[SFS_Aerondor] 01-20 Duskmire Accord 9 (level 1-4) (Inactive)

Game Master Aerondor

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Leaking circulatory fluid, the shirren barely clings to consciousness. They draw a small vial and drink down the contents, the magic of the liquid closing some of their terrible wounds.

Mk I healing serum: 1d8 ⇒ 5

Dora and Vutrul also suffer the scratches and scrapes of outragerous thorns.

dora damage: 1d4 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16
vutrul damage: 1d4 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

The crumpled stem of a giant mushroom blocks the path at the north end of this clearing, its faintly glowing cap knocked halfway from its base. Thin, wispy fog blankets the ground, swirling about in curious patterns and eddies. Overhead, the largest mushrooms yet stand sentinel, with occasional bursts of spores lighting the sky like flashes of lightning.

Suddenly lights sparkle all around you and you hear the sounds of what must be a group of horses approaching. At the far side a single horse steps forward from the mist. As it does so the sounds of the other horses slowly quieten down.

"Who are you and what do you want in my swamp?" it asks. In Common. As if a horse speaking common was not odd enough... Peering closely you notice that this horse seems to sparkle and it has what looks like a rocket launcher strapped to ... is that a horn sticking out the middle of its head?

"We are coming to see who lives here. We would like to help those living here learn how to help each other, rather than hurt each other."

"Well that is a pleasant change." admits the rocket armed horse.

"Normally creatures come and stomp all over my glades. I must say I've been somewhat pleased with your care for the mushroom and thorn wilds." it acknowledges.

"Do you really think you can convince them to stay away?"

Talltree nods. "The only reason the gnolls came was because they want a particular variety of fungus. You could trade with them, and remove the need for them to enter the swamp themselves. I don't know what the Mukfur yetis have that's worth trading for, though. Maybe the gas that comes from the vents in their village?

"As for what you could get out of the peace, well...." The shirren inclines their head. "We come from beyond the walls of this place. There are countless different worlds out there, filled with plants the likes of which you've never seen--would you like to see them?"

Diplomacy check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

"Yes... but ... I wonder if I have seen them before. I'm not from here... I'm not sure really where I am from to be honest..."

Any aid attempts out there?

"[b]I have no desire to dominate this cavern, and refuse to demean myself to being subjugated by Yeti or gnolls.

Diplomacy Aid: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (12) + 0 = 12

Sisyar nods and pats his pocket with the mushrooms, but doesn't pull them out.

"We completely understand. Perhaps we can set up a meeting with representatives of the Yetis and Gnolls as well as you. No need for violence."

"Oh I think not. Once they realise there is something less scary than a ghot in the swamp, that would embolden them. No, if you want to arrange this, you may do so in the name of the ghost of the swamp. If you can arrange it." the horse adds doubtfully.

Any other people want to try an aid here?

While Talltree waits for someone to continue the support that Sisyar started, is there any skill that would allow the party to identify the horse?

I think mysticism would be an appropriate skill. There is certainly something odd here.

Mysticism: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Sisyar identifies the "horse" as not so much a horse as a unicorn. A magical outsider. The touch of their horn is supposed to be able to cure many ills, and some have been hunted down to take the horn. This one appears a little odd though...

"If you have a solid offer from the others, I will consider it.." eventually concedes the beast. "But they must not come tramping over my swamp."

The thorns seem to move aside, providing the group a handy and less painful exit from the middle of the swamp.

"We will be back soon." Dora gently smiles at the unicorn. She leads the way through the thorn exit, suggesting as they go that they return to the Mukfurs next.

"See ya Unicorn.". He winks as he follows Dora 34.

The group, sore and cut, takes a little over a day to trek through the cavern and return to the rumbustious greetings of the Mukfur tribe.

"Hello newMuks!" they say, offering you a quick smoke hole to recover from your journey with.

On the way back, Talltree calls for a short discussion. "What more do we want to find out from the Mukfurs? What they want out of the swamp, and what they'd be willing to trade for it?"

To recap

The mukfurs took over the gnoll village and seem pretty happy just partying and smoking. They have a low bordom threshhold and sometimes go and explore other bits of the cavern and cause havok.

The gnolls have moved their village to somewhere less popular and seem resigned to the mukfurrs eventually taking over their new farms. They do want certain swamp mushrooms.

The unicorn seems to want to be left alone and dislikes others trespassing in the swarmp.

The "cavern" itself seems to want the three groups to engage in some type of engagement for overall dominance of the area.

You have allied yourself with the Mukfurs, but make more or less friendly contact with both the other factions.

"All right, it doesn't sound like the Mukfurs want much of anything except their vents. Let's see if we can find one or two of them with a little more willingness to talk, and take them to meet with the gnolls and the unicorn. I hope that getting them to cooperate will be enough to satisfy the proctor AI."

Well, the Mukfur leader Inix does seem a little bored with the yeti lifestyle. You could maybe convince him to go.

sense motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

"Perhaps we should negotiating an agreement between them acting as a proxy."

I agree. Should we negotiate between the gnolls and ghost first. The ghost will supply the gnolls with healing mushrooms and if they stay out of the swamp.

I am not sure if we are still in the swamp or not but if we move one the the gnolls this is what he will say.

We have met with the ghost of the swamp. They request that you remain put of the swamp and they will offer you a supply of the fungus you request in exchange. If you agree to these terms we will return to the ghosts and work on the specific conditions of the agreement.

diplomacy: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

You are at the Mukfurs camp at the moment, but for the sake of convenience, you can move between them reasonably easily. They are typically about a days travel from each other.

Kato puts the "ghost"'s offer to the Gnolls.

"That would be wonderful. The swamp makes a mess of our fur anyway. The only reason we go there is to get the mushrooms to keep us well and healthy." agrees Corev.

"That's one set of interactions down. Now let's see if we can get the gnolls to agree to a deal with the Mukfurs." The shirren pauses, struck by a thought. "If we're Mukfurs, can we make the deal ourselves? That should be enough, right?"

"Perhaps we could make as deal as mukfurs but we are not leaders of the group. I not sure what they want from the gnolls. They seem happy to stay here."

Kato goes up to the leader of the mukfurs, Inc, and says, "The Gnolls are excellent farmers and they would like a treaty with the Mukfurs. It is terribly inefficient to keep reestablishing farms when the mukfurs pillage them. If there is something you would like from the gnolls they would be happy to provide it in exchange for security and peace. Perhaps the mukfurs could aid in the growing of food. It seems you are unable to cultivate your own food the gnolls could help with that. What do you want?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12hopefully with the aid of someone or preferably I am aiming some one who talks better

"We just want to be left in peace. We would happily provide a small amount of food to the Mukfurs if they did that."..

But it looks as if the gnolls are not yet convinced the yeti could be trusted to do that...

GM A, I think we're talking to the Mukfur leader about the gnolls paying them food for peace.

Diplomacy Aid Another: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

"They wouldn't try to take away your gas vents, and I think they can be trusted to bring you food."

D'oh es, that makes sense.

The Yeti are more than happy to stop harassing the gnolls if the farmers provide them food. "Food with no work! More time for parties." agrees Inix.

"Still issue with scary ghost in swamp. What if he steals food?"

Diplomacy Aid: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (4) + 0 = 4

Sisyar stands back, letting the others talk.

"We have met the ghost. They are only interested in the swamp, so as long as you don't go there the ghost will leave the Mukfurs alone."

You'll need some type of evidence or proposal that would make sense to the Yeti, and a nother diplomacy check.

The only thing I can think of is to offer the chief the vent we dug as a bribe, unless the chief wants to come to the swamp with us and talk directly to the sparkly unicorn.

"] As my colleague Kato has explained, for you alone you will not be able to fully develop as a community but interacted with the other tribesyou could reach some kind of peaceful arrangement that would bring benefits for both, what do you think about it?"

diplo: 1d20 ⇒ 20

"Peace is boring, but whole cavern is boring. Maybe we do peace and caven let us go?" muses the leader.

"I agree."Good time for the natural 20

Sisyar watches the deal happen, not opening his mouth. He nods agreeably at the leader's suggestion.

"Excellent! The ghost will no longer attack the Gnolls and Mukfurs so long as they remain out of the swamps. The Gnolls will offer food to the Mukfurs for a guarantee that they will not be attacked. The Mukfurs agree to all terms in the hopes that this will open the cavern and allow them to leave."

Kato looks up the 'sky' of the cavern and yells, "Sky drone or computer guy, it looks like we have negotiated mutual agreements between all three groups. Is the experiment over? I could really go for a Hashukayak burger."

Dora nods, the agreements all making sense to her.

The cavern stays silent. Almost as if it doesn't care.

Oh course some of you probably routinely check the signals in the cavern, and you do notice a chance in the power readings coming from the temple in the middle.

Talltree looks up from the readout on their scanning kit. "The readings from the central power source show a change. Let's go to the temple building and see if the change is associated with anything visible."

"Agreed."

You trudge across the cavern. Again. At least you are getting used to the perpetual twilight of the area. And the mists. And the fungi. Some of you may even be acquiring a taste for them.

The temple looms before you as before. Or, not quite as before. This time after checking it out, you notice a large door on the northern side. No idea how you missed it before. Surely it wasn't there then. But it looks an ancient as the rest of the place.

"Well let's go see what is beyond this mysterious door." Kato then moves to open the door.

In case it is looked I will roll an engineering check to try to open it.

Engineering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Talltree follows, scanning the area.

Perception check: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

The door opens easily. Almost... too easily.

Compared to the dim light outside, the interior of this circular room is quite bright. The source of the illumination is a clear central pillar approximately 10 feet in diameter, which pulses with a continuous series of bright bursts of blue light that travel up and down the interior. Around the perimeter of the chamber, numerous terminals and instruments are embedded in the white walls and provide readouts on a range of information both biological and technological.

Sisyar looks around. "What's this? Seems a bit outta place."

Not being much of a computer person, Sisyar looks around for any signs of life, or another way out.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19

Sisya can easily determine that the equipment here is used to monitor something and the pulsing energy node in the center of the room is definitely the source of the strange readings...

Kato will walk around the inner chamber looking at the readouts and try to get a sense what exactly they are monitoring.

Computers: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

He then turns his attention to the energy node.

"I believe that this is the control center for the experiment, though why the experimenters would let their test subjects have access to it--even after the study has ended--is baffling. Certainly none of the behavioral research I'm aware of does that." The shirren clicks their mandibles together dismissively. "Tchk! Any sufficiently non-standard behavior is indistinguishable from the scenario writers going with Rule of Cool talented amateurishness."