Weather; The Maw is shrouded in fog when the PCs arrive. Clear visibility is about 60 feet, with an additional 30 feet counting as 50% concealment and anything after that as 100% concealment.
”Arghhh!!! Gruuurrrrghh!!! Hggggggfffdddd!!! Argggddd!! Haare… “ you hear the two remaining beastmen howl.
And from all around you … but from a farther distance you hear countless howls coming back!!
Sense motive or linguistics DC 15 :
Taer communicate through grunts, hooting, and yelling, as well as a body language similar to that of apes.
But you can interpret their intentions.
The ancient cairn marks a sacred place of congregation for the various clans of primitive beastmen that inhabit the surrounding peaks.
The beastmen, or taer as they call themselves, believe the cairn radiates mystic energies that purify them and make them stronger.
Throughout their lives, taer make pilgrimages to the cairn to pray and give offerings to the spirits. Their rituals often involve the use of psychotropic herbs and fungi to amplify their spiritual connection to the cairn’s natural powers.
Keeping it the same is fine, after re-orienting the group nothing would change. If anything, the bird would be distracted by the fireball explosion anyway.
"Melisande, you may want to take a step or two back in case any slip past us," Shiro politely squawks at the sorceress.
Shiro will keep his position, continuing to ready an action to trip the next furry creature that comes within his reach and using ki throw to move them directly in front of Dru for a beatdown. He will use Stand Still w/Unbalancing Counter to cause flat-footedness (DC 18 Reflex to negate) and halt any movement past him should it occur. His Bastion Stance triggers at the end of his turn, raising his AC to 27.
As the ball of flame detonates among the mountain men, is is clear that Spackle is slightly taken aback at the display of force."Well now, that's one impressive way ta get the show started. Still gettin' used ta the power ya wield. Gotta admit, it's taken a wee bit o' time. Longer than that lot have ta be sure." The gnome rattles off a quick diddy about using valor to keep one's heart and body strong when faced with adversity.
Good Hope This spell instills powerful hope in the subjects. Each affected creature gains a +2 morale bonus on saving throws, attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls.
Lingering Performance, Round One of Two Current Bard Assistance:+4 to hit & damage, +2 to saving throws, +2 to ability and skill checks.
Bard Assist Breakdown:
+2 to hit & damage (morale boost) ~ Good Hope
+2 to hit & damage (competence boost) ~ Inspire Courage
+2 to saves (morale bonus) ~ Good Hope
Remaining 4th: 4/5, 3rd: 7/7, 2nd: 6/7, 1st: 6/7, Channel Energy: 5/5, Master of Pentacles: 1/1, Energy Body 9/9, Boots 3/3
Tereze just walks over near the others as she sets her sling whirling.
Then she fires at the or and creature that is closing.
Sling + Good Hope:1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 7 + 4 = 29 Damge +Good Hope:1d4 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 4 = 6
"Well, Ah can't be lettin' all y'all be doin' all the werk." The bard lets fly a pair of arrows into the nearest beast man.
If ORANGE is down, change target to GREEN.
Spackle draws a wand. 'Perhaps what's good for the goose?"
Just a reminder that I can swap Inspire Courage for Song of the Fiery Dance. That allows every ally of mine to see through fire, smoke and FOG. With my handy dandy Wand of Obscuring Mist, we would have concealment from most of their attacks until they were right on top of us. Unless they have a way to see through it as well. It does not seem to have a range other than be within 30' of me.
Thoughts?
Song of the Fiery Gaze (Su): At 3rd level, a fire dancer can allow allies to see through flames without any distortion. Any ally within 30 feet of the bard who can hear the performance can see through fire, fog, and smoke without penalty as long as the light is sufficient to allow him to see normally, as with the base effect of the gaze of flames oracle revelation. Song of the fiery gaze relies on audible components. This ability replaces inspire competence.
Shiro sees that one of the beasts is carrying a very well manufactured amulet.
~
You move to the cairn.
Near the middle of the plateau rises a squat, 30-foot-square stone rostrum, upon which stand four columns of dark gray stone.
One of the columns is broken and lies half-buried in the nearby drifts of snow.
In the center of the rostrum rests a five-foot-tall beehive-shaped nest built of ice and cairn stones seemingly frozen around a clutch of eight massive bluish-gray speckled eggs, each the size of a brandy cask.
The fireball as melted some of the ice and the eggs are completely exposed now.
[HP: 63/63, AC 20/14/14, F+8/R+11/W+5, CMB +6, CMD 20, Perc. +12, Init +4, Bombs 12/12, Temp HP 0/0]
"Erhm....people? We eh, we should be very careful here.
Those eggs, they belong to a huge magical beast called a Remorhaz. It is like a giant living furnace that can dig under the ground, and can sense anything moving about within an area around it."
"Well, I do not see any need to disturb the nest correct?" Shiro squawks. "The creature that made them needn't worry about our intrusion. Should we continue onwards?"
Female Human Fighter (9) Init +2 HP 103/103 AC 24 T 12 FF 22 Fort +10 Ref +6 Will +6 Per +10 Move 30 CLW Wand 21/50
What I can't understand-but I ain't the most clever of the group, fortunately-is how we can be on a burial site, and there is, somewhere around, a beast burrowing underground... Maybe it prefer the flesh still warm and living? But wouldn't it disturb the bodies buried?
Remaining 4th: 4/5, 3rd: 7/7, 2nd: 6/7, 1st: 6/7, Channel Energy: 5/5, Master of Pentacles: 1/1, Energy Body 9/9, Boots 3/3
Zen some of us should dig and others get ready to defend when ze beast appears. I am not great at fighting so I can dig I guess…. Hmmm, wait…. Maybe I can summon an earth elemental to get us ze bones if any of you could talk to it.
Spackle considers the size of the job, and the sweat that would be involved. "An elemental yer sayin'? Ah rather like the sound o' that ifin yer offr'n."
I just would need someone to explain what to do to it in Terran, as I do not speak zat.
This is going to sound incredibly wasteful from a spell-slot perspective, but from a meta-game view you could summon an earth mephit along with the earth elemental. The mephit would be able to speak common and terran; it could serve as a translator. However, from an in game perspective, this is what Shiro would tell you:
"Unfortunately I do not know how to speak that language," Shiro squawks. "I could assist with digging if needed, but my vows would require me to take time to cleanse myself of dirt and impurities afterwards."
Remaining 4th: 4/5, 3rd: 7/7, 2nd: 6/7, 1st: 6/7, Channel Energy: 5/5, Master of Pentacles: 1/1, Energy Body 9/9, Boots 3/3
Shirogane Ebonfeather wrote:
This is going to sound incredibly wasteful from a spell-slot perspective, but from a meta-game view you could summon an earth mephit along with the earth elemental. The mephit would be able to speak common and terran; it could serve as a translator. However, from an in game perspective, this is what Shiro would tell you:
That actually is an interesting Idea. I could do it with a Lantern Archon as well as they have True Speech and that is a level lower casting. Hmmm….
Remaining 4th: 4/5, 3rd: 7/7, 2nd: 6/7, 1st: 6/7, Channel Energy: 5/5, Master of Pentacles: 1/1, Energy Body 9/9, Boots 3/3
With no better plan Tereze summons a Lantern Archon and tells it what she needs it to do. Then a earth elemental to which she has the lantern archon explain that it needs them to go into the stone carn and bring any bones it finds in there with the least disturbance to the ground and not bothering the eggs on top.
Summon the Lanturn Archon with master of Pentacles so it stays for 16 rounds and two rounds later a small Earth elemental for 8 rounds. Which she sends to get the bones… Let’s see if that works.
The lantern archon and the earth elemental receive their instructions and Tereze can watch the elemental start to dig.
Suddenly, you see a bright flash of light and and withering sound ... the earth elemental is struck by something but nothing happens.
Be happy that it was not you guys starting the digging. :-/
As this elemental being knows that you want the bones to be intact it starts to free all area of earth and stone.
When it is finished and disappears you can see that the stone sealed a small chamber filled with a bed of charcoal.
Atop the charcoal sits a rolled up leather blanket tied closed with knotted silk rope. The leather blanket is lined with red and orange silks that bind together a collection of bones, intricately scrimshawed with fine calligraphy and rubbed with gold leaf, to make the runes stand out.
The burst of light is enough to cause the bard to pause his drinking, albeit momentarily. "Not gonna lie, that looked a wee painful. Right glad we took the lazy way on this one." He hoists a flagon toward the uncovered bones. "To yer passin'. Jest know that we ain't meanin' no disrespect."
[HP: 63/63, AC 20/14/14, F+8/R+11/W+5, CMB +6, CMD 20, Perc. +12, Init +4, Bombs 12/12, Temp HP 0/0]
Realizing she's heard of this sort of thing before, after some careful going over options she's read and heard, Locke is almost immediate to respond to Spackle's comment.
"A wee painful is a serious understatement. That just now, was an ancient death curse, a curse to outright kill the first to defile the grave site. I can not say the elemental will be all safe and well when it returns to its native plain, though."
Remaining 4th: 4/5, 3rd: 7/7, 2nd: 6/7, 1st: 6/7, Channel Energy: 5/5, Master of Pentacles: 1/1, Energy Body 9/9, Boots 3/3
Well zat worked quite well. However, zat might not be ze only trap. Does anyone have a way to bring zose bones to us from here? If so we should do zat quickly before any more creatures come.
