Sir Justahl is unable to detect anything evil about the man. Indeed, though he obviously is skilled in some bardic magic, he seems to possess no weapons of any sort save for his fiddle, if it could even be called that, for thus far all he has done is summon a to ride upon.
The combined force of Jorzan's intimidatingly shadowy presence and Justahl's noble majesty is too much for the older traveler to overcome, though. Looking clearly shaken and crestfallen, he noses his phantasmic horse north and begins heading straight in that direction, away from the party and off on his own.
"I...okay, I guess, maybe not. Maybe you're all right, things are dangerous these days and I certainly wouldn't want to endanger myself any further, I'll just be going on my own. Fare you all well, great sirs!"
'Poor chap. I feel a bit sorry for him, this isn't nice country to travel alone in. But we need to be wary, and he really would be in more danger if any more of those goddamned scarecrow things, the constructs, attack.' Tanel saddles up and follows suit with the others.
Kelne shrugged, "He got this far on his own fine. He can always catch up with that caravan if he's desperate for companionship." He still had his doubts about the man's innocence, but mere suspicion wasn't going to prompt him to serious measures.
After packing up his own gear, Kelne assumed the rearguard. The storm might provide cover for other people to creep up on them.
As Jorzan sees the old man leave he heads back to give a brief report "I didn't want to say this in his presence but we must keep a close eye out for that one. He knew who we were, I am sure, and it was no accident that he found us. He has many secrets he is hiding and none of them would bode well for us. He is Not a friend. If he comes around again I will be more inclined to greet him with a crossbow bolt then a hello."
Looking around to make sure all got the message and waiting briefly to see if anyone had anything else to add, Jorzan then nods and heads back to scouting ahead.
In fact, these look an awful lot like the kind of tracks you'd make.
Sir Justahl stares off after the man.
"A fascinating individual." he said wondering. "Quite the coincidence, running into him out here in the wilderness. What was your sense of his character Cassandra? I couldn't get a clear feel for the man."
Cassandra looks up at Justahl and shrugs. "He smells like dried fish. I hate dried fish."
The party continues east as the storm gets closer, and strange structures begin to dot the landscape; cairns and temples, stone buildings and ruined towers. Suddenly in the near distance, there is a noise like a thousand thousand nails hitting the dirt as the storm swoops in overhead, bringing with it death, pouring out of the sky.
It is a ruinstorm.
As the bizarre magical storm pounds everyone in the party with its piercing, shredding rain, throwing up divots of dirt, they make for cover as fast as they can, finding shelter in one of the nearby ruins, a building that appears to have once been a temple of some sort. All the statues are gone or destroyed, and the place looks pretty well looted. It is constructed of marble and granite, and the party is able to watch in horror as the ruinstorm's raindrops chip chunks out of the stone, slowly wittling away at it.
Cassandra is looking, horrified, at her wounded arms. "What WAS that?!"
"Ruinstorm," Kelne said flatly, "If anybody has magic that will reinforce or repair the roof, speak up now." As a last resort, they could lurk in the extradimensional space of the rope trick, but that wouldn't help the horses, and losing them this early in the journey wasn't a prospect he cared to face.
He had a feeling the answer to his question was going to be no. Accordingly, he started looking for any better sheltered areas, and peered out the door in an effort to see how long the ruinstorm was likely to last. If it encompassed the entirety of the storm they'd been hoping to outrun, they were in trouble.
Tanel smiles at Cassandra's outburst. That's good enough for me! Never been a fish fan either!'
As the storm hits he lets loose a string of swears both colorful and earthy, betraying his rural heritage. I remember how these things ruined a year of crops for some families. Or worse an entire herd, nobody recovered from that back in Bennelad.
'I have some magic, its mostly for repairing swords and the like, but it'll serve our purposes her well enough.'
As the rain continues to slam the ground with a furious roar, you all notice that the structure you took shelter in was probably a temple of some sort, once upon a time, though with the statues missing or destroyed and no cloth left, it's impossible to tell what deity might have been worshiped here. Its roof is quite thick, so Tanel's Mending efforts are mostly spent on making sure everyone's tack is in one piece; some of the leather got chopped up quite badly, even in just the short time you were all exposed.
Looking around, Kelne spots a larger structure about 50 yards away, barely visible in the miserable weather across an extremely old graveyard. Odds are it was a mausoleum or tomb or some such, but it's the most upright and intact building anyone can see, and while its granite walls and roof are horribly pitted from years of being washed over by ruinstorms and other, more mundane forms of weather, it seems to be a tougher and safer structure.
Karthan is busy preparing a fire to keep the company warm, and doesn't notice the keyhole. He's also bandaging the mounts.
Karthan is busy preparing a fire to keep the company warm, and doesn't notice the keyhole. He's also bandaging the mounts.
Karthan is making sure the horses are in one piece, and has gotten a fire going. Cassandra immediately stands by it and sighs at the relief the warmth brings.
Everyone notices that Tanel's shadow seems a bit longer than it should be.
Sir Justahl throws up his shield over him and Cassandra as they run for the shelter. Then he and Nouhves go round up the other mounts.
Handle Animal:
Perception:
"Do you all see that building over there? If we are to hole up to outwait this storm, that might be the safer place."
"Let's leave that for the moment," Kelne said, "The roof seems to be holding up alright. If we don't need to make the run, we shouldn't. There is, of course," he went on, crossing to the middle of the floor and kneeling down for a better look, "The small matter of this locked door."
Once Kelne points it out, the lock is easy to spot. Its only camouflage was the decorative tile around it. Following seams in the floor, you are able to determine that it is a large door; 4' wide and 9' long, but it has no visible handle.
As Jorzan finds the tracks he stops and whistle's for Kelne to join him. Once the woods wise fighter joins him Jorzan's point out the tracks and shares his opinions adding "I'm not sure what these ones are, looks like a big cat. What do you think? But these ones here are the ones that concern me most. These were left by someone who knew what they were doing. The good news is that they don't seem to be on our trail. The bad news is that if they ever decide to, there's a good chance we may not even notice."
Cursing and looking back in concern for Cassandra Jorzan waits until she and Justahl pass him before heading for shelter himself and so ends up taking a bit more damage than the others (6hp). Grateful for Tanel's mending charm Jorzan is in the midst of thanking the interesting man when Kelne's announcement of his find steals away his attention. "What? A hidden door?" Jorzan calls out as he heads over to look for himself, the interest evident in his tone.
Survival:
"Well, lets take a closer look, shall we?" as he squats down, fishes in his bag for his tools and begins to inspect the lock, attempting to open it if all seems in order.
Perception, Disable Device(To Open Lock) (1d20+13=18, 1d20+13=24)
"It looks like our friend with the limp has been here," Kelne remarked to Jorzan, pointing out the tracks around the trapdoor. Neither the big creature nor the stealthy person's tracks were in evidence, for whatever that was worth. "It's very possible he's down there right now, so be aware." Not that anybody was going to be opening up a trapdoor in the middle of an old ruined building without due caution.
'Never a quite night, eh?' Tanel says, as he grabs his halberd, though it seems to roll away from his hand for a moment. He moves to stand a bit closer to the trapdoor, winking at Cassandra as he passes. Paladin's are nice and all, hardly fun playmates for a child though. And thats what she is.
He notices the length of his shadow with a worried glance as he comes to stand by the door.
'Right so, are we going to do a little spelunking? No stone unturned may not help Cassandra anywhere, but we're stuck here during the storm and I'd rather not leave this place unknown and at our backs.'
Cassandra looks up at Justahl while Jorzan sets to work on the locked door. "Hey Shining Man." Snowy is sitting on Cassandra's head, which gives the odd impression that the owl is talking. "Shining man why do you wait so long to get married? She's really pretty. Like a princess!"
There is a saitsfying *clunk* from the lock as Jorzan's expertise shifts the tumblers into place. The loud grinding of stone on stone suddenly fills the air as the door drops downward a couple inches then starts sliding into a massive pocket under the floor. It reveals a steep stone staircase leading down into absolute blackness. A foul stench wafts up from the underground chamber, a very yeasty smell mixed with an air of dry rot and dust.
Suddenly, across the graveyard, from the larger, sturdier building that you were earlier scoping out, there is a loud snort and a hideous braying roar. Looking over that way, you can see a giant Dire Boar with tack and saddle on its back, and an orc riding it. The orc is clad in what you can all tell is Black Dragonflight armor, even at this distance. The orc raises his longspear and howls a fierce battle cry, and you see more dire boars, similarly laden with riders, cluster around behind it, but none of them dare step out of the shelter the mausoleum affords them. They stand there, the boars chuffing and pawing at the stone floor, but they too are trapped by the ruinstorm.
Your group and the group of Black Dragonflight Heavy Cavalry are staring each other down across 50 yards of gravestones, separated by the rain of death.
'That settles that debate! Into the ground we go! Don't want to fight those buggers in the open when the rain lets off.' Tanel shouts over the explosive sounds of the storm.
He whispers some divine words, and gold runes wreath his wrists as suddenly empowering him with might.
'Kelne, take this bracelet. It will allow me to heal you from a distance.' He gives Kelne one golden bracelet and dons the other himself, casting a more powerful spell, though the runes are white this time.
Karthan takes a long look down the stairs (Darkvision 120'), and then says "You aren't getting the horses down that. And they won't be here if we leave them behind."
He looks at the other mausoleum. "We could also just solve the problem."
Karthan takes a long look down the stairs (Darkvision 120'),
"Shining man why do you wait so long to get married? She's really pretty. Like a princess!"
Sir Justahls face turns a bright purple, while Nouhves looks on with what might be interpreted as horsey amusement.
"What.. but, I... Why are you... Young lady! Thats... I really... Oh look! It's the Black Dragonflight Heavy Cavalry!"
'If you have magic to take them out I'm all for it, but we need them off their mounts before they get this far. If they do. Pity we couldn't just... shrink the horses or sumat, alright, anyway, let's do it.'
Tanel sets himself up just inside the edge of their shelter, when Karthan casts grease then fireball he steps into the open and begins to rudely gesture at the orcs and shout insults over the storm.
"Seems like a plan," Kelne said, unslinging his bow and nocking an arrow, "We'll have to sally over and deal with any survivors though." It was a bit of an assumption that they could deal with the cavalry, but he didn't see that they had much option to avoid the fight. Sure, the orcs might not want to venture into the ruinstorm, but if everyone disappeared into the tunnel, some were bound to venture over before it let up.
He did shut the trapdoor before things kicked off though. If there was something down there, that would at least slow it down, rather than giving it a clear shot at their backs while they were distracted.
Peering down the dark staircase with his new 'dark' vision, Jorzan also notices the blood trail and points it out to the others.
At the roaring of the orcs Jorzan whirls around, aiming his shortbow toward the noise. As Karthan outlines his plan, Jorzan smiles wickedly and remembers the scroll of entanglement he just picked up in Stormfare.
Nodding at Kelne's wise move, the Shadowdancer then slips into the shadows while Karthan casts his Grease spell, the moment it's cast Jorzan snaps off a shot at the Orc Leader.
Stealth:
Attack, Damage+Sneak (1d20+9=27, 1d8+3d6=12)
Karthan casts Grease first, after making sure none of the Orcs are looking too closely, then makes sure his enormous crossbow is loaded with a standard bolt.
With the crossbow hovering next to him via Unseen Servant, he begins the incantation on the fireball.
Fireball, DC 20 Reflex for half.
Reflex save:
Fort save:
As Tanel's taunts bring more of the orcs cramming together on the vestibule-like area in front of the mausoleum, Karthan's fireball goes rocketing across the graveyard, making sizzling and popping noises as the enchanted water of the storm evaporates around it. There is a moment of dawning apprehension and terror spreading across the orcs' faces moments before the fireball hits and explodes. All of the orcs outside the door are killed instantly, and there are screams from inside, as well. A couple of the dire boars are alive but on fire, and they stumble unthinkingly down the steps into the rain because, well, water is wet, right? Unfortunately for them this water begins slicing horrid great gashes into their tough hides instantly. Hitting Karthan's Grease spell, which none of them noticed as it appeared, they begins sliding and falling as they die.
Meanwhile, Jorzan sends a poisoned arrow whistling over at the enemy, striking a cavalry NCO in the throat, though the shadowdancer can't tell if the poison has taken effect.
The orcs fall back and begin closing the doors, but the party still has time to make ranged attacks before the doors close, if they want to.
Karthan expends a charge from a wand this round, and then re-holsters it while taking the crossbow from the Unseen Servant. (No fire this round, fire next round)
Watching the dire boars get sliced to ribbons by the ruinstorm is a ghastly site. Cassandra turns away from it very quickly and hides her face against one of the pillars supporting this long-abandoned temple. You all hear a heavy *THUD* behind you followed by a grinding noise as of stone-on-stone. Cassandra calls out. "Look! I'll bet that's one of the statues from this place! Neat! Shining Man, it walks! Hahahaa!"
Looking south, you all see a statue, roughly 10' tall, pulling itself up out of the grass. It looks in your direction and takes a step, the ruinstorm is blasting into it, but only doing cosmetic damage, the supernatural rain striking with a pocketapocketapocketapocketapocketa sound.
Stone Golem:
Kelne:
Karthan:
Jorzan:
Justahl:
Tanel:
Kelne fired off a couple of arrows at the first orc to appear at the doors, giving them a bit of encouragement to seal themselves in. He certainly wasn't going over there to bash the door open during the ruinstorm, and as long as they stayed put, he was content to let them.
His concerns were abruptly displaced by the stone construct levering itself free of the dirt. "Oh, hells," he remarked with feeling, slinging his bow once more and bringing out his sword. Arrows weren't going to do anything to that.
"We don't want that thing tearing down the pillars. A couple of us are going to have to go out there and deal with it." From his tone, it was clear he intended to be one of those people. Just what had impelled the cursed thing to haul itself into duty was something of a moot point. They had to deal with it regardless.
'Aw crap! Well..' Tanel rolls his shoulders witihn his armor with a loud pop. 'Here we godsdamned go, because when it rains it pours. Then the architecture tries to beat you up.'
Tanel turns, clutching his halberd and movning to intercept the great statue. He reaches the edge of the shelter and casts a spell on himself, wreathing himslef with energy for a moment.
'Get the girl somewhere safe. Or as safe as it ever gets around us!'
Sir Justahl looked towards the larger mausoleum, but he orcs seemed to be suppressed. For the moment anyway.
You all hear a heavy *THUD* behind you followed by a grinding noise as of stone-on-stone.
Cassandra calls out. "Look! I'll bet that's one of the statues from this place! Neat! Shining Man, it walks! Hahahaa!"
Looking south, you all see a statue, roughly 10' tall, pulling itself up out of the grass. It looks in your direction and takes a step,
Sir Justahl swears under his breath at the sight of the moving statue.
He quickly mounts Nouhves, slams his greathelm down and prays for Divine Favor; his aura becomes visible as it strengthens."Cassandra! Make sure you keep one of these pillars between you and it!"
Grasping his lance, he urges Nouhves into a positon; lining up to make hit and run attacks.
Karthan switches targets to the golem:
True Strike Crossbow
Damage
Confirmation Roll for Critical
Critical Damage
"I'm going to attempt to blind it soon. Beware the dust doesn't get you too."
He then hands the crossbow to the Unseen Servant, and says "Acid." It starts reloading his giant bow.
Sir Justahl canters up to between the pillars, just short of the rain this round. He sets up for a charge/ride-by attack.
Not one to miss an oppourtunity Jorzan moves into the shadows and sights the same target again,letting loose another poisoned arrow
Attack Damage (1d20+9=10, 1d8+3d6=18)
The sudden shout from Cassandra behind him though causes him to completely loose his focus
although he manages not to skewer himself or any of his comrades.
Another shock greets him though when his brave comrades indicate their desire to head outside to deal with the statue "Are you men insane??" yells the Shadowdancer as he heads to the lock of the trap-door again "Didn't you see what that rain just did to the boars? Rule one of Ruinstorms gents, AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS. Cassandra needs us alive to protect her and you can't fight the rain. I'd much rather take my chances with whatever's down below than the sure death the Ruinstorm offers. Maybe with Nouhves leading we can get the rest of our mounts down the stairs?" Already beging to work on the doors Jorzan adds "Karthan, can you message me?"
Waiting for his caster friend, once (if) Karthan casts his cantrip Jorzan then proceeds to open the trap-door again and stealthily head down the steps, a drow poisoned arrow knocked and his darkvision leading his way and allowing him to carefully check for traps.
Stealth:
If he reaches the bottom of the stairs without incident he'll magically whisper back the 'All Clear'.
Karthan will cast the Message cantrip if there's time - but casting Glitterdust against the golem probably takes precedence.
'Wow there lad, relax. Never said I was going into that bloody thing. Just getting ready to keep that statue out there. I'm dumb, not bloody suicidal!' Tanel roars, not turning his face away fromt he approaching figure. I hope that things is hurt by the rain too, or we're in big trouble.
Sir Justahl holds right at the edge of the storm, really hoping he won't have to go out there.
"Does anyone know offhand, just how long this storm will last?"
Sir Justahl holds right at the edge of the storm, really hoping he won't have to go out there.
"Does anyone know offhand, just how long this storm will last?"
Karthan's arrow streaks through the rain and hammers the walking statue square in the chest. Unfortunately it appears only to have done surface damage, taking a small chunk out of the stone. The ruinstorm appears to also have done some damage, but not as much as one might hope. There is another *THUD* from the north, and looking around you can all see a second statue has risen from the ground, but is heading towards the mausoleum where the orcs are hiding out.
Turning back to your current troubles, the statue has powered forward through the last 30' to the wall-less temple in which you all stand and is coming straight at Tanel and swinging at him, using its superior reach to avoid having to climb the couple steps up it would take to enter the shelter proper. The grim and haunted plainsman gets an uncomfortably close look at the statue's fist, stained with the blood of countless defeated foes, as it steps up and swings mightily at him. Fortunately for the oracle, however, the ground is slippery and the construct loses its footing for a moment, causing it to miss wildly and smash its fist into the column, tearing a huge piece out of it.
Sir Justahl holds right at the edge of the storm, really hoping he won't have to go out there.
"Does anyone know offhand, just how long this storm will last?"
The behaviors of Ruinstorms, being as they are products of long-forgotten wild magicks that have directly harmed the atmosphere, have proven to be impossible to predict.
Tanel feels the wind push against him as the wnormous fist flies past his head. For just a split second he wishes he had sometihng to pray too. Then in flash the thought comes to him in his father's voice. No god is getting you out of this, best be practical boy.
With a wild grin and a look of concentration Tanel swings his halberd around, high and hard hoping to penetrate the stone body of his foe.
Sir Justahl will ride out into the rain, ride by the animated statue, make a lance power attack and get back undercover at [P,9]. He has reach with the lance, but I bet so does the statue, so he is eligible for Attacks of Opportunity. (Not to mention the "rain".)
Lance power attack: for a possible impaling damage.