“Say Your Right Words!” (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Tabaaac nods Ye.. yeah. Deeper in

"Would you like to lead the way Gobzilla?", Gemdar says as he gives him a little nudge in the right direction.

Fluuk, hops up on Klobber and adjust his magnificent hat, loads his crossbow and musket and prepares to move ahead. He ponders the situation, looking for the Right Words to say, but he is at a bit of a loss as he looks across the bleary landscape. "...."

"Rawr! Good idea! Gobzilla will lead the way!"

Somewhere in the distant future, on the western edge of the Great Gorge

Day 6? (turn 4) , impossible to tell what time of day it might be…

At the bottom of the great gorge

Gobzilla takes a moment. The lush jungle that he is familiar with has become something sinister. Where there was once color and sound, there is now only black and grey, and silence. The jungle has lost its vibrancy, and the plants seem as if they are holding on to the last bitter end of the line.

But, on the bright side, the towering walls of the gorge, the rocks and stones, have refused to change. Gobzilla can tell that where they have reached the floor of the gorge they are a few miles south of where the goblin towns would be found. This means that if the group wants to try to find the original site of the Mysterious Dungeon, they will have two choices.

Continue to go south, following the western wall of the gorge, until they reach the large lake and the Tumble of the White (the towering waterfall that spills down from above on the western wall of the gorge, and then cross the river where it exits the lake, and go north a short distance. Or the alternative is to go north from here a short distance and find the shallow river crossing where the Hungry Hungry Hippos once dwelt (maybe they are still there?). and then turn south and reach the Mysterious Dungeon following the same path they took just a few days ago, assuming that path is still there.

If the river has remained unchanged, then it will be deepest here at this point of the gorge, but perhaps it is worth exploring to see for sure.

In their own time, this part of the jungle was home to many large predatory dinosaurs, so straying too far from the wall is probably not safe.

From where you are now, Gobzilla can easily find his way to the Hippo crossing, to the north, or to the large lake, to the south. Cutting straight across the floor of the gorge, here will take you into a dark jungle, but you might find the River faster this way, if it can be crossed here.

Tabaaac scartches his head. It's all different. We go North or South? Flip a coin?

Let's flip a coin. I don't think there's any knowledge roll that can help here

Gemdar digs in his pockets and comes up with a "token" from the video game place and flips it. "Heads is North (1), tails is south (2)."

The coin flies high in the air what little light there is reflecting off of it and lands with the heads side up.

"Looks like we're going north."

Flip: 1d2 ⇒ 1

"Rawr! Gobzilla will lead the way North then!"

Fluuk falls in with the group. His spirits are decent with his friends with whom he has shared so many adventures so far. The landscape around him is so sad though.

Gobzilla leads the team to the north, staying west of the thick jungle and keeping the wall of the deep canyon on his left. The basic layout of the gorge has not changed in the unknown amount of time that has been skipped and soon the druid recognizes the change in some of the plant life that tells him he is coming close to the where the river sweeps in a lazy bend toward the western wall, where the it grows shallow and where once the hungry hungry hippos roamed.

A slight change in course and the group is moving northeastward now. To Gobzilla’s surprise he soon finds a wide path where the jungle has been beaten down, and ahead he can see the piled boulders of the river crossing. The river crossing is just ahead, but as the group of heroes gets closer they begin to hear the first sounds they have heard since reaching the canyon floor, and the sounds are not good.

From ahead of the group, from just out of sight, probably to the right after the forest trail ends and the river crossing is reached, come the distressed calls of the hippos, and the faint

*clankity-click-whirl-clack*

Sounds that are somewhat familiar to you know, only these sounds are deeper in tone, and have a heavy quality.

From the trail, stopping when you hear these sounds, you cannot see anything, and you are sixty feet from where the trail through the jungle ends. You can approach the end of the trail normally (or using stealth) and then look left and right from that position to see if there is anything to be seen

Who is best at sneaky sneaky Tabaaac asks and the colour drains from his face It's not me is it?

+11 stealth here gusy

Gemdar smiles, "It's you. I'm not near as quiet. Go look and see what's going on. We'll wait here." Gemdar then makes shooing motions with his hands.

I looked at the other character sheets, +8,+7 and +6.

Very very unhappy with the turn of events Tabaaac creeps up ahead to see what's happening.

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Tabaaac creeps toward where the jungle ends, where the clearing of the river crossing begins, and suddenly it is all familiar to him, and he remembers crossing here just a few days ago. His thoughts going back to that crazy day, Tabaaac loses his focus for a moment and steps on a dry twig,

*Snap*

perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

It is at that very moment when Tabaaac is finally in a position to see what is going on

A Wail, starts low and begins to rise from ahead of Tabaaac’s position.

Roll for Initiative

Necromechadon Collector Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

"Uh-oh, I think Tabaaac's in trouble. He must not have done the sneaky sneaky very well."

Initiative: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Fluuk's eyes widen as the wail starts. "What is that?"

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

He does stage whisper "Tabaac, you ok?"

Initiative: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Assuming Tabaaac can see the others

Three Big Machines. Eating Hungry Hippos! They heard me!

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Tabaaac wants to run!

Somewhere in the distant future, on the western edge of the Great Gorge

Day 6? (turn 16) , impossible to tell what time of day it might be…

At the pond, the river crossing, of the hungry hungry hippos

From the direction of the clearing ahead, coming back down the path, Tabaaac is running at a fast pace, not so fast that he is bent over and leaning toward the ground, no. He is running in a way that suggest panic. His body is upright, and his shoulders are back. His knees come up in the air and he holds his elbows in close to his body.

At first, it is hard to not smile, seeing Tabaaac run toward you in this fashion, then from around the corner where the jungle gives way to the clearing ahead, comes a sight that wipes the smile right of your faces.

It is a tall, gangly looking machine that resembles a building made from the hides of dinosaurs perched high in the air on five thick, piston like legs. The body of the thing rest nearly twenty feet above the ground, and it lurches from side to side as one leg than another lifts, swings forward and then slams down on the ground. The thing is not moving quickly, and it appears that it can only move each of its legs a short distance at a time, but it is coming toward you, and behind it, you can see another. The wailing sound seems to be coming from behind the ones you can see, suggesting there are more of these things.

Penny runs to stand with Ehsmaralduh, and says loud enough for everyone to hear

I'll get working on an encounter map right away when I get home tonight. Let's say the first collector is 120 feet away, and moving toward you at 30 feet per round. You all have initiative for the first round. The path you are on is only 20 feet wide with jungle on each side. it might be safe to enter the jungle to get away from the machines, which look as if they are not built to fight their way through the dense jungle foliage, but then again, it might not be safe after all...

Should we try to out run them and look for another way across the river?

Ehsmaralduh draws her weapon and dismounts.

Penny, the half breed goblin princess says, Get on Mergatroid’s back, and retreat to a safe distance, if things start to go south on us it will be up to you to continue on and find your way to the Mysterious Dungeon on your own. But don’t worry. There has got to be a way to bring these things down, after all they are probably no more difficult to hurt than their smaller cousins.

Seeing Tabaaac running back, Gemdar yells out "Tabaac, what did you d..." and stops seeing the first house round the corner.

After Penny speaks he says, "Perhaps it would confuse them if we ran away some more. They don't look very fast."

Whoops. Totally missed that it was my turn.

"Rawr! Agreed! They look clumsy."

Gobzilla and Gaia get ready to bolt with the rest of the Goblins.

Somewhere in the distant future, in the Great Gorge, near the hippo crossing

Day 6? (turn 16) , impossible to tell what time of day it might be…

See that the strange walking huts are ponderous, slow, and probably difficult to bring down, the Goblin heroes decide to make a tactical retreat.

They choose to stay on the path, rather than risk the unknown dangers of the jungle that bounds the river, the Goblins move at a fast pace, and soon they have left the strange things far behind. Pausing for a moment, the group is silent, waiting to hear if the machines are still following, but no tell tale sounds can be heard (and these strange machine creatures make a loud, “thump, ca-thunk, thump,” noise as each leg is lifted and moved forward).

Now some half mile away from the hippo crossing the party is faced with deciding on whether it is worth the effort to cross into the jungle and head for the river directly and try to find a crossing here, or go all the way north to the Great Tumble Down, and find a way across the shallow lake there.

"I say we cross through the jungle here. Nothing will bother us. We'll be fine!"

Gemdar snorts at Fluuk, "Those are famous last words. You can go first! I do agree with you though, at least about going through the jungle. It will hopefully be quicker and we'll offer you to anything that bothers us since you said the magic words."

"Rawr! Agreed! Machines can't follow us! Gobzilla and Gaia will lead!"

Somewhere in the distant future, in the Great Gorge, near the hippo crossing

Day 6? (turn 28) , impossible to tell what time of day it might be…

After a few hours of backtracking and a slow advance through the jungles, led by Gobzilla's keen skills in avoiding the most dangerous plants and natural traps of the jungle, the group suddenly stumbles out of the thick vegetation and finds themselves standing next to the river which runs along the bottom of the gorge.

Ehsmaralduh stands holding the reins of Mergatroid, her trusty steed, while Penny sits uncomfortably in the dragwombatasaur’s saddle.

From this location the party can see the entrance to the Mysterious Dungeon. It is just to the right, across the river, and about a half mile away. Fortunately, the river here is not deep though it is fast, and the water is cold.

Determined to reach their destination, the group begins to search for the best place to cross when out of nowhere Penny slaps her forehead and lets out an anguished scream

Oh my god. What have we been doing? We are going the wrong way! I just remembered that Axellexa told us that her tomb is not in the Mysterious Dungeon at all, but is hidden behind the Tumble of the White, the great waterfall to the south. We were supposed to go there!

She jumps down from the Dragwombatasaur and starts kicking the ground and swearing.

After a few moments she calms down, and then squares her shoulders.

There is something all of you need to know. Something I’ve been keeping secret ever since Axellexa told us where to go to find the Pool of All the Right Words. See, she mentioned something, something about how this terrible situation came to be. She mentioned that it happened because of the things done by a person named It’Dupree.

Penny lowers her head, closes her eyes, and then looks up at each of you one at a time.

Finally she says

My full name is Penelope Amber It’Dupree. I think she was talking about me. Something that I will do in my future caused all this, and maybe it is because of what we are doing now. I could be wrong. Maybe this It’Dupree is a descendent of mine, a distant cousin, or something. But I feel that it is me. I asked for your help in destroying the Kobolds and Gnolls who are taking over the ruins near our village and I was prepared to do anything to make that happen, so it seems reasonable that in my future I might do even more things to protect my friends and family from a different kind of invasion, though I honestly do not know where this place called Du’Orbna is. I’ve never heard of it.

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all sooner. I had to think about it for a while, before I realized it was something that needed to be said. Now if you do not want to help me, I understand. We can find the tomb of Axellexa and return to our homes without the right words, if, if you think that this thing I am trying to do will set me on a course that leads to this, to the end of everything that your kind holds dear. I understand if you want to abandon the quest, and just go home, maybe, maybe even leave me here in the hope that that might set things right. But, I don’t understand how these things work. I don’t know how I can be sure if I’m the reason all this happens and if there is any way I can make it not happen after all.

Gemdar's mouth drops open, "You mean.. We've got to... ARGH!!!!!! OK so we have to turn around and walk back the other way?!?!?! OK, let's get turned around and get going."

He stalks off to the south and then looks back, "We don't have a choice about helping you. The chiefs send us on our mission and off we must go. There's no going back until it's done. So let's finish this."

Tabaaac listens to Penny, nodding along. When we get to the Pool you will still bake us pies right? he wants to know. I vote for whatever gets us more pies.

Fluuk whips his head around back and forth. "Whaaa...? I..umm, I didn't remember what we were supposed to do, after going through the portal and the skating and stuff. ugh."

Without saying a word, Gobzilla listens to Penny’s confession, then he turns away from the girl and purposefully strides back through the jungle, saying

The Tumble of the White, is this way, grrrrr

One by one the rest of the goblins follow Gobzilla, knowing his keen survival skills will lead them right where they need to go.

As long as they don’t run into anymore walking huts

Somewhere in the distant future, in the Great Gorge, at the base of the Tumble of the White

Day 6? (turn 40) , impossible to tell what time of day it might be…

After a forced march, made in silence other than an occasional grumble, the party reaches the place where they should find the Tumble of the White. In their own time it is a place of sacred mysteries, and devotional rituals. It is a place where the thunderous sounds of the water spilling over the rim of the gorge a thousand feet above and crashing from one place to another as it falls is at once frightening and reassuringly calm at the same time. It has always been this way. a narrow stream flowing along the lands of Penny’s people reaches the gorge after a forty mile meander starting at Little Thick Rock lake, tumbles over the rim of the gorge, falls a thousand feet and fills Big Wader Lake, and then the waters flow out of the lake to cut a course northward through the bottom of the gorge, but where is the thunderous sound?

Gobzilla followed the trail, past the path that wound up the western side of the gorge, and kept going toward where the Tumble of the White should be, but when they all arrived they could see that things had changed.

The Tumble of the White was now not more than a trickle of water splashing down from above. In the quiet of the bottom of the gorge the sound of the faintest of splashes seemed to be a pitiful cry of a land that was dying moment by moment.

But the fact that the Tumble of the white was now so small was good news for the Goblins, for looking up the wall, they could see where the cave was that used to be hidden by the voluminous spill of the waters of the past. It was a hundred feet above the floor of the gorge, and reaching it would be a challenge. There didn’t appear to be a path leading to the open wide mouth cave, but at least the rock wall here wasn’t slick from a giant water fall cascading down. It could be climbed, but it was going to be a long, strenuous climb.

Gemdar whistles at the sight of the cave. "That's a long way up there! Can anybody climb up there and drop a rope down for the rest of us? Does anybody have some rope?"

"Klobber can climb! He's a natural at it! Oh! And I have some......er twine." Fluuk dumps out a small spindle of twine that looks quite unsatisfactory for being used to climb up or down anything at all.

He adjusts his quite fancy hat. "Well, could we use vines?"

I have rope! Tabaaac squeaks and takes out 50 feet of hemp from his ranger's kit.

Wohoo, kit

"Rawr! Can Fluuk send Klobber up with rope?"

"Yes, he is smart. He can do that easy."

Somewhere in the distant future, The tomb of Queen Axellexa the Excellent

Day 6? (turn 44) , impossible to tell what time of day it might be

Fluuk takes Tabaaac’s rope and places it, coiled, over Klobber’s head, then gives the ape clear instructions of what needs to be done.

The trusty companion easily scrambles up the wall of the gorge until he comes to the ledge where the entrance to the cave is and then holding one end of the rope Klobber flings the coil out and away from the wall to make sure it doesn’t land on a rock instead of going all the way down.

The Goblins are happy to see that Tabaaac’s magic fifty feet of rope is more than long enough to reach the ledge that is a hundred feet above them*

Klobber hauls up the goblins one by one. Gobzilla ties the rope to Gaia, before he goes up, and Ehzmaralduh does the same to Mergatroid.
In just a short time the whole team is standing at the mouth of a wide and low ceiling cave.

The cave floor is wet, and some of the water from the Tumble of the White strikes the ground at the entrance to the cave, then flows back into the cave, and this could mean that the cave might be flooded in places.

All in all it has been very confusing. The Mysterious Dungeon was where the Goblins met the ghost of the great queen, and her protectors, but for some reason this cave, on the other side of the gorge is the location of the Queen’s Tomb. It just doesn’t make any sense.

The cave is forty feet wide and twenty feet deep, slightly higher on the right (and dry) than it is on the left where a small channel of water runs toward the back of the cave.

At the back of the cave there are three open passages, one on the very right side, in the corner, one in the middle, and one on the left side also in that corner. Each passageway is five feet wide and six feet high, and it is impossible to tell where any of these passages lead as they are dark, and full of twists and turns.

Gemdar walks up to the right tunnel, "I say we go this way, cause right, is right!"

Plus it's dry and all.

That logic sounds fine as wine to the Greatest Goblin Druid.

"Rawr! Agreed! Gobzilla and friends should head right. Good place to start."

They all look the same Tabaaac whines

Good with right

Patting Klobber for his deed well done and giving him a banana, Fluuk concurs with the group. "Right! I mean correct! I mean lets go right! Right?"

Somewhere in the distant future, The tomb of Queen Axellexa the Excellent, The Caves of Destiny

Day 6? (turn 47) , impossible to tell what time of day it might be

The goblin heroes lead Ehsmaralduh and Penny into to tunnel on the right, which twist and turns and becomes darker and darker as they proceed. Soon they begin to notice small patches of glowing fungus growing on the floor along the edges of the tunnel, and it doesn’t seem so dreadfully dark anymore.

After a short time and a few more twists and turns the group sees that the tunnel widens just ahead, possibly becoming a cavern. There are small patches of light in the darkness ahead suggesting that the glowing fungus is only here and there and no longer growing all along the floor at the edges of the walls,

Something smells different

I’ve built a map, and it is linked in the header.

Gemdar sniffs the air, "Somethings different. Hmm...what could it be?"

Any chance of identifying the smell or what changed?

"Oooohh, this cave is so cool!" Hey, but we should be careful in here."

A perception Skill Check, might identify something familiar about the smell. That DC is 20

Gemdar is the first to realize that the cave smells have changed slightly, some odor now lingers in the air that is not natural. It is a little like acid, or maybe vinegar, but also it has a burnt quality to it.

Perception, smell: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Add 2 more if I can apply my +2 smell ability.

Fluuk takes a huge whiff of the air, with his enhanced sniffer.

"Eeewgh....."

Gemdar sniffs the air some more as if something is familiar about it.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25

Per: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Tabaaac peers into the gloom. What could acid be?