With the heart of the Stolen Lands explored and the bandits who ruled there scattered, the long-contested realm finally lies open for pioneers and settlers to stake their claims.:
Amid the rush of opportunistic travelers, the PCs find themselves stewards over a new domain, tasked with the responsibility of guiding and guarding a fledgling nation struggling to grow upon a treacherous borderland. Yet the threats to this new nation quickly prove themselves greater than mere bandits and wild beasts, as the monstrous natives of the hills and forests rampage forth to slaughter all who have trespassed upon their territory. Can the PCs hold the land they’ve fought so hard to explore and tame? Or will their legend be just one more lost to the fangs of the Stolen Lands?
Scarlet rounds the bend. The walls of the cavern ahead are decorated by a rickety wooden frame formed from clean-cut branches lashed together with gut and twine. Banners cut from two-foot-wide strips of old blankets and horsehides hang from floor to ceiling, covering much of the walls. The sloppily painted banners bear dozens of primitive icons and mystic symbols. A large cauldron filled with bubbling red liquid boils in the center of the room.
There are two kobolds scurrying about the room carrying sacks of coin and sheaves of paper. Upon seeing Scarlet they drops their loads and pull their small scimitars and turn to face her. The robed kobolds swish their swords through the air in tandem at her, laughing.
The caves here are (mostly as indicated by the map) larger than the front door area so folks can move and fight normally. These cave were originally mined by human settlers a century ago and of decent height. It is the narrow confines of some tunnels where a human-sized combatant might be squeezed for fighting space. Dammit! Why did I bring a quarterstaff?
Scarlet rushes forward straight into a sudden blast of freezing cold air accompanied by a sound like breaking glass.
ice damage:1d8 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
reflex for half (DC 16):1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
But thanks to her agitated state Scarlet pays it little mind and powers through with only minor chillblains. The large puddle next to her however freezes over completely.
The effect is instantaneous, triggered when Scarlet passes through the square like an ordinary magical trap, but marked on the map (with white-cold fireworks) for convenience and fun.
Suddenly, the two kobolds look less confident, but they attack dutifully.
Off to her right, Scarlet notices an opening where part of the decorative wall display is pulled aside like a curtain revealing a dark tunnel leading downward.
Round 1! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Illthir
__ Numalar
__ Zokon
__ Celyne
__ Scarlet -9 hp, 1 nonlethal (some of that damage seems to be hold-over damage from her encounter with the boggard dentist earlier today)
__ Luna
__ Alia
__ kobold sword sharps
Map updated.
As a side note, you just know that the first drunk hill giant Scarlet runs into is going to wallop her for max damage with his greatclub.
| Bloodrage 12/12 | Fire Strikes 3/3 | HP 43/43 | AC 18 T 14 F 14(Uncanny Dodge) | CMD 19 | Saves 6/4/0 (+1 Will vs Mind Affecting) | Init 3 | Perception 3 | 4 Female Ifrit Bloodrager (elemental, fire) | Spells 2 |
"We ain't got time to hang on! They're trying to rob the village now that the jig is up!" Scarlet shakes off the chill.
Her swords burst into flames briefly as she lays into the purple-clad fellow.
Attacking Purple first. Damage can spill over to Cyan if she manages to kill in one swipe.
Alia watches her bodyguard happily rush forward, past the Kobolds
Oh jeez, why must she be SO eager to rush into battle...
Following her, she passes the icy puddle, stopping for a moment near where battle has been joined to consider her options.
Acrobatics or Reflex needed?:1d20 ⇒ 19 (+7/+4)
Double move forward
No, that's there just to illustrate where the 'cold' came from. The area is frosted over, but there's no sign of what might have caused it. Only Scarlet saw it happen, and she was a little distracted at the time.
Alia of the Blade wrote:
Acrobatics or Reflex needed?
Only if you were going to do acrobatics in the first place in which case whatever it is you are doing is 2 harder than normal because of the icy conditions. That is unless you are Cold-Honed™.
Scarlet takes out both her attackers in less than six seconds flat.
"We ain't got time to hang on! They're trying to rob the village now that the jig is up!" Scarlet shakes off the chill.
Looks like they were stealing a masterwork agile breastplate, a nice cloak, a couple of daggers, a silver warhammer, a steel walking stick, a spell component pouch, a sling and 5 bullets, a weird pole-arm thingy with a spear-tip, hook, and splayed hammer-like head. There's also a box for scrolls. Bonus! There's still some inside!
Illthir rounds the corner just in time to see the kobolds take their worldly farewell. She waves her borrowed warhammer around a bit as she cautiously advance, looking for more sneaky kobolds. Her head is on a swivel as she proceeds further into the room - until she notices what they were indeed trying to steal.
"My things!" she shrieks, horror quickly passing into relief once she realizes that they haven't actually broken anything. That she could see at least. Muttering she approaches the scattered pile of stuff. "They better not smudged any books ..."
She quickly hands back the weapon she borrowed from scarlet and starts collecting her things. While there probably really wasn't time to get into the armour she at least wanted it with her - shove into backpack it is!
This reminds me - I should probably move my gear from that list into my actual gear spot :P
Edit: Most importantly - she now had her cloak, her spell component pouch and her lucerne hammer. The familiarity at least gave some sense of security.
| Bloodrage 12/12 | Fire Strikes 3/3 | HP 43/43 | AC 18 T 14 F 14(Uncanny Dodge) | CMD 19 | Saves 6/4/0 (+1 Will vs Mind Affecting) | Init 3 | Perception 3 | 4 Female Ifrit Bloodrager (elemental, fire) | Spells 2 |
"Woo! Speed is king!" Scarlet cheers and relaxes a bit. "Oh, is this your stuff?" Scarlet takes her hammer back.
RPGGGM wrote:
Off to her right, Scarlet notices an opening where part of the decorative wall display is pulled aside like a curtain revealing a dark tunnel leading downward.
"Numalar, see the tunnel to the right? The head guy is probably in there."
Ah ha! I found Zokon! For a second there I thought he got deleted and then I thought about it for a moment. A high-class ranger like that guy would want to be in the thick of it, and so. ;) Map updated (post-ninja-ing).
Zokon jumps through the open partition-
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
And into a barely visible magical trap! Again, fireworks to show you where it went off.
There's a sudden loud *POP!* and the air around him fills with caustic acidic fumes!
acid damage:1d8 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
reflex save for half (DC 16):1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17Zokon takes 5 acid damage.
Z avoids the worst of it by leaping forward just as the mist began to settle on him.
Alia takes note of what seemed like an escape tunnel...chances were, it had not been built too recently: "tuq, ra'wI' tu'lu' latlh mej ghaH DaSov umqu' ghot?"
Draconic:
"Leader of the Tribe, is there another exit you know about?"
Depending on his answer, Alia would either rush forward, following the Ranger in a trap-save distance, or dash outward, aiming to mount up and rush ahead to the exit.
Alia takes note of what seemed like an escape tunnel...chances were, it had not been built too recently: "tuq, ra'wI' tu'lu' latlh mej ghaH DaSov umqu' ghot?"
Depending on his answer, Alia would either rush forward, following the Ranger in a trap-save distance, or dash outward, aiming to mount up and rush ahead to the exit.
"'eH 'e' Dev quv. bIH jotlh mikmek, nakpik, Dub mIw."
Draconic:
"That looks to lead to the mines. Mikmek, Nakpik, take them around the back way."
Mikmek and Nakpik both salute and then wave you to follow them.
So to be clear I've got Zokon, Scarlet and Numalar following the secret tunnel. Who is following them, and is anyone one going to follow Mikmek, and Nakpik down the other tunnel?
Alia nods to the chief, then rushes forward following the 2 Kobolds who were assigned to show her the way:"Celyne, Ilthir, come, we use this Elf Path to circumvent the traps and cut off the escape route!"
Alia is following Mikmek and Nakpik down the shortcut Tunnel in an attempt to cut of the escape path.
"Oh?" Illthir looks up after collecting the most of her stuff and then rushes off in the completely new direction. Without armour at least keeping pace was easy. Quizzically she calls out to the other elf-kin as she tries her best to avoid getting her long weapon stuck somewhere - "How fast could an old wobbly kobold be?"
A Note on Darkness There's a lot of it on the new map. The kobolds don't need a lot of light and so there isn't much here unless the PCs bring their own--like Zokon--smart guy. Keep in mind the lighting conditions for the next few encounters. And also remember that if you can't see you must make a DC 10 Acrobatics skill check to move faster than half speed. Creatures that fail this check fall prone. I'm going to guess that Celyne, Alia, or Illthir have some clever plan to cope with their lack of light, otherwise they won't be arriving for a little bit longer and miss the next scene. Let me know what the plan is.
If your character can't see in the dark (or far enough in the dark--and remember darkvision is black and white) and/or do not have an adequate light source you'll have to get one of the kobold guides to explain what is going on in the next bit--both recognize their fellows despite their lack of color vision.
The individual groups make their way quickly down their respective tunnels, until they arrive at large cavern filled with century-old mine equipment, rails and carts. A number of kobolds rush around area carrying large sacks and armfuls of equipment which they drop in favor of spears the moment they see a light coming down the shaft at them.
One moving cart with a vivid purple (if you can tell that sort of thing) kobold zips past down a mine shaft.
Illthir, I choose you! Illthir uses Dancing Lights. It's very effective!
That said, my light is with Zokon, and Celyne does not have it, so I suppose that would be the most probable plan to cope with light...if Illthir takes a moment to cast, Celyne could spend a standard action to try and call out to Didymus...maybe the doggy wants to play with the kitty? Also, I seem to have missed a joke with old wobbly kobolds... :( So sad!
Do you have enough badges for that Alia? Hmph. All right then - this time :P
"So they are ..." Illthir notes as their guides scurry off into the darkness. With a mumble in some unidentified quasi-real language she conjured a quartet of dimly glowing spheres.
---
As they stumble into the larger cavern Illthir cries out in warning and raises her polearm. "What are they doing with all that stuff?"
Numalar goes after Zokon I think... but will continue running forward provided he doesn't get past Zokon and Scarlet. From where my icon is now none of the enemies are in my darkvision range.
Numalar draws his crossbow while he runs.
"Blasted kobolds... if it were orcs at least they would stay and fight!"
Aye...could have tried to be Kensai or Spire Defender and go for Whips...but meh, Alia will load up on Story Feats so that she can show up with an army of Elves in front of the Black Gate proclaiming her noble heritage and drawing Numalar's fiery gaze while some Halfling teleports into his back office.
"Leave the mooks to King Scaly, we go after the Leader...Green One, ready!", Alia exclaims as she rushes towards the Minecart and prepares it for takeoff once 2 others are on board.
Acrobatics:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
Boatsman problem...we can't split Celyne and Luna, and we should not leave Ilthir alone with Kobolds...we have the blue cart as well...either both kobolds ride with me, or Ilthir and one Kobold ride with me, and the other with Celyne and Luna. Also, I took the liberty of swapping white and red on the map. And turning Blue into Gold. It's Red, Green and Gold...sometimes Rogue, too, but that's not a pretty color.
This is a sandbox; so only if you want to. You can fit 4 to a cart but they would be squeezed in a fight. The skills used to drive a mine cart are either Profession (driver), or Ride. Ride can be used unskilled. It takes a climb check (DC 10) to move along the outside of a cart.
Illthir Winlowe wrote:
The Skald's biggest drawback in contrast with the Bard is that we don't get proficiency with whips : P
And all the hair.
Illthir Winlowe wrote:
I'm guessing roll initiative time : )?
Yep.
Round 1! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Illthir
__ Numalar
__ Alia (moves forward and hops into a mine cart)
__ (Luna)
__ Zokon (moves)
__ Scarlet -9 hp, 1 nonlethal
__ Luna
__ Celyne
__ Tartuk
__ kobold cultists
Illthir rushed after her new elven friend, diving past the kobolds into the cart. "Are-are you sure these lead to the same place?" she called out as she tried to regain her balance and point her hammer in the right direction.
Zokon ducks his head out of the way of a third missile. Then, two kobolds rush at him with lowered spears. One cries to the other: "MONTAH HOH! 'IQ QEYMOHJAJ!"
Round 2! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Illthir -2 hp
__ Numalar
__ Alia
__ Zokon -8 hp
__ Scarlet -9 hp, 1 nonlethal
__ Luna -5 hp
__ Celyne
__ Luna
__ Mikmek
__ Nakpik
__ Tartuk (chillaxing in the back seat of his cart)
__ kobold cultists
Celyne and LUna head for the cart, hoping there's room for both.
There's room for four though you would be squeezed, unless folks want to hang on along the outside of the cart. There are only two actual squares of space in these carts.
