Shards of the Titanswar

Game Master EldonG

Sakuro followed Aya, clearly deep in thought. She hadn't unleashed her magic here - it didn't seem practical - but she was curiously observing the behavior of their enemies. "Hmm..." she crossed her arms as she considered the many options available. "Scared of us, but not innocent, so the right thing to do would be..."

To put it nicely, Sakuro occasionally had difficulties with being a good person. Her obsession for magic tended to distract her, though at least she tried to be good.

Reiko looks at Sakuro and speaks curtly.
They are fleeing, terrified. We will not harm them. Not to mention, they are women and children. I believe we have dissuaded them from attacking humans in the future.

"Well spoken, Reiko," Auric says, still not advancing toward the fleeing ogres, "if anyone can lay a real charge against any specific ogre I'll gladly stop its flight so it can face judgment, but I want no part in chasing down fleeing woman and children to slaughter, even if they are ogres."

"Is anyone else still interested in the voices we heard in the chamber behind us? It seems to have been forgotten in the excitement but for all we know there could be something sneaking up behind us right now..."

Yes, we need to check out those voices.

Antonion nodded at Auric.
"Good thinking. One of us guard the rear, just in case one of the ones fleeing changes their mind." He said, relieved he wouldn't have to run some of the ogres down from behind.
He returned to his original place deep in the cavern and continued forward, alert.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Sakuro kept her mouth closed - she could go into moral philosophy later, and hey, she was learning things! Besides, you couldn't have things go the way you wanted all the time... oh well. Getting along with others was important, too, and she followed along at the rear of the group.

Nia'Nikta just looked at them in mute exasperation.

'Good thinking, one of us guard the rear. What do you think I was making everyone do while you ran off to so see what was behind us. Damn adventurer's. You have no idea do you.'

Nia just gave them a sour look as they passed and shook her head. 'Be glad I want to stay safe too.' She quipped mentally in her head.

Looking over at Alyra she would take her hand. "Seems we are going back to investigate the other noise. This room is filled with refuse so I will guide you carefully."

"O-Kay." replies Baldek curtly, bowing to let her go first.

The thing's appearance is startling.

As you work your way through the room, avoiding the worst of the refuse, a bizarre looking face appears in the opening.

It's mostly mouth, a huge maw, wider than any of you. Eyes peer from an extended tentacle that suddenly seems very observant. It's as big as an ogre, but oddly shaped, and actually - it's uglier.

Know:Dungeoneering: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 I'm just guessing on this knowledge check. If I need to make a specific one tell me. My abilities kinda rely on it.

Nia'Nikta nods to Baldek and is making her way through with her when the creature comes in sight.

Don't know if you were nodding to me.

Nia'Nikta looked at the creature and the memory of reading a book came to mind. "That is a Otyugh. They are creatures that eat refuse and garbage. Not always violent, they can be territorial. "

Looking at the creature she said. "We are probably in its lair. It is possible the ogre's made a deal with it to give it their waste. They are smarter than they look."

Tania mutters under her breath - I'm not sure which is worse: the stench, or this thing's looks.

She's carrying the bow with an arrow nocked, but pointed at the ground.

"We should let it be then, no?" asks Baldek, not entirely happy at the prospect of engaging such a gruesome creature.

Before he can really even move toward the mysterious creature Auric overhears the discussion and opts to wait where he is. if they come back he'll join them in pressing further in to the cave, if the otyugh attacks he'll charge into the fray

Antonio backed away slowly, determined to investigate the other ways first before trying to force his way past the otyugh.

"Alright everyone, we turn around and investigate the other half first. Let us sick together. Antonio, do you mind taking point. Everyone else let's follow him."

Nia was ready to move so it was time to galvanise some action from them.

Still waiting to see which way people want to go at the 'Y'.

Sakuro's fine either way. ^^

Left side of the Y

To the left, the way is almost 20' wide on average, and only curls a bit for 50 to 60 feet before opening into a chamber not quite as large as the entry cave. There's a large pile of furs off to the right, and a giant, sturdy stool directly across.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Look in the direction of the ledge. Cast Detect Magic. Spellcraft: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27
There is a ledge about 6 ft. up on the wall over there. Point to the ledge. Then Aya starts scanning the chamber with the detect Magic, concentrating on any magic auras she locates.

"Keep the lights over here," Auric requests, "I'll go check it out..." Going slightly out of the way in order to avoid being silhouetted by the torches, he makes his way over to within 60' of the ledge...

at 6'5" I should be able to see up on it, and I have 60' darkvision...

Yes left at the Y.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Following the others, Baldek, with a coarse voice, asks: "Wasn't the point of our endeavour to kindly ask the ogres to relocate? What is our goal now?"

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Nia'Nikta looked where she indicated and held up the torch trying to see it in the gloom. Noting Auric having no trouble with the lighter lit areas she wonders even more about him but she figured she would wait for that mystery. To her, he still seemed like Angelkin of some kind.

As they looked forward she also glanced behind making sure they weren't snuck up on.

"To loot the lair of anything of value. Possibly find you armor. At least that is what I am guessing this entire trip was really for."

Antonio turned and grinned at Baldek.
"Aye Baldek, we have! Now we make sure they're all gone from here, as well as anything else that might attack the town. I myself am looking for evidence they might have been coordinating with some other powers as well."
He turned to Auric.
"Do you need a boost?" He asked innocently.

By this point, Sakuro was actively chewing on one of the long sleeves of her outfit as she followed along, though she was continuing to keep an eye out and try to be ready for anything that might go wrong.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Reiko follows Antonio to the ledge, anxious of what's to come.

Antonio didn't walk to the ledge at all... or at least he never said he did- Baldek followed 'the others' (into the new cavern) and Antonio is with him. Auric walked off on his own to the ledge without any light source, if you want to follow him you'll have to bring a torch (against his express request) or ask GM if there's enough torch light to illuminate the ledge in your elven lowlight vision

"Looting I can do." says Baldek with enthusiasm. He turns to look at Auric to see what's holding him.

i haven't finished looking at the top of the ledge yet, aka waiting to hear from GM what's up there...

The ledge is actually surprisingly deep, almost a cavern in its own right. On it is a pile of assorted stuff: a few bolts of cloth, two large sacks, a rather peculiar skull, and a wooden box.

The box is about the size of a breadbox.

Nothing puts off a magic aura.

"No ogres up here but there are a few sacks and a box... How thorough do you want to be in searching for valuables?" Auric calls back to the group. Then, apparently deciding that action was preferable to discussion, he climbs up onto the ledge and checks it he contents of the sacks and box (and checks out the bolts of cloth for value).

Nia sighs again as he just climbs up and would move forward with Alyra's hand in one of her hands. "You know one of these days, that habit of yours will get you hurt." She told him and would take time to look around now that she could see the chamber better. Unlike some, she only had human eyes and they required good light to see by.

Dropping down with the sacks, box, and cloth to be examined in the light (and by people who knew more about such things) he spoke softly to Nia hoping that nobody but her and Alyra would hear...

"Found anything good?" asks Baldek, standing on the tip of his toes, eyeing Auric from below the ledge.

Nia'Nikta looked up at him and sighed as she reached up taking the items while he climbed down and then handed them back to him when he was down.

She doesn't seem offended by his words at all, just resigned. Taking Alyra's hand again she would look around the cave and would carefully walk around examining the furs and such in it.

Take 20 on a perception check if possible. While people are examining the objects. That will make a total of 26

'That is if they even want to keep me around after this. This is one hell of a story and I believe should be told. The courts probably wouldn't galvanize into action for this far off area. But, if my hunch is correct. There is far more to what is going on than anyone realizes. If a child of a Titan is involved, there is definitely major things going on. I will have to stay sharp and piece the puzzle together carefully.'

"Doesn't look like there's much." Sakuro said, shutting off her own Detect Magic spell. Of course, her priorities when it came to objects 'obtained' during the course of work were very badly skewed, so she probably wasn't the best one to rely on when it came to assessments like these... outside of actually determining something's worth, anyway, which she was actually fairly good at once she settled down to do it.

A couple of the bolts of cloth are patterned in a style popular in Wild Roc. They're not common cloth, either. The smaller sack is leather, and has the definite sound of coins as it's moved . The larger one is definitely different. The box has some simple carving on it, a hinged top, but it also has a lock on it.

Reiko stands guard, making sure nothing untoward can sneak up on the group while going through the items.

Assuming you'll go through it all -

There are: 500 + 4d100 ⇒ 500 + (53, 78, 91, 81) = 803 gold (in gold and silver) in the coin pouch. There are also four gems.

The larger bag contains an array of smaller bags, some with small bottles in them, all with various herbs, spices, and dried materials - some of which seem somewhat exotic.

Evaluations would be needed on anything to determine value.

The box is locked, but has the air of being valuable.

Surrendering to curiosity, Baldek raises an eyebrow at the others, then looks at the box: "Shall we..?"

Sakuro quickly hid behind the largest, sturdiest thing she could, then peeked out. "Ready!" she called. One couldn't be too careful, after all - the problems with that book were still quite fresh in her mind.

"Are any of you skilled in locksmithing or otherwise proficient at safely opening locks?" Auric asks, "If not, I suggest waiting and seeing if someone in town is, lest we risk destroying the contents... besides, there's still the matter of the right fork to attend to, and what of those furs- does anyone know enough to evaluate their value, and has anyone checked the pile to see if anything, or anyone, is hidden inside?"

"I'm good at estimating value." Sakuro piped up. She'd long since developed the ability to accurately appraise items, and if people gave her some time, she could sit down and thoroughly examine them. That seemed like something that would be better to do later, though, when she wouldn't be rushed.

we don't need an accurate appraisal of every fur- we just need to know if they're worth trying to carry out of here...

Antonio quickly lept up to the opening.
"What do we have here?" He looked with interest at the box.
"A Stronginthearm Brothers four blade hexbolt? It'll be just a minute." He said as he took out a leather pouch and unrolled a number of unusual instruments and started probing the lock.
Disable Device: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Nia looks to Antonio and smiles slightly. Good to know that he had that skill. She gathered the furs and tested their weight and would set them to one side letting Sakura appraise them. She would walk to the ledge and jumped up to see if she could see anything up.

"Auric, did you explore all of this ledge cavern? It looks deep?"

'I might as well make myself useful making sure they didn't miss anything.'

"If someone gives me a leg up, I can look around with someone if they want."