Luminarion looks things over and says, "So, do we want to go exploring and risk getting attacked from behind by Pumpkinhead and his group when they return, or set the ambush here and perhaps get attacked from behind by whatever's in the caves when we ambush Pumpkinhead? Or perhaps split the group and have some stay here and others explore?"
"We may be attacked wherever we go. At least in the cave, we will have respite from the weather to refresh us beforehand."
"I say we take the cave if there is anyone or anything in it.Hopefully there wont be any fireballs to lay me down this time."
Moving forward to join the others, Spectrum scans the collection of equipment they have gathered.
Necklace:Necklace of Fireballs 1. beads remaining: 2 3d6.
Cloak:Cloak of the Elvenkind.
Both caves have the same general layout, a short yet thin hallway leads into a 15 by 15 foot room each is full of countless human corpses from that of children to that of an elder some appear to be fresh and some do not even have the skin left on their bones, rats infest these caves of evil and the sight sickness you, the cave to your right has has coins scattered around most away from the corpses, there also appears to be some farm tools and the such within the pile of corpses. You estimate there is about 250 or so gp worth of scattered coins within the cave much of it is in the corpse pile and it would take a good 10 minutes to scavenge it all up.
Morphet would also cast detect magic then spellcraft
Amulet:
Cloak:
Sack:
Luminarion will cast "Detect Magic" as he looks in the caves. He is trying to figure out whether or not the corpses are simply corpses, or undead being stashed until they are needed.
Holding up the cloak, Spectrum nods. "Elven Cloak. Kaiden, you take this. It will make you a better pairing with Curvlk when you scout together."
The bag he hands to the goblin. "This bag will allow you to summon small animals, which could serve as a distraction. A great boon to a scout."
Finally, he gives the amulet to Morphet. "Your heritage makes you well suited to this land, but I fear your natural affinity for the cold may may it difficult to harm other creatures with similar adaptation. Take this."
Kaiden looks at the cloak, and then looks back to Spectrum.
"How does it make me a better scout?"
"It will help you blend in with your surroundings."
Aura moderate evocation; CL 10th
Slot neck (does not take up slot); Price 1,650 gp (type I), 2,700 gp (type II), 4,350 gp (type III), 5,400 gp (type IV), 5,850 gp (type V), 8,100 gp (type VI), 8,700 gp (type VII); Weight 1 lb.
Description
This item appears to be a string of beads, sometimes with the ends tied together to form a necklace. (It does not count as an item worn around the neck for the purpose of determining which of a character's worn magic items is effective.) If a character holds it, however, all can see the strand as it really is—a golden chain from which hang a number of golden spheres. The spheres are detachable by the wearer (and only by the wearer), who can easily hurl one of them up to 70 feet. When a sphere arrives at the end of its trajectory, it detonates as a fireball spell (Reflex DC 14 half).
Spheres come in different strengths, ranging from those that deal 2d6 points of fire damage to those that deal 10d6. The market price of a sphere is 150 gp for each die of damage it deals.
Each necklace of fireballs contains a combination of spheres of various strengths. Some traditional combinations, designated types I through VII, are detailed above.
If the necklace is being worn or carried by a character who fails her saving throw against a magical fire attack, the item must make a saving throw as well (with a save bonus of +7). If the necklace fails to save, all its remaining spheres detonate simultaneously, often with regrettable consequences for the wearer.
This necklace has two beads remaining both deal 3d6.
Aura faint (gray or rust) or moderate (tan) conjuration; CL 3rd (gray), 5th (rust), 9th (tan)
Slot —; Price 3,400 gp (gray); 8,500 gp (rust); 16,000 gp (tan)
Description
This small sack appears empty. Anyone reaching into the bag feels a small, fuzzy ball. If the ball is removed and tossed up to 20 feet away, it turns into an animal. The animal serves the character who drew it from the bag for 10 minutes (or until slain or ordered back into the bag), at which point it disappears. It can follow any of the commands described in the Handle Animal skill.
Each of the three kinds of bags of tricks produces a different set of animals. Use the following table to determine what animals can be drawn out of each.
Animals produced are always random, and only one may exist at a time. Up to 10 Animals can be drawn from the bag each week, but no more than two per day.
Gray Bag
d% Animal
01–30 Bat
31–60 Rat
61–75 Cat
76–90 Weasel
91–100 Riding dog
Aura faint illusion; CL 3rd
Slot shoulders; Price 2,500 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
When this plain gray cloak is worn with the hood drawn up around the head, the wearer gains a +5 competence bonus on Stealth checks.
The caves clearly are only used for storage and for the ambushing of any potential opponents, you do some simple reasoning to tell yourself that your tracks are likely not going to be covered in time for the beast's arrival some one with great work on their feet could maneuver around the field and cover the tracks without making noticeable tracks. The path continues further onward through the mountain pass there is bound to be more up ahead worth seeing but now it is time to plan your ambush should it take place here or further ahead what if there are multiple entrances further ahead with could ruin a hard plan, all those and many more questions come to mind it is time to plan...
The party has a little over 4 hours to search the area and set up their ambush, lets get creative people :)
"We know that enemies will be coming soon. We should prepare and discuss strategies."
Luminarion shrugs, then he says, "We should probably do what they did, set ourselves up to hit them as hard as we can as they emerge from the mist. We just need to have a good front line."
"Indeed. If we could catch them in this bottleneck and hold the line I have no doubt that our arcane repetoir could make short work of them. I would prefer we create blockages to prevent rapid approach and cover to keep us protected. We don't have much in the way of supplies, but we do have these bodies and a great deal of rock. Shall we get started?"
Egil hoists the weakened Gregers over his shoulders and places him gently in one of the caves keeping him as far away from the pile of dead as he can. "What a horrible fate they have succumb to, if only we could do more for the poor souls." Egil whips his grimy hands and turns towards the gathered group. "We still have us a few hours on our opponents, I say we scout further up the path first, wouldn't like for us to be the one's getting ambushed. We have at least four hours, an first things first we should learn more about our opponent and search further up to see what we can use to our advantage, wouldn't like to see a great plan put to waste when the enemy comes from an alternate route eh." Egil straps his axe back on to his belt and his shield on his back and slowly paces up the path. "See what you can get out of the witch I'll be checking ahead." He begins to slowly make his way forward but then turns back around. "And do something about that damned wagon." After this final comment he turns back around and begins his way up the rocky passage.
"You can scout ahead if you like, but you will have another fight on your hands if you try to drag me back out into the weather."
Aksum sits down by the restrained witch and begins to play his krar, attempting to soothe her anger and ask her friendly questions, trying to gently coax information out of her about why they were attacked, and who "Mogens" is.
If the plan is to wait for them to emerge from the mist then I suggest we put our wagon about 20 feet or so back from there to use as cover for ourselves. And throw as much rocks as we can on the ground between the wagon and the mist so they will have a difficult time charging the wagon. Suggests Morphet.
Luminarion replies, "Ok, so who wants to help me move the wagon?"
Galstak will help Luminarion.
Kaiden agrees to help also.
The three of you struggle a bit pulling the wagon up the rocky terrain but still you manage to put it in position after a few minutes of trying. You had to leave the horse behind as it was to stubborn to head through the fog, you think someone good with animal's could sooth it (handle animal) and lead it through the fog.
The wizard scowls at Aksum as he plays his fine tune, "That is what common folk cal entertainment my word." She is clearly not soothed or entertained she squirms in the snow eagerly in some attempt to muffle the noise, "When Balizod returns I'll make sure he breaks that stupid interments of yours, and make you suffer for all the people that had to hear that damn thing." It seems your playing irritates her like a lot, enough that you got her to blurt out another name at least.
Hearing Egil's suggestion about scouting further ahead, Khalil will make sure there's no immediate danger. Taking a few minutes, he scouts another hundred yards up the trail, to see if there are any traps or other surprises that might cause trouble for the group during the coming confrontation.
Galstak will tail Khalil - No sense getting caught alone in enemy territory.
Khalil, Galstak Egil: The two of you catch up to Egil in but a few seconds, his short legs clearly have not taken him far up the path though he does welcome your company indeed. You spend a few moments hiking up the winding trail through the mountains, the trail begins to get very rough after a good 100 or more yards, rubble debris cover the path and to top that off the path steepens drastically. The path continues on further and you can make out that the path seems to come to a ledge on the mountainside though you can't make it out without some excessive hiking through this difficult terrain. Egil suggests that this rubble could easily be used for your barricade but the fact that this rocky paths has noticeable signs of use strikes you as disturbing and bringing these heavy rocks down is no easy task not even for the strongest of your group. Egil suggests that you carry on upward to investigate further.
There is little in the ways of rubble to be used down here, but looking further up the path it is easy to note the increasing amount of rubble come with increasing altitude.
Khalil looks back to camp to see if there are any threats within sight. Not spotting anything he turns to Galstak and says, "Well friend, it seems there might be something of further up this trail. It shouldn't take long to scout a little further ahead. What say you? should we forge ahead a bit further or head back?" With a bit of a grin he shrugs his shoulders and with a smile says, "After all, we might find a bit of gold or some magic which could help in our coming confrontation against this pumpkin headed demon."
"I'm game, lead on!"
Kaiden stays back with the others to protect the party.
With Galstak's agreement, Khalil turns and starts carefully making his way up the rubble strewn trail. Watching both the terrain and the surrounding area, he attempts to move as quietly as he can while keeping a close eye out for any danger or sign of trouble.
Luminarion takes a couple of minutes to check up on Gregers and see if there is anything he can do for him.
Heal Check
(Using heal kit)
Luminarion will return to trying to fortify the area around the wagon better when he has finished checking up on Gregers. Luminarion will suggest to Tokara that maybe she should try to bring her horse through the fog to where the party is.
Galstak follows Khalil's lead.
Perception:
Stealth:
@Luminarion: Examining Gregers wound you can tell that little can be done for him in fact he looks much like the sick back at Lenarts camp, it would seem that the the effects of the wights energy drain brought with it this strange illness.
All: After Tok brings her horse over you begin work on the fortifications. You continue to fortify the area around the wagon but there is minimal rubble or anything of much use down here and your fortification is hardly one at all, it is however large enough to hamper the movement of human sized creatures but you think anything larger could easily walk right over it completely normally. You may have to look elsewhere for further supplies or perhaps you have something of use among your items, or maybe just maybe someone should pick up and read the wizards note...just a thought. (Time taken 30mins).
Galstak, Khalil, Egil: You slowly make your way forward up the rocky slope occasionally slipping and falling but you persevere and it does not take you an incredible amount of time to reach the overlook. Egil stays a few steps back and allows you two to head first being far more stealthy than he could hope to be, you peek your heads out and observe. The rocky path opens into a large ledge where light beams in from the sun above, it feels nice to feel the breeze of the air and the light of the sun as the path below has little of that. This ledge is of decent size 40ft by 40ft at least, a huge stone statue sits at the far end of the ledge only a foot from the cliff and two wooden barricades are set up on either side of it facing down the mountain, the statue is worn and most of it's features are washed away it appears ancient at least a few hundred years old, it has no doubt seen brighter days. Looking down off the side of the ledge you note that you are some two hundred feet up from the ground below and no doubt on the other side of the mountain, now that you think of it you have been hiking along the weaving trail for some time at least a half hour, not that it matters as you have plenty of time and at least three hours to spare. After noting that the ledge is safe you wave Egil up and he examines his surroundings as you did. Egil points out that there is a small path scaling the side of the mountain, small old stone stairs are hidden beneath the high drifts of snow which are likely to prove more of a nuisance than an aid. "Appears to me like an old place a worship, clearly such is no longer the case." Egil wanders over to the wooden barricades. "Seen these afore, usually used for dem archers to hide behind, seems like an ofilly odd place for em to be though." Egil scratches at his bald head puzzled by this whole place. "Perhaps we can learn more further up, I be hoping so anyway."
All: The eerie shroud of mist at the mountains peak begins to grow darker and spread farther suddenly, it brings with it a cold gust of wind.
Since no else has read the note, Morphet will open it up an see what it says.
To Kyrissa Captain of Talons Reach.
News of Balizod and his work in the south has traveled fast to my realm, you are to continue patrolling the roads and gathering corpses for if we are to take back our queen our numbers must be greater. That is not all I send to you about but word has traveled from our spy's in the Hall that the second wave has arrived this time in much greater numbers than the last, I need you to be extra cautious and make sure Balizod does not turn to his usually reckless self, we need him alive if we are to gather forces, Should it come down to it speak his true name and send him back to the abyss, I will be sure to speak with him. Another reminder Kyrissa Lennart has become extra cautious of us moving through his lands as of late, keep an eye on them and he try's to defeat us I give you permission to use the "Bottle" though I am sure Lennart will be immune to it's effects I doubt the rest of the tribe will and even one as powerful s he cannot stand against a whole army, he is the Clans last chance at recovering the Horns, I am counting on you for this Kyrissa do not fail our Queen.
"Mogens"
Just seeing the expression on Morphets face after reading the letter causes the Wizard to snicker. "One who can understand the Infernal tongue I see, Few mortals can understand it I am surprised. So just what's it say..." The Wizard seems very interested in the note.
Fascinated by the ruins and the defensive structures, Khalil follows Egil to get a closer look. Turning to Galstak, he says, "Egil's right, that is an odd place and facing for those barricades. It doesn't make sense for them to overlook the cliff like that. You'd think they would block the trail."
He ponders the structures a little longer and then adds, "Unless you were trying to protect against something that might approach through the air. What do you think? Maybe there are more answers up the stairs?"
"I do not answer to you WIZARD, I will share this when all my all my companions are here and we aren't preparing to slaughter your allies. Tho tell me about this 'Bottle'...."
"Bottle?" The wizard wizard says with a sort of surprised look about her. "I don't have a damn clue, I can't even read the damned thing."
Having finished with his own preparations, Spectrum made his way back to where Morphet was keeping an eye on their prisoner. Catching the end of the conversation, the pale wizard, raised an eyebrow.
"Why in the world would you have been sent a letter that you could not read?"
Galstak ponders Egil's words and thinks on it a bit. He searches his memory for clues that would provide insight on this structure.
Knowledge Religion:
Perception (if i need to search for clues):
Luminarion wanders over to see what is going on. Catching the last part of the conversation Luminarion says: "Perhaps this wizard is nothing more than a glorified messenger bearing a letter for somebody else. As she was obviously not considered worthy enough by her superiors to be let in on its contents perhaps it would be wisest if we were to follow suit."
The Wizard scowls at Spectrum, she smirks and looks up at him. "you clearly misinterpret my purposes here mortal, you could say I 'received' this letter from Kyrissa before she had a chance to see it." She says with a grin only hinting at her knowledge to frustrate you further.
Egil looks back at the statue for just a moment before turning back to you to speak. "It is to old I cannie tell a damned thing about what's it sposed to resemble, and I doubt will learn much more just standing around, onwards and upwards I say." With Khalil agreeing nod he begin to scale up the winding pathway up tripping on his first step.
Luminarion replies, "As I do not know what your name is, I will simply call you what you have proved yourself to be. Failure."
Luminarion makes a show of looking the area over, then he says: "My idiot kid brother, given the advantages of terrain offered by this position and the resources your superiors so foolishly entrusted to you could have held out all day long against a force several times more numerous and powerful than ours. You were utterly defeated in less than one minute. Now, I am not sure whether or not it has actually sunk into that chamber pot you call a brain, but those who follow the dark side have a problem. Incompetence and failure usually end up receiving severe punishment. And it is blindingly obvious that your farcical performance in this battle is most definitely not a success."
"Given that is the case, it is likely that one of the worst things we could do to you is to simply turn you back over to those you have been deluding yourself into believing that you were working for. As if such an abject failure on your part could be referred to as work on their behalf."
Luminarion wanders on over to one of the destroyed skeletons and pokes at it with his morningstar. He says:
"I wasn't keeping close count, but you must have lost around a couple of dozen of these animated skeletons. Those don't come for free you know. First you've got to go to all the work of digging the body up, then you've got to cast the spell. And one can't forget the other material component, an onyx stone worth at least 25 gold pieces. So that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 gold pieces worth of material components rendered totally useless as a direct result of your tactical stupidity. Who do you think is going to pay your superiors for that? Certainly not I, and certainly not my companions."
"Also, as soon as I get the ability to renew my spells and perform the ritual of cremation, none of the other bodies that you have stockpiled here will be useful for anything other than fertilizer. All that work done for your superiors will go into the chamber pot because you couldn't defend a pass that could have been held by an old lady with a walking stick."
"So, Failure, do not cop an attitude with me. All we have to do is turn you back over to your superiors so you can give an account of your incompetence to them in your own words. Perhaps they will simply polymorph you into a small animal. Then you could become a familiar for a real wizard and see how actual magic is done while all you have to do is sit around an catch flies with your tongue. Even you would have difficulty fouling that up. Or maybe they'll only take a few feet of your intestines for use in some ritual or other. Perhaps they'll breed you to something disgusting in the hopes that the child may be of more use than the mother was before the child ate its way out of her womb."
"It matters not. You have no use to us. We may decide to simply kill you or turn you back over to your superiors to do worse to you. For all your alleged intelligence you have not grasped the simple truth that light banishes the darkness. It's why you can see stars at night and light a candle in a cave."
This is a bluff on Luminarion's part. Luminarion is hoping that the wizard won't be familiar enough with the powers of a priest of Sarenrae to call him on it. Luminarion would perform a standard cremation/burial service for the bodies stashed in the caves if he could, but I doubt there's anywhere near enough wood nearby for that and he wouldn't want to generate that much smoke at this time even if there was.
Spectrum looked at Luminarion with an appraising look, settling into a quiet respect.
A kindred spirit. Unexpected.
"I can think of many uses for her. Especially now that we possess her spell book. I have no love of necromancy, but I must admit to a certain professional curiosity regarding it's intricacies. It is not often one finds a deserving subject who is also a potential source of knowledge. I wonder how much she would say to save herself the fate she inflicted on so many others..."
Galstak looks towards Egil.
"I agree, it seems to be an ancient place of worship of some sort. Something infernal by the looks of it. Either way I get no good feeling from this place."
To Khalil he says:
"I don't recommend we search beyond the barricades or up the stairs alone. The looks of that darkening mist above makes me a bit nervous. I recommend we return to the rest and report what we have seen and make plans from there."
The wizard growls and sneers at you as she rolls frantically around in a poor attempt to break free. "No you cannot, you would not. Damn you all to the abyss, I won't tell you anything, kill me if you need be but know that my queen shall slay you all. In the name of Her Majesty you shall all fall, along with the Jarl and all of the clans." She rambles on for a long while until you can't even make out what she is trying to say.
Egil looks back at Galstak and nods. "You make a point warrior we should head back now and report our findings. If we ventured any farther we might miss ourselves the battle." With Egils lead you venture back down the path towards the others, the long path weaving and turning at every point.
Nodding at Galstak's recommendation Khalil turns back toward the makeshift barrier.
"You're likely right friend. Doesn't seem worth the gamble to go further at this point."
He follows behind Egil and the barbarian, with a slight smile crossing his face as the dwarf mentions his main concern being a missed battle. With a chuckle he says, "Don't worry Egil, based on what that shaman told us, there should be plenty of demon hide for you to sink your blade into."
Array sat curled across Spectrum's shoulders enjoying his warmth. At the wizards words her head rose and tilted.
Broadcasting her voice into the minds of those nearby, she asked "Why does this one say that you will not do what you have said you would?"
"Not everyone can read minds, my friend." Spectrum replied. "She does not know me well enough to realize I do not bluff."
Walking toward the wizard's cave, he mused aloud. "Where did we leave that spellbook..."
Kaiden starts to regret staying back. He is getting restless. He think to himself "They are probably out there killing undead and gnolls, and I chose to stay behind." in a condescending tone.
Luminarion comments to Morphet, "Needing her spell book and needing her are two different things. If you really want her book I have no real objection. Just consider the source. The real question is whether we simply grant her a swift and relatively merciful death, keep her tied up like an animal with the resultant problem that we'll have to keep an eye on her, or trade her back to her superiors for some consideration of some sort. In the latter case her death is unlikely to be merciful."
"So, do we want to just kill her now, hold her given that she has said she will not cooperate thus requiring us to kill her later, or turn her back over to her side for them to torture her to death? Decisions, decisions."