GM Dak - Shattered Star 2

Game Master Dakcenturi

Once more, Davor tries to spear the creature through!

Javelin: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
piercing dmg: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Combat Notes: hp 19/21; -6 Str.

Fearful that the Heidmarchs will never forgive her if Adistan gets killed on what is essentially a lark mission that she instigated, Lexi reloads, steps east, and fires again at the ceiling-clinging cave fisher.

Amelexis Dusk light crossbow: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20 for piercing damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8 (19-20)

Darn! I thought I restarted Lexi's naturalist performance last round. Can't give up an attack she actually hits with, though, so I'll have her restart it next round.

Freed, Gurk angrily pulls out his short bow and fires at the crabshank. his arms quiver afterward from the action, with the bow having been much harder to pull than before.

Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Davor and Lexi finish off the cave fisher with their well placed attacks, killing the creature as it falls to the ground with a loud thud, still holding Adistan in its filament.

Out of combat

When the group finally searches the creature they find a small leather pouch is tied tightly to one of the cave fisher’s legs. Within are a dozen polished rocks, 23 tiny teeth, and a magically enchanted bracer bracer, the mate to the one worn by King Zunga.

Knowing that trying to help Adistan get free of the dead cave fisher's sticky filament is likely to get herself inescapably trapped, Lexi lets the Andoran sailor cut his own way loose.

"Where's the king's 'sleeping crown'?" she asks aloud, searching the chamber where the monster was first encountered. Slowly and idea dawns on her....

Is the magical bracer a match to what King Zunga (Zugga?) was wearing on his head?

*********************************

"Huh! That silly mite king friend of mine was wearing the matching bracer to this one on his head as a crown! We may have to alter our negotiations with him to get the one he has. Maybe if we return his polished rocks and icky teeth, he'd give us the second bracer."

Yes, it would appear the two atogether would make a complete set.

Temmer frowns as he frees himself from the filament.

"I think that would be best," Temmer agrees. [b]"But we should prepare ourselves for his being less than honest in keeping to his terms of agreement, especially since we were forced to kill 'Clickylegs.' "

So back to the mites or anything else on this level first?

Can Verris identify what type of magic item the bracer might be?

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11 Likely not with that roll! :P

Bixby frowns as the creature falls. "I hope he wasn't too tied to this creature being--alive and all. But let's go see what he says."

Glancing at the bracers, Bixby thinks he knows what they are with just a glance.

spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Bixby notes that this is one of a set of bracers or armor +2.

Will give you time for a little further discussion and move us on to the mites in the morning (possibly later tonight if I have time).

Lexi seems rather crestfallen at the turn of events.

"I can cast the spell again to understand King Zunga, but I have no real way of communicating our side of the bargain, short of pantomime." A faraway look fills the aasimar's eyes as she adds, "My mother was a great actress as well as singer and dancer; I bet she wouldn't have had any problem getting the mites to understand her."

I see an untrained Perform (act) check in Lexi's not-too-distant future!

"Why we not just take shinies for us?" Gurk asks, collecting the almost shiny rocks.

"Because when exploring ancient dungeons, Gurk, one must always return the shinies to their owner BEFORE killing them, in case they themselves have more shinies. It's like when you try to catch mice with cheese."

"Gurk catch mouses with knives, not cheese," Gurk comments, putting the rocks back. "So we use shinies to get mouses."

"Bwahahah! that's why you goblins stayed small! always running around everywhere instead of using bait! one day I gotta take you back to the River Kingdom and show you how to fish..."

The group gathers up Clickylegs belongs and heads back to see the mites. However, upon their arrival the mite king abruptly shouts out.

Some of the mites that had been there before seem confused, but reach for their weapons.

Will give you all an opportunity to act though should be interesting not being able to directly communicate. If a fight breaks out, this will be a minor battle so I will breeze us through it. As such let me know if you plan to kill all the mites or what, should a fight break out.

Davor motions for everyone to kneel as he does so himself. "Friends! Show him the prize we recovered for him! quickly!"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Amelexis gives a quick bow of her head and a nice curtsy as Davor takes a knee and urges the others to do so as well.

"No! Don't kill us! It is I--Lexi the Tall--and I bring a gift!" The lanky aasimar lifts a free hand above her head as she says the word 'tall.' Then she puts all the polished stones and icky teeth in one palm and shows them to the mite king.

"I'll give these to you," she says slowly, pointing from herself to King Zunga, "if you give to me (same motions) your crappy crown. We'd buy you a new crown! Deal?"

Verris looks confused as they reach the mites and they are openly hostile. Verris tries to make soothing gestures towards the mites and help Lexi and Davor negotiate with the mites even though she has no idea what they are saying.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

All the mites watch and they all look thoroughly confused now. When the king sees the teeth and polished stones he let's out a scream that echoes through the halls before jumping out of his 'throne' and pointing at Lexi.

The other mites still somewhat confused pull out their weapons and advance on the group. It doesn't do them much good as the combined might of the party cuts through the mites who fight to the last. This was the day the mite kingdom of the Crow ceased to exist, but at least the party has a nice pair of bracers of armor +2, some polished stones and a bunch of small armor and weapons.

So, combat fast tracked correct? makes sense...

Yup, even with their numbers they are no match for you all.

Bixby lowers his wand after the battle.

"Well, that misunderstanding seems to have escalated substantially. Unfortunate, indeed."

He surveys the condition of his party members. "I, for one, could use a breather. My spells have been diminished significantly. Should we take a rest?"

I could maybe do one more fight, but am down to just a couple spells left.

"So we be givin' the shinies to stab when they take shinies," Gurk says, pulling his knives out of one. "Gurk be underknowing better now." Then, he promptly gathers the rocks and teeth as well as a few mite ears as trophies.

"See Gurk? you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar!"

Lexi seems strangely despondent after the slaughter of the mite king and his slavishly-devoted subjects. Maybe it's because she feel she (or her party) didn't quite hold up their end of the tenuous bargain; perhaps she truly believed she could befriend the ugly blue things and become their paragon of tallness; it's even possible she's never been called a thief before (especially not in ALL CAPS!). Or maybe it's a mix of all those factors. Then again, sometimes Lexi's just plain weird.

Davor sees Lexi struggle, and approaches, "Some creatures can't help themselves. Killing and fighting is their only response to other sentient minds. You'll see the signs of enlightened individuals amidst otherwise violent people. They don't tend to hang out with the rest of the crowd. They are the outcasts, live on the fringes, as they have been shunned by their otherwise bloodthirsty relatives. Sometimes they wear blue clothes and worship weird river gods instead of swinging giant axes in Belkzen, for instance..."

Davor smiles, showing the symbol of Hanspur sewn on his cloak.

Seeing Lexi's reaction, and feeling something similar to it herself, Verris approaches Lexi and pats her on the back in a comforting manner. She nods at what Davor has to say, respect in her action, and adds her own words to try to impart meaning to what has happened.

"You can't help everyone. Sometimes things blow up in yer face when you try help folk out. What really matters is that you tried. As long as you keep tryin' to help you can make things better in the world. It's when you stop tryin' to help that you really fail. Next time, we'll make sure to get it right!"

She pats Lexi on the back once more and then looks around to see what they can salvage from the situation.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Now that the pesky sentimentality is out of the way...is there any more loot Verris can spot!?

Gurk joins in searching through the stuff looking for any hidden food stashes.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Aside from the bracers that you now have, each mite carried a small dagger and 6 small darts. Otherwise, there is nothing else of any real value.

Lexi is cheered up some by the words of Davor and Verris. To the half-orc she says, "I don't think your god's weird...at least not by my standards."

Bixby should take the bracers. If we're talking taking a rest soon, it'll take three days of bed rest for Lexi and Gurk to recover all their Strength.

Wow, missed a LOT of posts. Sorry, all.

Temmer looks unhappy at the outcome. After all, if one can't hew to their word, all of society will fall apart. The mite won't make that mistake again, obviously, but the carnage still leaves him unsettled.

He nods as the others look to rest; this piling was far larger than he'd expected. If it takes them another day or two to explore, then that's what it takes.

I'm fine with Bixby taking the bracers. Let's rest and then see what awaits us next.

Rest sounds good... anyone hurt? I've 4 uses of lay on hands if needed!

Lexi could use a bit of healing. Technically, she still has 1 or 2 CLWs available to her, but it wouldn't hurt to save those spell slots for now in case we meet someone/something on the way out of the Crow or on our way back to Heidmarch Manor.

Lexi's plan once back at the lodge is three days of bedrest with a good book (or 12); she and Gurk are both down 6 Str. I suppose if someone successfully performed long-tern care on them we could cut the downtime to 2 days...or even less if we spent some gold for lesser restoration spells (but Lexi's too cheap to suggest that). ;)

Just let me know what the final plan for rest is so I can move us forward. IE where you plan to rest and for how long.

Okay, I'll take the bracers. I also agree we should rest. I can take 1st watch (this place we've just taken over seems as good a place as any to avoid random encounters.

Bixby is sure the bracers must be cursed, and spends several hours studying them before he dares put them on. Grimacing, he places one on his left arm, and when it doesn't do anything, finally one on his right.

"Perhaps a delayed onset--but so far, no ill effects."

Verris helps heal anyone who needs it, getting in touch with Erastil and sharing his power with the others.

Lay on Hands: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Lay on Hands: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Lay on Hands: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Lay on Hands: 1d6 ⇒ 4

She tries to rest as best she can, taking her turn at watch duty when it's time.

When it becomes clear to her that the others have no intention of returning to Heidmarch Manor for an extended period of rest and rehabilitation, Lexi looks rather glum (and pale) but decides to suck it up and take one for the team.

It's not like I could hurt anything bigger than a mouse with my rapier, anyways. And it's my own fault I got poisoned! That's what I get for trying to be brave instead of realistic and practical.

Eventually, she creeps over to Adistan. "I'll take watch with you, so I can renew some light spells so you can see. Please, though--make it first or last watch so I can get enough sleep to renew by spells and bardic powers."

EDIT: I'll take Verris's first lay on hands, so Lexi's back to full hps now.

The group moves back upstairs, to at least let one or two people, if they so choose, to use Ayalas bed in her room, and more importantly have a secured place to rest.

The night passes with little issue. It doesn't appear the Tower Girls are coming back, and nothing seems to creep up from down below. Once you've had some breakfast of rations and gotten ready you head back downstairs, with many paths available to you in your continued exploration.

So we have west directly when you get downstairs, or back to the room where you found clickylegs to do further exploration, or there was another path wast, out of one of the adjoining rooms where you fought the spiders, and finally further south out of the spider room, where you had earlier instead went west toward clickylegs. Let me know your preference.

"My thanks, Lady Dusk," Temmer replies, appreciating that she's so willing to help despite her own ailments, and lamenting that he's such a burden on the group.

He keeps careful watch, standing on his feet the entire time and not letting himself get distracted, grateful when nothing comes their way.

In the morning, he dons his armor again, ready to move out.

With no reason to prefer one over another, let's finish exploring where we found clickylegs.

Feeling a little better after some sleep and a lot of stolen food, Gurk leads the group back to the crabshank place to continue forward.

Gurk leads the way back to where they had found clickylegs.

The natural grotto here extends several feet before narrowing again to what looks like a passageway to the west. Other than the pillars used to support the ceiling, the room is a natural cavern save for the carved low dais to the south upon which stands the moldslick statue of a beautiful woman wielding a ranseur.

"Her again," Lexi whispers, her tone a mix of awe and perhaps fear as she looks up at the statue.

Dang! I should've researched her name and history last time we returned to Heidmarch Manor, but I spent all my time working on my Thassilonian notebook! And she wasn't a part of what I recorded.

Realizing that she's getting caught up in tangential thoughts and losing focus, Lexi looks around for threats or other items worthy of her interest.

Amelexis Dusk Perception Check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Temmer approaches carefully to try to see more about this woman and whether there are any signs the dais is being used still.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Bixby examines the statue, including the floor around it.

"A curious labyrinth within what is, in effect, the support for some ancient bridge. Does anyone know who this statue would be of?"

The illusory dwarf bodyguard shrugs.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

"I think she's one of the ancient Runelords, but...I forget her name and associated sin."

Lexi failed an earlier Knowledge check to ID her, so she's outta luck unless she visits a library.

As you are looking around the statue, Lexi notices what appears to be a secret door in the wall behind the statue, slightly ajar.

No one is sure who the statue is, but Lexi knows it has some relation to ancient Thassilon. Either way, the woman is very imposing.

Verris follows the others in her customary rear-guard position, scanning for enemies or other things relevant to the party.

When Lexi spots the slightly ajar door, Verris looks around to see if there's anyone or anything nearby that might have left it open.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

For once, Lexi stays focused and keeps her excitement in check. Upon spying the secret door, she grabs Verris's arm and gives it a tug, pointing out the ajar door rather than blurting out her discovery. While Verris begins investigating, Lexi tiptoes forward and starts poking the others to point out her find.