Rappan Athuk Mythic Playtest (Inactive)

Game Master pinvendor

Mai stops when the group is commanded to do so, though she does not rise from hiding nor draw attention to herself in any way. Instead, she waits and watches the interaction with the main party, lurking silently in the undergrowth.

Perceptions:

• Mordin:

  You have crept closer to the huts on your side despite the crashing noises of Sapharael behind you. From your vantage, you see nothing but the huts and trees. To make that clearer, you see nothing. There is not a flurry of activity, not figures rushing to defensive positions. While the trees and foliage leave many places to hide and the huts obscure any occupants, you are pretty sure if there was a large number of residents, you would see some thing...
• Pieter:

  You're pretty sure the structures are made from cured hide and wood. Aren't they?
• Mai:

  From where you have stopped you can see most of the huts clearly. You see no flurry of activity or proof of the unseen voice's claims...unless one counts the unmoving figures up above. But...wait. Perhaps one of the figures is moving. You also notice some movement from under a flap of cured hide covering one of the huts' windows.
• Nicci:

  You are pretty sure you see movement of a hide-cured flap covering a hut window on the side of the structures Mai was heading toward.
• Sapharael:

  There sure are a lot of branches and bushes in the forest!
• Belgeon:

  You're pretty sure the structures are crude huts made from cured hide and wood. Aren't they?
  
  

At Pieter's words, there is a moment of silence from the huts. Then the voice yells out,

"The fact that we're even here is unjust, but that's neither here nor there. If you truly mean no harm, then turn around and leave back the way you came. But if you play false, we'll fill you with arrows!"

An arrow suddenly thuds into a tree off to the party's left.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

Is everyone aware the results are in spoilers? I guess I just assumed you would be posting actions with these rolls.

Pieter looks to the huts and then nods towards the voice; "Aye, good warning shot that was." He feels he understands their trepidation.

"Aye, beset on all sides by foes. I can see you don't like strangers, rightly so neighbour." he pauses half turning. "I can see you are not happy with your lot, is there any foe, any of those from the place that shall not be named near here?"

He flashes his most impressive smile, whilst turning to the others and implying that 'discretion is the best form of valour'. "We can help, but we'll leave if you wish. I pledge this upon my honour."

Survival: 1d20 ⇒ 3
Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 20

Nicci sighs. "We're not going to hurt you, kid. In fact, we might be able to help you set up some better defenses. Is there anything you need?"

Pieter nods, standing in silhouette. 'Heart of Gold, Steely will and a body of other precious materials.... don't look you fool.' The tall Northman looks away from Nicci and towards the village.

"Come now, child. You have every right to be afraid, but my friend here is correct. We have no intention of harming you."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

No one in the 'village'... Mordin notes, before noting the speaker's warning shot. Slowly but surely, he looks up into the trees. Bloody hell. They have the high ground. We'll be filled with arrows with no time at all. We're all gonna die here. I knew it. I never should have listened to Pieter. "It's for the greater good," he says. Bah! I should have stayed in Ustalav. The drink was good and the inevitability of death was only half as apparent. "Death from above..." he mutters, shifting uncomfortably.

As discussed, while I know our little team loves to RP, we are kind of slowing up the purpose of this. So going forward I will be doing more summarizing of events and certain situations. This should allow us more mechanic based scenarios.

For the purposes of this scene, Pieter's initial Diplomacy check will be sufficient for the following description.

As the party approaches, someone within a hut calls out for them to stop. Pieter takes the lead in discussion and manages to draw out the speaker named Yulia who peers out of a window flap on the side of the hut. Convinced the party is not there to attack, she calls down her older brother Hecktor where he was high up in a tree above the hut. They lead the party into the hut where their younger brother Pol tends to their wounded mother Mephise who was bitten by a large spider two days ago. The poison in her is killing her, and if she does not receive treatment she will die soon.

The siblings explain how the caravan with which they were traveling was attacked by a group of bandits in stolen patrol uniforms. Their parents had taken their children and run deep into the wilderness. When they had arrived at the forest a day and half later, they had pressed on not knowing if the bandits were still with them. A couple of the other travelers who had been a part of the caravan encountered the family in the woods, and together they had forged ahead since the bandits may have been looking for survivors.

They had stumbled on the huts two days in. Seemingly abandoned, they had thought it a good omen and camped. Unfortunately, it was a waypoint camp for what was most likely a different group of bandits. A few of them appeared and found the caravan survivors, and an altercation had been brewing. Things had looked very ugly when several large spiders suddenly attacked, paralyzing and poisoning most of the survivors and several of the bandits. The remaining brigands had escaped into the night, and the spiders had carried off their prizes. One of these had been the siblings' father.

They implore the party to do what they can to save their mother. Hecktor tries to convince anyone who will listen to track and ambush the spiders as he is a bit of a hothead. Yulia and Pol tell the party they fear the bandits will return to the camp eventually, and if left alone the family will be killed or worse.

If you decide you would like to try and bring the family to safety, you will incur 1 roll on the RET and return to Zelkor's Ferry. Time will advance to the next day.

If you decide to track the spiders and attempt to rescue the caravan survivors (and possibly bandits), time will advance by 3 hours and you will being rolling initiative.

Or you could leave the family to its fate and trudge on into the wilderness, which will incur 1 roll on the RET and a d100 roll against encountering a (returning?) bandit group for being near one of their campsites. Time will advance 5.5 hours.

If you have an alternative suggestion for the party not included in the list above, please RP it out or post in discussion. Slight metagame will be overlooked. (*_-)

Pieter's face goes dark as the tale is told. He knows the land is a dark and unforgiving place, however his heart goes out to the family. Twin lines of fluid upon his face he looks to the siblings. Detect Evil :P

"Should we get her to Ulman Darks' house, the Goddess knows that I cannot heal her. Do we have to coin to pay the necromancer though?" Pieter wonders out-loud.

"But I cannot let the caravaneers and their father die." he looks slightly forlorn as he has a hard time thinking what to do.

Belgeon is silent as he awaits the party's decision, the stoney man making no indication of emotion. He looks quizzically towards Pieter was the man crying? He looks around for Mai if she's come out of her hiding spot, he trusts her opinion most on what they should do. They can't go chasing after every sob story, but Pieter wouldn't let them ignore these folks either.

"We cannot cure Mephise, getting her to the village - may not cure her. Do you know any way to slow the poison Nicci?" Pieter asks in his Teutonic accent.

Heal: 1d20 ⇒ 10

"Or do we hope to find their father, come back here. And take them both to the Ferry? Though the prospect of either or both surviving are slim" he wonders.

"I have some leechcraft. Some." Nicci replies. "What I don't have is supplies. Does anybody have healer's equipment or supplies? Kids, did you have anything like that in the house?"

Mai shakes her head silently and kneels to regard the ill woman. "I will help if I can. I've no training but I have seen a few things and may be able to assist you."

Mai untrained Heal (wis) check to aid another, DC 10: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

"I can't cure her, but I may be able to help her fight off the poison herself, if she has rest and time." Nicci examines the bitten woman and tries to aid her.

Heal Check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25 This will improve by +2 if Mai assisted and by another +2 if anybody has a healer's kit.

This gives the woman a +4 on her next save vs the poison if it beats the poison's DC.

"Only got Wolfsbane and garlic. I don't know much about it but..." his finger rasps across his chin as he thinks.

Heal (Aid Other): 1d20 ⇒ 11

He remembers some of the victims of spider bites from his home forest and advices Nicci, looking concerned for the poor victim.

Mordin mumbles to himself as he sifts through his alchemist kit, looking for any reagents that might be of assistance. "Hmph. No such luck. Mixing an antitoxin would take far too long. Longer than she has to wait, perhaps." Nonetheless, he looks over Mephise's wound.

Heal (Aid Another?): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Belgeon moves shakes his head and moves over "No supplies" he states plainly and kneels in order to offer what little help he can, if any at all.

Help the healing: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Not really sure just how many of us can aid another in a heal check, but can't hurt to try.

"Take her t' Ferry, or find her husband and see if we can bring them both back." Pieter worries.

The leaning away from the younger people; "I don't want them to be orphaned though."

The only thing more Heal checks do is add to the success DC if the GM allows. So if we add them all, we've given her a +4 against poison up to DC 33, which is getting into Silly Territory. OTOH, it's a standard to do the Heal check, so it's not like we burn a lot of time.

"We should go outside and look around, let this poor woman rest." Mai suggests, nodding her head meaningfully at the entrance to the hut. Once outside, she gathers everyone to speak quietly, away from the children and hopefully out of earshot.

"I don't know how to track spiders, and it's been two days since he was taken. Do you even think there's a point in chasing after them?" Nicci says quietly, "Bandits are a little easier to deal with, but their father..." She grimaces. "I hate abandoning him if there's a chance."

Looking around the huts to see if there are any tracks.
Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

"If we leave here to go after either spiders or bandits, we leave this woman and her children helpless," Mai points out, "The surest thing we could do to help is to take them back to the ferry and pay their passage. It will be nightfall by that time, I fear."

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

"We don't want to be out after dark." Pieter states obviously; "Will she last the night? Because we could go after the spiders, come back here and hole up for the night. Getting to the Zelkors Ferry early tomorrow."

He pauses with a grimace; "I wouldn't want to endanger Mephise, overly."

"Let's just take them back to the ferry. It's not like we got very far! If anything, they'll be safer back there," Cereza reasons, before looking off into the distance warily. "It is not as though Rappan Athuk is going anywhere... it will be waiting for us."

The party works together to assist the poisoned woman. Under Nicci's direction, they position her so the bite is below her heart, drain the wound and dress it. Nicci is able to find a couple reagents in Mordin's kit that will reduce the woman's fever and help make her lucid enough to travel.

Mechanically, you surpassed the poison's save DC. She is stable and with proper nutrition and rest, Mephise will recover but may be a little weaker for the rest of her life unless she receives an antivenom or magical healing.

As the party makes ready to take the children and Mephise back to Zelkor's Ferry, Hecktor becomes irate that no one will go to save his father and the others. He implores the party to realize that the others will be suffering a similar fate to his mother...except they will slowly be drained of blood over who knows how long a time. He broods in silence as his pleas are ignored, and the party finishes getting Mephise prepared to leave.

At this point, I am ready to move you back to Zelkor's Ferry and advance to the next day as listed above. Is there anything else you want to do here before I do so?

I will have some loot for you as well in a future post. The people who were carried off left their weapons behind which the children gathered.

Pieter looks to Hecktor; putting his hand upon the young man's shoulders. "I know, believe me I know." he pauses taking a breath. "You have to be strong for your kin, but we can save your mother."

He looks to the others; "At first light tomorrow, if you'll lead us we'll set out and find your father. The others will be safe, you wish them to be safe?"

Finally he adds sincerely, "I'll do my utmost to find your father." 'Or if not send him to Pharasma's embrace.'

Belgeon nods in agreement that they should return with the woman and children to the ferry "Yes, best chance to be safe there." Hopefully the lack of any sort of emotion in his voice doesn't lead Hector to believe that Belgeon really doesn't care at all about the people taken by the spiders.

He looks to Mephise when she's prepared to leave "Need assistance?" The stony man offers in his steady drone.

Pieter looks gratefully to Belgeon; "Thanks, keeping her heart-beat slow and steady will slow the poisons spread. I'll protect the youngsters." he watches the siblings with a wary eye.

"If we're going to go back, let's do it quick and get back here to find their father. We've wasted enough time debating. Who knows what the captives are going through? I say we put them on the ferry to town and return here tonight so we can be off at first light to find them." Nicci packs up her supplies quickly and heads back down the path to the Ferry staying near the youngesters, tears of frustration in her eyes.

Belgeon looks over towards Nicci as he helps Mephise, and follows along after her when the frustrated woman heads back to the path towards the ferry. He's thinking about what she said of returning for the night, she had a point the sooner they could leave the better chances the folks who were taken by the spiders had, if they still had a chance at all, however that meant that they'd most likely be travelling at least part of the way in the dark. "Dark by time we return." He's trying to turn down the idea, after all he has no trouble with the dark, just wants to make sure everyone is aware, especially Pieter who indicated he was wary of the dark.

Cereza nods, feeling more than a little ashamed by her relief over not having to go after giant spiders. "We will return first thing in the morning! But the most important thing now is getting you all to safety!" she assures Hecktor, believing every word of it.

Mordin is strangely quiet during the return trip to Zelkor's Ferry, passing up the chance to drone on about how the children's father is probably dead already. Frowning contemplatively, he saunters along as usual, casting wary glances in every direction.

"Good idea, Miss Artieta. We can get a lead upon tomorrow and use our Ferry fares to pay the man to take her to town." Pieter states his apporval at the plan, even if it means that they'll spend the night in the forest. 'Bright, beautiful, benevolent - she really is amazing.'

Protected only by the illusion of civility and with bandits on their way Pieter knows it might be a rough night. He nods to Hektor as they walk back, "Stay with us, we'll find your father on t' morrow."

Keeping an eye upon the family, they ramble through the dark woods towards the ferry.

Positions: Mordin - Mai; Hektor -Pieter; Nicci - Mephise; Cereza - Yulia - Pol; Sapharael; Belgeon

Hows that sound?

Belgeon moves along with the group towards the ferry, 'We're only able to help these few today... the others are likely already lost, but perhaps there are some lucky survivors we will find tomorrow.'

Sounds fine to me, cept Belgeon was helping Mephise so he'd probably be closer to her unless Nicci decided to take over.

The return trip through the woods is eerie. The shadows lengthen as the sun begins to set and the figures in the trees become much more sinister. Despite suspecting they are largely just crude mannequins and scarecrows, the party can't help but find their eyes seeking them out and watching them to make sure they do not move. The sounds of the forest change slightly, and there is an overwhelming feeling of the forest being more aware of the party's presence.

Once, in the distance, the sound of something large (or possibly several things) seems to pass by in a different direction. Fear starts to become an element as tangible as the air surrounding the party...and the dark continues to follow. The younger members seem to be most affected and cling to the closest protector.

Largely, the trip passes uneventfully with the exception of the feelings of foreboding that dominate the long walk back. Upon arriving at the far side of the ferry, the part finds a simple bell which once rung sends loud notes across the water. The ferryman arrives and requests his fee for each person crossing.

At this point, you need to decide if you are indeed going to go back into the forest, or if you are going to spend the night in Zelkor's Ferry.

"I think this is where we part ways kids." Pieter roughly says as they get to the bank. "Take your mother to safety of the town, go find Ulman Dark, give him this..." He puts a score of golden coins into Yulia's hand and curls it around the bounty. "A deposit, if he needs more well... I'll be back."

"Hektor, you're with us. We find your father..." Pieter looks into the forest darkly.

Also, what loot did you take and what are you doing with it? I imagine some of you will be hitting some encumbrance limits if you took it all. Feel free to discuss OoC in the discussion thread.

Pieter offers a Handshake and a couple of gold to the Ferryman for the family. "Good man, could you see safe to Ulman's place?" he asks his tone cordial and used to befriending strangers. The words engendering trust, between the pair.

Nicci of course allows Belgeon to assist Mephise, taking a place next to Pol in the long trek back to the ferry. She pays for Pol's fare across to Zelkor's Ferry and gives Mephise the cash and jewelry unless you guys have objections? so the family can pay for their lodging there.

"Stay safe and we will try to rescue your husband and the father of your children. Do not despair," Nicci tells Mephise before they cast off to return to town.

"Now - do we camp here for the night or journey through the dark forest back to the huts? Either has risks," she muses aloud to her friends after the family has gone.

"Huts, we can have a fire, our backs to the wall and a roof over our heads." Then he flashes white teeth in a small grin; "And if the bandits return..." Pieter gives his vote.

How long a walk was it to the ferry, and how dark is it by the time the family shoves off?

8:22pm

The sun is long gone. If you wish to purchase lantern oil, Gutmark has some to spare that he will part with for book price.

"I have 5 pints of oil and another lantern if we want to brave the darkness."

"I brave the light. I fight against the darkness, from the shadows I stand. Ready to destroy the evil and restore natural order." Pieter looks defiantly into the dark.

"And I have a pint" Pieter adds; "Although, I cannot see in the dark and we'll get there after the witching hour." He exchanges a significant glance with Mordin about this turn of events.

"Aye we should push on, no point debating. It could take an hour and then another for setting a stable camp." Pieter is eager to help the childrens' father, make them a real family again - even if it's amongst the death that surrounds.

"Saph and I will be just fine in the dark," Cereza remarks, "We can let her take the lead - maybe she won't lumber around again!"

Belgeon listens to the talk of moving in the dark and Pieter raving something about fighting darkness and shakes his helmed head. He is about to tell the man that you can't fight darkness, and it would be foolish to try, but decides he wasn't actually talking to any of them, and must be having a conversation with himself.

The stony warrior looks in a slightly confused manner towards the paladin as he agrees to something that wasn't said, and seems to have convinced himself to continue on to the huts despite the dark. Going on wasn't a problem to Belgeon, he could see fine in the dark.

He moves over to Mai, whom he's decided he trusts most, and looks towards her with his glowing asking in a low voice "Man have condition?"