Drombar's page

Drombar shrugs, "I guess a quick look won't hurt. Let's all go."

"No, thank you. Unlike elves, I need to sleep. Besides, We shall be off early tomorrow and likely for the next few days, I think I'm gonna need as much sleep as I can, when I can."

"That is all we can ask. If there is an Inn, we will rest for the night and leave in the morning. It is Imperative we reach Saragost as soon as possible; it is all we can do to warn you."

Oh, how I love Mogwai!

Drombar nods at the Drow's words. "In addition, we have the arrow found in this ankheg. Note it's unusual construction, made from materials found underground. If that is not enough, we have another such arrow; the one used to kill the man in Bronce and later we saw with our own eyes to have come from a Duergar. Note the similarity of construction. Also we have the papers themselves discovered on the person of this Duergar, detailing the disposition of troops and logistics for the invasion, and Finally, we have a note from the Elders of Bronce, signed with their seals, testifying to the truth of our story. We cannot tell you what you must do. We cannot even stay to help you do it, we can only warn you and leave the details to you. This much I know, your lives will not be the same. If we are to gather any hope out of this, it will be that when the day came we were not unprepared. Gentlemen, your country needs you. Will you step up to the Mark?"

I figured on leaving out the Hobgoblins. Much as we owe them, their slaughter simply would not move these people.

"Well, good sirs, our tale begins in Bronce, where a local man was shot dead by this arrow. We followed his trail and discovered a hidden cavern..." As quickly as he can, Drombar unfolds their tale, leaving out certain parts that are irrelevant, concluding

"...So you see good sirs that the arrow that killed this Ankheg is of the same nature as the one used in Bronce. The Army is clearly on the move and their scouts are ranging hereabouts already. It will be only a matter of time before they reach here on their way to Saragost. Our mission is to get to Saragost before them and warn them, but also to warn as many on the way. So you see the reason for our urgency for in the morning we will be gone. As for you, you must decide for yourselves how you will respond, we will be long gone before this army reaches you, much to our regret. If all goes well we will be returning with armies from Saragost, but you must manage as best you can until then."

"Much as I'd like to, I think our mission is too precious. If we have time after, maybe we can come back. To be honest, I don't think it'll matter much once the Duergar get here in force."

Duergar, not Drow. We don't know of any drow involvement yet.

"Yes, Aetherni, that thought had crossed my mind..but best not to elucidate in front of these farmers."

I don't think it was the horse that was lonely, I think it was Aetherni, lol

"Well met, Lady Merrywind. I am Drombar." Drombar bows and follows after.

Seeing the bolt, "Ah, that explains where the poison came from. And it ties in with our tale. I think you need to call an emergency meeting."

Drombar has the grace to look a little embarrassed. "Ah, well. That would be the nature of our important message from Bronce that my colleague mentioned. Is there anywhere nearby that's more private where we could discuss this? perhaps along with any other Worthies of Lichgate?"

"Depending on the poison, it may die anyway. How about we stand off and shoot it?" So long as the Farmers are safe, and it doesn't get it into it's head to attack one of us, it shouldn't take long. What concerns me is how an ankheg got poisoned in the first place. Ankhegs running amok can't be good. Although, these farmlands will have to be abandoned anyway."

Didn't you say it was poisoned, Mogwai? It is certainly behaving oddly. What made you think it was poisoned?"

"Poison," Drombar mutters. "That would explain the odd behaviour. Probably dying."

Flagging down the approaching horseman, he calls out,

"It's dying. No need to risk yourself."

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Seeing the mount approaching, Drombar calls out,

"We got company! Mogwai, what are you doing?"

Drombar moves his horse to within 30' and draws. He will hold his fire until Mogwai indicates to attack or Mogwai gets targetted by the Ankheg.

Attack if it happens: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 5 + 1 - 4 = 16 +1 for PBS, -4 firing into melee

Damage if hits: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 lol

Walking his mount forward with his knees, Drombar draws and looses an arrow from his bow. Drombar's horse moves 30', to 40' distance, but he counts as loosing looses at 55' distance.

ride: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Composite Shortbow: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17 Short range
damage if hits: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 lol

Knowledge (Nature): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22 Ooh! Just short!

"It's an ankheg! It will take some time to replenish it's acid. I'm surprised it used it."

"Much as I dislike splitting us, All it would take is one person like Jim to cause enough trouble to delay us, amd I might remind you that time is of the essence."

Drombar sits uneasily on the horse, clearly not having ridden before, but he quickly gets the hang of things and takes an interest in the passing scenery. With each new person that becomes visible, he momentarily brightens and looks to engage them in conversation, but after the first few attempts it is clear the locals want nothing to do with him and the disappointment is visibly etched on his face, as he slowly withdraws into a morose despondency. With Aetherni's comments he comes to himself.

"That's true. We will have to think about how we approach this, as many of our number will be treated with suspicion and our message may well fall on deaf ears. Let's hope the Elders are reasonable. Anyone got any suggestions?"

I am assuming we keep all the stuff that was scheduled for payment to the Hobgoblins. Technically, it all belongs to Leth but if we give it to him I suspect he will just sell it all at the next tribe in exchange for some drink. Somehow, I don't think that would be honouring the memory of Talks-with-Fists, to whom we owe our lives.

I'm in

They're always the worst :(

What he said

I'm not.

"Then we will have to trust that this lunatic is not able to murder them all. If we stay to try to sort him out, it won't matter if they slowed down the army."

"Granted. But staying would mean allowing a Greater Evil; the death of countless lives due to lack of preparation. You cannot right every wrong singlehanded, my friend, and there comes a time when you must truat others to do what you cannot. I think we must let the Sheriff deal with this murderer as best he can; If there is opportunity when our task is done we can come back and tie up any loose ends."

"What about Leth?"

"Well, whoever comes back may choose to wait a few days. The spell works for a minimum of 4 days, though the longer they leave it the more chance that something would happen to the reader. But Brutus is right. Much as I might wish to ambush the ambusher, we have a task that will save more lives. For Talks-with-Fist's death to have any meaning, we must rise above petty revenge and concentrate on preparing these people for war. The greatest revenge would be to spoil their plans to catch these people by surprise. It would also save the most lives."

"All right, we have a blood trail. It was important enough for him to crawl out while he was dying and write the 'No', defacing it and destroying the spell; so he knew about the spell. If the scroll was left by the attackers, then the spell was meant for us. Talks-with-fists decided that if his death was to have any meaning, he must spoil their plan and destroy the spell. The only reason to cast such a spell is so as to come back later and take whoever reads it and is left in suspended animation."

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18 lol, just.

"Wait a minute. This spell is conjuration not abjuration. The only spell I know of that is a conjuration cast on words is Sepia Snake Sigil. The reader is cast into a state of suspended animation; they can be harmed or healed, but the effects only occur when the spell expires after several days."

Drombar takes another look at Talks-with-Fists to see if he is really dead, or in suspended animation.

Uncharacteristically close to tears himself, Drombar moves over to Mogwai. "There will be a reckoning for this, little brother. But for now, Leth needs you, and we need you. We must put aside our grief until we have determined what we must do."

Drombar casts Detect Magic to see if there are any spells in use in the immediate area.

"Whoever did this was sneaky enough to creep up on hobgoblin sentries, and kill them with one shot. My guess is that it must have been at least two snipers firing simultaneously. It looks like the same poison that killed Jim's man. I suspect that the Bear traps are the hobgoblins doing; they strike me as oddly inept compared to the finesse of whoever perpetrated this assassination. Brutus, have you found any tracks?"

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

Having seen the problem with the guards about the same time as Brutus, Drombar's cry of warning was stifled by Brutus' quick response. Glad that the Drow prevented Mogwai from rushing blindly in to what could be a trap, Drombar trailed along behind the others with his bow ready. Stepping over the beartraps, Drombar spies the fletching of a quarrel sticking out of the nearest sentry, and he goes over to inspect it more closely.

Is it the same as the type that killed Jim's man?

Drombar steps to one side so that Mogwai can face Leth.

"This is your moment, little brother," he murmers to Mogwai.

Is it worth putting in some basic tools? axes for chopping trees, saws, picks, spades, etc. - or should we just say that's covered by travel supplies. Don't forget that with only 8 adults, there is a limit to just how much they can carry anyway. There is no point in giving them food that they cannot carry away.

Noone is leaving Mogwai behind! we could never do that! No, I meant we go South after the Hobgoblins have been dealt with

"OK, so time is of the essence and we are to go to Saragost with the scroll. You will remain here to oversee the evacuation and try to delay the invasion force. A few key people will be sent to warn the villages. Mogwai will warn our Hobgoblin allies. I believe that's all the issues resolved, yes?"
I am quite happy for my portion of the loot to be used to pay the Hobgoblins. I think it is a debt that the whole party owes, not just one individual."

"Is it worth approaching other local tribes? They may not want a Drow army invading and may be happy to work as allies or mercenaries."

"Sounds like we need to split ourselves up. A credible witness, the scroll and perhaps a letter of introduction to tour the the local towns and villages, and the rest to pack up the townsfolk and get them moving."

"It's all in the scroll."

"Unfortunately no, we don't believe so. However, we believe he knows who is and where they have gone. We caught him measuring out the muster point for an invasion force."

Drombar shrugs.

"Try it." he says.

Drombar, doesn't affect anything in this instance since there wasn't too much to pick up with those other checks about the door anyway, but remember that taking 20 essentially is assuming that you make 20 attempts, that is why something that normally takes a round takes 2 full minutes. The idea is that you are rolling over and over again and in 20 attempts you probably would have gotten a 20. Works on perceptions since if you are diligent you can take your time and just keep looking at an area that is suspicious, but you can't use it on checks that are one and done, so knowledge checks and the like you either know or you don't. You can take 10 on any check as long as you aren't threatened if you don't want to risk a poor roll, but taking 20 requires no consequence for failure. Bards and some archetypes get abilities that let them take 20 on knowledges and linguistics.

ok. I'll try and remember. I was being lazy and not looking up the proper criteria, figured you'd correct it if I was wrong :D

Drombar looks at the small inset circle for a moment, fingering it thoughtfully, then turns to the others and says,

"What did the prisoner have on his person. A medallion? a holy symbol? I bet that something fits here."

Drombar will use detect magic on the door, and then examine it closely for anything he cvan discover about it.

Knowledge (History)= (20) + 7 = 27 (taking 20)
Linguistics= (20) + 6 = 26 (taking 20)
Perception= (20) + 6 = 26 (taking 20)
Spellcraft= (20) + 7 = 27 (taking 20)

...Personally, I think you told Morton he would be king one day and it went to his head.

That's it! Morton has betrayed us all!

"That makes sense to me. If Jim's lad passed the opening on the eve of their invasion, they would have no choice but to eliminate him and hope that he had told noone. It is fortunate that we were able to track him here."

"So, our captive speaks Dwarvish, though he refuses to do so. The scroll looks to me like a list of instructions in preparation for invasion, as our drow companion says. The markings on the floor here are the markings for a muster point ready for invasion of the surface, each space for one trooper. He is also to prepare supplies and something about a throne? My grasp of this language is a bit shaky, I suspect it is derived from Elvish, though my knowledge of that is shaky too."