Heroes of Dreamlands Side Quest 1
The heroes on currently on the trail; Ravia and Ignis on horses, Meshidawg on his Warg.
Above them is Ignis's giant eagle with her fire fox on its back.
Currently the small group is riding forward over grassy plains, a large forest is in the distance.
The weather is cold and wet and you not very comfortable. You know that when it is night time there will be almost no moonlight to offer any light for exploration.
Ravia peers aloft at the giant eagle.
"Can you communicate with your eagle when it is so far above us?" she asks thoughtfully as you continue.
"I should like to know what it can see up there," she adds.
"Yes, I can. He probably sees only what I saw. When we descend down this hill, we will have to enter a forest. I hope the enemies won't be too difficult!"says Ignis.
"Enemies! Ha! I thought we were facing trolls and giants, not small soldiers." Meshidawg assumes.
"Haven't you learned by now that anyone can be an enemy?"Ignis jokes... kind of.
"Enemies! Ha! I thought we were facing trolls and giants, not small soldiers." Meshidawg assumes.
Ravia turns a glance at the brash words of the Barbarian riding upon his fearsome Warg.
"I am not an expert in such matters, but I understood that Trolls and Giants make their homes in the wild and do not often assail civilized and well-fortified settlements, except now and again by necessity."
"Yet our journey shall take us to the wild lands to the north of your town; in such places it is likely that we shall find things to be far more dangerous then what we might see near your tower and all of your defenses."
"Haven't you learned by now that anyone can be an enemy?"Ignis jokes... kind of.
Ravia turns a somber eye toward Ignis.
"There is only one real enemy..."
She glances to the sky, then looks back at Ignis.
"Death is the enemy - our first enemy, and our last..."
Pratap looks at her from his saddle with a confused look in his eye.
"I know - the Enemy always wins; but we still need to fight him."
"That's all I know," she says with a thoughtful voice then smiles a little at Pratap who shivers nervously, then snuggles in her cloak as she pets him.
A crack of thunder sounds ominously and you continue to ride...
As the party advances toward the trees you notice a few hundred feet from the path there are broken trees with bare branches; sharp, spiky stumps are jutting from the wet ground and laying next to them are many broken logs and branches.
The path itself seems to have many strange holes crisscrossing it, you are not sure what they are from, though.
Ravia looks at you both as rain begins to fall.
”It looks like something large has broken through those branches there,” she says, then studies the path suspiciously.
”Does anyone have skill in Survival? Perhaps they can determine what sort of creature may have done this – and when it happened – and where the creature went,” she adds over the rain.
"I don't have any survival skill, but I'll try anyways."
Meshidawg turns, observes and notice that his Warg has a higher survival skill.
"I don't have any survival skill, but I'll try anyways."
Ravia pulls her cloak higher around her shoulders to keep out the rain.
"If he finds anything can he tell you what he finds?" she asks somewhat skeptically, not sure if Meshidawg can understand the language of wargs...
Meanwhile, Wayde moves the treeline and sniffs in the branches where they seem broken, he moves to the trail and sniffs in it, and his eyes widen.
Barking with fierce, wolf-like growls, he encourages you all to move forward and study the terrain.
There, in the mud, the small holes in the trail look like they are some sort of footprints...
"Whatever made those footprints must have had very large feet," Ravia says slowly as she studies the ground from her horse.
"No doubt Wayde could tell us what sort of creature made those tracks, and how long ago they were made so we know if the threat is near or far, but as he is not a Familiar I don't think we'll be able understand what he was to say."
"Perhaps he can do some sort of barking signal - ask him what you think it may be and maybe he'll bark if you guess right..." she adds as Pratap rolls his eyes and mews something.
"I know Pratap, I can understand you, you're my Familiar, but unfortunately the barbarian and his companion do not have that same magical bond - so yes, though you are small you do have special powers," she adds as the tiger cub gives you both a smug purr while hiding under her cloak.
“Sorry Ravia. I guess that is all we can do right now. We can still try, though.”
There is an awkward pause after Ignis tries to cast a survival spell.
“Wait! Ravia, you are an explorer. That means you are both a universal wizard and healer. Do you have a spell to understand other languages? Maybe you can understand the warg. And Pratap, before you protest, this does not mean that Ravia likes Wayde as much as you.”
“Wait! Ravia, you are an explorer. That means you are both a universal wizard and healer. Do you have a spell to understand other languages? Maybe you can understand the warg. And Pratap, before you protest, this does not mean that Ravia likes Wayde as much as you.”
Pratap pokes his little head from under Ravia's cloak and looks aghast at the possibility that anyone could like anything more than him - but he says nothing about it at this time.
Ravia purses her lips and thinks a moment.
"I do not know if I have such a spell; though I suppose if your Firefox was near you might be able to have him search too..."
"Let me see what I can do to aid Wayde; as an explorer I made it a point to learn many different skills that I find useful in the wild..."
Ravia dismounts while Pratap manages to sit on the saddle and look properly miffed that he is getting wet in the rain.
The total is not as good as Wayde's but with his help the two of them are able to discover some information....
"I am not sure as the rains are making it hard to read the signs, but it looks like some things were wandering south down the trail toward your tower... Something came out of the trees, something big..." she adds, pointing to the north west.
"There looks like something was attacked on the road here, and whatever attacked them went back to the north west," she says looking through the trees.
She looks at you.
"There are no remains on the road; whatever was attacked was taken into the woods..." she adds with a frown and sees that to the west is mountains but between here and the mountains are small craggy hills.
"This is very bad for you and your town. Whatever came out of the woods must live close enough to the road that it could wait and attack folk - also, given that the branches are freshly broken means it's trying to find more food - there was no path to this road..."
"Now that whatever it is has found the road, it will likely return when it is hungry again."
"Unless we try to find the lair of this thing..."
She shields her eyes under the downpour of the rain and studies you both.
"I know it is not part of our original quest, but do you think we should go try to find the lair of this creature? It should be easy to track, even in the rain, but given the size of the foot prints I think it will be very large."
She waits for your answer.
Ignis immediately answers.”Yes, we should. This tower is the only thing that marks out territory. Also, it might attack the tavern and townsfolk.”
"I think we should go hunt it down, who knows how many people it may have terrorized" Meshidawg says. "My warg can observe and find the creature."
Ignis immediately answers.”Yes, we should. This tower is the only thing that marks out territory. Also, it might attack the tavern and townsfolk.”
Ravia nods.
"And what about you?" she says, turning to the barbarian.
"I think we should go hunt it down, who knows how many people it may have terrorized" Meshidawg says. "My warg can observe and find the creature."
"Very good! Then we must leave this trail for a time and turn to the west; hopefully we shall find the enemy soon," she says as the rain continues pour.
Wayde turns and does what he can to observe, but even with his keen senses it is not easy to see much - the tracks are nearly an hour old, or so you think.
Still, Wayde does what he can and is ready to rush through the brambly forest - it's clear enough that he can observe the breaks in the trees where he can travel through.
However, before he does, Ravia gets off her horse.
"There is no path through the woods, except what the creature has made, I am afraid we must lead our horses otherwise they may injure themselves in the rough space," she adds, pulling her cloak tight about her.
"Ignis; your firefox is far above on your eagle. Will he be able to find us under the trees now that we're leaving the path?" she asks.
She then waits as Pratap makes himself properly comfortable on her saddle and stares imperiously at the woods, eager to advance.
As you consider things, you realize that - given the time when the Legionaries came to attack the tavern and given the current time - you would wager the attack on the road might have possibly been against the company of soldiers, or shortly after they passed.
"Yes, they will. They can scout for the creature from above. But I am worried about the horses. Might they get hurt?"Ignis relays the information to her fox in Ignin.
"Yes, they will. They can scout for the creature from above. But I am worried about the horses. Might they get hurt?"Ignis relays the information to her fox in Ignin.
"They could get hurt, but that's only if they rush through the sharp, broken branches - if we lead them through carefully they should be alright; but they cannot rush - if they do, that could be dangerous."
"I am glad you can communicate with your fox; can he tell the eagle what to do, though?" she asks as they lead the horses carefully passed the broken branches.
As you walk the rain falls on you and the ground is becoming muddy and slippery.
Soon you notice something in the mud, and as you notice it, you also notice that the broken branches have divided and there is an actual path through the woods.
Ravia peers down in the mud and studies it carefully.
"Look here; the mud is washing away, but underneath are some very old stones that are laid out in a flat, orderly trail... there must have been a path or road running through here at one point," she says with a puzzled voice.
"I wonder if the path in the mud is as ancient as the ruins we are supposed to explore; if so, the path must lead somewhere... and it seems that so does our trail," she muses.
"Shall we continue?" she asks the others.
"Yes, we should. And don't worry,"Ignis says as she snaps a thick branch off a nearby tree." My familiar is smart enough to communicate with my eagle. We should also use this branch to try to scrape away the mud as we go along so we can at least have somewhat of a sense of if we are on the trail or not."
"My warg can sniff out the trail, but only if you need that, and no need for communication He will just show us the path," Meshidawg answers.
"Since when can a warg smell stones?Ignis says with a smirk.
Ravia glances between the two of you.
"Well, the stones are clearly some old road or trail - that's why there are no trees growing on them; this means that if we look for the place where there are clearly no trees, we should find the same trail this large creature was using..."
She pauses and glances at Ignis.
"I don't think Wayde can smell stones, but maybe he could smell the scent of the creature that walked on them... But, given that there's so much rain, I don't know if the smell is still there as the rain has probably washed it away..."
She pats Wayde on the head and scratches behind his ears, trusting that the warg is a good hunter.
Pratap stares hard at Wayde getting some attention, his little eyes squinting jealously.
Meanwhile, Ravia studies you both for a moment.
"I'm actually surprised neither of you are bothered by the rain; how are you able to endure it so easily?" she asks.
"It was drizzling up until now. Maybe we should collect some of this water in our waterskins,"Ignis suggests. "Meanwhile we should figure out a way to stay dry. We each have a backpack, a waterskin, three days worth of food, a bedroll, fifty feet of rope, and a mess kit. Any ideas?"she finishes.
"We could use the branches of the trees to hang the water skins and protect us," Meshidawg suggests.
Ravia looks at you both.
"Well, you could also probably just adjust your cloaks to cover yourself up a bit better, too," she adds with a shrug.
"I mean, it is only some rain, after all..."
She will then do her best to follow your lead down the mysterious, ancient, forest trail...
"Ravia, how far do you think the ruins are. Ignis, can you check with you're eagle can show you if there is anything up ahead." Meshidawg suggests.
"Ravia, how far do you think the ruins are." Meshidawg suggests.
She frowns a bit.
"It's difficult to say; after all, I only arrived on your shores a day or so ago... Still, I would think that the stone road we are now on might be connected to the ruins somehow - it is, after all, very old," she says thoughtfully.
"If I would guess, I would think that at one point there was a road which led from the ruins to those hills at some point, I would guess that - over time - forests grew up and covered the majority of the road; but there is still the remains of this stone road which we are traveling on."
"This makes me think that they are connected..."
She looks at the sky and the rain and frowns, clearly upset that it is hard to see very well in the downpour.
"Perhaps this road leads to some station or outpost connected to the ruined city... this would make sense - in which case all we should have to do is follow the stone trail the opposite way and we would find the ruined city eventually."
"I would also guess that if there is some ruined outpost we are headed to that whatever creature was in the woods came out, walked on the trail, found people on the dirt road we were traveling on, attacked those people, then - after it ate - it went back to its lair."
She looks at you both.
"When we get to his place, I would think that the creature is likely inside resting, or possibly just avoiding the rain. We should move in cautiously so it does not notice us coming; do some observation to scan whatever defenses it may have, then do our best to go in and defeat the beast and help ourselves to whatever may be in there..."
Pratap gives her a stern look.
"Oh - of course, Pratap - we must also do our best to make sure we help any survivors there, too - if we find any, of course," she adds as he nods his little head sagely at her comment.
"Well, are either of you going to do something?" she asks, wondering what the strategy the fire wizard and the barbarian will use...
"Ignis can use a flame strike inside the cave to damage the creature and provide a distraction for me to rush in and attack."
Meshidawg says. "If Ravia can try and make the creature's ability lower."
"Ignis can use a flame strike inside the cave to damage the creature and provide a distraction for me to rush in and attack."
Meshidawg says. "If Ravia can try and make the creature's ability lower."
Ravia glances at Meshidawg.
"Perhaps - yet more will be judged when we have first seen this creature."
Then, looking at the gray downpour, she pulls her cloak more tightly around her and continues to move forward so she can get a closer look at the terrain and surrounding near the entrance to the creature's lair.
Ignis calls to her fox, and her eagle hovers above the trees. The familiar jumps down into the arms of Ignis, who gently puts him down. Her fox the starts sniffing out the trail.
As the firefox sniffs the trail and the damp it instantly picks up a rather foul smell.
Looking up at Ignis it lets out a series of fox-like cries...
Ignis, as of now the fox can communicate, but only with you, it's master; however, as you get higher level it will become more skilled so that it can communicate with anyone.
In any case, the fox looks at you and says one word -
"Troll..."
That, it seems, is more than enough information; or at least, enough to be worried.
A Lore Check on the nature of Trolls can be made at this time.
Ravia's eyes narrow as she watches the display and she nods sagely.
"So that's what the fox says..." she says with a thoughtful voice, even as Pratap covers his eyes with his paws.
She then turns to Ignis.
"Well, what does it say?" she asks.
"He senses a troll nearby,"Ignis says in a worried voice,"Could this be the creature we are hunting? I will try to find out more"
Ignis uses lore.
"He senses a troll nearby,"Ignis says in a worried voice,"Could this be the creature we are hunting? I will try to find out more"
Ignis uses lore.
1d20+5
"Ignis, TROLLS HATE FIRE. Just find a torch and scare it, or attack with fire. A troll of 12 feet in size will have a very low defense, which means we won't have to worry if we want to attack by physical means." Meshidawg says.
"Ignis, TROLLS HATE FIRE. Just find a torch and scare it, or attack with fire. A troll of 12 feet in size will have a very low defense, which means we won't have to worry if we want to attack by physical means." Meshidawg says.
Ravia looks up at the massive downpour and frowns.
"None of us brought torches, and anyway - in this rain they'd likely go out quickly."
"That means we'll need to go into the cave where it lives and then attack it and hope we can defeat it... Luring it outside could work, but this rain will put out even magical fire before it can do much damage."
Pratap looks up at the clouds and frowns, clearly unhappy at the weather, but now also concerned that it may lead to difficult challenges regarding combat.
"In any case, I don't think we can take the horses inside the cave. Where should we leave them?" she asks.
"We should just tie up the horses to a tree, I won't save them but it will hold them from running," Meshidawg turns his head and looks closely inside the cave. Do you think there will be anyone or any thing other than troll inside.
"We should tie them up,"says Ignis, getting some rope out of her satchel,"But that doesn't mean they will stay out of harms way. There are surely other creatures lurking in these woods."
"My warg can be a guard"
"We should just tie up the horses to a tree, I won't save them but it will hold them from running," Meshidawg turns his head and looks closely inside the cave. Do you think there will be anyone or any thing other than troll inside.
Ravia looks at the opening.
"Maybe, but trolls are normally not very smart and they eat lots of things. I think that the troll would either have other trolls with it, or it would maybe serving some sort of larger creature as a boss... It could have smaller creatures with it, but probably would eat them... I suppose it all depends on how large the cave might be," she says as she studies the opening of the cave.
"We should tie them up,"says Ignis, getting some rope out of her satchel,"But that doesn't mean they will stay out of harms way. There are surely other creatures lurking in these woods."
"Tying them up seems reasonable... fortunately I don't think there will be many creatures near to the cave. After all, if there are many wild creatures near here the troll would probably eat them too... I think most wild creatures would avoid this cave, if cave it is," she adds, studying the stone path leading to the cave.
"My warg can be a guard"
Ravia nods to Meshidawg.
"I didn't think of that, but that sounds like a good strategy, just in case."
Quickly the heroes tie the horses to the trees and the warg remains on guard.
Meshidawg, Ignis and Ravia advance on the cave.
When you get to the mouth of the cave you pause and study it.
"This does not look like a natural cave," Ravia says slowly.
"See the sides of the entrance? They look very square, as if this was the opening to a an old room or chamber... Maybe it was a building built long ago into the mountainside and the troll found the ruins and took it over."
"If anyone has a light, we can advance inside," she says asking the group.
Tying the horses to the trees Meshidawg leaves his warg to guard them and Ignis does not bring either or giant eagle or fire fox with her.
As you reach the opening of the cave you note that it is square and wide enough that a horse could ride into it. Based on the path, you suspect that it may have been made for such a purpose.
The inside is dark and wet and it smells horrible, as if it needs to be cleaned of filth.
Realizing that the barbarian will not make a torch and that the wizard will not cast light, Ravia elects to use the Mana she had for healing to create a magical light so you can at least see what is before you.
"Arryas shirak," she says, but the words sound darker and more mysterious, as if she is speaking a tongue of some older place of power to draw forth her magic.
The chamber you are in is fairly wide, and after walking about 20 feet you come to a gentle incline that leads up about five feet. Walking up that incline you look to your left and right and see you're in a wide chamber that may have once been a chamber.
On the back wall you can see a catwalk , and under that you would guess is where horses once rested.
Peering at the ground you can see that the body of some creature was dragged here; the remains stain the stones.
To your right is a stairway that leads up about one floor and is roughly two squares wide . This is easily wide enough for a troll to walk through, though so far you have not seen a troll yet.
Ravia looks at you both.
"We must arrange ourselves into a proper marching order. There is no telling what other creatures live here besides trolls..."
"How shall we stand so when we advance we remain safe?" she asks you both.