While everyone else is browsing, Rocko will pull Jules aside and hand over 200gp up front for buying supplies.
"We need gear for being down in tunnels. Things like what our miners have for when bad mine stuff goes down. You know tunnel gear better than a plains fellow like me. If you could rustle up what you reckon we might need in tunnels that are old and all dangerful, I would much appreciate it."
He then pauses.
"And if you need more to throw in helpful magic do-dads, I can see about you getting paid for your trouble."
Jules notes she doesn't really have anything like "goggles"; she has two pair of reading glasses, but those would be confusing with the magnification. She notes, however, some sheer cloth she has, and that some people in the deserts to the west use cloth to cover their eyes during sandstorms. Lets light through, keeps dirt out. You can have it for free with the other purchases.
"Such an interesting away of equipment... Humans are ingenious in their own ways, it seems." The elf notes, poking through the various gear that has been gathered on the counter.
"Where you all headed with this stuff?" Jules asks curiously.
South, to defeat the undead hordes and return with a big candle in a box! Something to do. The young man moved to help carry supplies.
Honestly the magnification sounds potentially helpful. Sometimes details are small
Honestly the magnification sounds potentially helpful. Sometimes details are small
"Five more gold each. You want one, or both?" Jules asks.
Rocko doesn't even hesitate.
"Both. Just for when some foolin mistake wrecks the first one."
Yoltzin, who was curiously examining the strange pieces of framed glass, gently puts the set she was holding down upon Rocko's words. They were giving her too much of a headache anyway.
Would you mind if we took a peek at the tunnels, just so we all have the same... point of reference?
Chinuye gathers a few days worth of rations but before she can purchase them, she ponders out loud. How long should it take to reach the mesas?
Would you mind if we took a peek at the tunnels
"Of course! Rocko and Yoltzin can show you to the supply-room stairs in the back. At the back of the room near some wine shelves is the door leading into the tunnels. I've left it open."
"As far as travel time, probably a day's march if you're on foot," Jules says. "Ranchers from down there make the round trip journey in a day on wagons."
Rocko remembers back to the previous Octum, when he and several companions traveled that same route to investigate strange cow disappearances.
Anyone who wishes can go back to the supply room stairs and check out the tunnels. There are only four basic rooms along a single hallway.
Anyone who goes downstairs, please give me a Perception check to examine the area.
Djack moves into the tunnels, examining the walls and floors. He's confident in his friends abilities. But, with his experience as a grave robber tomb raider, he might still discover something that has escaped their notice.
Djack moves into the tunnels, examining the walls and floors. He's confident in his friends abilities. But, with his experience as a
grave robbertomb raider, he might still discover something that has escaped their notice.
Djack does note a couple nooks that have been thusfar overlooked, but they contain nothing more than some long desiccated herbs, a dusty pair of old boots, and a few empty scroll cases.
What do you all make of these... he draws attention to his finds.
"Items left behind by him, I imagine?" She states, giving the boots a glanceover as well as the cases, before moving along.
Nothing particularly interesting about them; certainly no magic of any sort. Given that Gavalde might have left in a hurry, he would quite likely have left several things behind.
Yoltzin's own search is not much more fruitful. She scans the rooms, remembering the battles she and Rocko fought here not long ago. Certainly not challenging fights, considering several others she's been through. The remains of the undead she removed to the local Temple of the High Seven (which, annoyingly, left out her own deity).
An old pendant was left behind from the dead, but it was cheap and also not magical. And the remains of a busted hour glass, which she remembers Rocko screaming from during the battle as the glass cut his leg.
Rocko will do a once over through the tunnels for good measure, not that he's likely to find anything anyone else missed. And just for giggles, he'll try on the magnifying glasses as he's looking at some of the walls. Unfortunately he's being more careful not to break the things on his first use rather than do a thorough search.
And just because he does have it, a dungeoneering roll too
Chinuye buys three days worth of rations before following the others into the tunnels. She goes about exploring the tunnels with a giddy smile plastered across her face. As she moves through the tunnels she concentrates on a detect magic spell, pointing the spell in every which way.
Not far at all; just 30 or 40' with a few small rooms.
Rocko will do a once over through the tunnels for good measure... And just because he does have it, a dungeoneering roll too
If Rocko was certain before that they hadn't missed anything of great import, he's doubly certain now. There's nothing more to find, structurally or otherwise, as far as he's concerned.
Chinuye detects nothing of magic, save a very faint lingering aura of necromancy from the undead that lived here until a few months ago when Rocko and Yoltzin helped them move along.
It appears these tunnels are just what they seemed: a place for Gavalde to hide some undead. Whatever items they might have previously protected have been found or were taken by Gavalde when he fled the area.
As the others finish up, downstairs...
Djack helps purchase what Rocko indicates and 5 days worth of trail rations and some feed for Djillian.
A horse has got to eat.
Chaucair knows that, even to the south, the number of features that would count as a "mesa" (as opposed to the smaller buttes) are few this far east. Over the mountains where the land is more wide open, there are hundreds. But here, the options are limited. As such, it should be no more than a day's search to find the one that contains Gavlade's caverns.
"It was only a chance lead, I suppose." She says as they return from the tunnels. "All that was interesting here, Rocko and I have already uncovered. When shall we meet for our trip out of town?"
Djack considers.
We should head out, now. I'm in no rush, but if we leave now we can overnight before we get close... you know, to any creepy things.
Then, we can approach in the daylight. He seems proud of himself.
She tilts her head, "Creepy things?"
Necromancer? Definitely creepy shambling rotting things.
The trip goes fairly smoothly; heading south as, as some of you have done many times before, you cross the stream that's an offshoot of the River Casnei, and by lunchtime you're at the Boulder Mark, a place where several boulders cluster at the bottom of a hill along the trail. The chill of the morning burns off quickly, and leads to a comfortable afternoon.
By mid-afternoon, you begin passing lanes to several ranches, and soon, you come to one that reads The Lonely Canyon Ranch. Rocko remembers back to the time he, Spizz, Pious and the others once stopped some weird bug-men from kidnapping cattle here. He's still got one of their lightning-rods, back at his hut.
The entire journey so far, you've seen nothing more hostile than some distant coyotes, and they wanted no part of you. Evening will be setting in soon, and you're about to head off-trail into uninhabited territory. Ahead are several dozen buttes, mostly under 30' in height, but some taller. Between them the small verdant buds of early spring give some color to the browns and grays of rock.
Rocko thinks camping the night in a relatively safe place would be better than pushing on in the dark. He waves over his recently acquired animal companion and asks the raven to do a quick reconnaissance of the area.
"Hey Kaki, hows about you fly around to see what's here?"
"Can do, Rockhead!", the bird caws happily before flapping away.
Rocko grumbles, wondering who could have possibly managed to teach the bird that name, along with a few choice, dirty jokes.
Kaki returns with a tale of narrow passages between several buttes and smaller mesas, with dense but as yet barren foliage. He also notes a few downed trees in one of the canyons.
The night passes without incident, and the morning of Februm 26 dawns windy and cold. After a short and largely joyless breakfast, the party is ready to enter the canyons.
Everyone please give me perception. Djack, use your +8 only.
[dice=Perception]1d20+8
Yoltzin had held her tongue after Djack made his response the other day, realizing that humans seemed to have their own disposition towards death and, by extension, necromancy. It was unlikely that this famed necromancer practiced these magics in the same way her own people did as well by pleading the honored dead for aid. So for now she kept her thoughts to herself.
As the day came and went onto the next, she performed her morning rituals with a burning of sage, chanting in her elvish tongue as she communed with her god for guidance that day. The addition of three more humans to the mix did little to stifle her habits.
Perception: 30
As the party winds their way through the brambles, small streams, and bushes growing on and between several buttes, Yoltzin hears something just out of range of the others. Once she points it out, Djack can readily hear it as well. Kind of a low grumbling, just around the next bend. And movement.
Rocko will listen in to see if he can identify the source of the noise.
Rocko hears the noise, but the best he can tell is quite grumbling. Doesn't sound animal to him, unless it's a very strange one.
Combat map at top of page is updated. The colors are way off, but it was the closest I could find to the shapes that looked right. The big gray things are buttes between 12' and 30' high (the one to your left is about 20'). Party identified by First Initial (except Chinuye Tamakuda, who is "T").
Well, Rocko would like to at least try starting out friendly to whoever or whatever it may be. He'll whisper to everyone else,
'Shall we go say 'hello' all polite like first? Might want to be ready if'n things get ugly, though.'
He's planning on approaching with shield and axe stowed, unless everyone asks he not do so.