Having spent most of the night in an existential quandary, wondering whether he should dig himself a grave, Karek is a little surprised and disgusted to see the sun rise. Once Moonpate's spells are prepared, Karek is ready for his turn.
Hab a good nide, Bade? Hurgah, ged a nab bevore Hal calls.
Having spent most of the night in an existential quandary, wondering whether he should dig himself a grave, Karek is a little surprised and disgusted to see the sun rise. Once Moonpate's spells are prepared, Karek is ready for his turn.
Hab a good nide, Bade? Hurgah, ged a nab bevore Hal calls.
Moon gingerly rouses himself from his hole and morosely fishes around for some rations, water, and his spellbook. "My thanks to you both for keeping me safe. I wish I could repay you now with a ten course banquet, a fountain that spews a dozen ale varietals, and a month of blessed sleep. Alas, such rewards will have to wait until we have served our vengeance on these cursed dogs that continue to inflict discomfort upon us."
Satisfied that Moonpate is able to renew his magic spells, Hurgah hunkers down and is soon fast asleep, completely untroubled by the rising temperature.
-
With the rise of the sun, Hurgah plops over and attempts to grab a nap.
A burning orange sun rises over the desert, chasing away the shivering chill of the preceding night. It won’t be long though before the heat rises to a sweltering level though and then it will become far less welcome.
The Mithral Scarab gently awakens Hal, Breach and Gandel, alerting them that her para-dimensional hiding place is going to collapse yet a second time. The trio quickly files out of the Scrab’s magic bubble and climbs down the knotted rope out into the inside of the Scarab’s slave tent. There they find the Scarab has a breakfast of warm gruel waiting. Outside the tent is a cooking fire, one of many that dot the area as the many slaves from other tents nearby rise to greet the day. The trio’s surroundings don’t look like much but compared to their compatriots, they are in the lap of luxury. . . .
Moonpate awakens from a fitful sleep. He feels terrible, but he knows his objective was achieved: he has obtained enough rest that if he studies his spellbook he can prepare a much needed re-supply of spells.
Hurgah and Karek have had a long night jumping at shadows. If the assassins are still out there, they didn’t attack during the night. Perhaps Hurgah scared them off after all.And as for Donkor Sooron. . . whatever happened to Donkor?
-
So! Saw lot's of neat stuff in the discussion thread over yonder tab. Have we decided what we're all doing? If so, hit me with those actions!
-
Ah! Right you are. Appreciate the honesty.
Ah! Right you are. Appreciate the honesty.
Halstadt dresses in the garb of the slaves to allow him to better "blend". He wraps an extra cloth around his head to hide his dwarven beard and other features. His armor, axe, cloak and boots are also carefully packed away in the haversack which he places in a burlap sack so it does not stick out in case the group needs to move about by day.
After receiving assurance that he will not be disturbed in his casting Hal proceeds to make contact with his allies.
EDIT
Sending to Donkor - Found Scarab. Meet southeast security post at dusk. Pyramid almost open. Must enter find destroy PactStone. Site heavily guarded. Thalia present may have seen us.
Once Donkor responds to me I will contact Karek.
-
Ah! We're cross-posting at the same time. In the discussion thread I've summarized what Hal knows about the different options of direction of approach - something that would have been better posted in this thread. I'll have you or the others tell me which direction you have decided upon.
Halstadt dresses in the garb of the slaves to allow him to better "blend". He wraps an extra cloth around his head to hide his dwarven beard and other features. His armor, axe, cloak and boots are also carefully packed away in the haversack which he places in a burlap sack so it does not stick out in case the group needs to move about by day.
"I like it!" says the Scarab as she fiddles with Hal's new outfit, adding a scuff of dirt to his sandals white-cloth hurthren.
Sending to Donkor - Found Scarab. Meet southeast security post at dusk. Pyramid almost open. Must enter find destroy PactStone. Site heavily guarded. Thalia present may have seen us.
-
Awesome - thanks. Mr. Monotony, Donkor's player, may be away - I'm not certain. If he doesn't turn up I'll GM PC for him. Hopefully he's around.Once Donkor responds to me I will contact Karek.
-
Heh. The vital communication is going to the dwarf with the speech impediment. This will be fun. Remember Karek, you only get 25 wertz.
-
Heh. The vital communication is going to the dwarf with the speech impediment. This will be fun. Remember Karek, you only get 25 wertz.
Yeah, you should totally contact Hurgah instead. Proposed response (in draconic, of course - Hal understands that, right?):
Hurgah moonpate karek ambushed in the night by cowardly spellcaster. Must get vengeance. Will kill hurt maim destroy eat when we find. Dibs on liver.
Breach follows Hal's lead in disguising himself, but not nearly as well done due to his reluctance to give up his armor or weapons. "Alright, I'm ready." After Halstadt finishes his lengthy messaging, "Took you long enough. Good then. Now all we're havin' ta do is wait patiently for Sooron's reply."
10 seconds later...
"Anything yet? How long is this going ta take?" He asks in a slightly crotchety tone.
The Scarab looks over Breach's disguise as he stretches the clothing over his mithral breastplate.
"That's terrific Breach!" she says with cheer.
Then to Gandel she adds, "He's going to guard the inside of the tent right?"
Hal chuckles, "Hopefully it will be soon. I am anxious as well".
Hal turns to Lydia, "Hopefully we will all guard the inside of the tent today".
Hal reaches out with his mind, sending his message racing across the desert sands. Although he knows not where exactly, his divine magic unerringly reaches his lost comrade. Hal’s voice then then enters the Pharasman’s mind, his speech somehow forming a fiery staccato-like message inside Donkor’s head. Each individual word blazes like the white-hot spark created when a mighty hammer strikes an unyielding forge.
Familiar with the spell, Donkor nods to himself and cautiously sends his reply. Only in Sooron’s case, the words materialize in Morgrym’s head as though they were droplets of water slowly landing in a tranquil pool. Each words somehow forms a concentric circle which radiates outwards into the dwarf’s thoughts.
Hal turns to his companions. "Donkor lives. He has discovered that someone is hunting Hurgah, some sort of wizard assassin. We should be cautious it seems. He has agreed to meet us at dusk. I will now contact Karek".
Sending to Karek - Found Scarab. Meet southeast post at dusk. Donkor will meet us. Pyramid open. Site guarded. Must find destroy PactStone. Thalia spotted. Evoker assassin hunting Hurgah.
Hal turns to his companions. "Donkor lives. He has discovered that someone is hunting Hurgah, some sort of wizard assassin. We should be cautious it seems. He has agreed to meet us at dusk. I will now contact Karek".
-
The Scarab ponders this news. "Khymrasa has a powerful wizard in her employ known as the Sand Sage. Perhaps she has sicked him on your companion. If so, we've got even bigger problems.""I am glad your first friend is still alive - hopefully the others have fared as well."
Once Hal delivers his message he will turn to Lydia. "Yes we ran into him before when we first arrived. That could be a real problem. It sems that Donkor has also come across another Pathfinder though he was not able to send the agents name along".
The Scarab sits cross-legged in the tent as she peers through a slit in the tent door-flap, watching for signs of approaching patrolls. She furrows her brow as Hal relates the possibility of another Pathfinder. "Not one of your people then? I know most of the active agents in Osirion, particularly in Sothis."
"Hmmmm, I could always subtly test him to make sure he's legit, similar to as I did you. We could sure use all he help we could get though. I still don't know how we'll get you past the army camped outside the pyramid."
"One of our allies is a might spellcaster surely he will have a few tricks up his sleeve. I have prayed to Angradd for spells that might aid me in stealth though his gifts are sparse in that area".
Karek bolts upright, alarmed by the sudden change in his surroundings, however the sending comes. As he is ready to sound the alarm, he recognizes Hal in the words, and his expression changes to one of relief.
Allride. Disdrakshun worked. Alife, bud dired. Bunky missing. Med assassin las' nide. He escabed Hurgah's vury. Sand Sage podenshul ally - dond hurd Osiriani soldiers.
Hal frowns as he receives Karek's response. "Maybe I am confused by the message but Karek is saying that the Sand Sage may be an ally. The assassin attacked them last night but they are ok. I assume they will meet us where I asked them to of course how specific can I be out in the desert but there is only one post of guards around each area in the encampment. He also said not to hurt Osiriani soldiers. Not a problem for any of us I think, it is the Monks that I want to hurt. Oh and Bunky is missing, any way we can try to locate him Gandel?"
A note on logistics – I know you love it.
So we’ve had a round of sending. It’s shortly after 6:00 a.m. – many hours until dusk – let’s say 7:00 p.m. for simplicity. Some of you are quite far from the dig site however.
Karek, Moonpate and Hurgah – Is the plan to let Hurgah continue to sleep until he gets his 8 hours? What then? Loop around to the south east side of the dig site? Assuming you want to stay out of site of the camp that is a very long walk by foot, but should be possible with five hours. This is though just guesswork. The desert is becoming quite the maze and there is a risk you could get turned around.
Breach, Gandel, Halstadt –Is the plan to remain hidden in the Scarab’s tent until say a half hour before dusk, then sneak out and assault the southeast guard post? Anything you want to do before then? Does this plan still involve the Build Beasts? Any details on this assault would be appreciated, though I accept you may wish to take a look at your target first.
Donkor and “guest” – Anything further you want to do before heading to the anticipated rendezvous point at dusk? You think you are not much more than an hour away if you head directly there. Will Donkor be armored? He still has his original problem of a brutal Stealth score with an armor penalty, his armor literally glints in the hot sun.
Hal frowns as he receives Karek's response. "Maybe I am confused by the message but Karek is saying that the Sand Sage may be an ally. The assassin attacked them last night but they are ok. I assume they will meet us where I asked them to of course how specific can I be out in the desert but there is only one post of guards around each area in the encampment. He also said not to hurt Osiriani soldiers. Not a problem for any of us I think, it is the Monks that I want to hurt. Oh and Bunky is missing, any way we can try to locate him Gandel?"
-
"Woah! Sounds like there might even be a second wizard out there then. This is getting worse and worse.""Truthfully, this is normally the part where I abort and recommend everyone disappears and head for safety while you still can - maybe reunite back at the Kothi in a few days. But there's too much at stake to turn back now."
"Bah! Sooron's daft! The desert heat's gotten to him. Either that or the Sand Sage has him brainwashed. The Sand Sage is evil, I just know it." Breach declares.
Upon hearing the news of Bunky, "You're not serious about findin' the critter, are ye? We've got death comin' for us from all angles and Kogan tells ya about Bunky?" Breach just rolls his eyes at the thought. "Anyway, when do we attack? That was the initial plan, right? Ya know, I can be a better distraction than some oversized bug." He raises his axe as a glint of light reflects from it. "I've been known to remove a limb or two with me axe, ya know." He winks.
Think I'm about ready to move on over to the rendezvous point now, will discuss options with you in PM.
Breach, I didn't say anything about the sand sage! You can direct your daft comments at Karek please. :)
He feels pretty darn crappy already. It was a long night preceeded by an eventful day couple of days with a lot of high speed travel. But in terms of when does Karek suffer an actual mechanical game effect, there's nothign yet. I'll rule that if he goes another night we'll start with the Fortitude saves, with the increasing DC each night. That's not that great a threat for a guy of Karek's toughness. The bigger problem potentially is what Jace has pointed out to me, he can't 'refresh' his rage power. Though I'm not sure how low he actually is on that, off-hand.
Gandel uses three charges from Jason's wand to allow Hal, Breach, and himself to endure the day's heat. He then dons the slave garb, rubbing the clothes in the dirt to give them a grubby appearance. He then swathes himself in their loose folds in an attempt to disguise himself as a water-bearing child as he did the night before, positioning his haversack under the clothes to give himself a hunch-backed appearance.
The Scarab looks over Breach's disguise as he stretches the clothing over his mithral breastplate.
"That's terrific Breach!" she says with cheer.
Then to Gandel she adds, "He's going to guard the inside of the tent right?"
"Best inside man for the job there is!" Gandel quips in response to 'Lydia's' query.
Hal frowns as he receives Karek's response. "Maybe I am confused by the message but Karek is saying that the Sand Sage may be an ally. The assassin attacked them last night but they are ok. I assume they will meet us where I asked them to of course how specific can I be out in the desert but there is only one post of guards around each area in the encampment. He also said not to hurt Osiriani soldiers. Not a problem for any of us I think, it is the Monks that I want to hurt. Oh and Bunky is missing, any way we can try to locate him Gandel?"
"I don't really know of any way to find a ferret in the desert," Ganel responds to Hal's question. "All we can do is pray that he finds his way back safely."
"I'm willing to go out and scout a bit - see if there's any way that we could use the build beasts as a distraction tonight to gain entrance to the dig site." The halfling scholar pauses before adding, "If Karek and the others believe that the Sand Sage may be an ally, I could try to approach him. Donkor's divination implied that the Sand Sage's hand could be stayed with the promise of a clock - whatever that is."
"A clock or a countdown of some kind. Perhaps the PactStone wanted to be found now and the Exemplar is just a puppet in some ancient Pharoah's scheme for reincarnation".
Sounds like a plan.
Breach, I didn't say anything about the sand sage! You can direct your daft comments at Karek please. :)[/ooc]
I wouldn't worry Javell. He might have been innocent on this occasion, but Donkor is pretty daft.
Watching Hurgah snore away fills Karek with even more. A half hour later Karek can stand it no more and he lies down beside Hurgah in the shallow ditch. Soon the dwarf is also slumbering away.
Now solo, Moonpate climbs atop the petrified dune to take watch, armed with a new volley of potent magics. He drops down and hugs the top of the dune rock trying his best to conceal himself while he scans the horizon, looking for signs of movement.
Karek does indeed laboriously take off his armored plating before settling down. There's not, presumably, too much room under the outcropping, but Karek burrows into the sand a little distance away from Hurgah, so as to not be an easy grouping for some area spell. Perhaps the other side of the outcropping. Though if he truly believed that the assassin were still on their trail, he wouldn't be sleeping at all.
Is it area effect spells that Karek fears or is it the buddy jokes that are gonna fall when the two of you start with the tandem sleeping? ("Those aren't pillows", for example, if anyone gets the reference.)
No worries, we'll have Hurgah sleep on the opposite side of the petrified dune then, after digging a new one-foot trench to lie in.
ZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz.
The note on the paper is as follows:
"A new ally has found us, the daughter of an old friend. She and Krenshar have been scouting dig site with magic, and have a plan to get us in disguised as a delegation from Khymrasa. Delegation leaving soon, so sunset rendezvous is too late. Proceed to southeast meeting point as soon as possible. Bunky found me last night, so hoping Karek is okay. Sending this message to Hastadt and Moonpate, in case you are still separated.
May Pharasma's Grace see us all together soon.
Sooron"
Is it area effect spells that Karek fears or is it the buddy jokes that are gonna fall when the two of you start with the tandem sleeping? ("Those aren't pillows", for example, if anyone gets the reference.)
No worries, we'll have Hurgah sleep on the opposite side of the petrified dune then, after digging a new one-foot trench to lie in.
ZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz.
The Mithral Scarab watches as the humming bird flies into the tent and lands on Halstadt's shoulder. When Halstadt detaches the tiny piece of folded paper attached to its leg she exclaims:
"Another message!"
She waves her hand in a halting circular pattern, scrutinizing the bird as it perches calmly on Morgrym's shoulder. "Oaervion Asa Tamasteras," she whispers solemnly.
"A magical dweomer! I think I have seen this once before - a kind of enchanted token for delivery over great distances. But who is it from?"
The Scarab peers outside the tent for several seconds, looking to see if anyone took note of the brightly colored bird as it flew into the tent. Satisfied she closes the flap, keeping a tiny slit so she can continue to watch outside.
"Good. Hopefully the message will not be intercepted. They won't be able to respond, so we'll have to assume they understand."
Hal reads the note to Gandel and Breach.
"A new ally has found us, the daughter of an old friend. She and Krenshar have been scouting dig site with magic, and have a plan to get us in disguised as a delegation from Khymrasa. Delegation leaving soon, so sunset rendezvous is too late. Proceed to southeast meeting point as soon as possible. Bunky found me last night, so hoping Karek is okay. Sending this message to Hastadt and Moonpate, in case you are still separated.
May Pharasma's Grace see us all together soon.
Sooron"
"The most amazing thing about this message is how damn resilient that Bunky is! It looks like we have a solution for getting into the campsite once again. Hopefully this Pathfinder will not betray us like the last one did".
To someone else, it might have looked like just another empty stretch of wasteland, one dotted with yet more wave-like dunes. But Soan knew better. He saw the signs. This was the site of an ambush.
His quarry had been here and not that long ago. By now, Soan had come to know their prints very well. All three men were heavy-set, their feet sinking deep into the sand. The slowest wore wide armored boots. The second was barefoot with almost claw-like toes. The third, the wizard was unaccustomed to travel – or any exertion for that matter – and this weakness was betrayed in the manner of his gait.
But it was the other tracks that now fascinated Master Soan, for they were unfamiliar. The three big-men Soan was hunted had been attacked by an equal number of assailants waiting in ambush. The ambush had been laid slowly like a net closing around them in slow-motion. He pondered why his quarry had stopped moving. Had they become that confident?
The first of the ambushers had tracks that disappeared. Perhaps he could only be tracked when he wanted to be found. Soan had seen this trick before. The man was either a talented ranger or a sorcerer, or both. Maybe he was a desert elf. In any case, Soan did not recognize him. The other two ambushers however, wore sandals identical to the ones that Soan wore. They were issued to the Shrine of Horns when they first docked in Sothis many months ago. Soan considered the inevitable conclusion. These two were his men. Yet he had no knowledge of their operation. Did he have traitors in his midst? Deserters? Impossible. Yet the evidence was mounting. No, perhaps they had killed two of his men and stolen their sandals. But why? What gain would there be in framing the Shrine of Horns for an execution Soan already intended for the Shrine to carry out.
Soan knelt down only briefly as he traced and studied the complicated whirl of tracks. The battle that took place here was probably swift, but it involved lots of running and a wide span of territory. It had also taken place at night. Master Soan found two expired sunrods, their golden tips burned to the stub. Each was buried in the sand in haste, likely to mask someone’s approach or retreat. Interestingly, no bodies and little blood - none had fallen. What manner of battle is it where all survive?
It would appear that the smaller trio eventually fled. Their ambush failed or they decided to lure their targets elsewhere. Initially separated, the three smaller warriors linked up and headed south, back towards Ahn’Sehlota. The three larger men, Soan’s quarry, made pursuit, but only half-heartedly it would seem. They were too slow, perhaps too injured in the attack to do much more than make a show of it.
It bothered Soan that someone was trying to kill his prey. The confusion would make his job all the easier, perhaps too easy for it to be enjoyable. Yet the wizard had teleported away once already. Perhaps the distraction would ensure the wizard, this Potentate, did not see him coming. His death would be painful. Soan would swear on it. He already knew he could travel many times faster than his prey. He needed only to decide whether to trace their tracks or head them off. Either way, he could not let them near the pyramid. Soan could not allow himself to frag the hunt on for much longer. As much as he enjoyed it, it will need to end soon. He contemplated his next move.
"The most amazing thing about this message is how damn resilient that Bunky is! It looks like we have a solution for getting into the campsite once again. Hopefully this Pathfinder will not betray us like the last one did".
-