Nightmarish Campaign Redux (Inactive)

Game Master DoubleGold

Schwartz is willing to go heavy load (~100 more lbs), but he wouldn't do that until we were leaving the building (there might be other, better loot somewhere). Also, I just remembered, we have ~horses~.

"Hmmm, well, if our friend here is guarding something, I can't find it. Let's see what's in the next room."

Schwartz returns back to the lower right door and opens it.

Continues to the hallway and closes the door behind him.

And starts the grizzly work of moving bodies and clockworks to the end of the hall.

"Unfortune smiled her ugly face upon you, I swear I'll give you a burial before we leave." Edrec says when he moves the last of the human bodies.

Schwartz pauses briefly to watch the dwarf. He seems a bit confused, but then a light bulb seems to go off in his head.

"Ah yes, we might need to make a hasty retreat, and it would be good not to have to worry about tripping over bodies. Good idea."

*Cough* hey guys, I have a dragon. A dragon whose light load is nearly 350 pounds.

Nate chuckles. "Plenty of room in Aurex's saddlebags."

I had considered that. And then decided that it might be better if I didn't suggest that the large, sentient dragon who could probably kill me should carry our loot. ;-P

Imperius reaches up and pats Aurex, unafraid. You note that there is a disturbingly close relation in the skin tone on Imperius and that of the dragon.

"Aurex, would you carry some things for us? Please." He asks the large dragon.

Aurex's lip curls back and a deep grumbling, hiccup sound comes from his belly. After a moment you realize he's laughing. "Normally two legs have to learn respect, it is good to meet those who already have it. Yes I shall carry these things for you."

Edrec smiles "Aye plus the fact that those 2 dead clockworks are gonna be a big hindrance to anyone coming out of that back door"

He then laughs as he states "Are you guys forgetting that we also have horses, which can carry a bit of weight beyond our hefty burdens."

Yeah, what are the strength of the horses, most have no less than a 17 strength some even more, remember they are large sized, so they can carry double weight of a normal sized person. 180 lbs of 700 is being carried, can each of them carry 174 lbs a piece without being so overloaded, because my horse has enough to carry, ie. me, so only 3 will carry, 520/3. If so, I will load up the horses squeezing between the doors any which way I can while they do some exploring carrying what I can for each trip, this will take about 30 seconds to a minute as I have a speed of 40. Also the Dragon can take some of the weight off of these horses.

You guys do some exploring, it will take me about 30 seconds to a minute to load up the horses and the dragon

Alright just wanted to make sure you actually had some way of getting all that weight around.

As Schwartz opens the lower right door you see an elven man standing there and he appears to be facing a different kind of clockwork than what you have seen before. Both he and the clockwork creature appear to be in deep conversation as you walk in with the last words you hear being.

"End him soon."

Horses can carry x3 normal strength since they're large quadrupeds. A light riding horse has a strength of 16, which is a 228/459/690 carrying capacity.

Also, other than the two people in the room, what else do we actually see? Is it just empty other than those two people?

the rest of the room appears to be some sort of workshop for whoever has been creating these clockworks. You can see half assembled soldiers, and parts for other clockworks just lying around. One of the soldiers seems almost complete as well.

"This is a mighty fine workshop" Edrec says after clearing his throat, "Yet I don't like the sound of that last statement, might I ask who you plan on ending soon?"

Hefts his ax onto his shoulder while holding his shield up and waits for either side to act.

"Not us, I hope."

Schwartz looks with interest at the clockwork creation. "Are you one of the intelligent constructs? Maybe we could talk; your friend in the other room wasn't really the chatty type." He jerks his thumb in the direction of the other room.

While he tries to appear friendly and nonthreatening, leaving his scimitar in its sheath on his belt, he remains alert for possible hostile actions. His eyes dart about the room, looking both for other constructs that might come to life, more hidden elves, or nice shiny loot.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

Conclusion: Knowledge and perception checks like me. Attack rolls do not. Man, so many rolls that would have been crit threats in combat...

The elf turns around, and begins to talk to Edrec.

Elf man: "Seeing as we were here first how about you answer my questions first. What are you doing here?"

As the elven man talks the clockwork moves around him and begins speaking to Schwartz. It's voice comes across as monotone with no emotion to it.

Clockwork: "Happy exclamation. Good, to see you fellow non-meatbag. Query. Who created you?"

Shrec will wait outside by the horses to make sure they don't get stolen or attacked. Most DM's won't do that, but you never know, just being prepared. I'm assuming that we left the horses just outside the dungeon.

"Ah Mr elf that question is fairly easy to answer" Edrec says bluntly "Did you or your clockwork friends really think that killing 5 of the local people would go how shall I put this unnoticed and ignored?"

He looks down the hall to the pile of dead bodies.

"And what kind of response did you expect if any to their obvious predicament?"

Sense Motive check: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22
If the elf tries a sense motive the DC for Sense Motive checks to get a hunch about you is 25 rather than 20 from my Stone Faced Feat

Watches intently for a moment before posing his last question.

"Now as you requested I answered your question," Edrec stares hard at the elf "Time for you to answer mine!"

Could the dead bodies have been the group we're looking for? I was under the impression that they were rather old remains and that the group that came here arrived not too long ago. Like, maybe a few days before we were sent here.

"Oh, just some group of petty little boys. Definitely not the master craftsman I've heard that worked here. Truth be told, I'm probably rather lucky that I turned out as well as I did; their lack of skill was compensated for by their access to improved technology. How about you? What's your story?"

Shrec tried to find out about the bodies found, but with a 2 he didn't find out much besides they were dead. Also, yeah while i don't try to attack the horses or other pack animals if it makes sense at the time then I will. Luckily most animals ignore this place because there are better areas for food.

The elf seems confused, and then he starts laughing at Edrec.

Elf man: "My clockworks? You really think I built these mechanical things? I am the leader of that task force and the fighting there was simply the spending of expendable manpower. As to who we are ending that is secret for the Order of the Key."

The clockwork seems to walks around Schwartz as it examines his structure. Seeing that he is fully unharmed the clockwork does nothing.

Clockwork: "Exhausted sigh. I was created by the dwarven blacksmith Melkiar. He is the current forgemaster of this place and has been for the last ten thousand sun cycles. I was forged to help him in matters of creation, but he ignores me. Sudden happiness. But forget about that I now have a fellow non-meatbag to speak to. I have been the only intelligent creature here since the last invasion five thousand cycles ago. Added afterthought. Not including the elf, or you invasion."

Nate looks between the elf and the construct, shrugging. "Well ain't this a ripper? Where is this dwarf at?"

The clockwork seems about to speak before the elf glares at it.

Elf man: "Such information is only for those who will use it correctly."

"Just want ta talk ta him and see nobody gets hurt is all."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

I'm getting a Mass Effect vibe from the clockwork guy. It's cool. Although now I kind of want to go around calling someone "Shepard-Commander"

Schwartz continues to ignore the elf.

"Admittedly we haven't finished looking around, but this place seems rather empty if this Melkiar has been creating for 10,000 'cycles.' You'd at least think he'd be able to make you a companion. Although I'm not really sure why you stuck around so long. If it had been me, I would have split a while back." He pauses a moment. "Actually, that is what I did."

Schwartz shakes his head. "It's a pity so many organics seem to think that because we're less squishy than they are we're somehow inferior to them." He cocks his head in the direction of the other party members. "These guys seem all right though."

Shrec tried to find out about the bodies found, but with a 2 he didn't find out much besides they were dead. Also, yeah while i don't try to attack the horses or other pack animals if it makes sense at the time then I will. Luckily most animals ignore this place because there are better areas for food.

wasn't sure if there was even a small chance orcs would come and try to steal the horses.

Edrec is plainly unimpressed with the elf asks "Ah so your part of the order that the mayor is part of well, then I ask you to prove it!"

Edrec then turns to the clockwork and says in dwarven "Has it really been 5000 of this worlds cycles since you saw another of my kind?"

"If so how could your master have been creating stuff all this time" Edrec says plainly.

The elf shakes his head, and reveals that he is also wearing a key that seems to match the one the mayor showed you.

Elf: "Close enough for you dwarf?"

The clockwork on the other hand seem much friendlier than before at least you think it's friendlier. Though as soon as Edrec begins to speak in dwarven it responds to him first.

Clockwork: "Truthful confession. I haven't seen any dwarf for the last 10,000 cycles. The last intelligent creature I spoke to was another clockwork like me. Sad remembrance. Clockwork Mark 3-4 Killed by a malfunctioning Leviathan. Happy explanation. While I could leave this place I have been here so long that it is the only place I care about, and don't worry about people being hurt. Since Melkiar is an undead it isn't a bad thing to destroy him. The elf told me so."

Immediately relaxes his grip on his ax

"Sufficient thank you" Edrec says.

"Aye good sir" He says to the clockwork, "Your master Melkiar choose the wrong way to extend his existence"

"Even placing his soul into a golem would have saved him from my gods wrath" Edrec says somberly before finishing with "and thru my ax doing my gods will!"

"Well, if you're going to kill your creator, make sure you do it because you want to. Not because some meatbag told you to. Although if possible, I would have thought it'd be best to see if you could first get him to make you a companion."

Schwartz turns to his companions. "I would also like to point out that technically, we've completed our assignment."

The elf actually seems to be considering the group now instead of just glaring at some of you.

Elf: "Assignment? Oh that fool of a mayor must have sent you. Probably to find me of course. Anyways, while yes you can leave right now I wonder if you would be partial to working for even more gold than you can imagine later on? The doorway to the stair room is currently locked, but when me and the clockwork over here get it open you fellows could come in and clear out the way to the forgemaster. The amount of loot that could be gathering dust here for over 10,000 'cycles' would be immeasurable, and you could end the undead abomination that lies at the heart of this place."

Apologizes as to how long this took. I was planning on you having 1 maybe 2 combats in this area before finding out that it had multiple layers, and that this would be a dungeon delve that you could leave or come back to at any time, or at any level.

Multi-Level dungeon delve sounds good, definetely something to comeback to, maybe have us find the key down in another adventure

Upon hearing the "more gold than you can imagine," Schwartz finally seems to decide that the elf's existence is worth acknowledging. Even if he does seem to be a racist. He looks intently at the man, attempting to discover if he actually intends on letting them keep the gold or if he hopes that they will clear the way for him, and he'll just end up backstabbing them.

Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 18

He also briefly wonders if they could drop off the loot they already have in town, so they could carry more. But then figures that the elf probably wouldn't be willing to wait that long. He then mentally starts trying to think of if they could make improvise a sled of some sort to drag their stuff along. And how they could possibly hide it to avoid highway robbers. They could possibly bury some to come back to later....

Schwartz shakes himself from his thoughts. Best not to put the cart before the horse. Besides, there might be something to help inside.

If Schwartz thinks the elf is telling the truth, he introduces himself and agrees, making sure to get the name of his new construct buddy. If he thinks the elf is being sneaky, he still agrees but only introduces himself to the clockwork construct. And then warns everybody else and prepares to backstab the elf first.

perception: 9 + 1d20 ⇒ 9 + (1) = 10 to see what I notice in the room while they are talking.

The elf seems satisfied with Schwartz's agreement.

Elf: "Good, you should head back to town for now while me, and the clockwork see what we can find out about the door."

Clockwork: "Sudden shock. Oh, sorry I forgot my introduction. Introduction run-time event. Polite greeting. Hello, My name is Mark 3-20."

"Very pleased to meet you Mark 3-20. I'm Schwartz."

Schwartz doesn't particularly have anything else he wants to do, so he'll head back whenever other people want to. Is this where we're switching DMs?

"Very pleased to meet you Mark 3-20. I'm Schwartz."

Schwartz doesn't particularly have anything else he wants to do, so he'll head back whenever other people want to. Is this where we're switching DMs?

I'm letting the DM finish his quest first, so I or Nate don't screw around with what he wanted to do with the quest. Don't send in your votes yet, I can be patient, gives me more time to plan, hopefully Nate can do if he wants to DM next or it goes straight to me. Unless you're wanting to DM too.

Most likely, unless someone else has something they want to do before leaving. Also I will post in discussion as to how much exp, and gold you all got.

Okay I will give everyone a 24 hour break and begin resuming DMing Wednesday, for the meantime, pm the voice for DM awards and the top 2 roleplayers

On the ride back to the village. Schwartz spends much of his time conversing with Edrec, convincing him to teach him Dwarven.

On the ride back to the village. Schwartz spends much of his time conversing with Edrec, convincing him to teach him Dwarven.

You are still going to need Linguistics skill to learn it though

That was just the flavor text of adding a point to linguistics. :P

I've been sick today, but I'll try to get something posted up later. It will have something to do with that lake Edrec left for me on the region map.
Unless someone wants to take on one of my other quests first that I had earlier, not the phantasm house or the artifact inside. But only 1 quest before we go to the lake.

1. troll
2. two men getting laid
3. the hole in town leading to the giant bugs.
4. the fisherman(this can be done after the lake), not having everyone travel back and forth.

Okay, so you all reach the lake. Is is frozen over by ice. Very thick ice that you can walk on it, and it would be very hard to break. Near the lake are 3 cabins, two in front(off to the left a little and off to the right a little) and one on the left. The area is surrounded by bushes. There is also a lifeguard tower, but it rises 40 feet high and it has tinted windows, so you can see out, but not in. To your right you see bleachers, 30 feet wide, 5 seats and 5 steps high. There are small gaps between each step as if these were the type of bleachers you would see at a football game. extending from the lake is a river that is frozen part way down, but eventually becomes water. this is the same lake from edrec's regional map, but I added things to and around the lake

What do you all do?

Aleumoth reappears.

"Let's go to the one off to the right a little."

I'll wait to everyone has posted before I resolve things, for a good reason. I'm also going to need a map drawn with squares for a very good reason. The cabins don't have to a particular size, the lake doesn't have to be a particular size, etc. but I'll need one drawn.

I drew some extra towns on the map of africa, they aren't drawn to scale, but I have so see them, and I'll explain what they are later. Just find the center point of the shape if you want to know where exactly the town is located.

"I think before we go there, we should check out this tower. It would give us a good view of the surrounding lands. And personally, I'd like some kind of reassurance that there isn't someone in there preparing to attack me. It shouldn't take too long, and it's on the way."

"I think before we go there, we should check out this tower. It would give us a good view of the surrounding lands. And personally, I'd like some kind of reassurance that there isn't someone in there preparing to attack me. It shouldn't take too long, and it's on the way."

does this mean you are climbing 40 feet up the ladder? It is the only way to check out the tower. You don't need a climb check to climb the ladder, I would just assume you are taking ten and you would succeed unless your strength had a serious negative modifier and you had no ranks in climb. It would be a DC of 5, which means you could even make an accelerated climb with no problem.

Yes, Schwartz will climb up the ladder. But he'll do so when the party is within about 20ft of the tower as opposed to running off ahead or lingering behind.

When he reaches the bottom of the rope ladder, Schwartz gives it a few experimental tugs to make sure that it's not going to come loose half way up. He then quickly scurries up and cautiously peeks inside.

Nate smiles "Aurex and I could just fly ta the top and come at it top down."

Nate smiles "Aurex and I could just fly ta the top and come at it top down."

Not sure what you are planning, but the tower does have roof. With tinted windows. If the Dragon landed on the roof, that would break the tower, or at least the roof. Still waiting on 2 more people

"Check the tower out yep we should check it." Edrec says and then aproaches the rope ladder.

Prepares to go up after Shwartz.