Redemption in the Dragon's Lair (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Elise feels herself sliding just as she begins heads down the steps. "These steps are really slippery. I won't have any trouble, but it might be a problem for the rest of you. Maybe we can set up a rope to keep balance?"

She activates a sunrod, then ties it to a loop of her belt before heading down.

Reflex: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

She tries to go as quietly as possible, looking for anything interesting. Not sure she can stealth while holding a sunrod, but she can try to move quietly.

Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (19) + 18 = 37
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

Elise stops at the landing halfway down the stairs, and using the light she has, peers into the darkness.

"Well, since Elise is being a big brave girl and looking down stairs I'll take a peek upstairs." Azana grinned impishly as she headed to the stairs. "It's very important to remember - if you hear blood curdling screams from up here you are on no account to even consider not charging to my rescue."

With that, she started carefully heading up the stairs, making sure to check and listen every few steps, and moving as stealthily as she could manage.

Perception Check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Stealth Check: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

"This room is full of overgrown, rotting vegetation. No exists. I'm just guessing, but it's probably even more disgusting than the stench upstairs. There's probably a sarcophagus buried under this stuff, but I'm not sure we want to mess with any of this."

Check out the spoiler if you have more questions. Elise is inclined to head back and find somewhere else to go.

Elise begins to head back up. Assuming nothing stops her...

Day 1, Turn 4

The sky above the temple compound is a mixture of clouds, some dark and grey, and here and there a patch of blue sky. The air is still, almost no wind blows. Occasionally a few drops of rain fall, as if a storm were trying to find enough energy to begin.

I’m sorry Elise and Azana, apparently the rest of the party is not interested in your activities. This tends to happen in the PBP games I run and I can only imagine that it is because every player wants a personal one-on-one experience with the Game Master and very few players really know how to act when they are in a “party” and instead have far too much experience playing electronic versions of these kinds of games. I do not know what to do. If the rest of the players are “waiting” for something to happen, they are going to be waiting for a very long time. I hope that the two of you, at least, will share notes and discuss your next move.

We're just waiting. Nala and I are about as stealthy as a rampaging t-rex.

Caution and no small amount of trepidation kept Syndir standing where he was. They were getting closer to their goal and the gods only knew what would happen then...hopefully at the least put Timothy to rest...damn him... He watched as Azana and Elise split off to explore and finally made a move to follow after Aasimar in heading upstairs.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27
Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

His senses were on high alert but his slippered feet still shuffled awkwardly on the stone stairs.

"We'll stay here," says Kaleelah as her friends begin to head off in various directions. She snaps her fingers to order Nala to stay close before continuing, "As you might remember, the two of us are as stealthy as black panther in a snowfield."

As her companions explore, Kaleelah decides to keep a look out in the meanwhile.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

Jacen seems to have finally gotten his vomiting under control, though the horrible stench seems to be a constant issue to the half-elf. It takes all his willpower not to empty his stomach again, which distracts him from all other actions. Even so... he decides to follow Azana up the stairs after Elise makes her way back up from below... The rogue keeps a weary eye out for danger.

Stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11

Day 1, Turn 4

Elise returns to the main floor of the tower, and reports the strange findings below. Keeping most of their thoughts about the dangers of going down to a floor with no other ways to escape to themselves, the rest of the party slowly begins to follow Azana up to the next floor.
Kaleelah stays close to the two five foot wide openings, the one in the south wall of the tower and one on the east wall, and keeps watch of the top of each wall.

On the floor above, there is nothing of particular interest save for a pile of fruits and gourds in one corner and a wooden ladder extending up from the floor through a hole in the ceiling.

Putting away the sunrod, Elise follows Jacen upstairs.

Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (11) + 18 = 29
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Once she gets there, she will head up the ladder.

With Elise heading up, Azana quickly moved over to the fruit. Supplmenting there supplies was never a bad idea. Kaleeah could cast create water if they needed it, but food was a bit more difficult. If the fruit was safe, she'd grab it...although it certainly wasn't certain, given it was a snack for something from another realm.

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Day 1, Turn: 4/70 (current turn/turn of the day)

The ladder feels solid and safe as Elise climbs up onto the roof.

Azana examines the piled food, and discovers that most of it is fresh, vegetables, and fruits, though it does not appear to have been cleaned (some of the root vegetables are still covered in dirt). While she is examining the pile, a large centipede reveals itself from somewhere in the pile and surprises her.

The centipede is large, for a normal centipede, being about eight inches long. It is not a threat, and cannot bite Azana through her gloves, but it does startle her.

From the roof, Elise can see across the compound. There is no sign of anyone on any roofs of the buildings, and even though many of the buildings are “open” in their construction (being made of several columns in most cases or having large openings in the walls) she does not see any humanoids. She does see several monkeys, and once a Baboon, moving among the ruins. The dense vegetation is alive with movement, but it is dense and colorful and easily conceals everything within it that might cause small trees to shake.

"I can see across much of the complex from here. I can see into a lot of the buildings, but there aren't signs of anything except a few monkeys. The jungle is hiding everything else."

Elise tries to note whether there's any building that seems interesting or out-of-the-ordinary.
Intuition: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

It would seem we've come to a dead end then. What did you find below Elise?

Lunging back, Azana glared at the insect. A momentary desire to blast it surged through her - how dare it startle her! How dare it even think to exist on the same plane as her! - but she shook it off with a shake of her head. It was just a bug. It couldn't hurt her even if it tried.

Ignoring it, she moved the food to her back, discarding any that showed signs of rot or insects. They weren't had up enough for food that even had a hint of taint. This complex wasn't likely to be big enough to even require the food they had, but caution was a lesson hard learned - she wasn't going to ignore it. So she packed it as well as she could, to avoid bruising.

"If there's animals in the courtyard below," Azana said consideringly as she shifted her backback a little to adjust the weight, "Those creatures aren't likely to be down there in any numbers. I can't see wild animals living alongside those thing for very long. Well, not unless they ended up as a snack." It was likely, then, that the worst thing down there would be an angry animal...although an enraged ape was no joke, it was a lot simpler than most things to kill.

Elise heads back down the ladder. "I don't really want to mess with whatever's below us, there's a sarcophagus there that's overgrown with rotten vegetation," she explains to Syndir.

This is the full description of what she saw.

"I saw a building nearby - the design is open and I didn't see anything dangerous inside. Maybe we should go there?"

Shifting her scythe back and forth between her hands, Kaleelah continues to search for outside trouble as she waits for the rest of the party to get back. In the meanwhile, she also hopes that her decision to stay behind and guard their flank was not a bad one. Given the lack of shouting, the druid assumes that they have yet to find anything dangerous in the upper part of the tower.

Jacen dry heaves as another wave of nausea assails him when he spots the fruit... "I don't care where we go at this point, as long as it is far from this tower. I do not know if I can stand this smell much longer."

Before anyone can respond, Jacen begins making his way back towards Kaleelah. He watches the druid as he walks past, back towards the open door of the tower. He leans his head out, takes a deep breath of somewhat fresh air, and looks around (Perception): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20.

Day 1, Turn: 5/70 (current turn/turn of the day)

Staying in the tower to examine the top floor and take a look from the roof takes a heavy toll on everyone. The fetid smells burn the insides of your mouths and noses, and hurt your eyes. You’ve had enough and exit back onto the top of the walls.

Kaleelah and her companion have keep a close watch, occasionally witnessing a large colorful bird or small tree monkey, but nothing dangerous.

Jacen gazes across the temple compound, but he, like Kaleelah, sees only the natural beauty of the marsh land and jungle like growth.
The expanse of the compound is a strange mixture of the works of intelligent creatures and what happens to them when they are left uncared for and nature begins the slow toil of reclaiming the land.
From the top of the wall you see the closest building, to the southeast, above the trees and feel confident that even from the ground you will be able to see the top of the building and reach it without becoming lost.

One by one you all begin to have vague, shadowy memories of a temple very similar to this one, the buildings of the other temple were not the same shape, not the same style, but the layout is so familiar, and each of you knows that ultimately where you must go is below ground. Perhaps the way down is in the center building, perhaps it is in the large building to the east. It is difficult to remember how you found your way below ground the last time, but it seems as if it involved a great hall and massive columns supporting a ceiling dozens of feet above your heads.

It is a minor effort to tower your friends and work together to get from the top of the wall to the walk below. From here, only a foot and a half above the ground, you take a breath and relish the clear air. Then it is a step off of the walk way and a slow trek through the thick trees and shrubs toward the building in the distance.

"Stay close, and move quietly." Elise keeps her eyes peeled as she leads the way southeast to the nearest building. She's sure someone - or something - is watching them, but she keeps her fears to herself. Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (11) + 18 = 29.

"Keep your eyes open, friends," whispered Kaleelah as she and Nala followed closely at Elise's heels. "Before we entered the tower, I saw something big moving in the forest; might be the dragon."

She resisted the urge to gulp at the thought. Kaleelah had no idea how powerful this Ophelia was supposed to be, but as a dragon, she would be extremely strong by default. Hopefully, their advantage of numbers would be help when the two parities inevitably clashed...

Kaleelah Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

"I was rather hoping we could sneak by that," Azana murmured as she followed. "I'm not sure we're going to be able to fight it like this." Azana's divine blood might be powerful enough to do so one day, since it seemed her wish had unlocked more of her bloodline's power than she had expected, but for now a dragon was a nasty foe.

"If it's up here we need to get below soon," she added. "We can't fight it while it can easily fly around."

Despite being happy to be out from that foul tower Jacen's thoughts inexoerably drifted back to that one day... He keeps close to the party, but off just enough he can try to sneak through the underbrush. He groans inwardly at all the racket the others made as they walked nearby. 'With all this noise, the dragon likely knows we're here already...'

Even so, he agreed wholeheartedly with Azana. If the dragon was indeed above ground they would have no protection against her poisonous breath. Trees and pillars would be great protection against fire and cold... but poisonous gas could seep into every nook and cranny. He tightens the grip on his kukri at that thought.

Stealth: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20

Syndir cocked an eyebrow at his companions musings as he walked nonchalantly along with them.

I'm not sure there is any place that would give advantage towards fighting a dragon. Out here he can fly around like you said Azana but we can also spread out to avoid the brunt of his breath and magic. Below, he will have us bottled together most likely...

The lithe man shrugged and folded his hands behind his back.

...either way favors the wyrm unless we can somehow sneak up on him...

The monk felt a wriggle in his subconscious at his using the word 'wyrm' but didn't let it distract him from watching the skies and the compound.

Day 1, Turn: 6/72 (current turn/turn of the day)

The party makes careful and slow progress through the overgrown temple grounds. There are no discernible paths here, and small trees, thick bushes, and a carpet of various ground growing plants blanket the area. Small creatures are in abundance and there are numerous tiny, multi-colored birds, small reptiles, and even small mammals underfoot occasionally.

At one point, to everyone’s concern, the party crosses something that is almost a path. Cutting directly across the party’s heading there are signs that something large passed this way recently, leaving a swath about three to four feet wide in the vegetation where threes have been pushed aside, or trampled.

When the building is only a few dozen yards ahead of the party, Jacen and Elise, who are scouting some short distance ahead, spot large humanoids gathered near a set of wide stone steps on the west facing side of the structure.

The party stops when Elise and Jacen make hand signals to pause. Jacen and Elise remain quiet and try to conceal themselves in the vegetation, but one of the Ogres turns and looks directly toward where the two of them are hiding, and then the Ogre noticeably squints, raises a hand to its brow, and then points at the location of the scouts.

You have been spotted buy the Ogre Sentries. Jacen and Elise are 70 to 110 feet away from the nearest ogre, I’ll let you decide the exact distance, and the rest of the party is 30 feet beyond them. I’ll try to get a map generated tonight. You can either roll initiative, or attempt to parley with the Ogres. They do not immediately attack you on sight.

The Aasimar glanced at the monsters, and shuddered at the site of those guns - she'd seen Harland's rifle and it's affect often enough to be scarred of the versions the Ogres were carrying. They looked suitably deadly. Combined with the feeling of hatred....

"Someone hates something here," She murmured to the others, "But I can't tell who does the hating, or what they hate." With a small start she also realized she didn't know why she was so sure she was right. She could just feel it somewhere in her bones.

Do they see Elise once they've caught sight of Jacen? If not, Elise is going to keep sneaking up, trying to get within 30 feet of the gun toting ogres.

Elise continues to creep toward the ogres, remaining hidden behind cover. Sword drawn, she's ready to charge if the parley goes south.

Anyone want to try negotiating? Otherwise it may be time to roll initiative!

Syndir was only slightly perplexed by Azana's musings...in hindsight...she's often been right about such things...

Well, guards mean something worth guarding and that means something worth taking a look at. Ogres only get real scary when there's more than a handful of them and they haven't charged us yet. Shall we parlay or prove that we are the intruders that we are?

The Westerner's tone left little doubt that he could go either way with the same impunity.

Jacen stops in his tracks and signals the rest of the party to stop when he spots the ogres. Unfortunately before he even has a chance to say anything he realizes he has also been spotted, by the ogres. He tenses to make a dash into heavier foliage, but somethings stays his movement. The ogres weren't attacking yet, thankfully considering the firearms they were carrying.

Hopefully they haven't spotted Elise yet, she continued to creep forward. If Jacen could just keep their attention on him. He slowly raises his hands up, though keeping a grip on his blade. He was not good at parleys, Jacen could whip up a believable lie at the drop of a scarf, but diplomacy was not at all his strong suit. "Azana... perhaps you could be of assistance here?"

Normally Jacen loathed drawing attention towards himself; however, Azana would be their best bet at avoiding unnecessary combat. Not to mention if Elise could get closer to the ogres, that would prove highly beneficial.

Zana nodded, and hoping she wouldn't get shot at, stepped fowards. A rain of bullets would be a serious issue, even with her above average agility. "Greetings," she tried in common. Hopefully they knew it, or she knew which ever tounge they did speak. She stood carefully, weapon still in it's sheath and with her arms down. Neutral - not as afraid as she was, but not agressive either. Nothing to trigger a hunter and prey or fight and flight reponse, or so Azana hoped. If she did she'd have to hope she could dodge bullets.

Day 1, Turn: 6/72 (current turn/turn of the day)

When Azana steps out of the thick plant growth the Ogres all turn toward her. One of the ogres, one with a musket, moves a few steps closer, while the two with halberds move back and wait.

“Greetings,” The musket wielding ogre says. His voice is deep, but clear. “I recognize your word from the common tongue of Antru and Kornikar,” the goes on and steps closer to you. “We are Vilogrr,” He indicates pointing at the others. “We do not seek trouble with your kind, but are lost. Our leader, Ztingrae, is wounded, inside. Are you a healer? We came upon this building a few moments ago, after we were attacked by a large reptile. This building was occupied by a kind of creature none of us have ever encountered before. We managed to chase them off, but they may return. Can you help us?”

The following checks require ranks in Knowledge: The Planes

Elise hears the words these ogres are saying, but it all sounds like Ancient Osiriani to her. Remaining hidden, she looks around for any signs of reptile tracks or whatever other creature these fellas claim to have driven out.

In the immediate area where Elise is hiding, she does not see any sign of a "large reptile" but the memory of the small trail you crossed on the way here does come to mind. You can scout around, remaining fidden for signs of other creatures, go ahead and make a Knowledge Nature Check.

Elise decides she will check around for any signs of more creatures, but she's terrribly unsure what to look for. Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Considering, Azana thought on it. It would be hideous to be caught alone by these creatures. On the other hand, it would be unpleasant to fight someone they didn't have to. Trust wasn't something she was used to giving creatures who carried rifles as tall as she was, but it wasn't as though they had been aggressive.

"Alright," she replied. "I know some healing - I will see what I can do." She wanted Kaleeah outside rather than the one doing the healing - if something went wrong there was a better chance the Druid could heal her than the other way around. "Take me to your leader."

Syndir raised an eyebrow is surprise that the ogres were not only willing to parlay but seemed well versed in speech... to the point of using words that I'm not familiar with... theres an interesting tale here...

I will accompany you Azana.

Day 1, Turn: 6/72 (current turn/turn of the day)

One of the pole armed Ogres gives out a startled cry, and the group of them seem to go on edge, but the Musket wielding Ogre calms them saying, Greetax!* Stand down. If there are more of your party it would do well for our parley if you did not conceal yourselves. We are eight in number. I am called F'Lagjorn."

He turns and waits for you to follow, but then suddenly turns again, lowering his voice he speaks to Syndir and Azana

"I must warn you. There is something," he glances to each side slowly, "something that is, unnatural and yet not. Something that is of this world and yet not of this world, about this structure. I felt it the first time I stepped foot within the boundary of the column walls. It is a pressing feeling, one that is faint, but unmistakeable."

Jacen remained ready to act as Azana spoke with the ogres; however, the parley appeared to be going well. He was getting restless as they all waited while Syndir and Azana prepared to follow the ogres to heal their leader. Jacen joined Kaleeah while they waited, he looked to the druid. "I don't like this... what are they doing here? This is different than before. I hate surprises." He grumbled.

Day 1, Turn: 6/72 (current turn/turn of the day)

Elise hides, silently in the underbrush, and watches as Azana and Syndir begin ascending the stone steps leading into the building

Elise, and Kaleelah, please make Perception rolls for me

Jacen remains on edge as Azana and Syndir follow the Red Skinned Ogre into the building. Harland and Laleelah move a step closer, cautious of alarming the Ogres who remain outside of the building. From their position they cannot see anyone inside of the building even though the building does not have solid enclosing walls and is instead built from closely placed round columns setting upon a low wall only two feet in height.

As Azana and Syndir reach the top of the short flight of stairs, they see three more Ogres. There is a young male ogre, on one knee, beside a large female ogre, while on the other side is another, smaller female ogre. The second female ogre is on both knees, and is bent over the larger female, stroking her hair and speaking in soft tones.

The large female ogre lying on the ground is the largest of the eight ogres. she is nearly the size of a small fire giant. She wears a cascading array of multi colored robes, in gold, yellow, blue, and orange. Her skin is dark red, almost the color of mud, and her hair is jet black, short, and thick. She has a long face, with a strong brow, wide mouth, and large, closed eyes. She is wounded, a large bite, gruesome in appearance is on her lower left leg, while her arms are both bruised.

Kaleelah decided to wait outside with Nala while Azana and Syndir go in to heal one of the hurt ogres. Truth be told, she was rather surprised that the ogres seemed so well... cultured. More so then her in many ways even. The last bunch the Lion Shaman had dealt with were everything but! As much as she wanted to...

Just then, the hairs on the back of Kaleelah's bandged neck began to stand on edge, and the druid had to suppress the urge to hiss like a cat.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

Elise is not very keen on Azana and Syndir just walking into an Ogre camp. She watches, wondering if it was time to reveal herself.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20.

When Syndir entered the building his hand gripped his pouch and he clenched his jaw as the wrym stirred to life with all the greed and arrogance its kind was infamous for...gnasssh with fang and burnss with flamesss...we hate thosse of lessser ilk....they only want whatsss oursss by right... He steeled himself against the mental intrusion and controlled his breathing as he was taught lest he lash out with emotion.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

He shared Azana's hesitation but figured it was too late to turn back now.

The sight greeting them at the top of the stairs was both curious and foreboding and the noble son of House Apep wondered what couldve put such a nasty wound on such a formidable looking ogre.

Day 1, Turn: 6/72 (current turn/turn of the day)

Jacen watches as his friends slowly climb the stairs, but his attention keeps shifting. He tries not to look in the direction of Elise, knowing that he might give away her advantage, and that makes him turn his eyes toward the Ogres that remained in front of the building. Three of the Ogres ignore him, they sweep the vegetation for any sign of trouble and appear to be taking their responsibility of guarding the temporary base seriously, while the forth Ogre stares at Jacen intently, as if it is trying to read his mind or something. When Jacen looks away, trying to appear relaxed and casual and then turns back he is uncomfortably surprised that this Ogre is still starring at him.

Harland? Are you still with us?

Azana shook her head to shake off the odd feelings as she entered the building. She had no idea what was going on, but it didn't seem immediately relevant to the current situation. Moving on, she grimaced when she saw the wound. She wasn't sure she could handle this...

Kneeling, she looked at it. "Those lizard things use poison, don't they?" She shook her head. "I think we need Kaleeah. She can work out if the wounds been poisoned or not. I'm not sure closing it up will help if there is some venom. I can close it up if she starts looking too weak, though, maybe boost her strength a bit longer. Syndir, can you get our Druid for me while I keep an eye on this leg?"

Hooray for leaving spell slots open!

Jacen had that strange feeling of someone's eyes upon him as he watched Azana and Syndir disappear into the building. He found himself wondering what Elise was up to and realized he may inadvertently look her direction. Therefore he decided to watch the ogres, and noticed three of them were paying him no heed; however, the fourth ogre was watching him intently.

Jacen gave the ogre a short nod of his head and began to act of if he was searching the vegetation for more enemies. When he turned to look back at the ogre he found the monster still staring at him. That made him extremely uncomfortable. This is why Jacen always preferred the shadows to an open field. This time Jacen did not look away, but rather met the ogres eyes with his own and held their gaze. It was an age old primal game of dominance; the first to avert their gaze would be the submissive.

Jacen did not submit to anyone.

Syndir raised a questioning eyebrow at Azana but didnt argue her request.

As you wish.

The swarthy westerner retreated the way he had came and called out from the bottom of the stairs.

Kaleelah! Come here please!

Folding his hands behind his back he would wait patiently for the druid to appear.

As Syndir shouts for Kaleelah to enter the temple, Elise decides she's done hiding and that she needs to have a talk. She backs up into the underbrush before emerging behind Jacen, acting as if she had just been lagging behind. "Hey Jacen, what's going on here?" she says with a wink. Bluff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11. "Let's go talk to Kaleelah."

She then catches up with Kaleelah, and talks in a whispered voice.