Kingmaker

Game Master Jovich

Just glancing around has not turned up anything in the messy area. Does anyone else want to try and do a more thorough search? Or would you like to move on with your exploration?

How the hell does one sleep in such a closed in space?
Andreas looks to the tree again.
This is not a home that I can tell. Nothing of note here, unless this was just a camp site to bed down for the night. We very well may never find his true home out here.

"Many folks used to the wilderness prefer to sleep outside, with nothing but the stairs for their ceiling. Perhaps he used the tree just to keep his possessions safe and during winter."

"I suppose we might as well carry on then." Saoirse suggests.

Rillka will pick through the items, searching for anything that Bokken may want from his brother, until the tall folk get ready to move on.

Rillka goes into the tree and spend a few minutes searching the area and finds a box under the leaves.

Inside the box is two potions, 164 silver pieces, 31 gold pieces and a tarnished silver locket holding a faded portrait of a young woman wrapped in cloth.

The group continues to explore the area and no additional threats appear as Rillka finishes off her map. It takes four days to complete the exploration. So you find yourself on the tenth day out of Sturmulme and it is time to pick which direction you wish to go!

You are at the corner that touches G17 and H17. I believe the plan is to continue on to G17. Can I get a quick confirmation on that. Or do you want to change your plans and do something else?

While Rillka picks through the tree and the cache of items, Saoirse takes a look at the potions, shifting her vision into the arcan spectrum as she humms an odd tune under her breath.

Detect Magic

Spellcraft: Potion 1 (15 + item’s caster level): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Spellcraft: Potion 2 (15 + item’s caster level): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

"I'm with Saoirse," Albert says.

"Let's not loiter here any longer, in case he has some friends who might be sad to see him go." The grin on Albert's face says that he doubts anyone is sad about the madman's passing.

I am fine with going on to G17.

Looking at their current location when the group finishes scouting the area, the decision is made to head up to the river and follow it along into the next unexplored region. As you move along the river, everyone but Albert who is busy scanning the water for any magical auras, hears what sounds like a group of creatures shrieking in a high pitched, gutteral language that no one seems to understand on the other side of a hill in front of you.

So technically, I have you up in G18. I am not sure if this was area was not supposed to be viewed in the first book, but it has an event that you might never see if you don't return to it. So I am having you hit it as you pass through to the next unexplored area as it is entirely possible your route never heads back through here again.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

What now... I mean seriously, WHAT now?? I suppose we should sneak up the hill and see....

"Whatever it is, those voices sound like they're in a bloody panic!" Saoirse replies, moving to climb to the top of the hill. "Aye we should see what's going on."

Sense motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

Well Lady Rillka, it is the stolen lands after all. Never a dull moment.

Sense motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
I agree, that does sound like someone is in trouble. Let us go and see what we can do and what we will be getting ourselves into.

Rillka opens her mouth, as Andreas’ words sink in, she pauses, mouth agape for a moment. She shrugs, grins and replies Sure, why not… Finding out “what now” is kinda our thing.

So Saoirse dismounts and tries to stealth up to the top of the small hill in front of you. Do others follow suit or do you stay mounted as you move forward towards whatever is happening?

Feeling mobility to be more important than subterfuge, Duzz guides Marük up the hill to also take a peek.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26

I am going to give it one more day for people to say if they stay on their mounts or not and to see if anyone stays behind versus heading to see what is happening.

Rillka would give Saoirse a chance, and follow the plan. She stays put.

Andreas remains mounted but moves to cover Saorise's mount.
If things get hairy, retreat and we will leave. I got your mount ready for you just in case.

Albert dismounts and follows far behind Saoirse (about 30 feet back).

As Saoirse and Duzz reach the top of the small rise and look down they see a group of nine panicked gnomes on a beach with a tenth gnome standing on a hill across from them as he yells orders to them. From where you are, this appears to have been the site of a recent battle, and many of the gnomes look injured to one extent or another.

The reason for the panic and yelling is also quite apparent, and does not seem to be because of whatever caused their recent injuries. Instead, as you glance out over the river, and you see a cart with two ponies in the river currently caught up on a rock not far from the shore. The waters of this part of the river are moving swiftly and it appears that the cart and animals will be swept away at any moment!

The map is the Northrupple Expedition map and the link should be at the top and under my name heading. When you get to the map you will see that a small or medium icon is covering 4 sections of the grid instead of one. This is on purpose. There is no map for this so I had to make do with what I could come up with and so I just used the grid on Paint and it did not alter well so I just went with this. This is probably not an actual combat, so the lines are just to indicate how far you can go in a single turn. The hill is not steep on any of the sides even if it looks like it would be steep or impossible to get your horses through an area of dry land. The water is a flowing river, but the area immediately off the beach is somewhat sheltered. If you wish to try and help the gnomes, time is of the essence, so we are going to go into rounds. There is no enemy so everyone can their full turn as we go through however much time remains before the cart and ponies are swept away.

If you wish to try and save the gnomes' cart, you need to first make a DC 10 swim check to reach the ponies and cart. Then you think you will need to calm and unhitch the ponies to get them to shore and to stop tugging on the stuck cart. Once that is done you can attempt to get a rope onto the cart and then as a group pull it to shore. Which may not be easy. If you have something else you wish to try, let me know. For now, what do you do?

Round 1!

"Oh my, oh my!" Duzz exclaims as he rides Marük forward and down the hill.

"Coming to help!" Marük rushes past the gnomes and Duzz expertly jumps the saddle and then swims towards the scared ponies.

Ride (fast dismount), Inspiration: 1d20 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (12) + 6 + (4) = 22 Free Action

Swim: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

As Duzz races to help, Saoirse turns and runs back down the hill to their companions.

"A group of gnomes, look to be hurt, possibly the result of a recent battle." she relates to the others as she gets back into Aria's saddle. "Thier cart and horses are in danger 'o being taken by the river current."

Rillka looks to Andreas, Tall Folk... barding and armored riders do not go well in water, don't do anything foolish! And at least this is something new... With that Rillka will move to join Duzz.

If these are 5-foot blocks...I will not be there till round 3. So, I guess we can fast forward to round 3 for me as I will be just moving towards the water. I doubt they can hear my character yell from this distance with the rushing water and such.

Andreas moves in front of Rillka just long enough to slow her down.
True that barding and armor do not mix with rivers...nor do light halflings on dogs. Stay along the shore.

Gozreh blessed this little halfling with the good sense to stay out of riversRillka nods to Andreas as they move to the shore.

So are we able to ride to the river bank over the hill or do we need to go on foot?

Albert bolts toward the cart in the water. "Should've stayed on my horse," he pants.

As I stated above, every square created by 4 blocks is a single 5 ft square which is why your horses take up 16 squares and you all take up 4 squares. The map was set up so that Sir Andreas was 30 ft from Saoirse as stated in your orders when you were sneaking up the hill.

Outside of the water, there is no difficult terrain here.

It appears that people did not understand that. So go ahead and correct your movement. You can go right over the hill and get to the beach and even people not a horse should be close or on the beach if you double move.

My apologies for the misunderstanding.

As Andreas moves toward the water, he sees Duzz moving as well. He moves his mount into the gentle waters by the shore.
Duzz, I will toss a rope to you to tie off the wagon, then tend to the ponies. Cut them loose and get them to shore. With luck we can pull the wagon towards the shore with our mounts.

Racing over the hill to the beachfront atop Aria, Saoirse begins to sing, an uplifting song of hope and encouragement, imbued with her particular magic, reinforcing Duzz's capability to handle the situation and get the ponies under control.

Inspire Competence (Su): A bard of 3rd level or higher can use his performance to help an ally succeed at a task. The ally must be within 30 feet and able to see and hear the bard. The ally (Duzz) gets a +2 competence bonus on skill checks with a particular skill (Handle Animal) as long as she continues to hear the bard’s performance. Inspire competence relies on audible components

Andreas looks at the rushing water...
We may need several ropes to pull this off.

The group rushes forward and Duzz successfully swims out to the cart.

The gnomes jump in surprise and look at you concerned as you race up among them. The gnome up on the hill calls out, "Hey...."

Round 2 What do you do?

The tall folk… and us normal sized people, indicating Duzz and hersel are here to help you!

Andreas adjust his visage to take in the gnome on the hill.
IF you want your ponies and wagon out of the river...I suggest you find your voice and tell your friends there to help. Now get down off the hill and lend a hand towing the wagon in.

He looks to Rillka...
More ropes would be a good thing.
...and the others.
Those ponies are spooked and very well may bolt, so be careful.

Andreas prepares to pull the wagon back in towards the shore.

Rillka looks back at Andreas Yes. Yes they would. And amazingly enough, if I had any rope at all, I would be handing it to someone who could do something useful with it.

Even as she continues singing, Saoirse moves over beside Sir Andreas, handing him the 50ft coil of rope from her saddlebags.

Seeing Saoirse hand Andreas the rope, Rillka feels powerless… I don’t have the supplies, or strength to help… she thinks, then realizes her intellect is the only thing of use as she watches the current push… The current pushes!
Andreas!!! she shouts, even though he is still beside her, Listen - tie the rope off up high- where he is Rillka points to the gnome on the ledge tie our end!!! The current will push the cart out of its way in towards the shore where we can get it! Don’t try to pull it, let the river do the work
Rillka realizes in her excitement she is standing on Lucca’s back, leaning on Andrea’s leg with both arms as as she shouts at him.

Andreas moves towards the mound.
Good idea, however, two ropes may not be enough.

Duzz signals the others to wait. They can't move the wagon without freeing the ponies first.

"Sshh... sshh..." Duzz pats the ponies, working on calming them enough for him to unhitch the poor animals.

Handle Animal, IC, Inspiration: 1d20 + 8 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 8 + 2 + (6) = 18

Albert shouts at Druzz, "You take care of the ponies. Andreas and I will handle the wagon."

As he runs by Andreas, he calls out "Hand me the rope. I'll tie it to the top, like Rillka said!"

Swim: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Duzz manages to undo the two ponies with little issue as Albert grabs one end of the rope and with strong strokes, swims out to the cart.

It will take a turn for Albert to attach the rope. Then you guys can begin trying to pull the cart to shore. For ease of this, whoever has the highest will be the primary and the rest can just aid. You can get up to +8 from Aid actions.

Round 3

With the ponies unhitched, Duzz guides them back to the shore. "Almost there... shh, shh."

Duzz, give another handle animals to get the ponies to swim to shore.

Albert will be able to tie off the rope as best he can this turn. Feel free to start making some strength checks if you want to try and pull the cart back to the shore.

Let's use the horses to pull the wagon. They will have more strength than any of us.
Strength Check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Sorry, thought it was still part of the same thing.

Handle Animal, IC, Inspiration: 1d20 + 8 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (15) + 8 + 2 + (5) = 30

Still singing to aid Duzz in his handling of the horses, Saoirse lends her hand to the attempt to haul the wagon out of the river.

Strength check (Aid): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Str: 1d20 ⇒ 18

The Gnome on the hill starts sputtering at your group as several of the others cheer you on. Two Gnomes try and pull as well!

Str: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Str: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

With the two burly gnomes digging their heels in, the group surges backwards and pulls the wagon and Albert back up onto the beach and out of the surging waters.

The Gnome on the hill comes down and says, "What! We had everything taken care of!" as he sputters at your group.

One of the two Gnomes who had joined on the rope pull holds his knees as he pants and says, "Leave off Jubilost, we owe them thanks not recriminations!"

The other Gnome nods and says "I agree, I say we offer them thanks and a place at our fire tonight to warm up since several of them went for a swim." The other Gnomes chime in that they wish to offer you a meal and a place at the fire tonight while their apparent leader, Jubilost, seems less happy with your presence.

Duzz takes most of his clothes off and starts to twist them in order to remove as much water as possible. Seeing the leader's animosity, he sighs, putting his clothes back on.

"I helped without you asking, Caravan Master, and I've done so because I wanted to, with no reward in mind." He calls Marük to his side and climbs. "We have our own provisions and we can make our own fire."

"Thanks for you kind offer." He says to those wishing them to stay, and adds, moving his from one to another until stopping on Jubilost. "May the gods give you twice as much luck and kindness as you have offered us."