Crispin pokes his head in the room and has a peek. But can't recognize whatever it is? He stays outside by the door in case he's needed.
JeVeAnne moves inside doing her best to keep herself between any potential dangers and her master...and her new friend Becky.
The wizard strolls in looking somewhat casual: a sharp contrast to the body language of his apprentice. As he enters, he glances around, not so much with alarm or worry, but as if sight-seeing.
The creature begins to grow uneasy when Abeowin starts summoning, but being so little, it doesn't seem to know what to do. It chitters menacingly at Abeowin, it's mandibles clacking!
When the Fiendish Sprite appears, the creature begins to scuttle forward to attack!
Abeowin 19
Baby Bug 17
Brodigan 13
Crispin 12
Asher 10
Anne 10
Mauro 7
Becky 6
Bold may act.
You’re facing an ankheg nymph! You realize there must be an egg-laying adult somewhere close by, as well as other ankheg nymphs.
Bey completes the summoning and in common tells the sprite to shoot the bug until it is dead.
Sprite draws it's shortbow and attempts to shoot it.
damage (minimum 1 damage)
Bey then steps over behind Mauro for added protection.
Bey finishes his summon of the Fiendish Sprite. Seeing the threat so close to its burrowing hole, the creature continues to chitter menacingly!
The summon responds with a shot from its shotbow. The oversized-bug scuttles forward and attempts to bite the summoned sprite! However, the spite to too quick and avoids the attack!
Abeowin 19
Baby Bug 17 (-3 damage)
Brodigan 13
Crispin 12
Asher 10
Anne 10
Mauro 7
Becky 6
Abeowin 19
Bold may act.
You’re facing an ankheg nymph! You realize there must be an egg-laying adult somewhere close by, as well as other ankheg nymphs.
After moving to get a better angle, Asher draws a bead on the bug, trying to adjust for the melee.
"Kill it while it's distracted by the fairy..."
Mauro move quickly to a flanking position with the fairy, and takes an enthusiastic stroke with his horsechopper.
+4 str +2 flank
+4 str * 1.5
Brodigan moves over to get a clearer shot while muttering, "Let's hope mummy's not around," and then calls out some arcane words and unleashes a globule of acid at the bug.
To ensure that her friends stay safe, JeVeAnne takes a step forward and adopts a completely defensive posture .
Acid Splash vs Touch AC:
Bey tries to shoot the wispy green viper at the bug but misses completely.
THe sprite flies 5 ft back and shoots the bug again. (minimum 1 damage)
Brodigan splashes acid on the young critter, and it quickly eats into the soft carapace! Asher lands an arrow where the creature's thorax meets a leg! Anne assumes a defensive posture, prepared to defend her allies! Mauro, in an impressive display of strength, cuts the creature down! Mauro's attack is so effective, that some in the party may think Mauro could have single-handedly taken out the creature! The ankheg nymph is cut to the floor, its acid saliva pooling harmlessly into the dirt.
The barracks are silent other than the noises made by the party. Someone examines the creature's tunnel and it's empty. Being just dirt, the floor could easily be filled in. The ankheg nymph must have burrowed a ways from the nest, but the nest is probably near Talmandor's Bounty.
Compared to the other buildings the party has explored thus far, the barracks are pleasant (albeit a little dusty.) There's no smell of rotting corpse and no swarm of angry cockroaches. Without any immediate threats and being within the safety of a building, the adventurers can catch their breath.
The party searches through the original colonists’ possessions and finds a lesser talisman of good fortune along with 321 silver and 87 gold pieces. Few colonists brought coinage with them to the island, knowing there would be nowhere to spend it. The coins found here constitute as loose change and the paltry savings of two dozen people. Anne spots a wand of color spray with 12 charges remaining, hidden inside a small tear in one of the mattresses. It bears the initials “U. H.”
Abeowin randomly walks to one of the beds with a bundle at the end. Grabbing the bundle he positions it on the bed and begins to "dissect" it carefully to see what is inside. The items are rather mundane in nature. Two spare shirts, a smoking pipe, and an empty hip flask.
Looking around, it's easy to conclude this area was built as a place for soldiers to sleep. Like the Pavilion Tents it's curious that so many of the settlers' things have been left behind.
"Excellent eye, Anne," Brodigan says, taking the offered wand from his apprentice's hand and totally missing her virtually swoon at the compliment. "Hmmm, U.H. Crispin, I believe you'd done some bookkeeping and whatnot regarding the colony, those initials sound ringing any bells?"
And regardless of the answer, he'll continue, "Well, I suppose this could be a good help to us in dealing with pests as we're finding out what happened to the first wave of settlers. Anyone have a preference for using this? If not I'll hang on to it," he says, clearly willing to part with it if another member of the party wants it more.
Who wants the lucky talisman? Asher shouts to the group.
Maybe we should check the middle bit here before heading to the back building. We don't need anything sneaking behind us.
Bey takes the hip flask thinking it might be beneficial at some point. He leaves the rest of the items folded neatly on the bed.
He thanks the Sprite for its service and dismisses it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Crispin does note one detail that bothers him, after a little thought he speaks up, "Why was the wand hidden? Any caster would keep their wands on their person."
Asher walks out to the middle of the settlement, cautiously giving area 12 a once over.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"I don't know Crispin, but this whole thing stinks of weird right now. Everything seems to have just stopped; nobody appears to have grabbed their emergency gear, they were just suddenly gone...the farmer was murdered by betrayal, but we haven't found a single other corpse.
*****
Mauro follows Asher, senses pealed.
1 rank +3 trained +1 wis +2 racial +3 Skill Focus
Becky has no theories to share on what happened to Talmandor's Bounty and its inhabitants. Shortbow in hand, she nods, letting the others know she's ready to follow where they lead.
At Asher's suggestion, the party leaves the Barracks and walks to area 12. During that time, Crispin wonders why anyone would make an effort hide a wand. Mauro agrees strange things have happened within the colony, from the settler's personal effects being left behind, to a farmer's ghost claiming he was betrayed.
At the center of the colony, in front of a building with a plackard reading "Government House," is a public well. The well water is clean and potable, and the rope and bucket are still intact.
Just southwest of the well is a wooden scaffold with a set of steps. It looks suitable for use as a platform to address a large crowd, though it would take minimal effort to convert it into a gallows. North of the scaffold is the remnant of a well-used community fire pit surrounded by stones, large enough for a reasonably sized bonfire. Most of the ashes in the central fire pit have been rained on repeatedly and are now mixed in with the soil. It is clear that no fire has been lit here for weeks.
If we went with Dark Flares I would ask that we get more than just 3 because of their lower cost.
I would like alkali flask personally and if we go far underwater, darkvision is used for sight I would guess so some darkflares would be nice.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Bey searches through several of the bundles at the bottom of the "beds." As he progresses around the room, he finds a cloak that seems to be heavier that the ones in the other piles. Upon closer examination, he finds a small pocket sewn shut on the inside edge. Pulling out his dagger, he cuts the pocket open. A flask of a liquid grey substance falls into his palm.
This looks like an acid flask that the alchemists made back in Taldor. My father had several uses for these. I'll hold it for now and we can check it out in detail when we make camp for the night.
Bey says into the air.
The (mundane) well in the Town Square is lined with rough stone and covered with a wooden roof. The party can assume a settler proficient in masonry probably helped construct it. The rough stone looks recently placed - perhaps one to two months ago, as plants like moss and vines haven't had the years necessary to creep up the structure.
According to Asher and Mauro, there doesn't seem to be anything amiss in the Town Square, though it is an important area of the settlement for fostering community.
they turn to area 10, the large building at the center of the colony with a plackard reading "Government House."
This wooden-framed, mud brick structure is currently the colony’s only two-story building, as well as one of the largest structures. It has the appearance of a rural courthouse or city hall rather than that of a residence. The front features a small porch supported by rough log pillars, with double wooden doors facing west. Numerous window frames with shutters, some of them open, wrap around the building on both floors. The roof is not thatched, but has wooden shakes instead. The construction suggests this building was intended to be a source of community pride, but it still has a rough, unfinished appearance due to lack of paint and coarse materials. A few small shrubs have been planted around it. The doors are unsecured, although they can be barred from within.
Through the main doors is a foyer opening to a large chamber that occupies most of the main floor. This room is open to the second floor, and two flights of stairs lead to a gallery that overlooks this space, supported by columns on the main level. At the rear of the chamber against the east wall is a raised desk, like a podium. Tables and chairs are arrayed in front of it like a courtroom. The gallery above has simple wooden chairs so that citizens can observe whatever business is conducted here. Doors at the north and south ends of the main floor lead to what appears to be separate offices. The building has not been used recently, as evidenced by a light layer of dust throughout.
The makeshift offices have simple wooden tables, chairs, and writing equipment including stationery, ink, and quills. The northern office has a locked wooden coffer.
Mauro enters the "Goverment House" cautiously, horsechopper at the ready. After searching the building shows no occupants (hostile or otherwise), he gets out his tools and turns his attention to the coffer in the northern office...
First he checks it for traps:
1 rank +3 trained +1 wis +2 racial +3 skill focus
(assuming he finds none)
and then tries to open the lock
1 rank +3 trained +2 dex +2 MW tools
1 rank +3 trained +1 wis +2 racial +3 skill focus
"The colony charter isn't here - that's something that should be here - and it's the one thing that seems to have been taken either by a survivor or by whatever caused the colonists to go away. Also, someone cut the last 3 or 4 pages out of this logbook! This is obviously significant. Please let me concentrate for a minute, I want to see if there is a psychometric impression here."
Mauro takes the logbook in hand and closes his eyes, focusing his inner senses on the book in his hand...
vs DC 15
1 rank +3 trained +2 int
Mauro examines the locked wooden coffer and it doesn't appear to be trapped.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Mauro shakes his head, emerging from his focusing trance. His voice is drawn as he announces "The hand that held this book before me was a human male. He held it steady while using a knife to cut out the four missing pages. The pages were a handwritten list of names, with legalese at the top."
Crispin watches with fascinated eyes as Mauro uses abilities unknown to him. He gives the coffer and book a quick scan with Detect Magic.
"This has magic on it. Arcane markings that symbolize 'Plum Tree'?"
THese would be good for the archers among us He grabs them and holds them aloft, Becky, these might be useful to you or Mauro if you can figure out what they are exactly.
After passing the arrows of to another party member, Bey follows the group as they move across the village.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
At the government house Bey enters quite enjoying the rough but delicate craftsmanship that has already been shown here. He sees mauro go to the office on the left and so he goes into the one on the right. He collects a dark blue ink vial (almost full) and two inkpens. He then begins to look through the papers on the tables/desks with a little more care.
Seeing some documents of interest, he begins to scan them for a better understanding of what they are.
Some are rather dry giving amounts of food that has been preserved or is still available. Others talk about minor rule breaking offenses and the judgement on them. There are a variety of others as well.The diminutive halfling continues to sort the documents while standing on a chair and waiting for the rest of the party.
Becky takes the strange arrows Bey found and examines them, trying to figure out what they are.
In the community house, Becky, like Bey, is also drawn to the journals, records, and/or writing supplies. She has no luck, however, in puzzling out what might've happened to the first wave of settlers.
Asher leaves the academics to the papers. He stands in the middle of the room and scans for dangers, and looks for tracks, signs, and spoor.
He also examines the arrows Bey found.
As Brodigan hears a mention of arcane markings referencing a plum tree, he pokes his head back out of the government building and begins looking around to see if there's a plum tree nearby thinking that, perhaps, some sort of clue might be found there.
JeVeAnne follows Brodigan to the doorway and looks at him somewhat questioningly as he begins scanning the area.
Without looking at her, he simply says, "Plum tree" and she joins in on scanning the area for it.
Inside the Government house, the party discovers a locked wooden coffer in one of the offices with a collection of journals and logbooks. The logbooks record various types of events, such as the sea journey to Ancorato, daily work details for construction and farming, a master tool inventory, records of the daily weather, and so on. This information is mostly pedestrian in nature but might serve as the basis of a future almanac. Interestingly, all of the books date back to approximately 1 month ago, whereupon the entries become sporadic and stop altogether a week later. This is also where the charter would be stored, but it is missing.
One logbook inside the locked wooden coffer details daily events in the colony since landfall. While carefully examining the colony logbook, Mauro notices it is missing three to four pages after the last entry, as evidenced by a razor-sharp incision along the binding where the pages were carefully cut out. Using Psychometry, he dips into the mind of the last individual as they were damaging the book. He feels the emotions (though he doesn’t share that part) and sees a male human hand out of his periphery holding the book steady while a knife cleanly removes the last four pages.
Another book pings as magical. Crispin pulls it out and discovers arcane markings that read ‘Plum Tree’ in Common. Becky, Brodigan, and Anne all try to squeeze into (or near) the office as well, observing what the other two find.
Abeowin admires the construction of the building compared to the other structures in the settlement. This building was clearly meant to be one of the colony’s pride and joy structures. The summoner heads to the opposite office as Mauro and Crispin, pocketing a vial of dark blue ink and a couple of inkpens.
Meanwhile, Asher having little interest in the colony’s bookkeeping, stands in the middle of the Government House, looking around. As he’s looking up at the second-floor balcony, Asher spots something tiny and strange. Something silver, resembling a spider with one large red eye is watching him!
The creature seems to realize it's been found out and moves to the window. It squats down.
Round 1
Asher calls out and points.
There! Look at that strange mechanical bug! It’s trying to get away! Catch it!
Asher runs in an intercept path between it and the window it’s approaching. He drops his bow on the way and pulls his cloak to the side as he runs to make a net.
Brodigan looks in the direction Asher indicates and then watching the other man move.
"Good thinking," Brodigan says, quickly catching on to what Asher is trying to do. And to support, the wizard moves up rushing behind the creature to, effectively, chase it into Asher's cloak net.
He brings them over to Becky for examination and she identifies the projectiles as being tangleshot arrows! She also looks over the found flask and correctly identifies it as an akali flask, not an acid flask as the summoner had initially thought.
...
...
"What?!? Where?", Mauro comes bustling out of the office asking what's going on...
He looks around and sees the charge going up both sets of stairs... and instead runs out the door!?!
Bey, knowing all the others can take care of it better than he can, continues to sort through and read papers. Looking up only long enough to see what is going on.
Asher has run up the stairs on the south side of the building and has come adjacent to the beastie. He will attempt to skoop it up next round.
He eyes it carefully.
It's by the window on the east side gallery. A strange little thing. It's more machine than beastie.
Asher calls out to the party, pointing. Then, the ranger dashes up the stairs after the spy! Brodigan aids the call, following up the stairs on the opposite side. Mauro exits out the front to cut off the spy's exit route. Asher reaches the creature and scoops it up while it's in the process of calibrating its intended jump.
When picked up, its large red eye stares up into Asher's face as the ranger holds it. It's cute in a way. The mechanical creature doesn't struggle, but you think if you put it on the ground it would continue to travel to its destination. It doesn't seem equipped with any means to cause harm.
This elegant construct is the product of sophisticated craftsmanship. Under its body, there is a small flush plate that perhaps someone with Disable Device could delicately pry open without damaging it. Behind the flush plate, on the rear bottom, is a keyhole. There is no key in the keyhole.
It seems to be about lunchtime. The party spent a good chunk of their morning trying to communicate with the monkey goblins at the Smithy.
Brodigan is confident he can delicately pry off the bottom plate if the other party members are in agreement. Brodigan knows that by reprogramming it, he'll be able to learn more - like the creature's function and the last orders it was given.
Crispin will watch with interest as Brodigan begins to delicately work on the small construct.
He can remember absolutely nothing about this type of creation.