Ama takes her 4 gold and 3 silver pieces, turning each over several times. "Something tells me we need a special thing for the digging..."
After someone's taken the time to point out that digging's a lot easier with a shovel, Ama will spend 2 gold to buy one. Ama'll also buy a shovel for Nagbur, handing it over with a smile. "Because you also gave me something."
Nagbur just stands there, staring at the shovel he's suddenly holding.
"Gee... thanks..."
When Ama turns away, he tugs on Almalik's pant leg and holds the shovel up towards him. "Me think you be better for shovel, okay?" he says quietly.
Fish tries not to laugh as Nagbur hands the shovel to Almalik. "Ok follow Fish into sands."
Fish walks off into the desert and the group waves the last of civilization goodbye for the coming weeks. They start walking in the general direction of the first treasure mark on the map. As far as the group knows they have been going the right way the whole day. Half way during the day everyone looks a bit pale in the burning sun of the desert. Everyone takes some damage as a result to the heat.
At the end of the day the group grows tired and decides to put up the tent and eat some dinner. They make a fire to warm themselves and to eat some hot food. The twilight brings the temperature down really fast and it soon grows cold outside.
Statistics:
- Almalik [9/14hp]
- Ama [13/17hp]
- Nagbur [13/14hp]
- Fish [18/20hp]
Almalik looks at the common labourer's tool with disdain before he sighs and puts it away, nodding mutely to Nagbur. He then sets off after Fish.
Almalik miserably settles down by the campfire, bathed in sweat and his braggadocio about the desert heat having entirely vanished.
"Somebody please tell me why I chose not to learn the endure elements spell. Oh well, there are always new lessons for us every day. I recommend we set a watch. I cannot see in the dark so should probably take first or last watch."
"We should let the fire burn down to coals to avoid attracting attention if it at all possible."
Ama scratches her burn wounds, only to discover they hurt more that way.
When it's time to set up tents, Ama ensures only her tent is set up. "We should all sleep together. And my tent's large enough for everyone. And why set up another, if we don't need it? And mine's prettier. So that's like... five good reasons to set up mine."
If anyone gives her a weird look, Ama explains: "The last reason's worth two."
"I'll take second watch," Ama announces when Almalik states his preferences.
Nagbur gives Ama a weird look. "You said magicky longshanks sleep in own tent before."
He shrugs then adds, "First or last shift for Nagbur. No care which but me need good night's sleep."
Before turning in, he takes some time to soothe the damage dealt by the mid-day sun.
"Fish good for any watch. Look like middle one next to last." Fish will curl up and go to sleep until someone wakes him.
By the time the group goes to sleep they feel completely healthy again. On the last shift Nagbur thinks to hear a weird sound. A sound something like: GGGRRrrrrrrttt... GGGRRrrrrrrttt... GGGRRrrrrrrttt.... But soon after before he decides to wake everyone up he sees a meerkat appear just outside the tent, which looks curiously at Nagbur.
The night passes uneventful and everyone wakes up well rested.
Almalik wakes up the next day and takes a moment to flip through his spellbook and commit a few cantrips to memory.
Fish wakes up and helps get the tent packed. After breakfast he leads the group off into the desert again.
"Fish got the hang of it now. Have to use pointer device because all sand look the same."
Fish ignores everyone's advice and is able to steer the group in the right direction. Almalik is bored quickly during the day and decides that it would be fun to do some riddles. He starts with the following riddle:
It is greater than God and more evil than the devil. The poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it you’ll die. What is it?
After a hot day walking they set up the tent and fire before they go to sleep.
During Almalik's shift one of the walls of the tent suddenly bulges to the inside. He didn't hear anything coming or moving outside but he is very sure the tent just made an unnatural movement. You think something might be inspecting the tent.
Statistics:
- Almalik [10/14hp]
- Ama [8/17hp]
- Fish [16/20hp]
- Nagbur [10/14hp]
Damage is non-lethal and heals before you go to sleep.
Awake during shift:
Asleep shift 1:
Asleep shift 2:
Asleep shift 3:
Asleep shift 4:
"Nothing I can think of," Ama says after thinking about the riddle. "What's the answer?"
---
During Almalik's shift Ama's asleep. She dreams about the meerkat Nagbur claims to have seen. Ama's never seen a meerkat during her short life, and her mind does weird things to Nagbur's description of the creature.
To make the walking a bit more fun: RIDDLES!!! (Stolen from the internet)
That was an easy one to start with :) It is indeed correct ^^
I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?
"Nothing I can think of," Ama says after thinking about the riddle.
"Yeah, me think of nothing too!"
Almalik wakes with a start to see his tent wall bulging in. He fumbles for his spell component pouch.
Might be nothing, but might be something. A spell is a small expenditure.
Moving very quietly, he throws open the tent flap, and loudly chants a spell! Hopefully loud enough to wake the others. A creature of pure shadow forms out of the darkness.
"Go forth my minion and suck the life from the intruders!" calls Almalik, again, loudly enough to wake people up.
The shadow creature looks around for its victim, its eyes glowing an evil-looking red.
Almalik throws open the tent flaw and comes face to face with This creature. The creature is immediately drawn towards the noise and the illusion. Almalik summons his shadowy demon to try and scare the creature away, without effect. Everyone wakes up from the yelling and is able to act.
Round 1:
- Fish
- Ama
- Almalik
- Cubis
- Nagbur
In bold may act. The camp map will be used for this encounter.
Awakened by the shouting, Nagbur sits up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "What? Why stupid longshanks be so loud? Me need sleep."
With all the loud noises Fish instinctively grabs his blade and stands up. "Who? What?"
"There's something outside and it looks hostile! The creature right in front of the tent is a spell of my own."
As his shadow creature is not scaring the strange monster, Almalik pulls out his wand and directs his illusion to start pulsing with a sinister-looking fire and move away from the tent. A bolt of fire flies from his illusion over the creature's head in an attempt to create a credible threat and draw the creature away from his companions.
Ama takes her nodachi, and quietly gets up. She moves five feet closer to Almalik, and taps his shoulder. If he turns around to look at her, Ama'll open her mouth as far as she can. Ama then closes her mouth abruptly, pressing her lips tightly together. She'll try to do this in a way the others can also see it.
The message Ama tries to relay is "Don't talk now."
As the group wakes up the creature turns it head around towards the tent. Almalik decides to make the illusion pulse and moves it away from the group. The Cubis follows the illusion and attacks it with one claw which passes right through it.
This creature originates from the shadow plane. You don't know specifically about this creature but you do know that it has many resistances and immunities. Since it only comes out at night the creature must have a weakness for sunlight.
Round 1:
- Fish
- Ama
- Almalik
- Cubis
- Nagbur
In bold may act.
Round 2:
- Fish
- Ama
- Almalik
- Cubis
- Nagbur
Nagbur slips forward and peeks cautiously around the tent flap.
"Ooh. Ugly," he says almost inaudibly. A foul odor arises as he points at the creature.
"It appears to be some sort of... creature," breathes Almalik. Still, he's fairly sure this is one of those cubis things they were warned about. He looks over his shoulder to the rest of the group and drops his voice to a whisper.
"Fight it or send it off?"
Fish looks at Almalik and shrugs. "Fish never see one before."
"Safer to send away... unless it bring back more," answers Nagbur quietly. "If this be cubis, merchant say they very bad. But how he judge? Maybe orc or hobgobil 'very bad' too, we not know."
Almalik nods and with a wave of his hand, another bolt of fire flies at the cubis before the shadow creature pulls back, trying to draw the cubis as far away from camp as possible.
Almalik succesfully steers the cubis away from the camp and the rest of the night remains quiet. You wake up 'well' rested in the morning.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Ama stares at the cubis as it's slowly lured away from the tent. "The man said there'd be more and more in the nights to come... I wonder how many more. They seem pretty dumb though, like they don't know anything."
The next morning Ama's eager to aid those who try to determine which way to go. After one mile Ama points at the direction the party came from. Her next two attempts to aid are slightly more successful.
This time Nagbur takes the lead and in the first part of the journey fumbles with the map. Fish points him on some handy tricks he learned and the group walks on for the whole day without getting lost. Early in the afternoon Nagbur suddenly sees a weird patch of sand. A rock is thrown on the sand and it gets sucked in. Nagbur steers the group around the quicksand patch and everything goes according to plan for the rest of the day.
You have arrived at your first destination! In the early evening you reach the first cross on the map. You set up camp and make a fire for the night. With still an hour left of daylight you may start the search in the evening if you wish.
Exhausted and miserable, Almalik holds back his head and squirts some water into his mouth from the wand.
"Why don't I have one of these all the time? The clerical magic is a trick, but every village should have one. Good for bathing too."
He looks over to Ama.
"Ama, bathing is when you rub yourself with sand or water in order to stop smelling like Nagbur."
Somewhat refreshed, he begins to explore the village, using a light spell at the tip of his wand to help illuminate the area.
Ama gives Almalik a confused look. "We have a lot of sand here. Then why do you bathe with the limited water we have, if bathing can be done with sand?"
She then helps search the area for anything special. Given that the party has an hour, Ama moves slightly away from the camp while searching. Though she takes care to stay within sight of the camp, and will quickly return when an hour's passed.
Nagbur shoots Almalik a dirty look, but manages to hold his tongue. After helping set up camp he, too, starts exploring the area.
It's all sand and rocks around you, you see nothing out of the ordinary. You will need a rough indication of where the tomb might be to be able to find it. Luckily you have a mighty Arcanist in your midst! The hour is over and without any luck. You go inside the tent for the night.
During the end of Fish's shift he suddenly hears a creature coming closer to the tent. No one wakes up to the sound.
Asleep shift 2:
x
Fish stays still and waits for it to go away.
Fish stays very quiet inside the tent when suddenly the tent bulges. A long sharp claw rends through the fabric of the tent, barely missing Nagbur in the process, and the head of a Cubis peers through it right at Fish. Everyone, sleeping lightly from the ever present danger, wakes up from the noise.
Round 1:
- Almalik
- Nagbur
- Ama
- Cubis
- Fish
In bold may act.
Almalik's eyes jerk open and he's horrified to see a Cubis staring right at him through the hole in the tent! He lets out a very undignified shriek and fumbles at his side for his wand.
Ama grabs her nodachi at the same moment her eyes open, drawing the weapon as she quickly stands up. She immediately swings it at the cubis.
"Kill the scary thing!" Ama yells loudly.
"GAH!" yelps Nagbur as he's jolted awake, the breeze from the foul creature's claw still stirring his hair. He instinctively flings his hand at the thing through the ripped fabric of the tent, a soft "POP!" punctuating the night as a ball of psychic energy displaces air.
Immediately afterward he scrambles back, away from the creature.
"Kill it! Kill it!"
"Break its legs so it can't run!"
"Fish tried to stay quite till it go away. Nagbur's snoring make it mad." Fish cries out as the creature rips open the tent.