Lil"Eschie Masks of the Living god (Inactive)

Game Master Escharid Blackrose

Malya shivered as she looked at the shoes. "I believe this is Steve. Those were his shoes." She covered her mouth slightly.

"Is there a trail from here....and what took off his head.." A gnawing sensation settled in her stomach. My brother could't have done this. It can't be. It won't be. There is nothing like this in him. She looked down at the ax fear crawling on her skin as she feared that her brother was next, or worse, he had done this.

"Thought I'd be more grossed out when I saw a dead body, hmm. Anyway, well I don't know where his head is, but the idiots he was with last have some explaining to do. Essa, see if you can track them or find anything unusual from here, otherwise we'll need to head to the crypt and get our business done. I'll see to his body not getting eaten in the meantime"

Selene pulls out her rope and ties it around Steve's chest, under his arms. She will check his body anything that might be usful and a once over with detect magic just to be sure its not a trick. Then with the other end of the rope she'll hoist it over a sturdy tree branch and hoist the body from the ground out of reach of of the forest floor critters.

This is only temporary, we'll make sure Steve's family get to bury what's left of him.

Essa nods, her eyes wide. Wondering what exactly happened here, Essa looks for tracks, and then checks the treetops and listens to the forest sounds, also smelling the air. If she finds tracks she will try to follow them and also point them out to Roguk who can also track as one of his tricks. Roguk also has scent which lets him track untrained, and may make tracking a lot easier.

Perception check for tracks: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Perception check for anything else: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Survival Roll to follow tracks if found: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Survival Roll for Roguk to track: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Essa calls out to Takeshi and Ah'Mera. "Hey come on down, we found Steve. Something strange is going on."

Just to make myself clear: Steve's head is still attached to the rest of his body. An Heal check, DC 20, could help knowing what happened

As Selene checks on Steve's body, she finds something: the stolen map to the Crypt, ripted in two. Steve bloodied face shows a bruised maw, huge hands marks, and a deep wound on the top of his cranium

Map to the Crypt

Essa notices a few more things on and near the body too

"Hmm I am not sure, maybe Roguk killed Steve, or Steve died some other way and Roguk dragged him here to hide the body to show us. There are definitely Roguk hand prints all over him, but the blood could be from the fight. Roguk would not kill anyone unless attacked or I told him to. Maybe Steve was protecting him for all we know. I wonder how they even found him, unless they followed me. There may be more to this."

Essa looks to Roguk and his huge bloody claws. She helps wipe them off with some leaves and pats Roguk. ..Hmmmmmmm

Heal Check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12 vs. DC 20

Noting the marks in the mud, together she and Roguk will attempt track them by sight and by scent. (see previous rolls). Is it obvious if there are other tracks or something that leads to a fight scene?

Heal: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
"I've seen this kind of bruises..."

"Poor Steve, let's retrieve the body when we get back" says as he knees besides the body and says a pray,
Erastil, guide his soul to a better place, he meaned no harm with this prank and he didn't deserved to die like this, show him the way so he can rest

"We have to find the others, they could be in trouble...should we follow the road or have you found something Essa?"

Roguk seems sad, and even hid its eyes, when you uncovered Steve.
He clumsily walks to the body, and tries to caress his face, as gently as possible, letting a feeble

oooook

out of its lips

After inspecting bruises in the body,
"I don't think Roguk did this, maybe he just found it like this and tried to help him." says as he pats Roguk on the back

"This seems like a beating, maybe Groyshna and the others tricked Steve and the half orc got to punch him, but someone or something hit him on the back of the head killing him, maybe they pulled him here to hide the body." Enev put his hand on his belly remembering the beatings.

"Maybe there were external attackers as well, perhaps it wasn't just that other group? I am trying to find more clues around here. Roguk, show me."

Essa tries to get Roguk to follow the scent trail and lead the group to any more clues. Finding answers to this may help them on their quest as they will certainly encounter the same danger.

"Maybe Groychna teamed up with some other orcs, or evil monsters."

Mayla saw the leaves come off of his face and felt a little silly. But panic and fear did funny things to the mind. She tried to clear her thoughts and would watch Roguk and asks softly. "Is everything alright with him?"

Looking to Enev. "So these were done by Groyshna? He will have to answer for this." She says quietly. Standing she would follow them along the trail.

"If we find the others I say we take them all back before finishing our quest. I don't want to leave Steve hanging up there for long." She looks up at him and turns her eyes away. The others seem to be fine with this but she couldn't find any type of calm here. Then again, the others also didn't have a brother that might or might not be involved....or hurt because of this. She would press on hoping to find the others.

Let's look at the top of the slope here for their trail, back where Roguk was assaulted, we will find their trail there for certain.

"Can't say for sure if Groyshna did it, it looks like he did it for what I see...maybe Essa is right, he could have teamed with other orcs, if that's the case your brother could be in trouble Malya" looks at Malya with a face of concern.

Climbing the slope shows no major difficulty (DC 7 for easy handholds but slippery terrain, you can take 10). Those with heavy armor probably take a little more time to come back up on the trail.

Essa's mind was a storm of confusion. She knew something was wrong here, but things didn't add up yet. She wished she was smarter to piece together the clues.

Essa and Roguk scamper up the hill. She gets plenty muddy doing so, but doesn't care. Mud is something she can understand and deal with. Essa helps the others if they require it.

Climb Roll: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Roguk Climb Roll: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24

"Roguk, come on lets look around up here."

She checks the ground and foliage for tracks or signs of blood. She also checks for things the rain could not wash away, such as broken or crushed plants, stones upturned, roots scuffed, and grass matted down. She has Roguk sniff around and directs him to anything that looks suspicious. She also lets Roguk sort of do his own thing, since he experienced something here and might just lead them to what they need.

Perception Roll: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Roguk Perception Roll: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

If there are any tracks:
Survival(Tracking) Roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Roguk Survival(Tracking) Roll via scent: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Considering Roguk's roll qualify for an Aid another and brings you up to 20

At first, Roguk brings you a bright, large mushroom.
Then a few bird's feathers.
After more than 15 minutes of searching, and aided by the ape's nose, Essa manage to find some blood on a rock, near the path you were walking on. The vegetation looks crushed, as if several people trampled the ground a few hours ago. Speckles of blood are all over the vegetation there, but they are barely noticeable.
You even manage to find a broken tooth.

There is only three persons walking hurriedly after that, heading south. You know you'll be able to track them down.

"Hey friends, we have a trail we can follow! Looks like three people went this way, and there was a fight here." Essa says, after a while searching. She sticks the bird feathers in her hair and tosses the mushroom away ( looked suspicious ). Inspecting the tooth, she wonders whose it was, Steve's?

Patting Roguk on the arm, she awaits the others.

Lead the the way. They won't have made it too far without a copy of the map. Selene says as she finds her way up to the top of the hill. Their heading South though makes it obvious that they intend to do no good from here.

Selene follows Essa and the others keeping an eye out for trouble.

"Oh come on, the map is not *that* detailed. I'm sure Essa could teach her friend to memorize the map, if she had sufficient time."

Takeshi will aid those climbing up, by extending his hand so they have something to hold on to.

"Though I agree that we should be going. We've been off the trail long enough."

Mayla would climb up. Taking 10

"She is following the trail of the fight so we can find my brother. This involves family for me, so please, take this more seriously. My brother could be dead. Lead the way Essa, I am finding my brother."

She pushed on following Essa her jaw set as she pushed on trying to hold back the overwhelming worry. They seemed to be treating this like another day in the park.

Essa, the total Tracking DC is 17, meaning you can follow the tracks for 1 mile at normal speed

Essa leads the way, and you can all feel the tension building. Noon will soon be there, and you sadly remember that if everything happened as usual, you would be only leaving your town for the Quest, or you would be eating at your favorite place or in your own, surrounded by your family.
Some stomachs start to grumble.

Everyone got 50 Xp for finding Steve's body, and an additional 35 XP for the bloodied stone. I'm noting it in the Campaign tab.

Kaching! :p
-
Did we bring any food?

Yes, enough food in your backpacks for 4 days each

"Let's go!"

Takeshi takes the lead, brushin off his clothes like nothing happened.

Got to keep the mood high.

Following

"Don't worry Malya, we'll find your brother"

Enev follows the group.

Her stomach gurgled and she would look around. "As much as I would like to press on I can hear the gurgling stomachs. Or either mine is complaining a lot. We should take a short break and eat."

She wanted to press on but she was wet, tired, hungry, and worried. Bad combination and she knew the food would at least give her energy.

"Let's eat while walking? I don't want to lose too much time catching up to them."

Takeshi will distribute some easy-meals, and try to keep the group moving.

Ah'Mera nods, "Yes we clearly need to keep pace with the others."

As she takes a bite out of a cracker.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Will do without a map for this time, in order to speed things.Sorry, hope to manage the map system soon... Here's the best i could do so far: Fallen log trail. Can't manage to understand how to put the tokens on the map... *sighs*

You continue to walk, managing to eat a little on your way.

The path into the forest narrows. Dead leaves are all around you, playing sometimes in the breeze, crunching under your feet. In the sky, big grey clouds drift away

A little up ahead, a fallen tree partially blocks the trail.

Suddenly, a trio of snarling, big green skinned creatures, with tusked mouths, leap up from behind the log, uttering vulgar challenges and rising their heavy waraxes to the sky

You're coming from the southwest part of the map, the three creatures are just past the tree log,coming from the Northeast,and are 30 feet from you. You can try a DC 10 Knowledge Nature to identify the creatures, Malya, Takeshi & Essa succeeding automatically

Essa hefts her club into position and casts shillelagh. "Roguk, FIGHT".

Essa motions to her side so Roguk can stay with her. Roguk roars and thumps his chest baring his huge canines.

As Enev sees the creatures and hears Essa command to Roguk

"Seems we got company!!" says as he draws his sword and shield.

DM Rolls
Initiative Ah Merah: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Initiative Malya: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Initiative Enev: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Initiative Essa: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (20) + 0 = 20
Initiative Rogurk: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Initiative Selene: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Initiative Selene: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Initiative Takeshi: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
Initiative Creature1: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10
Initiative Creature2: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (3) + 0 = 3
Initiative Creature3: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (5) + 0 = 5

Initiative Order:
Selene
Essa
Ah Mera
Takeshi
Creature1
Rogurk
Enev
Creature3
Malya
Creature2

Selene's eyes flash with a pale goldish white glow as she chants repeatedly.

Sasu nole'ku falekubo!

Its celestial language for those that speak it. If no one does then I'm not going to worry about translating.

The biggest and strongest orc (or whichever looks the most intimidating) must make a Will save DC15 or become frieghtend as per cause fear for 1d4 rounds. Regardless of the save the orc is shaken for a round.

Also Selene moves to stand between Mayla and the orcs.

Essa steps up and attacks the closest orc swinging her giant flaming club with a shout.

attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
critical confirm: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
damage: 3d6 + 6 ⇒ (4, 2, 3) + 6 = 15 X2 = 30 damage.

Orc Will save: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19

Selene's target doesn't even flinch, probably caught in his own dreams of rage and destruction, running towards its preys

Essa delivers a mighty swing that sends a second orc flying a few feet away, surprising herself.
A different method, speedier and bloodier, to ensure the orc will take a nap.

Kile'fasaso! Selene laughs waving off the the orc ambush. An illusion! A very good one at that...

If they aren't real then are we technically in combat? If we aren't in comabt then, Selene points out they are fake but warns the caster might be nearby to concentrate on the spell. If it still in combat then Selene can't do act to show they aren't real seeing as she can't actually speak or understand anything but celestial.

You are in combat, in a stressful situation in which your Tongues curse applies (so please edit your "An illusion! A very good one at that...").
Unless your partners understand Celestial, you can't speak to them. Next round, you'll be able to act and try to make them understand, without talking.

Ah'Mera will let a Chakram fly at the nearest orc.

"Well done Essa."

Rapid Shot Chakram: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

-Posted with Wayfinder

You can only edit your post for one hour. We'll roleplay it out though, no worries!

"Look out!" Takeshi says even as his flute dissappears from his hands. He draws his bow and shoots at the nearest creature!

1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 3 + 1 = 23>1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

You can find the link to the map under my name for now.

Enev prepares his sword and shield and charges towards one orc

Attack: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 2 = 25
CritConfirm: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 2 = 14
DMG: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 (if crit x2 = 10)

Map

First, thankies to Takeshi for his invaluable help with the map!

Ah' Mera sends a chakram flying, which cuts deeply the side of the orc's massive arm. Refusing such a quick defeat, the orc carries on, displaying his tusk in a silent snarl of fury

Orc with bandana HP -2/6
Ah Mera will save, DC 16: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

Takeshi's Arrow flies over Enev head and buries itself in the second orc's torso

Three pointed beard Orc Hp -1/6
Takeshi will save, DC 16: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Enev charges the same orc valliantly, and thrust his sword in the orc's belly, nearly killing it on the spot

Enev will save DC 17: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Three pointed beard orc Hp -11/6.

The orc tries to hit the paladin with his large axe
Enev Ac 17 due to charge: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

and the blade strikes the young halfling down
1d12 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Both adversaries crumbles to the ground, entangled in one another, the orc giving his last breath

Orc HP -12/6, dead. Enev -1/11. Just waiting for Rogurk and Malya's action before the last orc strikes

Mayla was stunned by the sudden onslaught of things and once she saw Enev go down she let out an ear piercing shriek (not the spell) and gathered her power as she stepped over Enev protectively. Calling on her protective ward to surround her allies. Shimmering light surrounded her allies within 10 ft giving the faint image of a lotus. Her eyes scanned around looking for any more threats to them feeling the others could handle the last orc. It was foolish to step forward but Enev needed to be protected.

Everyone within 10 ft of Mayla gains +1 to AC this is a deflection modifier. Also if Gm allows she will be taking the square Enev is protecting his body with her own basically

Gm allows.^^

"Take that, monster!" he yells to the creature as he buries his sword in the creature's belly, just as he was pulling his sword out he sees a large axe and then a warm pain as the axe strikes him,

"Ouch..." he cries as he goes down.

Enev's last breath: Tell mom I won't make it for dinner...

Roguk attacks, roaring and crashing through the forest.

slam: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Bandana orc HP -7/6

Rogurk will save, DC 16: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

Rogurk flails at the air, then look disappointed, turning his furry face to Essa

ooook?

Rogurk Perception roll: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15

Then he sniffs something, giving no further attention to the orc, even when it tries to cut him in two with his battleaxe, making Essa gasp with fear for her defenseless companion

Orc strike: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Essa will save, DC 16, +4 bonus: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

The young druidess realises suddenly than the orc isn't real, judging by the ape's behavior. Nevertheless, her heart pounds in her chest from the image of the axe blade's burying itself in Roguk's body, even if she now knows it was just an ilusion.

as there is no more "orcs", Selene can speak freely now, and you can awake Enev when you want.He's not wounded(full HP). Everyone got 65 XP

Map

Illusions I said! The caster must be nearby!

Selene will move to where the orcs originated from and scan the area for the spell-user.

The corpses of the orcs diseappear, vanishing in air, while Selene frantically search the spell caster

Well, I can't see no precise rule to pinpoint where the spell comes from.If you know one and where to find it, i'm ready to learn.
I guess a Spellcraft check would help, DC 18 for Malya, DC 23 for Selene and Essa (Divine magic user vs Profane Magic user house rule about Spellcraft, see my 1st post on Recruitment thread.)

Hearing this she would wonder why they didn't hear the casting. Then again she wasn't familiar with that spell so maybe it didn't have verbal components.

Kneeling she shook Enev to see if he was alright as her mind puzzled over things.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Her mind though seemed more on making sure Enev was alright.

"Ooo...auch...that..didn't really hurt" he says confused as Malya awakens him,

"I'm alright but I don't know what happened" checking himself for wounds