You head back to the Harbormaster's office and request to have your gear sent to the North Gate as soon as possible, but they inform you that it will be the next morning before they are available. You have little choice but to return to the Wicked Fork for the evening.
The next morning, Cassian has arisen early and loaded the horses. You make your way to the North Gate and collect your gear without incident, and then leave the town behind. As the gate closes behind you, you notice a raven fly up from the south and alight on the guard post behind you. The bird seems to speak to the guards, and one of them walks out into the middle of the road, stopping right at the gate.
"Hey, you... please return to Corentyn immediately!" the guard yells to you. He looks down at his feet, ensuring that he is still within the city's limits.
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As the gate guards hand Thordir his weapons, he takes a moment to lovingly examine them, making sure that they are still in good condition. Satisfied with their soundness, he mounts his horse and leaves the city along with the others.
As the guard calls out after them, he turns and watches the man carefully check his footing. "I think you're right, Yen Jinsa. He seems unable to pursue us beyond the bounds of his post. Such is the nature of a harshly legalistic society like that of Cheliax. This does not mean, however, that we are beyond danger, as there may be those in the city whose jurisdiction does extend beyond the gates. I think Sab has the right notion to make haste." With that, Thordir matches Sab's pace, making sure to stay alongside her so that she is not left alone.
You quickly leave Corentyn behind, and a few days later find yourself riding into the ghost town of Angelmire. Once the stronghold of House Davian, today Angelmire is home only to flocks of gulls, coastal winds, and the sound of waves crashing on a broken shore.
Little remains of the town itself. Nature is reclaiming the few sturdy stone buildings still visible from the coastline. At the north end of the city, where the Eismont foothills meet with the rocky steps of the Menador Mountains, is a short square tower surrounded by the crumbling walls of Emberhold. Thick curtains of lush, green ivy reach upward from an ocean of waving grass and cling to the cracked stone walls—all that remain of the keep.
Map updated!
I missed that your Diplomacy rolls to calm Zafiro exceeded a certain level. Before he leaves town, he gives you a scroll from the collection.
"This is a scroll penned by an acolyte in the very monastery where Iomedae the Inheritor studied as an initiate," he tells you. "May it help you in your time of trial."
This scroll is especially potent thanks to its connection to the Inheritor. When activated as a magic scroll, it replicates the effects of both bless and consecrate in a 40-foot radius (CL 3rd). If an undead creature or evil outsider is within this area, the caster can end the consecrate effect as a free action to grant every weapon wielded by creatures affected by the bless effect the holy weapon property for 1 round. If activated by a worshiper of Iomedae, all of the scroll’s durations are doubled.
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Two Blades let out a sigh of relief for two reasons, One he had his other weapon back and Two, he was out of the town before he could get strung up on general principal. "I would not want to be in that town again, if I can help it." he said
"I guess we need to start looking around he said, drawing his weapons out just to be on the safe side as he spied the front.
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Thordir dismounts and immediately readies his glaive. He allows John and Sab to move ahead so as not to ruin their attempts to scout things out stealthily, but he keeps a sharp eye out from his own vantage point as well.
His sharp eyes scan the apparently empty settlement, absorbing every bent blade of grass, every window shutter left slightly ajar, every change in the scene. He shifts his weight uncomfortably and leans over to Fethril. "My elven brother, this place seems rather eerie, does it not? Almost as if it might be an ideal location to set up an ambush. You should keep your magics at the ready."
Sab'Sera peeks into the windows and sees a pair of ruined rooms with stone floors. A stone staircase wraps around the eastern wall to an empty archway on the northern wall. Numerous windows surrounding a doorway on the south wall provide a view of a broken coastline some distance away. Soot-covered stones frame another entrance to the north.
Yen Jinsa can see through the ruined gates into the central area of the keep. A fire long ago removed the roof and floors of Emberhold’s great hall. Five thick columns still stand amidst a dense gourd patch at the bottom of the large pit that remains. The main doorway on the south side is flanked by two stone staircases that wrap around the interior of the west and east walls, much of which have crumbled to the ground. To the northwest is a square tower that’s only partially standing. Weeds have overgrown a doorway on the east wall, which breaks on the northeast corner for a wide set of stairs descending from the ground level. A rusty iron gate still stands at the center of the pit’s northern wall, rising from the densest portion of the gourd patch and fencing off a descending set of stairs.
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Not seeing any threats, Two Blades held his hand up to slow the others from entering. Let me take a look to make sure there are no traps waiting for us. he said
With that done, he looked to the staircases on the sides. I guess the archers and such might see of there is a good spot to cover the rest of us from the staircases when we enter the room.
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[b]Not sure but I would like it since we would be out in the open and not sure if there is anyone in the other rooms. The ones with bow and spells can take the stairs while the rest of use head in, start at the room on the left hand side[[b] Two Blades said, indicating the left side with his shortsword.
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"Well, the less academic Liberty's Edge folks do focus more on combat than we Sages. He may have a point. Good plan. Have no worries little Sab, all true elves are trained how to use our ancestral weapons. I will keep you covered myself." With that, Fethril unslings his bow and knocks an arrow. He lays a reassuring hand on Sab,"Feel the wisdom and power of Nethys."
Cast guidance on Sab.
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"Indeed, Fethril, yet if anyone should know the potential risks of entering an apparently deserted ruin, it should be us Scarab Sages. After all, it was the Ancient Ossirians from whom our organization is descended who perfected the art of laying traps in their tombs and other places that might now be considered ruins. Perhaps the same is true here."
You find no traps or creatures within. The floor has collapsed into the basement level, and the vegetation has reclaimed the space. Most of the plants are low, flowering bushes and vines, with various gourds of all sizes and shapes growing here and there.
From where you are, the two staircases head upwards to the left and right. It's a 10' drop to the floor of the area in front of you, but one of the pillars on the left has fallen, creating a path from ground level down to the floor.
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Thordir's barbaric inner nature wells up within him. He paces around the corner of the building, eventually reaching the spot where the pillar crashed through the wall. He clambers onto the pillar and makes his way carefully along its length and hops off the end of it into the gourd patch. He looks back up toward the others and motions for them to follow. "Well, anyone wanna come along?" Despite the cockiness of his words, he looks around him from his new vantage point.
The group descends into the bowels of Emberhold. The place smells like a forest, the fragrance of the flowering plants filling the enclosed space. As you move about the floor, the fragrance increases as various small growths are crushed underfoot.
Suddenly, one of the small gourds in the patch nearest Thordir sprouts a tiny seed pod which launches itself at Thordir!
The seed digs into Thordir's chest and sprouts vines which attempt to entangle him, but he manages to throw them off before they gain purchase.
Round 1
Initiative order: Sab’Sera; Fethril; Yen Jinsa; Yellow; Red; Abelia; Thordir; Two Blades; Green; Blue
Everyone can see the Red creature, but the other three are still hidden until they act. Abelia can also see Green and Yellow; Thordir can see all four creatures.
The creature looks like a small humanoid with a gourd serving as its oversized head, and vines and leavy terdrils serving for limbs.
Sab'Sera, Fethril. Yen Jinsa are up!
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Thordir rips the seed from his chest with a grunt of pain, then throws the pod to the ground. He looks around the ruin, and a shocked expression comes over him. "Sab! Be careful, there's another one right next to you by the two gourds! Looks like there's four of them right now. How did we not see them?"
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"Oh, shoot! Be careful, everyone! These are gourd leshies! We're trespassing on their territory! They don't do much damage if you see them coming, but they'll cause a burst of growth for all nearby plants when you kill them."
Abelia notches an arrow and draws her bow, aiming at the nearest leshy.
Round 1
Sab'Sera fires her hand crossbow at the small plant creature, but misses.
Fethril hits the red leshy with an arrow that barely scratches its hide. The creature turns to stare at him, its hollow eyes conveying a sense of anger despite the fact that they are just two holes in a gourd.
Yen Jinsa invokes his magical armor.
The blue leshy disappears in a puff of "wrong subtier" smoke. :/
The yellow leshy attacks Abelia with a vine that might equally be an arm or a leg, but misses.
The red leshy launches another seed pod, this time at Two Blades, but also misses.
Abelia steps back to avoid an attack of opportunity and fires an arrow at the nearest leshy. She hits the yellow leshy for minor damage.
Thordir, Two Blades are up!
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Thordir raises his glaive, unsure about which leshy to attack first, or how best to take them on. "Rah! Abelia, what the devil do you mean about a burst of growth?! Can I attack these things or not? Oh well. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." He finally makes up his mind and brings the glaive crashing down on the opponent to his left. [b"Just so you guys know, the other one is right here!"[/b]
Round 1 (continuned)
Thordir slices one of the leshies in half with his glaivem, and there is a burst of verdant green energy. All of the plants in the area immediately grow larger and denser, and the gourds marked on the map all expand in size, to the point that they now provide cover to anyone in their square.
Thordir notices that the leshy's gourd head was hollow, and there seems to be something shiny in it.
Two Blades slashes the air ineffectively.
End of Round 1!
Sab'Sera, Fethril, Yen Jinsa are up!
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Sab listen Thodir's adive "Where is it?" just when a leshy appears in front of her and attacks Abelia "Damm it! Where is was it hidding? Are you OK, Abelia?"
Then she drops her crossword and runs to the leshy that has attacked Abelia, draws her shortsword while running and attacks that creature.
"Boys, How can you move with so much plants in the ground? I can't barely walk"