Reign of Winter with GM Deadly Secret - Table 3 - The Snows of Summer (Inactive)

Game Master Deadly secret

Rerdahl pulls the spear from the door and stumbles back dropping it, not fast enough though as a stumbling corpse charges into him, pushing him back. The creature was already dead how could it be pushing him? And there was another behind it.

Considering his weapons and his magic, neither of which seemed like it might help him against this thing, Rerdahl just tries to avoid the creature and get away from it!

Total defense and move away from the combat. Not sure how much I can move. If I can get out of reach, drop the crossbow and draw my dagger.

"Gods above!" Asric swears as he raises his sword over his head to bring it down in a powerful chop at the creature that lunges for Rerdahl.
power blow sword: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 damage: 2d6 + 5 ⇒ (5, 2) + 5 = 12

While in snow this snow, you can only move at half speed. So your base is 20, which allows you to move 10 ft

Redahl provokes from creature 1 (purple) AC 18
Zombie Slam: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20 20/x2
Hits
1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 x2/20 bludgeoning damage

Asric hits creature 1 (purple) and it falls to the ground dead.

Up next, Mina!

Mina finishes her incantation, and suddenly a larger, blue-scaled serpent materializes next to her! Its wings seem to be made of blue mist, and its golden eyes fixate on the attacking creature.

"Viroté!" she calls. "Destroy the undead, my friend!" The serpent quickly moves forward and strikes at the creature with its fangs. Mina herself takes several cautious steps back.

Mina moves 10 feet back while Viroté moves up to make a bite attack.
Bite attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Bite damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Viroté hits and harms the creature. It seems moderately wounded and is still up and moving.

Up next, Rikiru!

Rikiru curses under his breath at his bad aim, then moves up behind the creature as Mina's companion snaps at it, slicing into its leg with his wakizashi.

wakizashi: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
slashing: 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1
sneak attack, if successfully flanked: 1d6 ⇒ 3

How exactly do you plan to flank? This is difficult terrain and there is a big carriage in the way. Are you going to acrobatics past it? If you try to flank with Asric there is partial cover. But you probably still hit, so let me know.

Rikiru hits and does some damage.

Creature 2 (orange) attacks Asric AC 16 (don't see you have shield out so not sure)
Slam: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23 20/x2
Hits
1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 bludgeoning damage

Up next, Rhone!

yeah, 2-handed sword wielded so no shield

Cursing and weaving about the walking monstrosity he brings his cutlass back around for another slice, "Get clear of the this thing before it tears your head off!"

Cutlass: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 141d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
HA! Or I cut your head off by accident...

Rhone kills the undead.

Out of combat, what do you do?

Seeing the creature drop, and no other threat, Rerdahl just stares at the monsters for a moment. "I had thought maybe the bandits had imprisoned some animal or other in there. They somehow turned dead bodies into these monsters. Disgusting!" He moves back up to examine the bodies.

You said the bodies were in hand maiden dresses. Were they hand maidens or men dressed in dresses? Not that it matters much....

Asric whispers a small prayer for the dead. "At least now, they can be at peace." He lops the heads off both the corpses just to make sure. "When we have finished examining this place, we should make a pyre for these fallen. It isn't right just to leave them out like this."

"Now that we know undead are involved, we should make sure that we do not wander off alone." He shakes his head sadly. It's bad enough to be murdered... but to be turned into this?!

"I'm going to check out the statue over there," he says as he trudges off into the snow.

Rerdahl takes a good look at the two bodies and notices that they were indeed female.

Mina shakes her head in disgust. "As if it weren't enough to kill these women, they had to curse them with undeath?"

She looks around at her companions and offers a slight smile. "I'm glad to be traveling with capable, strong fellows as yourselves." She then indicates the large, blue, serpentine creature. "This is my friend, Viroté. He's very capable, too. He's... not from around here."

Rikiru stows his weapons and makes to retrieve his thrown kunai. "If they did not believe you before, Rhone, they shall now. Corpses that not only walk, but attack? No mere weather causes this."

Once he's found his weapon and stowed it, he moves to check the inside of the wagon for anything of note--clues, possessions, anything mentionable.

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

"Pyre? Or should we haul them back to the town?"

Once he notices the others checking the area he joins them. Do we see any tracks leading away from the wreckage, deeper into the forest?

In case you missed it in the starting post for this scene. Perception 2 reveals for Rerdahl & Rikiru: You notice a path behind the frozen statue that seems to have tracks from perhaps several days back. For the most part they look like humanoid & horse tracks leading into the forest.

Rikiru, you don't see anything useful.

"Pyre would probably be faster. We can place the bodies in the remains of the carriage and burn them all together."
if they had been from the town, I might say otherwise, but I think this works. also, it would be hard to take all the bodies back and we don't want to dally too long and loose the tracks

@GM: how nice are the breastplate and longsword with the frozen man, like masterwork or just regular?

Asric spends some time examining the ice man. The armor is too encased in ice and doesn't seem worth it to get it out and probably will end up in the broken condition. The longsword appears to be of masterwork quality made of cold iron and has the Taldan symbol on the handle.

"Such a shame." Asric says a brief prayer over the fallen man. He picks up the longsword and gives it a few swings.

no need to be greedy. I can use the longsword, but if someone else wants it, they're welcome to it

Stowing his flaming blade he secures the pistol in it's holster before moving to examine the bodies that weren't animated. Maybe if he was a better healer he could tell what caused their deaths more specifically, instead he just tries to look at their faces. The last look before the light was taken and the cold froze it forever.

He moves slowly between them, laying one hand on one of their own and pulling a small silver medallion from his belt. As he moves by each he mutters quietly a prayer, asking for their peace in the life after no matter where it took them. So quietly did he speak it was more breathing through the motions of his lips than anything, giving each a moment to memorize a person lost and send them gently on their way.

When he finished he slipped his medallion back into his belt and scowled at the damage already done and the strange chill seeming to grow by the minute, "Burn the dead after you search the coach. Might be a clue left over in there."

Pulling his pistol he checked the safety again to be sure and began to secure the gear on his person for a hike, "I say we travel light and fast. Keep an eye for hunter's traps, but we find who did this and we find them before whoever else they took ends up like those two."

Reaching down he began to tighten the straps on his belt and then his pack, "I don't have any plans to return prisoners to town for trial, though." He turned to glance at Asric with a raised brow, "That going to be a problem?"

Rikiru strokes his chin, considering, then shakes his head. "If they seek to make the walking dead of us all, then I see no fault with ending them. I agree that cremation would be wise. It robs the enemy of options, if nothing else."

He moves to the statue and points out a set of tracks he had noticed earlier. "Perhaps this is our best lead? If we're to finish here, I suggest we do so quickly." He holds up a hand to catch a snowflake or two. "I am no tracker; the snow will soon cost us time." He then scouts out the tracks for as far as he can easily see them while remaining within sight of the team, then keeps lookout while he waits.

"I doubt that these are the kind of individuals who would seek redemption," he says to Rhone, while looking out at the carnage. "However, the rescue of the Lady should take precedence over the meting out of justice. Though they may not be mutually exclusive."

Rerdahl listens to the others planning. "Sounds good. Rescue the Lady. Mete out justice if possible!"

"Sounds good to me, also," says Mina. "Spanking those responsible for this might be more than we can handle right now, anyway. Let's stick to rescuing and see where we stand after that... IF we're standing." She smiles and strokes the smooth scales of her serpentine friend.

Perception
Asric Swain 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (13) - 1 = 12
Rerdahl Tollan 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Mina Javid 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Viroté 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Rhone Hexenbane 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Knowledge (Local)
Asric Swain 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23
Rhone Hexenbane 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Appraise
Asric Swain 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Rerdahl Tollan 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Mina Javid 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
RikirU 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Rhone Hexenbane 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

None of you know the value of these items.

When everyone is ready to proceed, please roll me 2 perception checks that will be used in the future.

perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (14) - 1 = 13
perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0
Once they're done investigating, Asric helps place the bodies in the carriage to light it. "May Pharasma's judgement be kind," he says as the pyre begins to smolder. He sighs and turns away. "We should get moving. They've already got a substantial lead." He pulls out the longsword and hefts his shield. "Keep an eye out, my friends. We don't want to wind up the same way as these poor souls." With that, he begins trudging through the snow drifts following the trackers' directions.

Rikiru clasps his hands and bows his head at the kindling carriage. "The dead must rest; we must not." He then moves off with the group, doing his best to follow whatever trail he can.

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

Once everybody is ready, and the 'spoils' taken, Rerdahl falls in and follows along.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Mina solemnly watches the pyre. Then she says, "Come along, Viroté. There's a lot to do."

As they walk and look around, she asks Rerdahl, "So how did you end up here? Thirst for adventure or thirst for a few gold?"

Perception 1: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Perception 2: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Back from vacation! There shouldn't be any more hiccups. Thanks for your patience.

As they get moving Rerdahl hears mina's question. If they were going to function as a proper team he could hardly lie to the group. "Well, neither is fully true. I was a bit bored where I was, but really" He reaches his hand into a sturdy pouch on his belt, the pulls it back out and holds up a little green bug, a scorpion. "my friend here was more the reason for it. I'm from Zimar. The ratfolk there are mostly ignored living in places that bigger folk look down on if they look at them at all. Sometimes the big folk come in to our warrens to be cruel, and sometimes the city guard come, well, for whatever they feel like doing. I'm a witch and Ghost here is my familiar. I was walking along just a short way out of our warren and Ghost was on my shoulder. Maybe the guard was trying to protect me, or maybe he just wanted to swat the bug. Either way I felt the fear from Ghost and I reacted. I only put the guard to sleep, but all of a sudden I had every guard in sight yelling and pointing at me with weapons. I ran back through the warren grabbing my things and straight out of town. Since then I usually keep Ghost hidden."

The location is The Border Wood - Trail 5:30 pm - current moon cycle: new moon

Perception
Rhone Hexenbane 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Rhone Hexenbane 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

As it enters the full expanse of the Border Wood, the trail passes through a small clearing among the taller trees before continuing uphill and out of sight. A large chest lies half-buried in the snow, apparently dropped or discarded by those who hastily passed this way.

"THAT seems awfully suspicious. We've already seen those we're following lay traps like the zombies in the carriage. I'll wager that's trapped as well. If someone knows how to deal with traps, that's great. But otherwise, I'd just as soon walk on by."

With Rhone's high perception, he sees something sticking out from under the chest.

Mina listens to Rerdahl's description with interest, and she smiles at Ghost. "As long as we're indulging in truth-telling," she says, "I might as well tell you all that I had aspirations of being a Winter Witch. I even trained with them briefly." She shrugs and smiles. "It didn't take. I think I scandalized them. Can you imagine? Well, if they're responsible for what's happening here, then I'd say I dodged an arrow."

As the chest comes into view and Asric offers his opinion, she says, "I may be able to open it from here. Stand back, please, Asric."

From a distance of about 25 feet away, the alluring woman moves her hands and speaks a few arcane syllables.

Mina closes to about 25 feet from the chest and casts open/close.

The chest opens, from the distance you are it is hard to tell if anything is in it. As far as you can see, nothing is bulging out of it.

Rerdahl watches as Mina casts her cantrip, but is unwilling to accept that things are safe. "This might be here just to delay us, or it might be another deadly trap. Does anyone have rope? If two were to drag it across the clearing here until you got it up to the chest, maybe you could tip it over while keeping a safe distance?"

How far across is the clearing? Using a 50' rope two strong folk could keep over 20' from the chest on either side. Keep the rope taught between them at a height just a few inches from the top of the chest. Once they are against the chest keep moving either sliding the chest or tipping it. ??

The chest is within the trees, not exactly in the 'open' so you think you'd have to get closer to do what you're planning.

Scanning the location of the chest Rerdahl realizes that his stated idea won't work. At best they might try to tie something to a rope, throw it past the chest then move around behind it and throw it back to get it around the chest and try to drag it. For all anyone knows they might have trapped the area around the chest, not the chest. "Better yet, tie the rope to me. I'm small and light. I'll move closer, very carefully searching. If I see anything in or around the chest I'll yell. If I yell or you see anything, yank me back quickly. If I make it to the chest and don't see anything dangerous in it I'll loop the rope around the chest and retrace my steps. Then we drag the chest back here. What do you think?"

Unless someone has a better idea? Take 20 on Perception (+10) searching as I move?

"Sound plan," Rikiru nods. He then circles the chest to make sure a tree is between him and it, then readies a shuriken and nods to the others.

Perhaps with better aim this time...

Asric takes hold of the rope as Rerdahl ties it around himself. "If you're sure about this, then proceed. But we could just walk past. Curiosity is one thing, but do not confuse it with greed."

just in case, Asric will also use his detect evil on the chest, just in case there's something tricksy inside

Take 20 on perception in my games mean you are being thorough and spending a fair amount of time of searching. For future referencing, that is how we will play it (in other words I will push the clock forward each time you do it.) Though their rules say roughly 2 min, I run it as 10-20 min of searching. Sometimes longer depending on what it is.

Asric does not detect evil.

As he took in the prospect in front of them he frowned and reached over to rest a hand on his pistol. He'd seen the kind of deep winter tricks with runes and such before, but he didn't suppose this would be a good explanation of what was going on as yet. Instead he looked along the small trail and his frown turned to a scowl.

With a nudge of his head he motioned to the side, "Keep clear of the trail. Too much fresh pack to search it properly." Stepping a few feet to the side of the trail he drew his gun just in case and then thought to add to Rerdahl, "And I'd suggest getting on all fours if you plan to do that. Easier to check with your hands and not much is going to account for you being about a man's shin height."

Rerdahl backs away once he notices the danger. "Trap!" He glances at Asric, "I don't have any skill with disarming the things. I agree and we should just bypass this. I do worry that anyone following us later might be hurt but I don't think we can afford the risk now."

Understood about the time.

"Mina, you were able to open the chest from a distance, yes? Can your magic wrap a rope around the chest? Then we could pull it off the trap, making sure that no one else falls prey?"

if she has mage hand, I think she would be able to do this without much problem

Rope is too heavy for mage hand, plus there is a spell for that

Rikiru's ears twitch. "A trap device?" He stows his shuriken, flipping his kunai over in his hand. "This is something I know. I will deal with it."

He approaches the chest slowly, scanning it where Rerdahl's gaze seemed to go. He reaches into his small pack and pulls out a small leather wrap, unrolling a set of picks and prongs. As he examines the trap, he carefully digs out small bits of snow that obscure it and positions himself from what appears to be the safest spot before reaching in with his tools.

disable device: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Rikuru tries to disable this trap and takes 2d4 ⇒ (4, 2) = 6 rounds and fails. Rikuru can try again if they like.

Mina says to Asric, "Sorry, not among my tricks, I'm afraid." She watches tensely as Rikiru tries to disarm the trap.

Rerdahl stands away watching the area. Quietly he says, mostly to himself, "Please be careful."