"That sounds good to me. It has been rather a long day."
Adriala staggers over in the morning bleary eyed, disheveled looking, and grumpy. she immediately passes out in the cart.
after the party is over the schedules are all messed up. you are now all on night shift with a morning walking portion. afternoon sleep.
since I'll assume that you aren't letting the magic items go you find them 2 days afterwards. they're in a wagon with no special security. night shift tonight has you assigned about a third the length of the caravan away from them with other guards responsible for that area. semicircle against a cliff now that the you're out of badger territory.
what are you all doing?
"Great! So Draalush, What did we get? No other magic items were in the other carts right?"
Hashik is rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
"Things are going really well for us right now. Who wants to stick together when we finally hit town?"
I don't know how many magic items there are, so I hope these are enough rolls:
all you get from that is 2 out of 3 of the items are transmutation. caster level 1 and 3
also I only said there isn't any special security right now. there are still the standard guard patrols. I need to know how you're dealing with them
"Anyone got any ideas on how to divert the guards from the wagon with the magic items?"
"Some sort of diversion that doesn't cause a ruckus?"
I could set a wagon on fire
"With[u]out[/u] a ruckus, Karla.", Draalûsh says with a sigh...
"Might be a good plan if there were a few empty wagons about, but I don't think there are any."
there are alot of empty wagons, but the tight defensive formation would make it spread very easily
so no fire. Noted.
She thinks
nope. Can't think of anything.
"I don't suppose anyone has any kind of compulsion spells?"
"To make the guards by that wagon fall asleep or wander off or something?"
”Well I could charm a guard, but if I fail I would make an enemy.”
”Lets do this. Let’s see what all we collected from the bandits camp and see if we are being made a fair offer for our part in its value. Now that I have cools off a bit I realize we needed this crew to get us out of that s%*#hole of a town.”
”We will leave Samoa’s and the cleric to watch our own stash.”
"I can try bluffing. I'm not too bad with that."
and then?
there is a guard at almost every gap in the wagons, so they routinely shuffle which gaps are unprotected
also I'm gonna need a perception check from everyone never mind about that
Since we're supposed to be part of the guard duty anyway, Draalûsh will try shuffling his way to the cart with the magic cart and sneaking in when he figures nobody is looking:
Then, if that seems to work:
you're not spotted, and furthermore they don't even notice you're not there so the gap isn't filled for at least 20 minutes. so you don't even have to stop searching. you find what you're looking for hidden in the painting supplies. there are three potions here. I'll assume you're not trying to identify them in the dark right here right now.
when you're making you're way back to the cart there is a horrendous scream coming from the water wagon followed by some pitiful wailing
Hashik hurries over to see what is the problem.
"What is it?! Are we under attack again?!"
one of the men is crying in a ball off to the side, and dust is pouring out of where there should be water. a gentle reminder that you are all still in the desert
there is a gathering crowd near the wagon
Pocketing the three vials he 'found', Draalûsh heads to where the screaming came from.
Karla hurries over to the screaming.
what's all this noise. Hey, isn't that supposed to be water?
everyone is silent for a couple of seconds...
the guy who was wailing slowly stops and looks at you.
he suddenly yells out "of course it's supposed to be water!! and that was all of it! we're still a week away from the city, and we've been rationing it. we won't even last 3 DAYS out here!"
some of the sleeping people are starting to get up and stumble over, and people in the crowd are starting to grumble
"Alright, this is bad, but panicking won't make it any better."
"Is there any chances of springs or oases being within three days of here?"
"And how the water could just disappear like that?" Draalûsh wonders.
knowledge arcana Draalush, I believe you're the only one with the skill
Samias says "no Draalush, this is one of the driest and hottest desert mountain ranges in the world. the Bandu only live here because they are universally hated everywhere else. till recently I mean"
some of the guards go a little pale at this.
Karla thinks about the waterskin in her pack. Best be quiet about that. Do we have a cleric. Can't they create water?
to work out what happened
to think of water sources in the desert
Adriala was over here, but she turned to walk away along the semicircle/caravan when the yelling started.
looking again, I do see that you put 1 point into arcana. sorry to overlook that Karla. Blue Dragons can destroy water in such a fashion. they're quite stealthy, greedy, and strong, with a lightning breath weapon. they prefer ambush tactics and subterfuge over combat. if one did this to the caravan, it's either toying with you or isn't confident in killing everyone in a straight fight.
who are you telling?
some of the guards are going back to guarding things, one went up to the cliff face to throw up
Karla grabs Draalush's sleave, and gestures for a quiet word. When he leans down she says
A blue dragon that was uncertain of victory, or is playing nasty games could have done this. They do live in the desert. Should we tell the caravan master? she whispers.
”We need to know if you can make water Adriala. If you have that spell we are going to need it.”
"Yes, Karla, it would be a good idea to tell the Caravan Master."
"Not knowing what we could be up against would make things worse."
well, let's go tell him and she leads the way.
On finding him she says, i think I may know what destroyed the wster in the casks. One creature I know of, and lives in this type of terran. A blue dragon. It can destroy water, and hide itself under the ground. karla waves a hand and a tiny blue dragon illusion appears for a second, then vanishes. It could maybe explain the attacks. Dragons have sorcery as a power, and could summon creatures. The only question is, is it attacking like this because it is to weak to strike directly. Or is it just toying with us.
Draalûsh will accompany Karla to talk to the caravan master...
"Dragons love hording treasure. It probably wants that lot we found."
"Myself, I would guess if it is a dragon, it's weaker than us. For now."
"But if we can't find water of some sort quickly, then we'll be the weak ones, obviously."
"Is there anyone, or anything, known around here we can barter with for water?"
well, you find Adriala already over there in his tent negotiating over her price for water-making.
"so the Dragon has probably done this to quite a lot of other caravans considering how many left the city at once Charlie. I'll wave all fees in exchange for all the cash found on these caravans. and, like before, you get to survive, and take all the profitable trade goods and such along in your wagons."
Charlie doesn't look very happy about this turn of events, but has a glint of greed in his eyes.
"Good, thank you. For now we have to focus on being alert at all times."
"With any luck there won't be any more casualties along the way."
And no lightning breath, either.
Karla quips.
well, ya'll and your cart have been moved to the middle of the caravan. to better defend the only source of water.
are there any other special security measures that you want to implement?
also I will need to know your default marching configuration. unless otherwise specified I will assume that Samias is driving with his loaded crossbow behind him, and Adriala is on the cart ready to respond.
also perception and initiative
Draalûsh will stay with the water cart.
With his own crossbow at the ready.
Karla will be on the cart (short legs).
Hashik will ask to ride shotgun on the cart just behind the parties cart. He will keep bundled up and ready with his crossbow.
2 nights after, a flash of lightning shot out at the perimeter, and a silhouette was seen fleeing into the air before you could get there with arrows flying after it.
it's kinda small.
the guard was severely injured, and is assumed to recover if nothing else happens to him
the next day you're traveling along the road as normal.
Samias starts swearing like a sailor and gets up with his crossbow. abandoning the reins
Draalush you see movement under the cart. it's blue
Hashik, you see an itty bitty dragon climb up from under the cart while it's in motion
the cart is 10x8 ft. with a space for the driver, with so many people on it you will have a -2 penalty to ac and reflex saves
SURPRISE ROUND. HASHIK AND DRAALUSH ACT
Seeing the tiny dragon, Hashik takes aim and releases a bolt!
"Guys! He's on your cart!"
Draalûsh will try firing at the small dragon ... ... and miss badly horribly
"We have a small blue dragon under this cart!" he shouts out.
And then he yells at the tiny dragon:
« დამიწყეთ, ცოტა ხარ! »
"Karla! Hit it with Magic Missile!"
Draalush, I'll assume you're at the back with a ranged weapon, which hardly matters since everyone but Samias and Hashik are threatened by it at the moment
it unleashes it's breath weapon which deals electricity damage to Adriala, Samias, and the horse
Samias for half
Adriala and is unfazed
the horse screams and starts to veer off course, and the wagon in front of you is on fire
ROUND 1
Samias shoots and reloads
Adriala casts defensively and gives everyone + 1 to attack
Karla jumps off the cart, trying to see the target.
She casts.
Draalûsh tries shooting theh dragon with a spell
« ٹھنڈی ایسڈ کی کرن » . .
"Crap! I don't want to set fire to the cart!"
Hashik casts Blur on himself and draws his blade preparing for the lizard to be upon them in the cart soon.
"Can anyone put out that fire? We can't lose anymore carts or horses."
you are on the cart behind, I specifically excluded you Hashik, and Samias the driver, as the other 3 were on the bed of the cart along with the dragon
Karla you failed to specify which direction you were jumping off, so you will obey inertia and go the opposite the cart is veering off to. putting you on the opposite side of the caravan. you will need to cross next round to maintain line of sight.
Karla takes aoop
armor and reflex penalty reduced to - 1
dragon 5 foots to Karla's place, threatening Samias, and full attacks for damage on Adriala
ROUND 2
Samias frowns, takes out a dagger and cuts the horse's restraints. horse runs away, cart rests at a perpendicular angle to the road
Adriala power attacks with ferocious strike but misses
This time, Draalûsh gets off his wagon and shoots at the dragon with his crossbow:
... and misses
Karla hisses in pain when the dragon gashes her. She pursues to keep line of sight and casts again.
Hashik levels his crossbow taking care not to hit Adriana
”Stop the cart! Let me get in there!”