Kings' patron - Worg Hunters

Game Master Mardavig

Nugrah has adjusted somewhat to the light and now he stares at Kazz, who is closest to him, with rheumy eyes.

"Please, I've kept his treasures," he motions to the goods and valuables stored up around you. "I've healed his men when they are hurt," he reaches towards Kazz with moist arthritic hands. "All I ask is that I not be beaten quite as often. Please I'm an old man. I'll do the same for you. I can call upon healing magics and guard your treasures. Please don't kill me."

SM: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
She keeps her eyes on him. Hes not called a monster just for fun

Hithil says, "I have not heard of Nugrah, but if these bars have held him for a sufficient time, then he can't be too dangerous. Plus, a healing hand is always welcome where I come from."

She still eyes him, rumours come with truth, but for now she will give him the benefit of the doubt

Nugrah falls to his knees, blubbering in the dirt. "Oh yes, I can be so helpful. I can be welcome anywhere. I don't eat much. Just a spot out of the rain is all I need. Please, please, please, just don't kill me!"

It's hard to call him anything other than a pitiful wretch. With tears and snot running down his face, he begs fervently for his life. "All the treasure is yours. I'll stay and be your slave, or you can turn me out to the wilderness. Let the wolves fight for my bones, but just give me a chance. I'll do anything you want."

Alexio looks at the man with a combination of contempt and amusement. That wretch was locked up? I doubt that he could do much more than eat a bowl of soup., think Alexio.

Alexio looks at the man and thinks of a plan. "Obviously, the treasure is ours" declares Alexio. "That much is not a topic for debate. However, I'm curious about your healing. Demonstrate some prowess with it and you might be able to serve at our new stronghold."

Alexio draws his longsword and puts a gash in his left forearm. I'll take a point or two of damage if need be. "Go ahead, use some healing magics on me. I'd like a demonstration."

I'm aware that Alexio is playing with fire here, but this seems to be a quick way to figure out how dangerous or powerful the man is.

The old man licks his lips nervously and eyes everyone carefully, as though expecting a trap. He looks to Akiros, who nods. The old man steps up to Alexio and puts one clammy hand over the wound. His touch is unpleasant, but not by anything specific that he's doing, simply because he is a gross old guy who's been locked in a damp, moldy cellar and beaten repeatedly for who knows how long.

"Gozreh, hear my prayer and mend flesh where it has been sundered" the old man says as he tugs a wooden disc with a crude leaf with a drop of water running off of it carved on to it out of his filthy robe. The symbol glows with a teal light and when he removes his hand a glowing leaf of the same colour has appeared on Alexio's skin, concealing the wound. The leaf seems to melt away and as it does the flesh underneath is restored to wholeness. Not even a slight mark remains where once the cut was.

The old man jumps back, as though expecting a blow, but seems relieved one is not coming. "There you see I did it."

Kazz watches the old man's demonstration closely, speaking when he jumps back, "Calm yourself old man, you've proven your words well enough. But you have yet to answer me, why did the Stag Lord lock you away in this dungeon? Did you displease him."

He shoots a look at Akiros, inviting an answer if the old man doesn't.

What have I got myself into? Are these people as bad as the bandits? "Just let the poor man out and give him some food. You don't need to be our slave or anything, you'll be free to do as you like, but if you want to stay here for a time I'll make sure you are feed so you can build up your strength again." Dregan interjects.

Alexio moves the fingers on his hand and looks at his arm where the wound once was. "Quite impressive, that was," he says with a smile. "I have no problem with you helping to take over the oversight of this fort on our behalf. Feel free to spend some time here regaining your strength while we rebuild the fort."

Just a note, Raven is not burying the bodies, she plans to burn all of them...

Raven continues to build the funeral pyre, laying bodies atop it, preparing a ritual with words that seem to simply flow into her mind.

"Lady of Ravens, hear me. I send these souls to you for judgement. Their transgressions in life are yours to weigh. Though I beg you judge Kenaniah fairly, as his lot was cast in the wrong direction."

With that, she will light the fire...

Up above the pyre begins to burn and as it does so it begins to rain, but the rain does not extinguish the fire, instead it almost seems to feed it, until a tower of flame, perhaps 15 feet in height blazes in the courtyard. As the rain falls the muddy hill that supports the fort begins to sprout thistles at an incredible rate, purple flowers and all.

Down below the old man begins to weep with joy. "Thank you my lords, thank you. I will do everything I can to repay you." To Kazz he responds. "That man wanted to keep me alive. Everyday he threatened to kill me, and beat me savagely, but I knew he would never kill me on purpose. He took too much delight in torturing me."

Akiros steps forward. "I can vouch for that. No one knew what was between the Stag Lord and this man, but everyone knew not to lay a hand on him, because he wanted to be the one to inflict every misery and cruelty on him."

"That is rather impressive Raven. I like your style."

Raven nods at the elf. "We are missing something.. an offering of sorts. We need...", she pauses for a moment. "Are there any of the weapons we aren't using? Maybe the armor? Toss it in, it will help sanctify this place for us. You can see the blessings already starting to take root." Raven sweeps her hand towards the growing flowers.

If Raven still has the masterwork longsword on her, she will toss that in.

The longsword is tossed onto the fire, where it lands point down, hilt sticking up amongst the flames. A raven flies down from somewhere above and lands on the crossguard of the sword. it is not burned but rather calls out in a deep croak. The flames leap up and the raven is not seen again, but it's bones are not among the ashes once the pyre burns out.

Sometime later while searching the armoury Raven finds a masterwork broadsword whose steel has been somehow tinged black.

Let's accelerate. Feel free to continue roleplaying with each other, but there's no more opposition for you here. Soon I'll list all of the assets here and you guys can let me know what you want to do.

Hithil watches the ritual, trying to determine what kind of magic Raven is using. I like this direct approach, perhaps death by fighting with honor has taught her a lesson, but I need to know the source of her power. I only hope the others learn the lesson without dying first.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9 Do you assume critical failures on skill checks? I find it varies by DM.

Hithil is overwhelmed by the mysteries she is seeing here. all she knows for certain is that the power of a deity is at play.

I believe that you can only crit or fumble on attack rolls, but the result tends to speak for itself.

I believe that you can only crit or fumble on attack rolls, but the result tends to speak for itself.

I believe you can also fumble saves, as a 1 always fails on a save and 20 always succeeds. But ya, normally you can't fumble or crit on skills, just checking. Thanks.

Kazz seems satisfied with Akiros' endorsement, "Very well Nugrah. You are welcome to remain as long as you will. The bandits are routed and their leaders lost or dead. We should all be safe here for now. Come upstairs, the rain will wash the filth of this place from you."

Once back upstairs, Kazz eyes the raging pyre warily, speaking to Raven, "It would seem your goddess does indeed bless us, I can only hope we don't come to rue it's flavor one day..."

Moving away, Kazz collects the grisly looking stag helm from the ground, looking at Hithil, "What do you make of this? I find it hard to believe it's merely a status symbol no?"

"Allow me investigate this component of distinction." Hithil moves her hands over the item and casts detect magic.

Spellcraft to identify magical properties (if any): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27
Appraise: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Much better:) Did we ever check the bow for magic?

When Raven finds the broadsword, she falls to her knees, immediately recognizing the gift. "My Queen, you have seen fit to bestow me with a gift to put forth your will." A vision enters her mind, though she isn't sure if it's memory or something new. "...take up my blade..."Her hand reaches out and grasps it tightly. "Thank you my Lady."

Later, Raven addresses her companions. "Perhaps a couple of us should go and retrieve our horses and equipment we left at camp. We can take inventory of what we have and go from there."

The helm has the following properties. The deity in question is Erastil.

The Stag Lord's bow is a +1 composite long bow (+2 str). It has a natural appearance, the grain of the wood still evident and there appear to be leaves still growing on it.

"Raven has gone and died,
Back to life the gods had cried.
Strange spells and rituals abound,
The newly dead make no sound.
Raven is back my friends."

Hithil moves to go pick up some horses and her beloved steed, Skippy Doo.

Kazz and Ammanas go with raven to retrieve the horses asking that someone else accompany them, "Broken or no, we should be wary of the bandits we've chased into the night."

Returning with Dusk, Skippy Doo and the other horses, Kazz sees that they are all quartered within the fort.

Too bad we lost our ninja :P Hey Dregan, who do you worship?

You recover the horses with ease.

The basement of the fort contains mundane trade goods: pelts, furs, tobacco, iron, bronze, miscellaneous adventuring gear, tools and miscellaneous weapons and armour (none magic or masterwork). The total value of all these is 6850 gp.

There's a chest which contains 4500 cp, 2052 sp, 894 gp and 21 pp.

A large sack contains 2900 gp in various pieces of stolen jewelry.

In his quarters the stag lord had a chest containing 141 gp, a polished azurite crystal worth 9 gp, a carnelian worth 80 gp, a piece of hematite worth 13 gp, a shard of obsidian worth 14 gp, a red garnet worth 100 gp, a pewter belt buckle depicting a pair of entwined succubi worth 30 gp, and a silver charm bracelet worth 60 gp.

This sums up the treasures of the stag fort beyond those that you have looted from the various bandits.

"That certainly looks like a good start for our treasury, " says Alexio. "We could use it to refurbish the fort in quite high style, " he continues.

Not really sure what the next steps are. Stay here or look for other bandits to expel?

Raven nods at Alexio, "That it does. We could turn this place into a veritable fortress. Barracks for the militia we want, inn for weary travelers and merchants, and of course, the temple to Her Ladyship."

Kazz too nods appreciatively, "Indeed, I can imagine no better place to make our mark on these lands. Though we will need more hands to hold our prize. Our priorities now should be to send word to Brevoy of the Stag Lord's defeat and gather who we can of the other chartered explorers. Some of our number should return to Oleg's while the others see to shoring up the fort. I would be happy to return to the trading post."

"Agreed, " says Alexio, "there is much to do now that the stag lord is no longer threatening these lands. We will need to move quickly, before word spreads too far, and solidify our position here."

"Agreed, I plan to ride for Oleg's in the morning. I would prefer to have at least one more of our number accompany me. Who will come?"

Kazz looks around the fort for a few moments, "Those who do come should load what we can of our captured supplies onto our horses, perhaps even take one or two of the other mounts if you would permit it? Much of it does us little good here but at Oleg's we can trade for that which we need."

"I'll be happy to accompany you to Oleg's. I'm also fine with helping secure the fort and maximize it's defense efficiency and effectiveness using advanced mathematical calculations. But if no one else feels strongly about going with you, I will ride Zippy Doo!"

The kayal raises an eyebrow, seeming to choose his words carefully, "Indeed, it sounds like you already have some ideas for the fort and it's refurbishment...perhaps you would be best used here."

Sorry guys, lots of things that goes with LIFE happened, but back again

The drow looks at the stuff found then at the group
If i may, the bow and the buckle, i will take a much smaller share of the gold if i may have the bow. Other than that, this fort is a perfect place to establish a base of operation, and to fortify it better will be easier since most of the work has been done for us. I see no reason not to use it

So if I understand correctly, there are three hexes between the Stag Fort and Oleg's, yes? I say we follow the same route and travel straight. Time to explore once we have our messages on their way.

Come the morning, Kazz saddles Dusk and loads down her saddlebags with as many of the non essential trade goods as possible. Saying farewell to the others he opens the doors to the fort and rides out with the others to make the return journey.

At some point Raven will test out Akiros' loyalty by talking to him about the Raven Queen, her ultimate goal having him being the commander of the temple's guard...Of course we can do that RP..

After seeing her companions off, Raven watches as Zartana and Alexio look to the basement area. She then looks at Akiros. "I appreciate your loyalty Akiros. That fight was not yours, but you stayed nonetheless. I know you have no desire to lead, but I could use a level headed man like you at my side, not only for protection, but for council as well."

She lets him think about it, but before he responds, "While you are considering that, I need to determine the best place to start the foundation of the temple to Her Grace, the Queen of Ravens. This fort would serve well, but it will need work. I'm going to walk the perimeter, make notes of what needs fixed up, and go from there. Before that though, I'm going to claim the Stag Lord's old room as my own. Come with me?"

Raven begins walking towards the area where the Stag Lord used to reside. She brings all her gear from Blackfoot and sets it down in the middle of the room, then begins to remove anything that shows that the Stag Lord once lived here, putting it in the store room.

I will pause here, in case something happens between then and now, elsewise, I will continue.

It takes 23 hours of travel to get to Oleg's. So if you stop and make camp overnight you'll arrive in the afternoon of the second day.

The journey is uneventful and quiet. There seems to be a quiet in the greenbelt now. It seems like so long ago you were dashing south in search of bandits.

When you arrive at the Trading Post you find that Oleg and Svetlana are inviting their guests in for dinner. You can actually transfer over to the Antlers gameplay thread because Hunter and White Eagle are currently at the trading post.

There are also two newcommers, Commander Kesten Garess, who leads the guard now dispatched there and Jhod Kavken, a priest of Erastil.

Did you bring anything form the fort with you on this expeditions?

Akiros is completely loyal to Raven, he was prepared to lay down his life for her. He is prepared to convert to worship of the Queen of Ravens.

At some time during the evening, as dusk closes in, Raven will take Akiros down to her room to perform a Blooding ceremony.

"Akiros. Kneel and be accepted into Her Grace, the Queen of Raven's embrace. Grasp the blade with your hands." As he grabs the blackened broadsword, Raven gives a slight pull so that it bites into the palm of his hand, sending rivulets of blood dripping into the candle that is burning on the floor in front of Akiros. As he lets go, she raises the blade towards the ceiling.

"Dear Queen, bless this man that has surrendered to your will so that he may continue to fight and bring death and life to this land in your name. I dub him Ser Akiros, Knight Protector of this temple to your will, Ravenseye."

She then lowers the blade onto his shoulders. "Rise, Akiros, take Her blessing and be one with your life, your fate and your death."

When Akiros stands, Raven presses the bloodied blade to her lips, then presses her lips to his forehead. She then swirls the blood in a spiral with her fingers. "So it is done."

A casting of Guidance will accompany this.

Later, as she is walking the grounds, she will ask aloud, "So... I don't suppose any of you have any engineering experience?" Raven walks though the field of flowers, letting her goddess's energy course through her, allowing her thoughts to wander and imagine what this temple will look like when it is complete.

The drow, was matted and dirty. Grime all over her as she made her way to an area where there was water. Over hearing the question she answers
I do have some knowledge on the subject, not a lot but atleast something

Kazz begs a moment and heads back out to the supplies the three of them brought from the fort. Retrieving the Stag Helm he brings it back inside and shows it to Kresten, "Will this suffice? My companion Dregan also carries the bastard's bow. All told roughly a dozen of his men are dead including his Lieutenant Kressel and the rest scattered to the winds. His former right hand has had a change of heart and now works with us to shore up the fort's defenses."

Kesten nods at the helm. "Well, that will certainly do it. I will alert my commanders in Restov as to this development immediately. There will be a substantial reward for what you have done. I will send a messenger right away, and your bounty should be here in about a week."

Kazz nods, "Excellent. So tell me commander, what is your prerogative here? You and your detachment are the one deployed to manage the defense of the trading post for the time being? How fare the bandits we captured this in our initial sortie with them?"

"Those bandits were escorted back to Restov, where they'll be given the chance to mend their ways with honest labour, and if they are found again to be engaged in banditry they will suffer the penalty described by law."

"I was sent here to help maintain the peace, particularly in and a round this location. For now those are the only orders I have."

Crap, I had asked that not happen. I guess reintegrating them would be too much of a hassle?

"Very well, I am pleased to know that Oleg's is in good hands. The Stag Lord may be eliminated but there are other dangers in these lands. Have you any problems since your arrival?"

Crud, I realized I wanted to ask Jhod about casting a spell before he left. Technically our group is still on the evening and he didn't leave until the morning so could I still? I assume we'd know he was a priest from chat over supper?

Was hoping he could give my bow a masterwork transformation provided he is 3rd level. I should easily have the material components for it?

Before he leaves in the morning Jhod casts Masterwork transformation for Kazz, provided he pays the 300gp cost and an 80gp fee, which i think will be no problem.

Once transformed the bow takes on the appearance of living wood, with a few leaves growing from it.

jhod provides a description of where the Temple of the Elk may be found and adds that if any wish to visit the temple and worship Erastil they are free to do so.

I realize we have two different threads going on here, so let's be careful about whom we are addressing.

@Stag Fort. There is one lone defender of Stag fort left. What do you guys do with Beaky? He hoot-grrs through the night and is insufferably violent unless regularly fed a diet of raw meat.

My opinion, unless he can be tamed, I say knock it out and set it free. Too much maintenance atm. We dont have the resources to keep it here

When the discussion for what to do about the creature getting hungrier by the minute in that makeshift cage comes up, Raven addresses it as such.

"The animal will die eventually without food that at the moment we can not provide. Unless any of you are willing to hunt for its food as well as our own in this area, that is. As it is," she says, looking through her leftover rations, "We will need to start getting food here soon anyway."

How much food was in the stores here?

"The problem is, if we let it go, it becomes a nuisance that we will eventually have to deal with, otherwise we will not be able to grow a community here. It would be wiser for us to put it down now, and not worry about it later. Plus, it wouldn't simply starve to death."