Search Posts
Rufon:
Makes perfect sense. Silly me.
"It's a hobgoblin's bow," Vadzik says. It's hard to tell if he's snarling aggressively or if that's just his voice. "A gift from a chief to a hero. Someone who killed many elves, I expect." He grins, displaying his fangs. Rufon:
Following the creature's eye, you look at the bow and note that the leather braiding that covers the shaft is extremely delicate, probably stained dark with berries and charcoal. You have a pretty good idea why the hobgoblin specified that the bow's original owner killed elves. Etienne: As best you can tell, without opening it, the package contains an arrow. Assuming that examine the contents means that you open it, it proves to be an arrow, with something glistening and wet on the arrowhead. On the inside of the wrapping is a silvery stain.
It seems that she may not be the world's greatest lockpick, but after a long while, the lock clicks open. The girl takes her coin and opens the case. Inside is a longbow made of horn and wood and sinew, with the shaft covered with intricately braided leather. There are also five long shafts (presumably arrows) wrapped individually in oiled leather. As the staff and guests of the inn have taken refuge in the chapel, and as there is little to distract them, most of them have gathered round to look. The gnome sighs, disappointed and shuffles off, but Vadzik, the hobgoblin, sees the bow and mutters a curse under his breath.
"You are quite right," Instarit says with a grin of anticipation. "It is a gamble for both of us. If you take my offer and there's nothing inside, you've won twenty gold." Rufon: He doesn't seem to be holding anything back. His grin is more that of a compulsive gambler than someone who knows something.
Duraelo proves to be correct. After finding Caylin taking refuge at the small temple in the village itself, she agrees to open the case for 5 silver pieces.
When you produce the case, however, Instarit (the gnome merchant who was a guest at the inn) interjects. "Why would you waste your money opening something that's probably nothing?" he asks. "I'll give you twenty gold for the box and its contents, and you save yourself a bit of silver."
Sorry guys ... putting together time for a substantive post is proving more difficult that I imagined.
Jalind considers the dagger for a moment, and then shakes his head. "That's worth about ten gold pieces." "I'll tell you all I can about what's inside for nothing, but you're asking me to magic open a lock. A spell I cast for you is a spell I haven't got to use later." He gives the box another long look. "Or I'll open it and tell you everything, if you give me the first pick of what's inside."
Jalind frowns a bit at the case, and then shakes his head. "We don't have a lot of use for picklocks here, though I wouldn't put it past one of Jonah's girls to have a bit of skill in that regard." He taps the case experimentally, and sighs. "You can leave it with me until tomorrow, and I'll see what I can manage, but getting these things done by magic is costly. I can get it open for you for sixty gold."
Jalind takes the box from Rufon and examines it at some length. Eventually, he comes to the same conclusion that you had already reached. "It's locked," he says. Just as you start to suspect that you'd hiked out here to see him for that, he shakes his head. "It's puzzling as well. The workmanship is high quality, probably Bijuterine, but the images are clearly of Cerb, the old pagan god of the wild." He proceeds to identify the two vials as containing potions that will grant superior regenerative powers for a short time. "From your description, I believe that the creature you faced was a form of nightmare made flesh. They were the accidental creations of the ancient dragons that dreamed the world, and are drawn by spiritual corruption as flies are drawn to decay."
It is a moment before the elf recognizes you, though you suspect that may be more to do with having been sound asleep than anything else. He grunts and nods, crutching along into the house and opening a chest. "Yes, yes, you went down to the steaming cavern with Kyra, didn't you?" he says, taking a curious lens which he holds in front of his eye. "I've told her a thousand times, there's nothing down there but rock and mud and hot water. I suppose you found a pretty rock you'd like me to identify?"
The path winds though the forest and passes by a number of semipermanent camps, where tents and roughly built hovels occupy clearings. You pass the sullen singer from last night, splitting wood outside one, and then after half an hour or so, you reach what must be Jalind's place. Stout wooden posts support a high roof, and the skull of a huge boar hangs from the beam at the peak. There are no walls as such, but heavy felt hangings that can be raised to let a breeze in or lowered to hold warmth. Inside are a few simple, comfortable furnishings, and a small herd of tame elk forage in the woods nearby. The site was clearly chosen for the view, for it sits on the ridge line. To the east the seemingly endless forest stretches out below as far as you can see. West, fog fills the valley between this ridge and the next, and beyond that the peaks of distant mountains are visible. You see the elf asleep in a hammock, though as you approach, the complaints of the birds rouses him. He stands carefully with the help of his crutch, moving nimbly, and watches you as you approach.
Among those still awake is Karsto, Kyra's father, who scowls at the lot of you. His eyes are quick to take in your injuries, however, and he trudges over as though the cares of the world were on his shoulders. "Tomas has made room in the temple, if you need a place to rest and recover from your injuries," he says, pointing to a long building that faces west, with a watch tower on top, that you would recognize as a temple of the Awakening. Kyra keeps her chin up, challenging her father with her eyes. She turns when Duraelo speaks to her and nods. "Jalind should be able to help. His camp is just down the trail there. You can't miss it. It's the one with the boar's skull over the door."
The sun has risen while you were underground, and though none of its rays reaches the bottom of the ravine, there is enough light to see. Kyra extinguishes the torch and leads you back along the winding path to the village. The path that was practically invisible in the darkness now seems fairly clear, and after a couple of hours' hiking, you find yourself marching back through the gate in the village's palisade. The ruins of the inn are still smouldering, though only a few people are still out, mostly just staring at it in exhausted shock.
Nightmare Critter=800xp/4=200xp each. Bringing totals up to 700.
The box has no magical aura. It does, however, show extraordinary craftsmanship, and will very likely be worth something to someone, intact.
Kyra stands a rough watch, while Sjora works her healing magic and Rufon and Duraelo poke through the junk. They have nearly given up when Rufon finds a leather sack under a broken table. It contains two Alchemical Silver daggers and a long case of wood and leather embossed with a scene of a stag moving through the forest. The case is approximately 6 feet long, two feet wide and four inches deep. The case is locked.
"Something foul," Kyra says, checking herself again to be sure the gunk has dissipated. "Tomas or Jalind will know more, I expect." She picks up the torch she dropped as the fight began and peers into the room. "What is all this junk?"
Rufon's scimitar slashes down, striking the creature squarely in the middle of its length. The blade passes through and through, but halfway, the creature burst into a spray of vile smelling blackness that spatters you all. dice:
[ooc]Duraelo, Isabeau and Thrace are sickened for one round. The slimy black stuff quickly dissipates, and though Duraelo looks a little green and the animals both make retching sounds, there seem to be no further effects. Sjora returns after a few seconds have gone by, and the blackness dissipates in a short while. The room remains full of refuse and debris.
Duraelo's spell hits the thing like a cup of coffee.
Kyra draws an arrow and aims it towards the spot where the creature disappeared. When it emerges from the darkness, it swoops towards Rufon, snapping its teeth to little effect, but deftly avoiding the attacks of the adventurers.
dice:
Sjora steps forward and slashes at the thing, almost knocking it to the floor, but it manages to stay aloft, and to evade the attacks of the others. Kyra launches another arrow at the thing, that is batted aside by one of the writhing tails. It flaps back into the darkness, a hideous wailing sound escaping its maw, and Sjora turns and shoves past the rest of you as she flees. Sjora:
The sound seems to reach into you and chill your heart, and you have a vision of an endless blackness filled with creatures of which this is the least horrifying. It's enough to make you rabbit. Rolls: Rounds.
Dice:
For a tense moment, the darkness swirls and stretches inky tendrils towards you, and the sound of wings seems to come from everywhere. Then the creature emerges over the junkpile beside Thrace (G-21) and opens its mouth wide. There is a snap of bowstrings as Sjora and Kyra shoot, and this time, it is Kyra's arrow that finds the mark. The beast opens its mouth wide and spews forth a different sort of darkness, not one that fills the air but one that seems to cover and corrupt the flesh. Its writhing tails reach down for the tiger's legs, but Thrace ignores the touch. Duraelo and Etienne take 2 pts damage each.
Rolls:
Placement:
Duraelo F-18 Etienne F-19 Kyra G-18 Rufon H-19 Thrace G-20 Sjora G-19 If everyone's ok with this, we'll proceed, otherwise, shuffle yourselves according to your whim. It ... drops down at M-24 The thing that you see dropping down from the cieling is nothing natural. Black, leathery wings support a fat, short worm-like creature that seems to be little more than a circular mouth, ringed with teeth and too many writhing tails to count. Etienne gets an arrow off but misses the creature. Sjora's crossbow snaps and the bolt shoots straight into the wide open mouth, just as a huge cloud of inky blackness spews out. You can't see how the bolt affects the creature, but you hear a horrible screaming sound. Darkness fills the room, stopping just shy of where you guys stand. J-19, I-20, H-21, G-22 and everything behind are in darkness, with all the normal effects. Darkness:
In areas of darkness, creatures without darkvision are effectively blinded. In addition to the obvious effects, a blinded creature has a 50% miss chance in combat (all opponents have total concealment), loses any Dexterity bonus to AC, takes a –2 penalty to AC, and takes a –4 penalty on Perception checks that rely on sight and most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks.
Now Beginning Round 1: It goes last, so post as you will.
Etienne and Sjora:
You hear a sound like wings flapping from the darkness to the south. Initiative: Surprise Round: Sjora and Etienne, then It.
As you come around a sharp bend in the narrow passageway, the cavern opens up. This area seems to be a junkyard of some kind, as there are several enormous and messy piles of broken furniture, tools, glass, etc. As best you can tell from the broken remains, all of it is of a curious design that is unfamiliar and slightly unsettling.
The floor here is bare of the white sand that has covered the rest of the cave so far, being bare brown stone of the same kind as the walls and cieling. There are no candles set in niches here either, so Kyra's torch provides the only light.
When the hounds are skinned and the bottles stowed, Kyra looks around the room, uncertainly. "I don't know what to make of this place," she says, frowning at the alchemical apparatus. "Maybe we'll find answers further on. There's still the other fork here and the original passage that we came in on, where we heard the laughter coming from."
Bear with me getting the hang of PbP ... does the gameplay need a nudge?
Experience thus far:
Roleplay/Bonus:
For a grand total of 500xp apiece.
Duraelo casts the spell, and sees a faint aura of orangey-gold energy appear around the vials.
The second creature is impaled by Etienne's arrow and collapse, bleeding out on the sandy floor.
Knowledge Nature 15+: They are called Malus Hounds. They appear to be common sled dogs with an alchemical infusion of Winter Wolf blood.
While Duraelo's ray strikes the creature, it seems to have little effect.
Kyra steps forward beside Rufon (L9) and takes a swing at the creature
She misses, and the creature turns to snap at her in turn.
She is almost able to jump out of its way, but it catches her leg and gives her a bad bite.
DMPCing Etienne in 24 hours.
The thing lets out a piteous yelp as Sjora's hammer smashes down on it, snapping bones and crushing the creature to the ground. One paw twitches for a moment before the last breath of cold mist slips out of its mouth.
Placement:
Fairly arbitrary: I hope everyone's ok with this. Thrace M-10 Rufon L-11 Sjora L9 Etienne K-11 Duraelo K-12 Kyra L-11 As the cloth lifts up, two small doglike creatures are revealed. Their breath billows in clouds of mist that swirl around them and leave a frosty residue on their thick black fur. With a snarling sound, they leap forward, fangs bared.
The one that charges Sjora swerves away to avoid a swing of her hammer and misses, but the other scores a hit on Thrace, leaving a gash blackened at the edges by frostbite. They end their turns at M8 and N9
Thrace growls at the table, tail waving side to side as he crouches down. Etienne:
You notice the table cloth swaying, as if there were something under the table. Initiative:
Thrace, Etienne and Isabeau can act in the surprise round, (the others passive perception (or rolled, in Rufon's case) is not high enough to notice anything dangerous.
So the surprise round goes:
And then it goes:
You hear an eerie snuffling and growling from under the table.
The sand in this cave is undisturbed, laying evenly across the floor like a clean, white carpet. In the center of the room is a large work table covered by a heavy green cloth that hangs to the floor. On this sit a variety of bottles and tubes, forming a complete alchemist's lab. The equipment glistens as though it has just been cleaned, and most of the bottles are empty, though there are two stoppered bottles filled with a clear liquid. Do these still seem ominous?:
The tiger scents the air, and then growls, back arching aggressively as he stares towards the southern fork of the passage's T with bared teeth.
Kids are pretty great too, because they immerse themselves before you can blink, but you need a rules-light system.
That's what I look for in a player. |