Nightfiend's Before the Dawn, Part 2: (Table-B Invite Only) (Inactive)

Game Master Nightfiend

I am enjoying the role playing. A lot of good stuff so far.

With the exception of one thing, it looks like almost everything is in order. So lastly, what are you intending to do with Lura. As of right now, I have her bound and laying on the floor.

Privately to the group,

For all her faults, Lura has been cooperative since we captured her. I can't be part of cold blooded murder. So how shall we let her go?

Butharn loudly says: Bah, cut her loose. If she gives us or Senzer any grief will can kill her later...

"I no think she will attack us now," he says in a low voice. "She knows we are how dangerous. But I think she maybe will attack Senzer when we are gone, because we no can go here quick enough to stop her."

Ostrogard looks over his shoulder to make sure neither Lura nor Senzer can hear.

I do not know, Ostrogard says, She knows so much and can sabotage our relief mission. Plus, she may retaliate on poor Senzer and her son after we leave. House Cartahegn is supposed to be allies of the Society, right? Perhaps we can ask them for advice.

I believe we risk too much if we continue carrying her around with us at this point in our mission. She has seen what the Brotherhood can do even when outnumbered and caught unaware. She knows full well what will happen if she so much as scratches Senzer when shaking his hand. I do not believe we should hold her any longer, and unless Senzer is comfortable taking her and deciding what to do with her on his own, I believe we should release her.

Party vote so far

Girzog Release or allow Senzer to take over.
Jinhong Release.
Ostrogard Take with the group to House Cartahegn.
Kardiv Undecided.
Dumm Undecided.
Butharn Release.

Dumm nods. "Maybe give Senzer is best. Then he can keep he and son safe."

I vote with Girzog; leave her with Senzer or, barring that, let her go.

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Still waiting on input from Kardiv, unless his silence is a paladin tactic.

Ostrogard says, I see my opinion is not the popular one. Perhaps I am erring too much on the side of caution. I would settle for leaving her with Senzer, or, if the group really thinks it is the best option, letting her go, so long as we have a way to ensure Senzer and his son's safety.

Sorry, I lost access to the forums for a few days cause my computer was messed up.
Kardiv looks around the group, I say we release her. She has cooperated with us, and clearly understands our capabilities. She'll be no trouble in the future, for fear of bringing us back to town.

Group's Final Vote!

Girzog Release or allow Senzer to take over.
Jinhong Release.
Ostrogard Release or allow Senzer to take over.
Kardiv Release.
Dumm Release or allow Senzer to take over.
ButharnRelease.

Senzer looks more than a little concerned when the group unties Lura with the intent to releases her. In her current condition, she isn’t much of a problem for the group. She quietly nods, and then makes her way down the street. You can tell that the woman is fatigued and on her last leg. With the moral dilemma out of the way, the group is able to once again focus on the task at hand.

You make your way back to the Wondering way, where you meet up with Scevola. The wagon driver seems to be in a lot better condition, than the last time you saw him. Sharpe and alert, he pulls his horse drawn wagon out into the main street, and then begins to follow your instructions on how to get to House Cartahgn. You felt a little out of place yesterday, but today the looks you are getting seem much more pronounced. More than a couple times you catch people pointing in your general direction, and you notice that most the general population want nothing to do with you.

After a long track across town, you finally reach House Cartahgn.

Surrounding a sprawling, two-story trading post is a mass of citizens and merchants alike. Some wear worried expressions and wring their hands, while others shout angrily at a well-dressed young woman by the entrance.

“As I said,” shouts the Cartahegn spokesperson from atop a wooden crate, “all Cartahegn resources are needed to deal with this emergency with our sugar-press, and our storefront is closed for the remainder of the day or until management resolves the situation. We apologize for the inconvenience, but for now please return to your homes and places of business.” As she climbs down, most of the grumbling mob begins to disperse.

Jinny pushes politely but insistently to the spokesperson.

Pardon me, but we have an important caravan leaving soon. What is the problem with your sugar-press?

Butharn quietly grumbles: Sigh, nothing is ever as straight forward it seems, eh?

Hang on I've played this game before. Next up is a pointless item collection quest followed by an escort mission where the NPC only makes things harder!

Nah, I'm sure it's gonna be a stand up fight this time.

(Ya, it does seem like something out of a mmorpg. Very low on flavor, in my opinion.)

“Oh yes,” says the well-dressed woman of barely twenty summers. “This ant situation in the sugar-press is dire! We’re losing thousands of pounds of sugarloaf an hour, and frankly I doubt we’ll be able to turn these clicky beasts back. We expended all the available sword arms just chasing the monsters back into the basement. If more ants show, we’ll surely lose the entire mill. I hope you aren’t here to buy food, because if Cartahegn must continue to devote all its resources to fighting off the ants, expect food prices around Bloodcove to triple overnight!”

“A shame we have no more soldiers. An idea came to me, you see—my housekeeper makes a sort of lotion that frightens bugs away, and I bet if someone dumped a load of it in the ants’ tunnel, it would keep them away until we could brick it up! You didn’t happen to bring any guards or soldiers with you, did you? If you were hoping to buy food and are willing to help us out, I promise you quite a discount in exchange for your services once we’re open again.”

At some point, during the conversation, Girzog feels a sharp pain when one of his feathers is plucked out of his back. When he turns to see what just happened, he sees a young child standing behind him holding one of his feathers. The young boy has an ear to ear smile, as he holds up the moderate sized ebon feather towards a small group of children standing nearby. “Look, I got one!” The young boy says in excitement. “I pulled one out, and he still didn’t fly away!” After his last proclamation, the rest of the children shout and cheer. Girzog believes the young boy looks familiar.

Before I even read that last line, as soon as I read my feather was plucked I knew it was that little brat! Every once in a while I wish CE was a legal alignment :P

Girzog looks back to the woman and says

Ma'am...

He turns back to the boy and finishes as he draws his claws in a subtle, yet threatening manner

The Brotherhood are soldiers

May you meet Zon-Kuthon soon you little twit

Jinny is suspicious. She wonders whether pickpocket gangs ever use children in Bloodcove.

Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

She stays close to the boy, ready to grab him if needed.

We can help you with your ant problem, in exchange for a free caravan-load of supplies we arranged for, and are waiting on. It's a very good deal compared to our usual fees.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Man, you weren't kidding about this being straight out of an MMO. Right down to the quest-giver saying "We need someone to bring us the thing that will fix this urgent problem!" and then standing there doing nothing else.

"Ants? Ants can steal thousands of pounds of sugar in an hour?"

Jenhoung recalls children being used in many of the more civil city's for petty criminal activity, and you assume Bloodcove wouldn't hesitate to allow that sort of activity to take place.. This particular boy seems to belong to a merchant transport wagon train. Unfortunately, the boy's parents don't seem to pay very close attention to him. His annoying, bully like, antics seem to be inspired by many of the local children. If you had to guess, it seems he is trying to make friends at Girzog's expense.

As Girzog raises his wickedly sharp claw in a subtle, yet threatening manner, the bow stumbles back with a look of absolute fear in his eyes. Many of the local's begin looking in the Tengu's direction.

"Please, please, come in." The young woman says as she opens the door to the store front. As you begin to enter she pauses a moment to observe what the Tengu does next.

After the momentary distraction, she shuts the door after the entire group enters. The store shelves are lined with all kinds of trade good, which range from tools, weapons, food supplies, and alchemical components, to medical supplies. After looking at the prices of many of the products you require, it isn't difficult to determine that you don't have even a third of the needed coin.

"Momentarily, we are hard pressed and can't part with any loss. These ants represent a tremendous loss to House Cartahegn. Already the attack has cost us an unbelievable amount of overhead. Not to mention the loss of life. I have never heard of your group before, but I am willing to take a gamble on you, if you are willing to help."

The young woman looks over your list of provisions. "Unfortunately, I can't hand over this amount of supplies for free. The loos would be virtually as bad as the ants." After considering your offer, she continues with a counter offer. "I was considering a discount. I would be willing to offer the supplies at my cost, which would be a hefty, hefty discount. This would be the most we could offer, seeing we have to pay the merchants that supplied the products to use."

Meanwhile, you can see the small boy staring in the shop's window. After a while the faces in the window increase to about five children, all of which are smiling and pointing at Girzog.

Jinny concentrates briefly, and a faintly glowing, vaguely humanoid shape appears across the street and begins lumbering, slowly at first but gathering speed, directly at the children.

As it gets closer to the children, it raises its arms menacingly and runs at them full speed.

Unless someone in the party objects, Jinny accepts the offer on behalf of the Brotherhood.

Giant ants, huh? That is certainly a new one. Let's get it over with. Ostogard says.

Sugar-press Basement

The glowing figure not only startles the group of children at the window, it also spooks a number of the local adults. After accepting the terms of service, Novaria leads you out the back door and over to the sugar-press Basement. The sound of clicking and grinding can be heard from behind the closed door. Without delay, she opens the basement door and allows the group to enter.

After the humidity above, the stark dryness of the basement stands out as unsettling, almost as unsettling as the acrid smell and constant, methodical clicking emanating from the darkness. The remains of bags and crates lie scattered across the floor amid a sea of grayish dust.

You manage to make out a couple busted up tables, a large number of busted up stools, and approximately (6) barrels of something in the south corner, before the door shuts, leaving everyone in total darkness.

Unless you have dark vision, you are considered to be in complete darkness.

I'm going to regret using up that Dancing Lights on the children. But it was sooo fun.

Jinny moves to open the door again to let some light in, and prop it open with the nearest scrap of lumber.

Dumm's ears perk instinctively as his eyes lose their usefulness. "No have light down here?"

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

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Butharn draws his axe and thanks his dwarven heritage for his night vision.

He will stride forward a bit and provide cover for his compatriots until they work out their vision issues.

Ostrogard takes out has wayfinder and says Lucent. At the command word, the device begins radiating normal light in a 20' radius. Ostrogard then readies his finely made cold iron dagger in his other hand.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Jinhong: The Swashbuckler attempts to open the door, but finds it locked. Hearing the noise at the door, a posted century, from outside, unlocks the door and opens it slightly. “Have you finished already?” The middle aged man says through the narrow opening. With Ostrogard creating light, do you still want to create the glowing orbs?
Butharn: With his inherited subterranean vision, the mighty dwarf ready’s himself to be the group’s eyes.
Dumm: The barbarian listens very intently for any sign of trouble. Outside of his companions moving about, he can hear an increasingly loud clicking sound coming from across the room. As Dumm strains to determine the sound’s distance, he becomes distracted by Ostrogard speaking in a strange arcane language.
Ostrogard: Begins conjuring arcane energy through his wayfinder. With the utterance of the command word, the room’s darkness is pressed back by the objects magical light.

With Ostrogard’s wayfinder, the room is now considered to be in normal light conditions.

With the room now lit, you can see a set of double doors directly north of you, and a single door to the Northeast. The clicking sound seems to be coming from behind the double doors.

"I can hear sound behind that door," Dumm says, drawing his two-handed sword. Will this even be useful against ants? he wonders. Depends on how big they are. "You hear it?"

No Dancing Lights necessary. Ostrogard has taken care of the need.

Jinny moves to the barrels, inspecting them quickly.

Before we open the doors, let's find out what's in these barrels. It may prove useful.

Jinny is ready to open the door at any time.

Does the clicking sound too loud to be just ants

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Dumm, you and I should open the doors together, one of us on each one at the same time. I'll count down to 0, and we'll open it then.

Butharn moves up to ready to open the left door.

What if we took one of these barrels and rolled it down the hall to throw them off balance? I'm sure one of you big, strong men could do that.

"I no think that will be good," Dumm says, oblivious to Jinny's patronizing. "We no want scare away they, because then they will return later. We should go in like Butharn said."

-Posted with Wayfinder

Within the barrels, Jenhong finds flower, water, wheat, and a low end grain. Girzog listens carefully to the clicking sound coming from the next room. If that sound is coming from ants, he thinks they sound much larger than a normal ant.

I don't think it's ants in there. If they are, they are certainly not a kind that will let us just come in and step on them. Be wary.

Dumm's icon still remains at the front door. Is Dumm moving up to open the door with Butharn? If not, does Butharn open the door on his own?

To move things along Butharn is willing to open the door on his own.

The brave dwarf wrenches the door open and allows the light from Ostrogard’s wayfinder to filter into the adjoining room. This large chamber contains a maze of pipes and air ducts near the ceiling, but the floor remains clear aside from coal scattered from the chute along the far eastern wall. There is a rough looking hole in the Northwestern corner, which looks like where the ants might have broken through the floor.

Across the room, to the North, a man sized ant quickly turns to investigate the intrusion. To the Northwest another ant stands next to the furnace, who also turns to investigate the intrusion.

Jinhong
Butharn
Girzog
Ant (Green)
Ant (Red)
Ostrogard
Kardiv
Dumm

Jinny moves past Butharn to engage the nearest ant.

Scimitar: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11 Damage: 1d4 + 0 ⇒ (1) + 0 = 1

Meh. Maybe I should have talked to it.

Butharn charges into the room with a full head of steam and hacks at the far ant.

waraxe, charge, powerattack: 1d20 + 5 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (15) + 5 + 2 - 1 = 21
damage, power attack: 1d10 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

AC down to 14 due to charge.

Girzog moves into the room and prepares to attack any ants that come into range

Moved max speed, ready an action to swing with a claw at any enemy who steps into my 5ft. reach

Ostrogard moves quickly into the next room, holding his finely made dagger in one hand and his wayfinder in the other. As he moves, the light cast by the wayfinder moves with him.

I know I am out of initiative order, but, I just wanted to do a double move this round. I am getting ready to go to work and I did not want to hold the group up for a move action.

Its not a problem Ostrogard, I'll have a post up a little later tonight for the ants. I appreciate your effort to keep things moving along.

@GM, those look like bedrolls or beds on the map -- is that what they are, or tables, or...?

Also, how high is the furnace? Is it open flame as shown or covered like an oven? What do I think my chances are of pushing the ant into the furnace?

The description says the floor remains clear. That being said, I agree with you in the fact that they do look like bead rolls, so I will say that's what they are. The furnace again has no specific description. I have been running this as an open shoot with an exposed flame. You are welcome to attempt to bull rush the ant into the flame in round (2).

Round (1) Summery

Jinhong: The swashbuckler moves into the room and takes a hefty swing at the closest ant (Red). The blow glances off the creature’s hard exoskeleton. (Miss)
Butharn: The heavily armored dwarf charges across the room and takes a mighty two handed swing at the most Northern ant (Green). The heavy war ax embeds itself into the ants exterior shell, where it erupts in a burst of thick yellow liquid. (Hit -14 Lethal)
Girzog: The seasoned Tengu fighter moves into the room and prepares for the first foe who steps in his path.

Ant (Green): The massive insect rears back as Butharn’s ax drives deep into the creatures outer casing. In a last ditch effort to survive, the creature lashes out with its mandibles. (Hit -3 Lethal)

(Attack) Green vs Butharn: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 (Hit)
(Damage) Green vs Butharn: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Ant (Red): The fire from the nearby furnace reflects off this ants insect like head, giving the creature a menacing look. The ant shakes it’s head a bit after Jinhong’s glancing blow, then lashes out with its mandibles. (Miss)

(Attack) Red vs Jinhong: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11 (Miss)
(Damage) Red vs Jinhong: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Ostrogard: The halfling quickly rushes into the room with dagger in hand. The light emanating from his wayfinder illuminates everything in the room.

Round (1)
Bold may post an action

Jinhong
Butharn (-3 Lethal)
Girzog
Ant (Green) (-14 Lethal)
Ant (Red)
Ostrogard
Kardiv
Dumm

Kardiv raises his bow and fires at the ant in red,
Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11