation to reveal a narrow crack in
the cliff’s surface. “This is where I saw the gillmen enter.”
As she motions toward the aperture, the surrounding woods come alive with the sound of small animals fleeing some unseen danger and a large creature crashing through the undergrowth.
The halfling worriedly remarks, “Quick, take cover before whatever it is spots us!” As if she’d summoned the creature with her words, a massive horned monstrosity emerges from the trees. Standing eight feet tall on a pair of cloven hooves and wielding a tremendous axe, the bull-headed creature roars with unbridled anger when it spots the group.
Wisely assessing that a minotaur is beyond her charges’ capabilities, Janira screams, “A minotaur! There’s little chance we can stand against it. Take this bag,” she continues, pulling off her backpack, “and head deeper into the caves. Finish your mission. I’ll lead it away from the caves, lose it in the forest, and join you as soon as I can. Now go! GO!” She heaves her backpack into the cave, casts a spell, and darts off toward the minotaur before turning to lure it away.

I want one action from each of you. What do you do?

May Flower follows the order and rushes with her little legs into the cave, making sure Nitoriu is with her. Trusting in her quick companions to grab the bag. "May Ashava be with you."

Araklifest grabs the bag while he hurries into the cave, hoping that the narrow crack is too small for the broadheaded and widehorned minotaur.

"I'll give you a discount at my store, so you better make sure you'll live, Janira!"

After his statement, Rico rushes after his partymembers into the cave.

"How terribly brave of you, Janira. I wish I could help you out, but I'm not sure I have anything I can... Ah wait, I know! I hope this buys you some time, at least."

Raziq casts Ghost Sound and aims it in the bushes away from Janira. It's the sound of an injured deer, hoping to distract the minotaur for a while to give Janira a headstart.

And now I hope it doesn't come our way... Duration is only 1 round, anyway. Will DC 13 to disbelieve, if the minotaur is inclined to listen.

Janira shouts several nasty things about the Minotaur's mother in its direction, and shoots it in the leg with her crossbow to boot.
With a tremendous bellow, the Minotaur tries to charge the halfling, but is severely hampered by the undergrowth Janira has taken refuge in.

Janira leads it deeper into the forest, where you can hear frequent crashes and angry howls.
Slowly the forest turns silent again.

Still reeling from your narrow escape, you turn over Janira's backpack, to see what is in there.
A whole jumble of items falls out, each neatly marked with a label:

 potion of barkskin
 potion of cure light wounds (2x)
 potion of feather step
 potion of vanish
 scroll of entangle
 scroll of gust of wind
 scroll of identify
 scroll of mage armor (CL 6th)
 scroll of obscuring mist
 wand of burning hands (CL 3rd, 4 charges)
 wand of cure light wounds (CL 3rd, 8 charges)
 acid
 alchemist’s fire (2x)
 holy water
 smoke stick
 tanglefoot bag
 thunderstone

"You have to know when to fight, and when to retreat. This is a time to retreat. Good Luck Janira, and thank you" With those words Gorrec hastes himself into the cave

"This backpack is a real treasure trove for new minted adventurers. I hope Janira herself can survice without all of these necessary things. As I think we will see her again, so we should be frugal with all these things, otherwise we would return an empty pack. Who can carry this amount of gear or the complete backpack?"

"I am already encumbered by my armour, another backpack to carry won't slow me down much more."

Raziq glances in the direction Janira and the minotaur went.

"I hope she makes it out okay. I'd love to examine the living patterns of minotaurs some more, I bet she's a veritable treasure trove of information after this ordeal."

"I'll take the backpack with me. A peddler who cannot carry his wares is a hopeless peddler."

Rico picks up the backpack, shows a slight unbalance when lifting it, and then stands firmly on his feet again.

"Not packed that efficiently, but since we are on a time schedule, I'll just make due... Onwards, everyone! The Night waits for no one!"

For the GM, Rico is now encumbered with a medium load. Due to my build, the only things that change are the fact that my speed is reduced to 20ft and I have a ACP of -3. Not much a problem for my build.

"It would be best to complete our mission with haste and meet up with Janira again... if possible. I suggest we distribute the items anyone thinks is handy to have at hand and keep the rest together in the bag.
I also suggest creating some light for the humans and to let me and Nitoriu (using scent) to take point. Let's explore these tunnels, find the gillman en get out again."

"A yes, light might be a good idea if we're to travel further inside. Not to worry, I have just the thing!"

Rico rumages through his own backpack, and produces a long, thin stick with an orb at the end. Shaking it around a bit, it orb starts to glow even brighter than a torch.

"Sunrods. Fantastic items. Work everywhere except in magical darkness. Available now at Honest Fink's Enterprises!"

Sunrods work for 6 hours, create 30 feet of normal light, with another 30 feet Low Light past that. I can also cast Light, but this has a bigger radius.

"Your rod is a nice trick, but what if you want to see further into the darkness? Luckily Gorrec has a solution for that" Using dancing lights to scout further ahead for those without darkvision

"That light is just fine! Now we can work our way through these caves. As Rico will not be our frontman in a fight most of the time, he is probably the least hindered by the backpack. If we split the items, more of us could be hinderen, don't you think?"

The cave stretches deep below the foothills of the Kortos Mounts, though most of it is accessible only through a narrow keyhole tunnel. It is a rough journey, as the width of the tunnel keeps changing, from 3 and 10 feet wide and vary equally in
height. The caves are damp. Water dripping from stalactites and the distant rushing of underground streams creates an eerie background noise as you explore. The caves’ walls are patterned with blue-green luminescent fungi that provide dim light.
Petroglyphs—most depicting marine animals or spiral shapes—periodically decorate the tunnels’ walls.
The rough surface of the carvings provides a natural platform for the fungi, causing it to grow thicker and making the carvings glow slightly
brighter than their surroundings.

Those with survival can make a check

Mayflower keeps a keen eye on the cave system so she can mentally map it for her report.
Survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Araklifest looks around, curious for all the new things. He tries to remember the petroglyphs they pass, hoping to make notes on their way out.

Aid on survival: 1d20 ⇒ 3

Rico tries to shine some light into the tunnel, to help those that hopefully find the way to actually see the way.

Survival Aid: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (19) - 2 = 17
not allowed to aid on Tracks, no points in survival

Gorrec marks the cavern walls with arrows pointing towards the entrance.

survival aid: 1d20 ⇒ 5

But the cave walls are too damp for the charcoal to hold.

I hope we find our way.

Finding the way deeper into the cave is not difficult. There are very little side caves, and most of them are very small.

Rico notices some bare footprints (human sized) here and there in the mud.

Continuing on, the narrow tunnel twists and turns for several hundred feet before slowly opening to a wider passage. A large hole spans the cave’s width and stretches ten feet down the path. At the bottom of the pit lies a small bundle of cloth.

The tunnel here is 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall with a ceiling mostly devoid of stalactites. The hole effectively blocks your path. Those who have it may make a Knowledge (dungeoneering) check or a Survival check.

Survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

"Anyone got some rope? That bundle needs investigating"

Survival: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (14) - 2 = 12

"Rope? Right here! This Silk Rope of 50ft is amazingly strong! And let's combine this rope with this durable Grappling Bolt! This way, this team can go down safe and sound!"

Rico produces a 50ft of Silk Rope and a Grappling Bolt from his backpack, and hands them to May

Inspecting the hole, May notices that it has been artificially made. Probably used to be part of a trap, but it looks like it has been exposed for a long time.

Knowledge dungeoneering: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

Araklifest looks at the hole and also around: "If this hole blocks the way in, the gillmen have to have an easy way in past it, don't they?"

"Perhaps they are very atletic and jump? I will write this speculation into my report. If only we where not pressed for time amd the exit was free, we could have got some wood for a bridge. For now though I suggest to get down via rope to inspect that bundle and either jump or climb to the othere side. Anyone good at climbing? I'm not that confident, but I might be able to find something here to tie it down to, or hold it firmly myself."

Its no problem tying the rope around May Flower, and then lowering her down, and hoisting her back up to check out what is at the bottom of the pit.

"I think its no problem tying the rope around me, and then lowering me down, and hoisting me back up to check out what is at the bottom of the pit."

Its little effort to tie the rope securely to May Flower and lower her down. Being small has some good advantages.

Except for the bundle of cloth at the bottom, there is nothing interesting at the bottom of the pit.

Hoisting May Flower back up, you spread out the cloth and discover it is a cloak. A nice one too. Its in good shape, so it could not have been down there long.

Araklifest looks at the cloak. It seems to be a good one. Just to be sure, he casts detect magic to see if it has some magical properties.

It is indeed magical. You detect a faint abjuration aura.
You can make a spellcraft check to see if you can figure out what kind of item it is.

"As I suspected, this is a magical cloack. I'll try to find out what kind of cloak it is." A better look at the magical aura, in combination with touching the cloak, learns Araklifest more about it.

spellcraft check: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

It instantly becomes clear to you: This is a cloak of resistance.

These garments offer magic protection in the form of a +1 resistance bonus on all saving throws (Fortitude, Reflex, and Will).

"It's a Cloak of Resistance to better your resistance. If there is someone who needs this now, he or she can wear it, otherwise I'll wear it till we split our finds at the end of our journey," asks Araklifest.

"I do not mind if it is worn, but seeing as it's in good condition, the owner might be one of the merman we hope to find. If so that we should return it."

"That sounds like a good plan to get some goodwill if we need it. But remains a mystery for me: how could the gillmen pass this pit easy and fast? If they climb down and up again, he could have taken his cloak when it fall off."

"Maybe there was trouble? One usually doesn't leave such valuables behind, so such a situation would make sense to me."

Rico ponders a bit.

"From the looks of it, it probably hasn't been down there for a long time. If the owner indeed dropped it due to dangerous circumstances, he might still be alive... and in danger! We should go, hurry onwards!"

"You wear the cloak Araklifest. Make sure it billows dramatically in the wind"

Hearing Rico, Gorrec continues: "Onward, we need to save this poor person"

the pit looms before you. It is indifferent to your plight.