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Myrp's darts fly wide this time, but to be fair, it could be hard for the poppet to even see the frog through its allies. Speaking of allies, Jikah's divine power heals some of Taumata's wounds. Khal focuses his attention on the second frog.
However, both of the blows miss, though one barely misses. The frog bites at the ranger. for . It then leaps over the dragon and moves to help its friend against Vasily.
Taumata finishes off the frog in front of him, then moves to support his ally and further wounds that frog.
It could be that the bow string is wet from the storm, or that lightning flashes are messing with his vision, but one of Vasily's arrows misses, and the other one just grazes the frog. The final frog hops down to the main floor, hops over to Vasily, and tries to bite him to no avail. for
The darts from Myrp hit the underside of the overhang, sounding like nails being hammered into place. However, none of them reach the frog. Khal moves forward to help Taumata with the frog that bit the dragon.
for
Khal's blade bites deeply into the frog, which is now severely wounded! The middle frog moves across the ledge (action 1), hops down behind Khal (action 2), and tries to bite him! . However, even surrounded by the frogs, Khal avoids the bite.
The dragon's poison cloud flows out and over the frogs.
While the breath does seem to impact the two still above, the frog right in front of the dragon ducks under the Taumara's extended maw, and none of the gas is absorbed by it. However, it is hit by a claw!
Jikah calls down the blessings of the Wyrmpriest onto Khal.
The gatehouse used to be two floors high, and likely also had a way to get to the roof from the second floor. Now, most of the second floor is just gone, with a narrow section of it remaining. Crouched on that narrow section are 3 frogs, each one the size of a hunting hound. As you enter the area, they move toward you aggressively.
One of the frogs is the first to move. It hops down from above, and then it moves forward towards the dragon. Finally, it tries to bite the dragon.
for The frog does manage to bite Taumata, though the wound is not very severe.
I'll think about it and let everyone weigh in before deciding.
There are no frog cults as far as is known, and the words do not sound familiar to the dragon. Much like they can't see you, you can't see them, since there is a stone wall between you. However, Vasily thinks there must be at least a half-dozen respondents, and he's also pretty sure that the croaking from the gatehouse is frogs and not boggards. You also notice that there are no footsteps near the gatehouse, but the storm could have washed any that were there away.
We can even use Accommodating Moiunt as an anestry feat at 5, like with Centaur, if Myrp or Jikah are riding Taumata often. I'd think that the idea with the feat is that it takes time to get used to syncing actions, and if it's something the group often does, making it accessible earlier than 10 could be a good thing.
You make your way west across the front of the old fort. You do have to wade once or twice. As you keep moving, you can tell there are three separate sounds coming from within. First, there is a drum. It is probably a large one, and its sound is heard about every 30 seconds. Second, shortly after each drum beat, a single voice calls out strange words. Third, a moment after that, a group of people seems to be repeating what the lone speaker said, though none of you can make out the exact language used. When you get even closer to the gatehouse, which juts out as most do, you hear a new sound: croaking. Specifically, the croaking of frogs. From the volume of the croaking, there are either a lot of normal-sized frogs, or a few very large ones, or it could also be the croaking of boggards, but it's more likely that boggards would have attacked whoever is chanting, so that's a very slim possibility.
Sorry that I have not been around for a bit. I've been in the hospital the last few weeks, and I'm fine now. I just got home on the 24th, and that kept me busy the last couple of days. I'll get caught up over the weekend and be back to normal activity by Monday.
Myrp can tell that the chanting is ritualistic, but he can't make out any specific words.
Thanks, Myrp. I'll peek at that at some point.
From where you are, you can't see anyone. You can hear words, at times, over the sounds of the storm, and you can sometimes see smoke, likely from a bonfire. As far as you are aware, they - whoever they are - are not aware of your presence. What do you want to do?
With one eel dead and one fled, you make it to the tower. It's the southeastern tower of the old outpost. With the rain, you can't see that far. The front wall of the fortress continues to the west, and in the distance, you can see the front gatehouse. The wall also resumes around the tower and goes north, which would have been the east wall when the place was fully functional. You can hear chanting from inside the place, perhaps in the courtyard you'd expect beyond the main gate, but you can't make out specific words.
Vasily's blade scores a deep blow, and the eel-like creature retreats after, and vanishes back into the water, and the group can continue.
I will be back in regular groove on Sunday evening. Tied up till thenBack earlier than expected. Is there a way to get the map link more easily accessible? Posting at the top margin or in the GM's header are usually done. I will be doing that, it's on my to-do list. This week has just been, as one might expect, pretty crazy.
One of Taumata's claws and Myrp's darts nearly hit the eel, but Jikah's darts are well off-target.
I 100 percent agree with everything that Jikah said. On a much less important side note, with Thanksgiving being tomorrow and then the weekend behind it, I fully expect many of us will be travelling and/or with families, so I'm figuring we'll get deeper into things next week.
Khal orders his bear to close in on the wounded eel, and then he also moves to attack with his bastard sword.
plus
The first of the eels is grabbed by the bear and run through by Khal, killing it! Dobu turns towards the second eel and studies it for a moment.
He then draws and throws a starknife. for P. [/dice] The starknife grazes the eel.
Hit by a variety of attacks, the first of the eels is significantly wounded. The second one comes towards the group!
Good catch, Drake.
Myrp's branch misses the eel by mere inches!
The poison breath does not seem to harm it much, and like with Myrp, the claw misses by inches.
Thanks for the heads up. I made the change.
As you make your way across the stormy island and towards the keep, two strange eel-like creatures emerge from the water and move towards your group.
The first of the eels makes a beeline towards Taumata.
I'm back. Sorry for being silent the week of the 3rd, I was down sick. I'll get us going again in the next day or so.
We're going to have a slight pause here. Between the weekend and the two-day Paizo website shutdown for the new store from Monday to sometime Wednesday, I'm going to wait until after all that before giving you all your first, and likely relatively easy, encounter.
I'm getting your first map ready with Owlbear Rodeo. Scranford, I know you've used it, so I'm going to PM you with a couple of questions. Stari, as you're not using images here, and I'm not sure how to use your linked mini's with OBR, I'm open to suggestions for how to set up your token(s).
Myrp leads the group across the first bridge and onto the first small island. This island has two bridges leaving it. The one to the right leads onto a small peninsula that seems to get close to a large tower. The one to the left is where the tracks go, and from here you can see that this way are three more islands, none overly large, and beyond them, you can see the gatehouse of the old outpost.
The bridge is definitely made in the same way people in any normal village would make one. It might not last weeks or months, but it is solid enough to get people - quite a few people, Khal thinks - to the first island, and then to the ones beyond. The bridge has no railings and is simply constructed, but it's also sturdy. Vasily can't get an accurate count on how many people passed this way, given the weather and that many footprints overlap, but he'd say at least six. It is probably higher. You can't see any motion in the keep at the current time, but you can see the front wall, hazy through the storm.
"You paid me to take you to another island. I'll wait until it's reasonable to assume you aren't coming back. At least a day." It's not easy travelling in the weather, and the group gently slopes up, but the terrain is rough and overly sodden from centuries of being underwater, and for most of the trip, which takes a couple of hours, you're not even sure there's anything to find. That changes when you get within 200 or so feet of the ruin. Not only can you see plumes of smoke, but you can also see the outer wall of a very ruined keep, likely a small Azlanti or Thassalonion outpost before Earthfall 10,000 years ago. However, what really makes you sure there is something there is closer to you. There are a number of small islands, and each is connected to at least one of the others by small, very recently built bridges. The bridges are made of timber that has clearly been refined, showing that it was bought from a sawmill and brought here. From where you are, there is just one of these new bridges, and it leads to the first island, and that's all you can tell for now.
"We are not going anywhere until the storm ends." the Captain tells Stari.
It doesn't take all that long for the group to make its way to the nearest village, though it is around noon when you make it there. After stopping for lunch at the tavern, you make your way to the docks, hoping to find a boat returning from a morning of fishing for you to charter. You do not find one. But, you do find a boat, just called Garfish, and its captain and two-man crew. They had been doing repairs to nets and had not sailed that morning. The captain takes very little convincing to take the charter from your group. For him, it's an easy and guaranteed way to make up for the lost half-day of fishing. It will take most of the day to get to your island, and it will be smooth sailing. At least it should have been! However, one of the storms that the Lake of Mists and Veils is known for springs up without warning! Garfish's crew springs to work, and while the ride is rough, you are in no danger of going down. But the Captain isn't taking risks! As soon as he spots an island, one of the new ones, but not your desitination, he guides Garfish to it, and with your help, the crew partially beaches the ship, to prevent it being torn apart of nearby rocks in the storm, and to let the hull be a windbreak for the group, as the fishing ship lacks any real quarters for the crew, let alone six passengers! As you all huddle behind the ship, you can see that this island is dominated by the ruins of some ancient building on a far-off hill. When the sun falls, you sometimes see a flicker of light from that building and think you may catch chanting on the wind. However, it might be your imagination playing tricks on you in the ferocious storm. What do you do?
Welcome back. I hope that it was a good trip.
It's not very hard for the group to find a place to cross the border. It's not as easy to actually cross as it would be taking the road, and it does take a few hours of trudging through wilderness to get back to a road deeper within the country. For the next few days, you move north until you come to the coast. You'll need a boat to get into the lake itself. How will you try to find one?
The rest of your trip through the River Kingdoms goes without incident, and soon you reach the Brevoy border. You can pass through an official border crossing. It should not be an issue, but in the often cut-throat house struggles of Brevoy, that is not a guarantee. You could also find a spot to cross the border on your own with no official record of your entering the country. The choice is yours.
Thanks for letting us know. Have a fun week with your guests!
Welcome back.
The troll is not going to try and cross the river. The group has made it too much work for the lazy creature to get to them and it slowly walks back to its lair.
The group gets across the river, thanks to the guide line and the quick thinking of the group. You then cut the line and move onto the road, leaving the swamp troll far behind!
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