Heading down the hill, the party meets the upset farmer, and manages to smooth things over. The process involves both inspiring a sense of pity (the farmer immediately stops yelling when she sees the injured children, taking them into her hut and offering them a healing tonic) and bribery, with Khaan eventually having to fork over 25 gold pieces for damage done to the farmer's front garden. Relys snags a hold on the errant deer and leads it back up to the road to prevent any additional crop theft.
Frog gets to go inside with the other children, where she gets not just a draught of healing potion but a slice of homemade caramel pie. The farmer serves this without washing her incredibly dirty hands. While the farmer and the hotchi kids talk (in Orc, which the farmer apparently understood this whole time), it comes out that the kids come from the same village that the farmer buys her wool in. She says she could take the kids up there before nightfall today, but she doesn't have the space in her brain to try to wrangle the deer. She hates most animals besides her own tuskbears.
Frog works up the courage to suggest the party take the deer to the hotchi farm while the hotchi get a ride with the farmer, and it turns out that everyone likes that plan. She and Lyra take turns riding the deer behind the car as the seriously battered group of travelers makes their way further up the Wall.
After several hours, during which they see increasing concentrations of sheep on the hillsides around them, the party comes to a quiet village gathered around a stream. They return the deer - Lyra managing to explain how they came by it without causing the childrens' parents any unnecessary anguish (though there is still certainly some anguish) - and camp just outside town, Rivek pulling over in a dry pasture filled with months-old lizardbird patties. Relys goes into the village and buys everyone some cheese and bread.
The party continues their climb the next day, cresting the pass around midmorning and looking out into the sun-bleached haze. The horizon, if one looks past the nearest mountains, is a nearly perfect flat line. Ler'Zet points out a distant promontory that could be a mirage, and a dark spot a little closer than that. He says the party could make it to a hot springs by nightfall, if they hurry. So everyone piles back in the car (Kopokopo still just riding on the roof). Rivek begins playing a hopeful symphony. And the travelers begin their long, winding descent into the Glassfield Desert.
Rivek finally gets the wheel changed and does a risky 5-point turn before pushing the car back up the slope and onto the road. Khaan, Lyra, and Sterling catch a ride as the vehicle, now bearing several notable scratches, vmmmms down the road. It catches up with Jaml and Masaa just as they meet Relys. Masaa refuses to look at anyone, seeming to still be very distraught.
The group climbs down the embankment and goes to the northeast corner of the corn+bean field, which is about as far as Ealykam, Frog, and Ler'Zet have gotten. Ealykam is leaning some of their weight on Frog's outstretched arm, and is moving quite slowly with their injury.
Down the hill about an eighth of a mile, the party can still hear angry yelling.
Linguistics DC 5:
Right now, the farmer's tirade seems to have devolved into pale imitations of dog barks and lion roars.
The center of the swarm is displaced slightly backwards, but a flood of ants on either side rises to replace it. The army seems to compact, forcing itself against the wind but not making any progress against it.
Whimsy awakens to the whistling and bounces up to stand behind Nesica.
No one's gotten their packs ready, but you're all awake now.
After this I'd like to take 10, if that's cool. These f!$%in' rolls...
Yeah, you can take 10 as long as you're out of Initiative. But it's gonna be a little while before Rivek's got the car working again, now.
By the field:
Ealykam takes Frog's hand and gets to their feet. They seem a little wobbly. "Ohhh. Do you ever wish you had something different though? Like I've always wanted to have wings."
Okay, Juno gets a Perception check to wake up when Adi tells Nesica about her plan. DC 10, but she takes a -10 penalty from being asleep. Anyway, Adi and Nesica, and Juno if she wakes up, can act out one turn before the ants reach the camp.
Sunt seems to jerk awake from the raised voices. "What? Smoke? A brushfire?"
I'm realizing that all that bolding was watering down the visual impact of bolding. So for now: location notes in OOC bold, quotes in bold, and character names in italics. We'll see how that goes.
By the car:
Jaml looks at Lyra. "No, it didn't. Thanks."
They look down at their injured side. Their voice is cold, but dazed-cold, not holding-back-anger cold. "Now I want to go home." The hotchi turns and starts slowly walking up the hill after their smallest sibling.
Okay, over the next 10 hours everyone recovers from their heat exhaustion except Adi, who still has 2 failure intervals accrued and is Fatigued. Everyone heals their level in lethal damage (except Adi, who heals twice her level, or 8 hp), and all nonlethal damage is gone at this point). Sunt's at 8 lethal damage, while Whimsy has completely healed.
Nesica has recovered her spells, but Adi has just gotten up to prepare hers.
As the sky is just starting to gray, Adi looks up from her book and notices something. The floor of the ravine is darker than it should be. She's beginning to pick out a reddish-brown color (darkvision is useless for this, but the fire facilitates color sight) when she realizes what she's seeing - a stream of ants about 30 feet long moving downhill towards the camp.
Knowledge (nature) DC 15:
These are called army ants by some Bekyar dialects, for their tendency to mass together and seek out sites of battles between tribes during the Bandu Hills' dry season. This species is able to sniff out such food sources from nearly a quarter mile away, but will still bite living tetrapods in its path.
Knowledge (nature) DC 20:
Army ants cannot swim, and a sufficient pool of water can slow or completely block the swarm's travel. Generally, they'll go around.
Also, some rumors claim that army ants are venomous. But the rumor is unconfirmed, because so few people have been attacked by a swarm and lived to tell.
What is Adi going to do? She has about a round to act.
"That would be, good I think,"Jaml says. "Maybe we can still catch Ban."
Masaa climbs down off the hood, eyes averted. They run up the hill towards the road without a word. Jaml calls, "Masaa!"
By the field:
The irate woman with the straw hat wave-shrugs at Relys as the painterlily turns her back on the garden and heads back uphill towards the road and the field. "Hey weirdo! If you don't come and get your damn deer I'm gonna sell it at the market!"
Ler'Zet finishes putting the last stitch in Ealykam's wound. The hotchi looks up at him and Frog. "Thank you. I think this could've gone a lot worse for me if you all hadn't been here."
"Hey shell-lady, can you stop holding me down and help me up?"
Juno comes back from dumping the body (a truly stomach-turning task) outside of the ravine and looks around a camp of sleeping companions. She realizes she hasn't arranged the watch schedule past her own.
Nab Acrobatics:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7It has to beat white dog's CMD+5+2 or yellow dog's CMD+2, whichever is higher. Uhh . . . after previewing the die roll that comes nowhere close. White dog's Attack Of Opportunity:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12Damage:1d3 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2 Yellow dog's AOO:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22Damage:1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 Confirm critical?:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21Damage:1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5Nab's now at 19 lethal and 1 nonlethal :(
Nab looks around it, seeming to search for the best path through the slew of feral dogs towards the hotchi child it'd been running away from just a minute before. After a moment, it leaps around the yellow dog - but doesn't seem to notice the white one, just under its feet. The white dog grabs a leg again, slowing the deer just enough that the larger yellow dog can jump up and bite hard into its prey's throat. Nab falls to the ground. The dogs pile on.
Jaml turns away from the scene. They say, "Masaa, min meul tow."
Hotchi:
"Masaa, don't look."
The dogs seem not to be interested in the party or the children any more. Do you want to exit Initiative?
Nesica's spell sends the monster's form flying into the ravine wall. Pieces of rotten flesh and maggots rain from it as it moves, and then it hits the wall with a thick thud. The zombie has ceased moving.
Upon investigation, the party sees that the monster's chest had been caved in by Nesica's spell. Though no one remembers doing anything of the sort, they also find that its legs had been cut off at the knees.
Combat over. Sunt, Adi, Juno, and Nesica each gain 300 XP!
Juno lines up the perfect shot. A boom echoes through the ravine, and a puff of smoke goes up. As it clears, Juno sees that the monster's head has been blasted all across Adi. Of its head, only the lower jaw remains. Something about that seems off, though - a shot that direct should've completely destroyed the monster's head, and if this was any natural creature it would be collapsed by now.
But the lower jaw moves, working up and down slowly, despite the necessary tendons being missing. Everyone can hear a gasping sound coming from its windpipe - Adi notices that it has no tongue.
I forgot that Whimsy's still unconscious - removed him from the init.
Round 1: [Sunt] 20 [Adi] [Monster] 15 10 [Juno] 5 [Nesica] Nesica's up! Sunt's up after her.
Meanwhile, the two small black dogs and the larger stripey golden one continue harrying the hotchi's deer. Nab manages to shake off two of them, but one of the black dogs hangs on to its leg.
The golden-colored dog that Lyra just shot continues running downhill, apparently having had enough of any conflict with humanoids for the day.
Handle Animal:1d20 ⇒ 16
Masaa waves a little hand up in the air and begins shrieking. Only after a few seconds does everyone else realize that they're trying to sing. The song has no words, and barely any rhythm, but Nab perks up its ears.
Car Round 9: [Lyra] [Sterling] [Nab] [Yellow dog] [White dog] 15 [Rivek] [Khaan] [Jaml] [2 long-haired black dogs] [2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Masaa]
Lyra and Sterling are up again! Also some NPCs! That's me!
As she's disabled, Adi takes 1 point of damage for making a standard action. Monster Slam Adi:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13Damage:1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8Miss, I think!
Adi swings her sword towards the monster's broken-looking neck, but she stumbles with the weight of it - her muscles are simply exhausted. She does manage to block the creature from getting close to her, using the oversized weapon as a shield.
Round 1: [Sunt] 20 [Adi] [Monster] 15 10 [Juno] 5 [Nesica] [Whimsy]
Juno is up! Nesica's up after her.
Ealykam nods again. They seem to nod a lot. "Maybe it's 'cause of the dry season? My uncle always said that wildcats head up into the mountains when the dry season comes, and maybe dogs do the opposite. Still, it's weird that they're attacking people, right?" The academic dog discussion seems to be calming the kid down somewhat - they barely flinched at the last egg-grass stitch.
In On the car:
Lyra's crossbow bolt finds its mark in the hind leg of the soggy stripey-golden dog, slowing its escape to a hobble.
Rivek keeps the brakes down and the car skids down the hill, leaving big furrows in the sand. At one point during this descent, the vehicle goes over a rock that wasn't quite as shallow as Rivek was expecting, and everyone on the outside hears a shrill metal grating. But finally, the vehicle comes to a halt. Rivek sets the parking brake, grabs the equipment they need, and get to work replacing the tire. It doesn't go too well.
So you'll start out Round 9 being able to make one more Craft (cars) check, but I think another result of 10 or less will have you drop the bolts in the sand, causing you to have to spend a full minute for any checks thereafter.
Anyway, with that extra sliding, the car moved about 60 feet further down the canyon slope. It also took 1 more point of damage from being "driven" while it's not supposed to, so it's at 18/20 hp.
As a summary of the distances involved, from south to north: Bend in road - 180 ft downhill - Car group - 70 ft downhill - Creek and soggy dog (3 damage) - 50 ft uphill - Ban (7+1 nonlethal damage) and attacking dogs (white dog 1 damage)
Car Round 8: [Lyra] [Sterling] [Nab] [Yellow dog] [White dog] 15 [Rivek] [Khaan] [Jaml] [2 long-haired black dogs] [2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Masaa]
Khaan and a bunch of NPCs are up!
The sky is dark, the moon covered by clouds, when everyone wakes with a start. Adi is shrieking, "Zombie!"
DC 17 Perception (cannot take 10, +2 on this if you have low-light vision):
In the shadows of the fire, you see Adi grappling with a pale figure on all fours. Something seems off about the locomotion of the creature, and about the substance of its skin.
Nab kicks at one of the long-haired dogs behind it and tries to gore the golden dog with its antlers. Unfortunately, both dogs dodge out of the way, and the little white dog runs in and bites the deer's foot. It doesn't seem to have broken the skin, though.
Car Round 8:[Lyra] [Sterling] [Nab] [Yellow dog] [White dog] 15 [Rivek] [Jaml] [2 long-haired black dogs] [2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Masaa]
Delaying: [Khaan]
Lyra and Sterling are up!
By the field:
Ealykam scowls at Frog, suddenly petulant. "I don't need to be held down!" They acquiesce eventually, but are squirming even before Ler'Zet has collected all the grass pieces. "Why are you wearing a shell?" they ask Frog.
Ler'Zet wrote:
"Perhapss they are ssimply dessperate."
"Yeah, our family has had wild dogs attacking our sheep, too. I think they're hungry. Very hungry."
Heat damage:3d4 ⇒ (4, 1, 1) = 6 Juno takes 0 damage and is unmoved on the heat track. Adi takes 6 more nonlethal damage and advances to Heatstroke (disabled and sickened are defined in the Glossary section of your PFRPG book, Morhek) at 10 failure intervals. She won't be able to do much of anything.
Nesica Fort:1d20 + 6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 + 2 = 13 Nesica takes 5 more nonlethal damage and advances 2 more failure intervals, to Exhausted (6 failure intervals).
Sunt Fort:1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 2 = 14 Sunt takes 5 more nonlethal and advances 2 more failure intervals, to Exhausted (6 failure intervals). She's now at 12 lethal, 14 nonlethal.
Whimsy Fort:1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 = 13 Whimsy takes 5 more nonlethal and advances 2 more failure intervals, to Exhausted (6 failure intervals). 1 lethal, 13 nonlethal.
Sunt Heal Whimsy long-term care:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12 Sunt Heal Adi Treat Deadly Wounds (lack 2 uses heal kit):1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 8 - 4 = 20 So Adi heals 4 lethal and 4 nonlethal damage, assuming she's 4th level.
Heat track reminder:
Unimpaired – The character has not taken any nonlethal damage from heat. After failing their first save against heat, the character advances to Fatigued. (0)
Fatigued – the character is fatigued. Any character who takes heat damage begins on this stage. After failing two more saves, the character advances to Impaired. (1-2)
Impaired – the character is fatigued, and takes a -5 penalty to all speeds (after armor and other modifiers). After failing two saves, the character advances to Exhausted. (3-4)
Exhausted – the character is exhausted. After failing two saves, the character advances to Heat Exhaustion. (5-6)
Heat Exhaustion – the character is exhausted and sickened, and must make a save against the current heat DC to take a standard action. After failing two saves, the character advances to Heatstroke. (7-8)
Heatstroke – the character is disabled and sickened. After failing two saves, the character advances to Comatose. (9-10)
Sunt sees Adi fumbling to even lift the waterskin over Whimsy, and takes over. "You should not be trying to help a pack animal right now, gnome. Have you drunk any water at all today? You left temperature homeostasis an hour ago!" She sits Adi down, soaks her poncho, and drapes it over the gnome, and regularly plies her with springwater thereafter. Whimsy doesn't really get any attention, unfortunately. It seems to have fallen asleep.
Juno doesn't have much of a clue about the skull pile. Sunt shrugs when asked. "Bandu are into bone sculptures like that. It's sort of a memorial for if a lot of people die in one place - like a colonial graveyard. But to most other tribes it's a sign of bad luck. Not least because they don't like the Bandu. Personally, I thought it looked rather artful."
Morhek, can I get a Perception check from Adi? Don't forget the -2 from the sickened condition.
Relys will shrink sown back to normal size, running to where ban is. She will also attempt to understand what the women said. [Dice= Linguistics] 1d20+2
Relys picks out some Orc loan words, as well as a few of the words she's heard her Aster neighbors use. She thinks the human is calling the deer scary, and telling it to get out of her area and "Go home!"
When Relys appears, wending her way through the corral, the woman looks up, seeming to notice her for the first time. She takes off her straw hat and waves it, and speaks in Orc. She speaks much more loudly than necessary. "Get this damn deer out of my garden! Filthy thing's gonna get its parasites all up in the tuskbear feed. You got a rope to tie on it?"
Ler'Zet wrote:
Ler'Zet looks back up and nods slightly. "I can help, but you will have to be brave. The wound is bad enough to need stitching. Thiss here will ssuffisse for sstiches, but it will not be pleasant. Are you ready?"
Ealykam nods, focusing on Ler'Zet's face instead of their injury. "Just make it quick. And uh, don't eat any of my blood, please."
Frog can help out on the Heal check if she wants - I'd say that in this case, a successful aid would allow Ler'Zet to heal one point of damage to Ealykam immediately, as if using Treat Deadly Wounds but only taking 2 minutes.
Rivek slams on the brakes . . . and the car keeps sliding downhill, only marginally reducing in speed. It's all they can do to keep it from outright rolling.
That 11 was your second move action of your turn on Round 7. The 14 will happen in Round 8!
Car Round 8: [Khaan] 20 [Lyra] [Sterling] [Nab] [Yellow dog] [White dog] 15 [Rivek] [Jaml] [2 long-haired black dogs] [2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Masaa]
Khaan is up!
Heat damage:4d4 ⇒ (3, 1, 2, 2) = 8
DC of this check was 28, so that's 4 more damage to Juno (2+2=4 failure intervals=Impaired), 8 more damage to Adi (3+4=7 failure intervals=Heat Exhaustion).
Sunt Fort:1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 7 + 2 = 21 4 damage to Sunt (2+2=4 failure intervals=Impaired). 12 lethal, 9 nonlethal.
Whimsy Fort:1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 5 + 2 = 9 8 damage to Whimsy (0+4=4 failure intervals=Impaired). 1 lethal, 8 nonlethal.
Nesica Fort:1d20 + 6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 6 + 2 + 2 = 22 4 more nonlethal damage to Nesica (2+2=4 failure intervals=Impaired)
Heat track reminder:
Unimpaired – The character has not taken any nonlethal damage from heat. (0)
Fatigued – the character is fatigued. Any character who takes heat damage begins on this stage. (1-2)
Impaired – the character is fatigued, and takes a -5 penalty to all speeds (after armor and other modifiers). (3-4)
Exhausted – the character is exhausted. (5-6)
Heat Exhaustion – the character is exhausted and sickened, and must make a save against the current heat DC (16, not 28) to take a standard action. (7-8)
The going is very slow after the sun reaches its apex - Juno is lagging behind as she searches for more water sources, and Adi is almost as slow. But Juno's effort pays off: downhill from the strange cairn of skulls, she finds a shallow ravine with a spring in the bottom. The party sets up camp there, draping ponchos between succulents to provide protection against potential rain, and settles in to ride out the night. The sun is not visible, hidden behind deep purple clouds, but there are a few hours left until sunset anyways.
Before 11 am, the party was moving at about By 3 pm everyone in the party is taking a speed penalty, and since Juno is both carrying heavy equipment and searching for food, they make only about 7 miles today. Can I get one last round of Fortitude saves and a watch/healing schedule? Feel free to ask Sunt for help!
Jaml's head bonks into the back of the Rivek's seat, but Masaa remembered to put on their seatbelt and is unharmed. Jaml leans over to them, saying, "Tae anak brakd tha puokke ach baek rueng nih ban te?" They then scoot over to the passenger side and finally buckle in.
Hotchi:
"Are you sure they can drive this thing?"
About 180 feet away from the car's position, on the other side of the canyon, the dogs mob Ban. The smaller long-haired black dogs latch onto Ban's flanks, while the stripey-golden dog bites Ban in the neck, drawing blood.
The other stripey-golden dog, which is on the near shore of the stream and seems to have been fallen in, perks up its ears at the noises. It looks up towards the car careering towards it, seems to consider a moment, and sprints out of the way.
Masaa looks to the larger hotchi with a rueful smile. "I'm sure they can drive it on the road?" They curl into a protective (for themselves) spiky ball.
Car Round 8:[Khaan] 20 [Lyra] [Sterling] [Nab] [Yellow dog] [White dog] 15 [Rivek] [Jaml] [2 long-haired black dogs] [2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Masaa]
Khaan is up! We're also waiting on Reflex saves from Lyra, Rivek, and Sterling, and to find out whether Rivek's stopping the car or continuing.
Rivek slams the pedal to the floor as they continue straight off the edge of the bend. The car lifts off the ground for a long second, then, very soon, its passengers see the ground rising back towards them. Rivek notices a rock they hadn't seen before - Khaan's gymnastic pose had blocked their view. But it's too late to change momentum. The driver's side front wheel POPS with a gunshot-like sound, and a horrid metal screeching can be heard. Rivek's head is thrown towards the steering wheel, and the whole dash begins to make a hissing sound like air escaping. The children in the back seat scream in surprise.
Yeah, that was a failure by 5 or more. Everyone in the car: Make a Reflex save. If you get a 13 or lower, you take 1d6 ⇒ 1 falling damage, and if you were on the car's exterior, you are dislodged and must make a DC 10 Climb (or Fly for Sterling) check to stop yourself from rolling down the slope and taking an additional 1d6 ⇒ 6 damage. If you get a 14 or higher for your Reflex save, you take no damage.
Rivek: The car takes 1 point of damage - mark that down on the car's statistics somewhere. Since we didn't decide this earlier: it normally has a total of 20 hit points. Rivek can choose to immediately stop the car's descent (making another Profession (driver) check to do so) or continue going (which would require no rolls this round, but each future round of driving while the wheel is broken would incur an additional point of damage).
Anyway, you still have time to make one standard or move action, if desired.
I ran flat out of time to post today so I'll have to come back tomorrow with more responses and the NPC actions!
Juno finds a roselle hibiscus bush in full bloom on the roadside, and harvests a sack full of aromatic red flowers. When the party arrives at the boab tree, the frogs are gone, but Juno takes the time to climb up into the branches and pluck some hand-sized fruits. After cracking them open with her new longsword (which doesn't have quite as good an edge as she'd hoped), the party has a brief pleasant brunch on the tart fruit. They also find water in hollows in the tree's trunk, and Juno flavors it with the fragrant hibiscus blooms.
Fort saves 7-11 am:
We'll assume Juno took 10 on her Survival to grant a bonus on saves - she has enough of a bonus, now :)
Juno takes 2d4 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5 nonlethal damage and is Fatigued at 2 failure intervals. She takes a -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity scores until this condition goes away.
Nesica (breeze):1d20 + 6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 2 + 2 = 17 Nesica is also Fatigued at 2 failure intervals and takes 5 nonlethal damage.
Whimsy:1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 2 = 26 Whimsy takes no damage and is Unimpaired. He's at 1 lethal, 0 nonlethal.
Sunt:1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 7 + 2 = 19 Sunt is Fatigued at 2 failure intervals and takes 5 nonlethal damage. This puts her at 5 nonlethal, 12 lethal.
Adi:1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 2 = 11 Adi takes 5 + 1d4 ⇒ 5 + (2) = 7 nonlethal damage and is Impaired at 3 failure intervals.
Track reminder wrote:
Unimpaired – The character has not taken any nonlethal damage from heat. After failing their first save against heat, the character advances to Fatigued. (0 failure intervals)
Fatigued – the character is fatigued. Any character who takes heat damage begins on this stage. After failing two more saves, the character advances to Impaired. (1-2)
Impaired – the character is fatigued, and takes a -5 penalty to all speeds (after armor and other modifiers). After failing two saves, the character advances to Exhausted. (3-4)
The drinks and fruit help a bit, but the party is still sweating hard and the clouds of the previous night have disappeared, leaving only the odd puff of white against a wide blue sky. The party shoulders their packs and continue through this heat.
So Juno, Nesica, and Sunt take 5 nonlethal, and Adi takes 7. Can I get one more Fortitude save from each of you to represent the very hot period in which you're continuing to hike?
"I knew that! I said it hurts if I don't hold it!" Ealykam frowns through their tears at Ler'Zet. "Can't you do anything?"
Ler'Zet suddenly notices a small pricking in his tail. Looking down, he recognizes a small clump of egg-grass - a species whose seed stalks, when broken at their joints, are sharp enough to pierce the shell of a lizardbird egg. The grass is a decent alternative to actual stitches, according to Ler'Zet's relatives who've used it in the field. It even melts into the flesh several weeks after being installed - it doesn't need to be removed like regular stitches.
With that check, you can provide first aid to Ealykam, but it'll take a few minutes.
Nab slowly turns in a circle, head still lowered. Its tail flicks in surprise as the yellow dog and the small white dog spring into the clearing and lunge towards its neck and flank. With a single leap, it dodges out of the way of the first and steps over the second, but it doesn't manage to fight back against them - and seems off-guard now. The dogs seem not to have noticed the car on the other side of the canyon, so intent on wearing down Nab are they.
Car Round 7: [Khaan] 20 [Lyra] [Sterling] [Nab] [Yellow dog] [White dog] 15 [Rivek] [Jaml] [2 long-haired black dogs] [2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Masaa]
Rivek is up! Begin your turn by rolling a Profession (driver) check. It looks like the DC for driving offroad down into the canyon (without having to slam on the brakes right in front of a tree trunk, for example) is between 14 and 20, but you don't know exactly what number you're trying to hit just yet. Failing by 5 or more points could result in damage to your passengers, in addition to your car. If you, however, beat the DC by 5 or more points, you can drive the car with just a free action and your knees (allowing you a move and standard action, as normal).
By the field:
Looking downhill, Relys sees Ban chewing on a plot of sunflowers about as tall as the deer itself. A human woman in overalls and a wide-brimmed straw hat comes into view. She runs up to the deer, still cursing, and shakes her fists. "Singthipen tuayang thi na yankua thithan pen. Kchak khed khongkhony lae pai heuon!"
Ban does not seem impressed, and continues eating.
The rain never ends up coming, and the clouds continue up onto the Bandu Hills. Sunt speaks up several hours later, after everyone's forgotten the original context. "Seems like they were saving it for the mountains."
Whimsy doesn't seem much refreshed by Juno's ministrations, but the cool of evening does seem to help a bit. He recovers consciousness about an hour after supper, and gets a bit of food and water then.
Everyone should recover all the way to Unimpaired from this night's rest.
Adi heals 4 lethal damage and 32 nonlethal damage.
Juno heals 4 lethal and 32 nonlethal damage. (Is this right? Her sheet says she's 4th level but I thought she levelled up recently.)
Nesica heals 6 lethal and 48 nonlethal damage.
Sunt heals to 12 lethal, 0 nonlethal.
Whimsy heals to 1 lethal damage and 0 nonlethal damage.
Starday 9 Lamashan 4710 AR
As Sunt noted, the thunderstorms pass without dropping any moisture worth mentioning. The darkness is broken by flashes of light on the horizon now and then, but everyone gets a decent sleep thanks to their full bellies and relative shelter. Adi takes the last watch and wakes Juno, Nesica, and Sunt shortly before sunrise. "I think we should get packed up. We didn't make much progress yesterday, 'cause of me."
Knowledge (geography) DC 11:
You've got about 35 miles left to Eleder. You could make another 9 miles today if you collect food, or 12 miles if you take a -10 penalty on your Survival check for food-collecting.
Survival DC 15 to predict weather:
Highest heat today is gonna be from 11-3 pm, and there'll be thunderstorms from 3-5 pm. Rain seems unlikely. Tonight will be warmer, but not so warm that you won't be able to rest.
Survival DC 10+ to collect food:
Consult the Survival skill to see how many Medium-sized creatures you can feed.
Can I get at least one Fortitude save from each of you? Decide in your post if you're continuing through the hottest period of the day or trying to find shelter during that time. Also feel free to make a Survival check to give your coworkers a bonus on their Fort saves.
Ealykam continues gripping their arm. They sniff some mucus back into their nose, but the tears keep coming. "Can you fix it? I think it's broken!" They look at Ler'Zet's fangs with trepidation.
Heal DC 10:
Ealykam's arm is not broken, but they have a deep bite wound that bleeds freely when they remove their hand to allow inspection. Stitches, or some sort of supernatural healing, seems like the best option.
Rivek drives smoothly after the first jump, the increased speed eliciting only a gentle hum from the motor. With Kopo's weight gone, the vehicle moves much faster.
So everyone in the car has 2 rounds to fill with any desired preparations before they reach the bend. Probably gonna wait to see if Lyra and Sterling manage to tag along before I go into the animals' initiatives.
Car Round 7: [Khaan] 20 ?[Lyra]? ?[Sterling]? [Nab] [Yellow dog] [White dog] 15 [Rivek] [Jaml] [2 long-haired black dogs] [2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Masaa]
Okay, as a quick update - Juno took no damage from 11:30-3pm (and remains Unimpaired), and Adi took 7 nonlethal damage and is Exhausted (5 failure intervals).
Sunvival:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27ok f@**
For the whole morning, Sunt only finds one clayey seep from which to fill the waterskins. However, as soon as the first lightning strikes, she spots a herd of antelope on the ridgeline above the cave. Springing up the hill with clearly supernatural speed, she lobs a rock at one of the animals, knocking it in the head so that it rolls down towards her. She then drags her catch down to camp, slits its throat, and hangs it from the rock to bleed out into an empty potion vial. She dresses the kill, cuts some sticks from the orange tree, digs out a pit, and begins cooking the Nesica-sized antelope over a fire. The fire doesn't go out from the storm - it's protected from the wind, and no rain comes despite the noise and spectacle.
The food's ready by the time the storm's stopped and the sun has set, and the party gathers around the spit to slice off pieces of meat with their daggers. It lacks salt, but is still very crispy and edible with the orange leaves and wild onions Juno crushed and rubbed over it. Everyone still awake can eat 'til they're full and 'til the pockmarked white moon has risen.
Juno and Sunt can look for a better shelter, but they have a cliff-overhang-style cave here which is pretty decent and will protect from any rain. Sunt will aid in any event with a Survival:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12 +2 to Juno's check. (Apparently, Sunt is just not a team player.)
Sunt Fort 4-6 pm (Survival):1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 7 + 2 = 21Sunt takes no damage and remains at 6 nonlethal, 14 lethal (Fatigued 2 failure intervals).
Whimsy Fort 4-6 pm (Survival):1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 4 = 10 Whimsy takes 2d4 ⇒ (4, 3) = 7 nonlethal damage and has a total of 13 nonlethal and 3 lethal (becoming Exhausted at 6 failure intervals). She falls unconscious.
With that 20, Juno takes no damage and remains Unimpaired.
With that 12 (actually a 14 because the Survival bonus doubles while stationary), Adi takes 4 nonlethal damage and remains Exhausted at 6 failure intervals.
Can I get a single Fortitude save for Nesica?
After rolling Fort save:
If Nesica gets an 18 or higher, she takes no damage and does not advance on the heat exhaustion track.
If Nesica gets a 13-17, she takes 4 nonlethal damage and accrues one failure interval, remaining Fatigued.
If Nesica gets an 8-12, she takes 7 nonlethal damage and accrues 2 failure intervals, becoming Impaired.
Unfortunately, the heat is not mollified by the clouds overhead, and the party still sweats a bit. Whimsy falls asleep, and then doesn't wake up for supper.
You've only traveled for about 5 or 6 hours today, so most of the party still has some energy - but Whimsy's unconscious. Anything in particular you want to do during the night?
Okay, I think if we're splitting up, we can just say that only the group in the car has to worry about rounds and turns.
Khaan makes it to the car, but just barely - she's within range of touching the hood, but hasn't yet gotten around the car to her seat. Lyra, Sterling, and Ler'Zet, meanwhile, race around to the passenger's side back seat, but bump into each other as they try to simultaneously squeeze in.
Rivek sees their client and additional passengers coming, and realizes they're going to slow down the car way too much to be able to catch up to the dogs and deer. They turn the key and slam a foot on the accelerator, and the car lurches forward.
Kopo slides rapidly off the car as it suddenly ceases to be beneath her. Her feet make a solid thumph sound as she hits the pavement, and her eyes seem immediately clear from any drowsiness.
Khaan, Lyra, Sterling, and Ler'Zet can each make a Reflex save or Initiative check to grab onto the car and get in before it gets out of reach. If their result is 15 or higher, they manage to tag along somehow. Otherwise, they're left behind. Post "In the car:" at the start of your post if you are in the former group, and "In the field:" if you're in the latter.
In the car:
Rivek, do you want to accelerate to 120 feet/round instead of 60 feet? If so, make a Profession (driver) check (or take 10) to avoid damaging the motor.
I'd also like to extend an invitation to play one of the hotchi children in the car (Masaa or Jaml) to anyone who feels up to it. Let me know and I can get you information about them.
In a scant number of seconds, Rivek has brought both car and passengers to the bend in the road, and they can see into the canyon below. The canyon is filled with perij and cottonwood trees, the latter's leaves beginning to brown slightly. The canyon is steep, but the rocks and tree trunks look spaced enough that the car could make it down to the water.
Speaking of which, about 250 feet down and north is a dark, channelized creek with sandy banks. A group of fallen trees crosses the water on about the same longitude as the road, and downstream of this blockage, on the near shore, a very soggy-looking stripey-golden dog is shaking itself dry. On the opposite shore and up the slope about 50 feet, Nab can be seen through a break in the trees. It is standing stock still with head lowered.
Perception DC 12:
Three dogs ring the deer and are creeping towards it through the trees: the other stripey golden and both of the long-haired black dogs.
Perception DC 17:
The tiny white dog and the yellow dog are also advancing through the brush near Nab.
If Rivek accelerates, the car gets to the bend in 2 rounds - otherwise it's 4. Does anyone in the car want to do anything specific during this time? Once you've decided what you wanted to do then, the bolded characters can post their Round [x] action:
Car Round [x]:*[Khaan]* 20 *[Lyra]* *[Sterling]* [Nab] *[Ler'Zet]* [Yellow dog] [White dog] 15 [Rivek] [Jaml] [2 long-haired black dogs] [2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Masaa]
By the field:
If you were left behind (or weren't even trying to get in the car, like Frog and Relys), make sure to note that with a "By the field:" in your post. You don't have to worry about Initiative order, but just don't post more than a few actions at a time.
The sandy-yellow dog flees Relys in apparent terror, heading uphill off the road as soon as the car has passed. It practically vanishes.
Perception DC 25:
The dog is about 30 feet up the hill from the ditch, hidden under a red currant bush.
The calico dog disappears into the shrubs and grass uphill as well. You can try to find it if desired, but no one's particularly close there.
Ealykam continues crying by the side of the field, holding their arm tightly. They look up towards Frog and Relys, seeming to realize no one's paying attention, and shrilly yell, "Ow!"
Ban's galloping noises slow, but whoever's shouting at it doesn't stop. If anything, they sound more angry.
Aster:
"Mangy deer! No! Don't go towards the sunflowers! Who in the Inferno are you's, anyways? Why's your harness all snapped?"
Kopo lumbers down the roadside and reunites with Frog.
So to summarize this monster of a post:
We need to figure out who's tagging along in the car and who's staying behind,
We need to figure out if anyone wants to play one of the NPCs,
We need to figure out how fast Rivek is driving,
We need to figure out what the people in the car are doing while they're driving,
We need to figure out what the people in the car do when they get to the bend,
And we need to figure out how the people staying behind react to a crying hotchi, the other escaped deer, the person yelling at the deer, and their own situation.
Just wanted to let y'all know I've been putting off this post because it needs a bit more narration+thought than the others. I'm going to a hotel for my anniversary today and about half of tomorrow, but this game is the first one I'll get back to when I'm home.
You get one Survival check to represent looking for food per day, but you can definitely take 10 tomorrow. Nesica and Adi being Small means they need only half as much food as a Medium creature, so you can split one share of food between them. You could also get Sunt to look for food. Can you give me 7 more Fort saves for the hottest period?
Only Juno has to save to avoid the :30 damages. Everyone else only needs to save 4 times. 11:30 am, Juno's already made this save:1d4 ⇒ 112:1d4 ⇒ 3 12:30 pm:1d4 ⇒ 21 pm:1d4 ⇒ 4 1:30 pm:1d4 ⇒ 12 pm:1d4 ⇒ 1 2:30 pm:1d4 ⇒ 43 pm:1d4 ⇒ 2
Track reminder:
Unimpaired – The character has not taken any nonlethal damage from heat. After failing their first save against heat, the character advances to Fatigued. (0)
Fatigued – the character is fatigued. Any character who takes heat damage begins on this stage. After failing two more saves, the character advances to Impaired. (1-2)
Impaired – the character is fatigued, and takes a -5 penalty to all speeds (after armor and other modifiers). After failing two saves, the character advances to Exhausted. (3-4)
Exhausted – the character is exhausted. After failing two saves, the character advances to Heat Exhaustion. (5-6)
Heat Exhaustion – the character is exhausted and sickened, and must make a save against the current heat DC to take a standard action. After failing two saves, the character advances to Heatstroke. (7-8)
Sunt (Juno bonus):1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 4 = 191d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 7 + 4 = 301d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 7 + 4 = 201d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 7 + 4 = 17 [ooc]Sunt takes no damage during the rest but has a total of 6 nonlethal, 14 lethal (Fatigued 2 saves).
So Nesica took 4 nonlethal damage and is Fatigued with 1 failed save.
Most of the party settles in to rest in the cave. Juno returns after several hours with her meager finds, and just as the group is finishing eating, a distant thunderclap is heard. The worst of the day's heat has passed, though the humidity is still exhausting.
Sunt gestures towards the path. "We continuing, then? Gonna be slow going with the dog and the gnome so worn out."
Juno discovers that the orange tree has been picked almost clean - she finds only a few underripe fruits near the tree's apex. She also finds a bird nest in a bush along the track. One of the eggs seems to contain a developing embryo, but the other three seem palatable enough. Unfortunately, they're perishingly small. Only two people can get any significant nourishment from the oranges and eggs.
If you specifically want to only look for supplies during the hottest part of the day, you'll have to make Fort saves as if you weren't resting in the shelter. Otherwise you might want to look for food as you travel, since you already decided to travel more slowly to be able to forage along the way.
The road where you are is on a south-north zig, with north being uphill. About 200 feet to the north from Rivek's position is a bend in the road where it switches south, and beyond this bend another hundred feet is a steep canyon thick with trees. About half a mile up the canyon, the trees have been cleared and a wooden bridge can be seen.
To the west (and downhill) of the road is a 20-foot steep gravel slope, after which is about 40 more feet of bunchgrass. A bunch of bales of wool, and the remains of a hotchi cart, are strewn through this brush. West of this brush is a field of corn and beans, but the field ends about 50 feet north of Ealykam, and is just bunchgrass from there on north to the canyon. West and downhill of Ealykam about 400 feet is a corral, and a further 200 feet is a large protrusion out of the slope, and a garden.
Ealykam, the middle-sized hotchi, is the prime latitude.
~300 feet north of Ealykam, beyond the road and out of sight somewhere in the canyon, is the most recently escaped deer, named Nab. It is dragging part of the cart's remains and is fleeing as quickly as it can. Four dogs are hot on its heels. Somewhere in those woods are two long-haired black dogs, two stripey golden dogs, a plain yellow dog, and a small white dog.
The small sandy-yellow dog is about 60 feet north of Ealykam and 70 feet east of them (up on the road). It seems scared of Relys.
Parallel with the northern edge of the corn field (50 feet north of Ealykam) and about 750 feet west of Ealykam is the earliest-escaped deer, Ban. It is downhill and probably out of sight for anyone not on the western shoulder of the road (that is, only Relys can see it), but everyone can hear its hoofbeats and tell its direction.
On the same latitude as Ban, but instead 60 feet east of Ealykam, is Relys (4 damage), up on the road. She's scared the sandy-yellow dog.
North of Ealykam about 20 feet is Frog, shaking her fist at the sandy-yellow dog.
At the edge of the brush, near a perij tree that marks the boundary of a combined bean-and-corn-field, sits Ealykam (4 damage), crying. Khaan (5 damage) is standing a short distance away from Ealykam, over the body of the bluish-grey dog. A quartet of supernatural lights floats over them.
Lyra (2 damage) and Sterling (Lyra's talking raven) are about 20 feet south of Ealykam and 10 feet west of Ealykam. Ler'Zet is on the same latitude as Lyra and 20 feet west of Ealykam.
About 10 feet south of Ealykam, up on the road (so 60 feet east of them), is the insensate red dog.
South of Ealykam 30 feet (and east 70 feet) is the metallic blue car, on which Kopokopo (Frog's dire axolotl) is sleeping. Rivek is in the driver's seat, while Jaml, the largest hotchi child (3 damage) is in the middle back seat and Masaa (1 damage, the smallest hotchi) is in the driver's side back seat.
Directly behind the car is the small grey dog (sleeping). Southwest of that dog is also the white-spotted black dog, sleeping. This group is about 55 feet south of Ealykam and 10 feet east of them.
South of Ealykam about 100 feet, the calico-colored dog is sneaking uphill. It seems scared of Ler'Zet.
Is everyone going to get into the car? And if so, Rivek, are you planning to try and drive offroad? Do you want to look for a way to circle around the deer/dogs to cut them off later? Or are you just going to stop once you get the group up to the spot where the road bends?
Juno takes no damage and is Unimpaired. Adi takes 6 nonlethal damage and is Impaired (3 failed saves).
The DC is still 16. Reminder of exhaustion levels:
Unimpaired – The character has not taken any nonlethal damage from heat. After failing their first save against heat, the character advances to Fatigued. (0)
Fatigued – the character is fatigued. Any character who takes heat damage begins on this stage. After failing two more saves, the character advances to Impaired. (1-2)
Impaired – the character is fatigued, and takes a -5 penalty to all speeds (after armor and other modifiers). After failing two saves, the character advances to Exhausted. (3-4)
Exhausted – the character is exhausted. After failing two saves, the character advances to Heat Exhaustion. (5-6)
The party continues their trek, starting as early as Adi's finished preparing spells. They pass the hill where they saw a wooden structure get set alight by a lightning strike earlier in the week - whatever it was seems to have burned to the ground. Around midmorning, they come to the cave and citrus tree where they spent the night of the 4th-5th of Lamashan. From here, Krane Hill is but one of many hills rising up into the towering eastern peaks - recognizable only by the grey color of its crown.
Adi has at this point broken out in an awful sweat, and is lagging behind enough to slow down the rest of the party.
I'll roll saves for Sunt and Whimsy after we've got Nesica's packed away. In the meantime, Morhek, do you want to make a check for Juno to find food along the way? And are you going to rest during the hottest part of the day, or keep going?
Okay, the armor has taken a few points of damage but is not harmed enough to cause any statistical penalties.
I think we need to revise our heat exhaustion save rules yet again, but I'm really short on time right now so let's keep going with the one we have in place. So can you each give me 5 Fortitude saves from 7 am to 11 am?
The bonus is just a one-time thing for being larger, typically, but it is a particularly small dog.
Relys runs up the road, easily getting close enough to bring her razor-sharp claws in detail view for the sandy-yellow dog. It checks its run again and growls, ears back and tail down. It seems scared of her.
Round 5:[Grey and white-black spotted dogs] [Kopo][Khaan] 20 [Lyra + Sterling] [Nab] [Ler'Zet] [Yellow, red, and white dogs] [Ealykam] 15 [Frog] [Rivek] [Jaml] [Bluish-grey, 2 long-haired black, and 2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Sandy yellow dog] [Ban] [Calico dog] [Masaa] [Relys]
Khaan is up! Lyra, Sterling, and Ler'Zet are up after her.
Relys sees Ban leap-juke around the promontory in the hill and charge right down through an onion patch. Suddenly, the whole party hears a string of shouts in Aster from far downhill.
Aster:
"Demon! Slag waiting to be discarded! Get your monstrous hooves out of my garden! Get!"
Perception DC 20:
Stealth:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
The calico-colored dog exits the bean-corn field on its south side and begins slinking through the brush up to the road, well behind the car. It looks fearfully about itself.
Masaa looks in confusion towards the shouts downhill, then gets into the back seat with Jaml and shuts the driver side back door. "Can you get us closer to Nab, Mx. . . . ?"
Round 4:[Grey and white-black spotted dogs] [Kopo] [Khaan] 20 [Lyra + Sterling] [Nab] [Ler'Zet] [Yellow, red, and white dogs] [Ealykam] 15 [Frog] [Rivek] [Jaml] [Bluish-grey, 2 long-haired black, and 2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Sandy yellow dog] [Ban] [Calico dog] [Masaa] [Relys]
Relys is up! Khaan is up after her.
Rivek climbs back up the berm, jogs down the road, and hops into the driver's seat. Jaml climbs into the seat behind them and scoots over to the middle.
That took two move actions, so Rivek doesn't drive anywhere just this turn.
Frog runs north along the edge of the field. She shouts at the Masaa-sized sandy-yellow dog as clarified in Discord, the blue-grey is unconscious, but doesn't seem to scare it. Rather, she seems to attract its attention.
The small sandy-yellow dog checks its pursuit of Nab, wheels around, and begins bounding downhill back towards the party.
It's using the Run action to move 160 feet south along the road. So it's now about 60 feet north of Ealykam.
Round 4:[Grey and white-black spotted dogs] [Kopo] [Khaan] 20 [Lyra + Sterling] [Nab] [Ler'Zet] [Yellow, red, and white dogs] [Ealykam] 15 [Frog] [Rivek] [Jaml] [Bluish-grey, 2 long-haired black, and 2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Sandy yellow dog] [Ban] [Calico dog] [Masaa] [Relys] Relys and some friendly NPCs are up! I'll get the rest of the NPC actions up later.
Juno can also feel more thunderstorms coming - probably around 3-5 pm, today. She also predicts that the heat will keep up on the 9th of Lamashan, with rising nighttime temperatures and continued thunderstorms. The 10th will see more of the same.
I'll try and get more info up tomorrow; ran out of posting time today. Pester me on Discord if I don't get anything up before your Monday.
Ooops you'd already gotten 240 XP for the lizards huh. So just 200 for the vultures now.
Also, everyone should have recovered to the Unimpaired stage of heat exhaustion now. Whimsy seems entirely healed, while Sunt still has 14 lethal damage.
Fireday 8 Lamashan 4710 AR
The party's night is undisturbed, and they rise with the sun feeling relatively refreshed. The morning light catches pieces of crystalline rock embedded in one of the walls that made their shelter, and a pattern can be made out.
DC 15 Appraise OR Knowledge (planes):
The crystals alone are worthless - no different from any other feldspars you've seen in Sargava. However, the pattern is interesting - you realize that it depicts the bottom half of a giant person. The top half is presumably missing because the wall itself is missing up there.
Survival DC 15:
Today's going to get very warm again, and the night will be warm enough that getting into a fight of any kind could prove exhausting. The hours of worst heat will be 11 am - 3 pm as before.
Knowledge (geography) DC 10:
You have about 41 miles left. If you slow down enough to have the best chance at collecting food and water, you'll make about 9 miles today. Otherwise, you'll make 12. Specify whether you're going slow or fast before making your Survival check to gather.
A cracking sound and then a heavy splash can be heard. The yipping seems to die down for just a moment, before rising back up to full volume. Most of the dogs seem to be keeping pace with Nab.
1d20 ⇒ 12
Round 4:[Grey and white-black spotted dogs] [Kopo] [Khaan] 20 [Lyra + Sterling] [Nab] [Ler'Zet] [Yellow, red, and white dogs] [Ealykam] 15 [Frog] [Rivek] [Bluish-grey, 2 long-haired black, and 2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Sandy yellow dog] [Ban] [Calico dog] [Masaa] [Relys]
Delaying: [Jaml]
Frog and Rivek are up! Relys is up once they've posted.
A lil' bookkeeping post before I go to bed - 440 xp each for the lizards and vultures.
Sunt Heal to Juno:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15 Sunt Heal to Nesica:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12 Sunt Heal to Whimsy:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26 So Juno, Adi, and Whimsy heal double their class level in lethal damage for this rest - and double their class level in nonlethal damage every hour.
Sunt had 6 nonlethal and 18 lethal damage. Recording this here because I can't edit her sheet.
The party randomly assigns Nesica to first watch, Juno to second watch, and Sunt to third watch. It's possible to see clearly for quite a distance from a wall-remnant promontory on the northern edge of the ruins, thanks to the full moon's light and the infrequent clouds.
Khaan comes behind the bluish-grey dog as it attacks Ealykam. She swings her cane down in a single, desperate strike, and the blade connects. The dog collapses with a short growl.
The bluish-grey dog has taken 9 damage and is unconscious.
Perception DC 15:
Nab continues its flight north across the canyon. The splash of water and a sound like cracking wood can be heard over the din of howls and yips.
Acrobatics:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
The plain yellow dog's deeper yips can be heard not far from the crashing noise.
Acrobatics:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
Jaml cups a hand around their mouth and shouts down. "The dogs are going to get Nab! May we please use your car?" Their other hand they keep pressed to their side.
The white dog disappears into the canyon.
Ealykam looks around at everyone gathered, then at the unconscious dog in front of them, then at their wound. Their gaze seems to freeze there.
Round 4:[Grey and white-black spotted dogs] [Kopo] [Khaan] 20 [Lyra + Sterling] [Nab] [Ler'Zet] [Yellow, red, and white dogs] [Ealykam] 15 [Frog] [Rivek] [Bluish-grey, 2 long-haired black, and 2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Sandy yellow dog] [Ban] [Calico dog] [Masaa] [Relys]
Delaying: [Jaml]
Lyra, Sterling, and Ler'Zet are up! Frog and Rivek can act once they've posted. Note you can talk as a free action outside of your turn.
The party climbs up to the ruins. They seem abandoned long since - only a few walls remain standing, and piles of rubble are strewn everywhere. The ruins cover an area of about 50 square meters, and look out on both Desperation Bay and the faint violet outlines of the Bandu Hills. As the party sets up camp in a corner where two walls meet, they see the setting sun drop below the horizon. A speck on the water catches the last orange rays - a sailing ship, somewhere out in Desperation Bay.
Knowledge (engineering) DC 15:
This ruin, originally multi-storied was broken not by weathering, but by intentional deconstruction. The deconstruction happened in the last century or so. The architecture is not Chelish in design.
Taking advantage of the dog's distraction, Relys slashes down with paper-thin claws. Her first blow drops the animal unconscious.
Do you want to use your second attack to kill the dog, or take a move action?
The group of animals around the car continues napping.
Round 4:[Grey and white-black spotted dogs] [Kopo][Khaan] 20 [Lyra + Sterling] [Nab] [Ler'Zet] [Jaml] [Yellow, red, and white dogs] [Ealykam] 15 [Frog] [Rivek] [Bluish-grey, 2 long-haired black, and 2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Sandy yellow dog] [Ban] [Calico dog] [Masaa] [Relys]
Khaan is up! Lyra, Sterling, and Ler'Zet can act once she's posted.
Location Update:
The road where you are is on a south-north zig, with north being uphill. About 200 feet to the north from Rivek's position is a bend in the road where it switches south, and beyond this bend another hundred feet is a steep canyon thick with trees. To the west (and downhill) of the road is a 20-foot steep gravel slope, after which is about 40 more feet of bunchgrass. A bunch of bales of wool, and the remains of a hotchi cart, are strewn through this brush. West of this brush is a field of corn and beans, but the field ends about 50 feet north of Ealykam, and is just bunchgrass from there on north to the canyon. West and downhill of Ealykam about 400 feet is a corral, and a further 200 feet is a large protrusion out of the slope, and a garden.
Rivek and Ealykam are the prime latitude, both equally north.
250 feet north of Rivek/Ealykam, beyond the road and out of sight somewhere in the canyon, is the most recently escaped deer, named Nab. It is dragging part of the cart's remains and is fleeing as quickly as it can. Five dogs are hot on its heels - a couple black ones, a couple stripey golden ones, and a plain yellow one.
220 feet north of Rivek/Ealykam, having run off the bend and into the woods around the canyon, are the sandy yellow dog and the small white dog (1 damage). They are both chasing Nab.
Parallel with the northern edge of the corn field (50 feet north of Ealykam) and about 500 feet west of Ealykam is the earliest-escaped deer, Ban. It is downhill and probably out of sight for anyone not on the western shoulder of the road (that is, only Relys can see it), but everyone can hear its hoofbeats and tell its direction.
At the edge of the brush, near a perij tree that marks the boundary of a combined bean-and-corn-field, stand Ealykam (4 damage), Lyra (2 damage), Sterling (Lyra's talking raven), Ler'Zet, Khaan (6 damage), Frog, and the bluish-gray dog (2 damage). The bluish-gray dog is in melee combat with Ealykam and Khaan. A quartet of floating lights has appeared above the battle.
The calico-colored dog is apparently hiding somewhere in the field.
Rivek is standing halfway down the road's western berm, about 10 feet from the scrub and 10 feet from the road surface. They are a total of 50 feet east from Ealykam.
About 10 feet south of Rivek's level, up on the road (so 10 feet east of them), Relys (4 damage) has just defeated the red dog (2 nonlethal + at least 11 lethal damage).
South of Rivek 35 feet is the metallic blue car, on which Kopokopo (Frog's dire axolotl) is sleeping. By the driver's side door stands Jaml, the largest hotchi child (3 damage). Next to them is Masaa, the smallest (1 damage).
Directly behind the car is the small grey dog (sleeping). Southwest of that dog is also the white-spotted black dog, sleeping. This group is about 55 feet south of Rivek and 10 feet east of them.
The dogs seem uninterested in Rivek's flurry of lights - they have perhaps encountered floating lights before, down in the swamps, and understand them to be false prey. Or perhaps they just don't notice the lights in the heat of the hunt.
The sandy yellow dog continues to chase after its pack-mates and Nab. They have a good lead on it, though.
Ban jumps over the fence of one side of a corral and back over the other, continuing its scared escape downhill and to the west. Relys can see that it's coming up on top of a protrusion in the hill, around which is planted a diverse garden.
The calico dog fails to make an appearance.
Masaa picks up a stray piece of gravel and lobs it at the red dog attacking Relys. The rock hits the paperthirsty animal right in the snout, actually knocking it to the side slightly with the hit. Masaa shouts, "Leave her alone!"
Masaa rock at red dog (throwing into melee):1d20 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 1 - 4 = 17Damage:1d3 - 4 ⇒ (1) - 4 = -3Confirm?:1d20 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 1 - 4 = 14Extra damage:1d3 - 4 ⇒ (2) - 4 = -2The red dog takes 2 nonlethal damage.
Round 3:[Grey and white-black spotted dogs] [Kopo] [Khaan] 20 [Lyra + Sterling] [Nab] [Ler'Zet] [Jaml] [Yellow, red, and white dogs] [Ealykam] 15 [Frog] [Rivek] [Bluish-grey, 2 long-haired black, and 2 stripey-gold dogs] 10 [Sandy yellow dog] [Ban] [Calico dog] [Masaa] [Relys]I'm putting the calico dog in italics not because it's asleep, but because it's clearly been scared into hiding. Relys is up! Khaan can post as soon as she's acted! Relys, if you could post a reminder to Khaan regarding that when you post, that might help speed us up.
The party makes it to the evening without any new victims falling to the heat and humidity. Sunt seems to lag a bit, tired from a full day of carrying Adi.
As the sun is getting ready to set, the party sees a stone ruin at the top of a ridge they're climbing, silhouetted against the yellowing clouds. They can camp on the ridge where they are, claim the ruin as a campsite, or choose to continue hiking into the night. The soil on the trail is damp and cool, as if it'd rained here earlier in the day.
It seems like the night is cool enough that you won't need to make heat saves.
The shade of the bete tree is noticeably cooler than the surrounding terrain, and Nesica, Sunt, and Adi seem almost better than before their four-hour rest. The heat finally decreases when rainclouds again drift in from Desperation Bay, screening the party from the sun and sending down lightning strikes several kilometers away, and it's at this time that the party gets back on the road. They aren't rained on, but at one vantage point they can see rain falling on the higher hills off to the east.
During the hike, Juno detects a tinkling noise and discovers a shallow well camouflaged by rocks and gravel laid over a wooden lid.
It's now 3 pm, and I need 3 more saves from each character before the end of the day. The DC is the same, and you still get +2 from Sunt's Survival check earlier.
The DC is the same - 16. If you've failed a total of 0 saves today, you're Unimpaired.
If you've failed a total of 1-2 saves today, you're Fatigued.
If you've failed a total of 3-4 saves today, you're Impaired.
If you've failed a total of 5-6 saves today, you're Exhausted.
If you've failed a total of 7-8 saves today, you're in Heat Exhaustion.
If you've failed a total of 9-10 saves today, you're in Heatstroke.
If you've failed a total of 11-12 saves today, you're Comatose.
Consult the house rules if you're unsure what each stage means.
Boring for Sunt and Whimsy:
Fortisunt (Surv bonus):1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 7 + 2 = 271d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 191d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13Sunt's Impaired (3 failed saves) and has a total of 8 nonlethal damage.
