| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
”The Empress of Heaven protects me the sicknesses that usually accompany filth.”
Mukluk nods, understanding the value of such a trait.
”Oh, with that notion, you’d make a killing in the dwarven slush tunnels you would. I spent a season doing that work, and it’s one of the reason I found me my mule and left. It wasn’t work for me, but it seems are you suited to it. Good on you. Maybe, if you want, after we finish all this, I’ll put in a good work for you with them those that do that sort of work. If you don’t mind the stink, I think they would be lucky to have you,” Mukluk offers helpfully as he follows Rory to the next spot.
He will inspect Rory inspecting the door and wait for it to be opened.
Perception
The door to this room is heavy, and locked, as well as barred - on this side. It takes a moment or two to get through as the lock is more complex than others found so far. But in the end, the chamber is obvious.
A cramped cell ten feet deep and no more than five feet high has been excavated in this corner of the tower’s foundation. The cell is rank with the smell of sweat and urine, and a pair of rats scurry among the rib cage of some former inhabitant. A prison, if an empty one.
Mukluk will scan the cell with Detect Magic. If there are any poop-encrusted diamonds about, he will point Kisaiya at them.
Perception
”Where to next, Rory? Seems like we should have found what we are seeking by now. I mean, I bet Moose would have lead us right to it. That’s all I’m saying.”
Mukluk finds nothing of value here.
”The Empress of Heaven protects me the sicknesses that usually accompany filth.”Mukluk nods, understanding the value of such a trait.
”Oh, with that notion, you’d make a killing in the dwarven slush tunnels you would. I spent a season doing that work, and it’s one of the reason I found me my mule and left. It wasn’t work for me, but it seems are you suited to it. Good on you. Maybe, if you want, after we finish all this, I’ll put in a good work for you with them those that do that sort of work. If you don’t mind the stink, I think they would be lucky to have you,” Mukluk offers helpfully as he follows Rory to the next spot.
He will inspect Rory inspecting the door and wait for it to be opened.
1d20+14 Perception
Kisaiya tries not to grimace, but doesn’t quite manage to hold it back. ”Thank you, but I do not think that will be necessary. I swore to serve Ameiko, so I already have a commitment.” She is quite thankful she does. ”I’m just saying that if we have to, or if it comes up….” She lets the sentence fade, worrying that she’s just muddying everything by rambling.
”Anyways, I agree with Rory. Let’s go.”
Durgan follows along with the group, serving as rearguard.
Rory flings open the door.
A lean-to of stacked fieldstones, roofed with steeply sloping thatch, has been constructed against the walls of the main hall and adjacent cliff face. Two massive ovens occupy the south wall, and a number of tables and trestles have been set up about the room for food preparation.
A pot bubbles on the stove, left in haste. There is nobody here, though there is a door leading outside…
A picturesque dell squeezes between the steeply sloping flanks of the nearby crags that rise a hundred feet or more overhead. A narrow waterfall rushes in a torrent down one of these slopes and collects in a catch pond next to a thatch-roofed lean-to with two large fieldstone chimneys (the kitchen). A small torrent exits this pond, wending its way toward the great hall, where it disappears into a metal grate in the hall’s foundation.
A path from the lean-to leads over a narrow bridge of rough-sawn logs arching over the stream and farther down the defile, until it is lost among the rocky outcroppings beyond.
There are a handful of sheep grazing in the small space.
A picturesque dell squeezes between the steeply sloping flanks of the nearby crags that rise a hundred feet or more overhead.
"Why that's just lovely. Lovely it is. And Moose would tell you the same thing, he would," Mukluk appreciates the view. "Now why did we come up by way of the stairs and ninjas when we coulda walked through the meadows and dandelions to get up here? I think Moose would agree that that would have been the better approach, he would have."
Mukluk looks further.
"Maybe we should follow the path down? Or not?"
"That path might not end anywhere that we had access to when we first approached Ravenscraeg. I suppose if we needed to fall back and return to the keep later, we could go out this way and camp in the wild, instead of heading back down the stairs. But wherever we would camp would need cover against being spotted from the air, since that bird escaped."
The stairs descend into a plain room of mortared stones. The walls drip with condensation, giving the air a cold, clammy feel.
The more perceptive of you hear the sound of running water somewhere ahead beyond the door.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Oh! These stairs, yeah, I see, yeah, these are very good stairs. I see that they are going down, very good," Mukluk notes as he follows the party.
Mukluk notes the sound of running water, but does not mention it in case it makes others need to pee. Moose has that problem, always needing to piss when running water is nearby.
He examines the door.
Perception
"I'm pretty sure that's a door."
Having carefully identified the door, Rory carefully opens it!
A deep channel of flowing water crosses the hall here. On the opposite side lies a heavy timber plank. A brass bell and clapper hang from the wall on this side of the stream.
It’s fast moving, and icy cold. Take a dip, and it’s a Fort save (DC 15 or 1d6 nonlethal and fatigued until damage cured and warmed up) for the cold, and a DC 15 swim check for the current. The channel is 9’ across, so could also be jumped with an Acrobatics DC 10.
There is also another door, or at least it looks like one, to the west.
Mukluk moves up after others do, and looks around. He doesn't think he needs a bath just yet and wants to avoid a dip at the moment.
Perception
Mukluk doesn't perceive anything over the roar of the rushing water, nor see anything of note. And no apparent traps on the door.
Durgan considers the gap, but decides against attempting it.
He moves up behind Rory.
Mukluk will follow others to the door, letting them deal with whatever might be inside.
The door opens into a natural cavern thirty feet across and fifteen feet high. A waterfall pours in through a small aperture high on the south wall, filling a turbulent pool in the floor and sending a cold spray throughout the room. A smoothed ledge extends outward from the door, and two large barrels have been set to the right of it. Another ledge sits on the far side of the pool. A smaller cask sits on this ledge, next to a heavy wooden door.
The far door is locked, though of course you need to get to it to know that for sure. The water looks deep, but relatively placid compared to the rushing waterway in the hall. If that water comes from here though, there must be a wondrous undertow...
Mukluk looks around, uncertain what to do.
”Might be we’re supposed to float over in the barrels. Seems ridiculous to me, but maybe they might float enough to get across,” he opines. ”I once heard a story of 13 elves and 1 elf fleeing a hobbit den in barrels of brandy wine. They floated down the river and into the local sahuagin tribe where they were boiled and eaten as stew. True story, that.”
Mukluk takes a moment to rummage in his backpack, pulling out a scroll.
”I have this here scroll, that I can use to give one of us, about one minute of underwater breathing, or just clean air. I use it when I have to wash Moose’s back. He likes to let loose the gas when I’m trying to give him a bath, the trickster.”
Rory quickly pops open a barrel to reveal... more water. The other barrel is empty however.
Ameiko says, "I'll need help across, my swimming skills are terrible. I know, living on shorefront property you'd think I'd have learned, but alas the water never held much interest for me."
"I can dog paddle though, and the water looks smooth enough."
Kisaiya smiles and produces a potion. ”With all my armor, I thought this would be a prudent purchase. Touch of the Sea, it’s called. Will make it easy for me to swim. I would be honored to carry you, Ame.”
Ameiko, and presumably others, are either ferried across by Kisaiya, or she simply brings across a rope and holds it so folks can cross over that way aided. Ameiko works the locked door, which proves to be another tricky one - but not outside her skill range so she gets it open. Let me know if someone has rope…
Oh as you swim you see, strangely, that steps have been carved in front of each door, so you could walk down the stairs, into the pool, and walk up the other side easily. It's strange, and suggests that the pool is at times empty?
The next room is small and musty, hewn from solid rock. Near the far wall stands a low well, its opening only a foot in diameter. A winch and chain with a rusty steel bucket hang from the wall above it. In the far corner sits a pile of old wooden buckets and other debris, rotten and broken, with several different kinds of fungus growing on their remnants.
Once others are across and in the room, Mukluk will push his way in.
”Oh well, well, well, what do we have here?” Mukluk looks down the hole with Detect Magic. And he will examine the fungus, because it’s fun.
Perception
Know (Nature)
Mukluk carefully approaches the well, and peers within. He casts detect magic, and before the spell even goes off, the scabbarded sword wedged about 20’ down, begins to lick with fire.
”Don’t just stand there gaping, get me out of this hole!” you hear roughly in your heads in a thick Tien accent though ‘spoken’, for your benefit no doubt, in common - if an older dialect.
"Oh my!" cries Ameiko, shaken by the thoughts.
Oh, and Mukluk determines it's a common water loving fungus. Totally safe to observe and touch, but eating it will upset even the tough dwarven stomach.
"Anyone have any ideas?"
Mukluk looks down the hole, thinking.
”Not for the first time, I wish I had named Moose ‘Mouse’, then he’d fit down there for sure,” Mukluk offers, trying to think of a solution.
Kisaiya jumps at the voice. She looks around for a source, then leans over to call down to the sword. ”Are you…Suishen? Are you able to move, I suppose? Or did you see something around here that would help us reach you? We are all too big. We have a companion who might be the right suze, but it would take several hours to retrieve her.”
"Really?" the voice continues taking a tone, "I've been waiting generations for a scion to appear, and now you can't fish a sword from a hole?"
There's a pause, "Perhaps I should wait for another scion."
No one has rope or a grapple? And you call yourselves adventurers!
The sword remains wedged in the shaft, and there is nothing further along this path. Where to next? Kisaiya's potion is still going if she wants to try the faster flowing water... Remember, there's a board on the other side, presumably for crossing. Oh, and a bell with a clapper.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Durgan does in fact have a rope. And he has a climber's kit, but not a grappling hook. Still, the rope can be tied in a loop which seems to offer a better chance of retrieving the sword.
"This may be of use."
He takes the rope out of his pack.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ameiko leans over the hole helping, with her extended hand, Rory guide the loop over the sword. Which he does! She sticks her tongue out a bit as she tries to work the mage hand around the sheath. After a moment, she withdraws, ”I think I’ve got it, but pull it up carefully.”
Rory lifts up on the rope, slowly raising the sword from its uncertain perch below. It catches a couple times on the way, but he’s able to lift it gently from the hole!
”Ahhh.” The blade purrs as it is lifted out of the well, ”That’s much better. You, the one with the magic hands, you are the granddaughter if I’m not mistaken. You’ll do.”
The blade quiets the flames and returns to being a non-flaming sword for the moment. Ameiko nods and seems to be speaking to the weapon but telepathically. The blade does not share this conversation with the rest of you.
After a moment, Ameiko leans against the wall. ”This is, as you predicted Kisaiya, Suishen. The blade convinced my grandfather to sell it, er, him? Him might be easier. Anyway, Suishen was sold so as to help hide the family from those who would do us harm. The very folk who seem so interested in assaulting us now - they’re just what was left behind in the search! We’re facing Oni. Powerful creatures - and shape shifters to a degree.”
”Suishen confirms what we have learned so far, I am destined to rule Minkai!” Ameiko picks at the stone of the wall, flaking a little piece off. She’s been told this in a variety of ways now, but it still doesn’t seem real to her, but the facts are becoming hard to ignore.
”The sword says it needs rest now, though why I cannot understand. But it did tell me of its powers too - a formidable weapon!”
She hooks the sheath to her belt, and draws the blade, She shakes the blade slightly and fire licks along its length. She gestures, and the blade erupts with light (Daylight). She gestures again, and steps up into the very air itself (Air Walk)!
She chuckles, ”I’ll go get that board now and help you all across.” She suggests.
Mukluk moves up to examine the sword.
"Uh, Your Royal Majesti-Highness? Do you mind if I, I mean, me and Moose, examine the blade when we get a chance? I mean Moose will want to see it, so he knows that I'm not telling tales about all this, and I think we might learn a bit about the blade if we have a chance to look at it," Mukluk asks in a humble voice. "We won't hurt it, and I almost promise Moose won't use it as a backscratcher or anything. I got him a solid branch that seems to do the job. We're just gunna wanna see what it's all about."
"Of course Mukluk. Shuishen is asleep anyway. Or something."
She calms the flames and hands the blade to the stout dwarf.
Mukluk will follow others to the board, and probably cross last and very very slowly after the others.
Ameiko casually air walks over the rushing water and grapples with the heavy board. As she drags it to the water and heaves it over, a troll pokes its head around the corner. ”Hey. That’s my job!”
The board is set across the water. DC 10 acrobatics to move across balancing on the beam.
Trolls possess incredibly sharp claws and amazing regenerative powers, allowing them to recover from nearly any wound. They are stooped, fantastically ugly, and astonishingly strong—combined with their claws, their strength allows them to literally tear apart flesh to feed their voracious appetites. Trolls stand about 14 feet tall, but their hunched postures often make them appear shorter. An adult troll weighs around 1,000 pounds.
- - -
Kisaiya starts trying to move across the board.
She struggles to keep her balance with her heavy armor, though.
HP: 46/49
AC: 23/14/21
Saves: F7/R4/W7
Hero Points: 2
Smite Evil Used: 0/2
Lay on Hands Used: 3/4
Divine Bond Used: 1/1
Second Chance
Spells/Effects Active: Aura of Deflection, divine bond (+1), inspire courage
[ dice]1d20+10[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d8+7[/dice] damage.
Know (Nature)
"That them there is a troll, I tells yeah," Mukluk begins to explain about trolls, and how much Moose hates them.
"One time, a troll ate Moose's sammich. Not just any ol' sammich, but one with sprouts. That made Moose plenty angry. As you might expect."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Kisaiya looks ahead at Ameiko to remind herself how important it is she gets across. She swore to her friend, the most important person in her life, that she would follow her and protect her. She can’t be beat by a damn plank of wood.
Kisaiya, after some initial difficulty, joins Ameiko facing the troll!
- - -
The troll, not being the brightest combatant, steps forward (5’ step) and attacks … Ameiko!
Ameiko is hit once for a vicious bite!
Round 1
Feeling helpful, Mukluk blesses the party with a little bit of Moose.
[ dice=Trepanator]1d20+2[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6[/dice] cold iron piercing damage
[ dice=MuleBite]1d20+4[/dice] touch to hit;
[ dice=Divine]1d4+2[/dice] damage
[ dice=MuleKicks]1d20+4[/dice] touch to hit;
[ dice=Force]1d4[/dice] damage
[ dice=Divine Mule Piss]1d20+4[/dice] touch to hit;
[ dice]1d4+2[/dice] divine fire
touch to hit;
acid
touch hit;
fire damage
AC: 12/12/10 + 1 w/shield
Fort/Ref/Will: +2/+3/+9 +2 vs spells, poison
HP: 27/27
Resist 5 cold/acid
Focus: 0/3
Hero Points: 0/3
Speed: 20'
Luck? 0/1 used
MuleFire: 0/7 used
Durgan cannot do anything.
He delays.
Kisaiya calls upon the power of the Empress of Heaven to guide her blows and protect her from this vile troll’s blows.
HP: 46/49
AC: 25/16/23
Saves: F7/R4/W7
Hero Points: 2
Smite Evil Used: 0/2
Lay on Hands Used: 3/4
Divine Bond Used: 1/1
Second Chance
Spells/Effects Active: Smite Evil
[ dice]1d20+10[/dice] to hit;
[ dice]1d6+4[/dice] damage.
Rory tumbles in badly as the troll gets an AoO. However, the troll is more affected as Storm bites the large creature and drags it down, enabling Rory to get in a nice swing too! Mukluk blesses the party while Durgan delays to see what happens. Kisaiya and slams the prone troll with Saya! Ameiko inspires the group with a song. She also climbs further into the air (10’ up - 15’ ceilings) and closes in.
The trolls eyes flicker with fear at the sight of the flaming blade… Nonetheless, it remains. Perhaps because there’s only one way out. So it stands, and attacks Ameiko. Ameiko, Kisaiya, Rory, and Storm each get an AoO.
(inspire, higher)
(inspire)
Ameiko clearly struggles with the new blade - trying to deal with an unexpected heft.
Ameiko is however bitten herself.