The trap door appears to be locked from the other side. You can try smashing it open of you wish.
~just grumbles about the complicity of the gods and uses his previous rolls to pick up the tracks of Ratty McRatterson~
The cavern floor on this side of the lava river has a lot more volcanic dust and less open rock areas making the trail of Ratty relatively easy to follow. The cavern continues to be very large and open, at least a mile across and several hundred feet high. The Orc tribal markings are left behind after the first half of the day so you believe you are now outside their territory. In the evening you find a small lake in the middle of the cavern and even can see where Ratty camped along its shore, you find footprints that must be Ben's as well. You figure this is a good place to camp for the night and that Ratty is about 24 hours ahead of you. Any special actions before the night watch?
Perception rolls for your watch please.
sweet slumber
~to all~Guys, I'm not sure we are EVER going to catch Ratty until he gets to a place that will be hard to pry him out of. We had a pretty smooth day of it today. What say you that we just push on and try to close the distance between us and him? Perhaps we'll get luck and he'll run into some problems that will slow him down and let us catch him.
"I am willing to push on."
THAT was a quick march!
It's only 1d6 because we only went one extra hour.
The regular rest will knock out both (my watch perception roll above).
:D
Char took double damage.
Maq need your Con roll for forced march. Then perception for watch.
Too many hard days on the move has left the party physically and mentally worn down. After 1 hour of forced marching the group is feeling brutalized and stops for the night. Char is looking especially beat down.
Luckily the night passes without incident and the party awakes fully refreshed. During the third watch Maq thought he heard something from further up the cavern but it was indistinct. He is pretty sure the sound came from far away.
Perception rolls for your day's march.
And any other special actions you want to take.
Keep my eyes out for any changes in geology and any sign of what inhabits this part of the cavern. Does my Dwarven stone sense indicate if we continue to head further into the depths?
The cavern floor has some slight rises and declines as you travel but overall you realize that it is heading very gently down. The terrain is the same as the prior day,it is dusty making the trail you are following easy to do, also would make it easy for someone to follow you.
As you are following the trail you see a what at first appeared to be a pile of rocks begin to move rapidly towards you. It is a mottled gray and black color and looks like some sort of large rock covered tiger. It's claws and teeth look dangerous.
Party's action. It's 10 feet away.
Roll the dice...literally:
A ranger can improve the initial attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person (see Using Skills). The ranger rolls 1d20 and adds his ranger level and his Charisma bonus to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.
To use wild empathy, the ranger and the animal must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
The ranger can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but he takes a –4 penalty on the check.
~hands extended calmly~Eaaaaasy big fella...
Ahhhh s*$@, here we go...
You are up Maq, then I will post the round.
Cast color spray if I can miss Dol.
Cast color spray if I can miss Dol.
Cast it regardless. I'll take the chances with my FORT.
Boom! colors of rock stunning power...
"I don't think it can be reasoned with Dol."
You were traveling single file with Dolgrin out front, Char in the middle, and Maqej in the back, but you are out in the open. Dol stays put and spreads his arms, talking calmly and trying to coax the creature. As he does so, Char moves to Dol's right and let's a bolt fly from her crossbow which glances off its shoulder. Maq is able to move slightly forward and to the left enabling him to blast the creature with his color spray while avoiding Dolgrin.
The creature is stunned.
(Drops everything held, can't take actions, takes a –2 penalty to AC, and loses its Dexterity bonus to AC.)
Party's action.
"He's only stunned for a round, finish him!!!"
Sorry about this boy...
Char takes aim and let's another bolt fly.
Any other action for Maq this round?
Cast Ray of Frost
The stunned creature takes a hit from each party member, however it looks like the weapon strikes of Char and Dol are not as effective as they should have been. Perhaps the rocky armor or the creature dampened their blows?
The rock-tiger recovers as quickly as it was stunned and it springs forward and rakes both sets of claws across Maq's midsection. 15 hp damage.
Party's action.
Looking pale...I color spray again.
~with a wicked smile on his face~Maybe you can blind it with the spray of your blood Maqej!
Free action-drop DD
Move action-draw dwarven war axe
Standard action-try not to suck
Flanking-
Here kitty-kitty-kitty! Come chomp on this dwarven sweet meat! My buddy Maqej is too spicy!
[/spoiler]
Maq blasts away with his color spray again enveloping the beast but this time it's Will overcomes the mind effects of the spell. Char and Dol both connect again and continue to notice that their weapons do not have full effect. But the beast is definitely suffering.
The creature turns on Dol and rips into him for 23 hp.
Party's action.
-23HP
~grimacing~That's my b!!*@! Just like daddy likes it...ROUGH!
Cast color spray again.
Maq stuns the creature again likely saving a member of the party from death.
Due to its stunned condition Dol manages to strike it staving in its skull with his axe!
End of combat.
"Well done my friends, let me see to your wounds. Have you seen anything like this beast before?"
-11HP
Nice work Maqej! That spell of yours is just MAGICAL!~winks outrageously at him~
Rock-tiger Char. Positively deadly. Fortunately they generally hunt alone.~looks around a little nervously~Generally.... Probably best we don't loiter. Let me see if it was lairing nearby.
Dolgrin locates tiger tracks and Ratty tracks. The tiger tracks lead off towards the cavern wall while Ratty's tacks continue down the center of the cavern headed South. Which do you want to follow?
-11HP
~shakes his head~Nary the twain shall meet... Well tiger tracks lead off that way,~points to the cavern wall~but our buddy Ratty's keeps heading South. I'd love to learn more about those tigers and make some pets, but in for an inch in for a mile my dad used to say. Let's go find our cheese nibbling friend. Looks over at Char-By the way, not sure about Maqej the stout, but I'd take another dose of healing if you can spare it Char. Rather have it now then when it's too late.
~Unles someone differs, heads off to the South following Ratty's tracks~
"If we can find its lair we might find something that will aid us in our quest, on the other hand we might find a bunch of these tigers. Perhaps we could go as far as the cavern wall, it is only a 10-15 minute march, if we don't find anything by then we could turn back."
-5 HP
10-15 minutes doesn't sound too bad. A bunch of tigers sounds REALLY bad. Pauses and thinks for a moment, OK, let's see if Desna is smiling on us. To the wall it is; but I tell you Char if it's more tigers, I think Maqej will agree with me that YOU get to play cuddle this time. ~smiles~
To the wall!
Dolgrin follows the tracks towards the cavern wall where they lead into a shallow cave that is filled with cracked bones and debris. Among the bones the party is able to see scattered coins and a few other items of interest. After a few moments of digging through the bones to gather up the items you have: 15 platinum, 22 gold, 24 silver, a gem (emerald), a ring, a wand, and a greataxe.
Remind me to listen to you more often Char. You are the wisest hobgob I have ever spoken with!
Collect up the bounty and ask Maqej to detect/ID later.
Back to trail du Ratty!
The one that the +2 greataxe of trail finding leads us too...
Detect magic on all the goodies...
+1 ring of protection
+1 greataxe
CLW wand (9 charges)
Char looks at Dol as if he must be blind and points.
"Trail is right here Dolt."
The party makes good time the rest of the day and into the evening. As it is time to stop the party sees what looks like a walled settlement ahead in the distance.
"I bet Ratman is headed there, we should be able to reach it before mid day tomorrow. Might as well use my healing powers before the night."
Perception rolls for watch.
Any other actions before camping.