Anthropomorphic Adventures

[Sliver]

You enter into a 30X25ft room that has a sign "Exit" in front of it, hoping it will take you outside. The doors close behind you as you all step into it and you feel it starts moving outside. After about a minute, the doors open into a clearing in the woods. As you all step outside, you look behind and see that you were riding in a metal box. You hear "We hope you have enjoyed your visit" in a female voice and the doors close. Soon after that, the box moves down the ground, disappearing. Where it stood, now is what looks like a brick floor, same size as the box, with a notice "Bob's zoo is closed until further notice. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

The clearing is about 70ft in radius and there is a small trail between the trees going north. Except your group, the rest of the Anthropomorphic animals say their goodbyes and leave through the trees.

You feel a cold breeze and through the trees see many gray clouds are gathering.

A spot check if you want to make one.

Go.

OOC thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7670009)

[Aecus]

"I don't like the looksss of thisss. In fact I don't like thisss whole thing at all. What are we to do now?" Ssszaast hisses he he finishes placing the last parts of his pack together. Seemingly frustrated, Sszaast sweeps his vision around the glade and then glares at the sky, and even as he does so his tail sweeps from one side to the other, a very obvious sign of frustration.



Spot Check and a Survival Check to determine the weather.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"Where's Bob?" The dinosaur looks around, puzzled. ([roll0]). "It's nearly lunch time, and I'm hungry. And it's cold."

[Sliver]

Ssszaast:
It's cold, and it will probably get even colder soon. Also, rain will start falling soon. Also, you note some other object flying along the clouds, but you can't really understand what it is, as it is too far and the trees block most of it.

Clyde:
You note some object flying along the clouds, but you can't really understand what it is, as it is too far and the trees block most of it.

[Kainte]

Kaya

"I remember those times when bob took care of us, now they're gone.
Now it's time for us to make our move and take care of ourselves.
I believe we should go north through the trees... don't see any other way"

A female, human-like cheetah standing between Ssszaast and Clyde wearing twisted silk that partially covers her body. A short sword atached to her belt along with a token with the symbol of winged boot.

Kaya turns her sight on Clyde.
"Clyde, Bob is gone and he's not going back..."
Saying softly but in a cold manner.
Spot check - [roll0]

[Zore]

"This is... infuriating. What happened?" Logan muttered to himself, withdrawing slightly from the rest of the group. The Wolverine was dressed in only the roughest of clothing, his fur thick. He spat a bit of fire for emphasis at his feet, sizzling the dirt a bit.

Spot check[roll0]

[Aecus]

"The quesstion is not if he iss gone or or where, but if we sshould care or not? Perssonaly I like the idea of ssome freedom..." Pausing for a second Sszaast continued. "If you all want, I'll go ahead and play sscout before we proceed. Not many thingss can ssee me." Ssaazst hissed with a small chuckle at the end as various shadows seemed to warp over his black hide rendering parts of him invisible.

[Zore]

"Counter productive. The fools already went off by themselves, we have a better chance if we stick together. We have no idea what else might be on this island, and judging from ourselves it could be anything." Logan said punctuating his sentences with a full blast of his lightning breath at the empty ground.

"Also, in the escape I got some extra weapons. Ones I doubt I'll need. Anyone here good with spears or Javelins? I have some made of rather... special materials I found in Bob's little armory."

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"What do you mean Bob's not coming back? I miss Bob. Bob feeds me." Clyde sniffs. "I want meat, but there's no point trying to hunt until everyone gets clear of here."

[Aecus]

"Bob isss dead Clyde. Bob isss dead. Or he just abandoned us, but I don't really care. Are we all agreed to sstart moving?" Sszaast asks in his irritating half hiss/half laugh voice.

[Kainte]

Kaya

"I don't see any signs of danger, but I surely know we should find a cover before it's going to rain"
Saying, while looking up at the clouds.

[Voice of Reason]

Bob did not abandon us. Don't believe that for a second Clyde.

Irieonna takes her eyes off their new surroundings to reply harshly to Sszaast.

Bob was a good man; something terrible has happened to him, that's all. We don't even know that he's not coming back...

Her voice tapers off at the end. Perhaps she is not as certain as she claims. Irieonna resumes her slow sweep of the unfamiliar surroundings. Once, she had lived in a forest, although it was different than this one. For starters, it was warmer where she was from. She survived then, and she'd do it again. She just had to remember.

I'm with Kaya, let's get out of the rain, or at least get moving before our vision is obscured. If we move in any direction away from the zoo, we're making progress. Keep your eyes open, because we don't know what lies outside home.

Spot check - [roll0]

[Sliver]

Irieonna:
You note some object flying along the clouds, but you can't really understand what it is, as it is too far and the trees block most of it.

[Zore]

"Alright, we may as well follow the trail. If we run into anything, I'm doing the talking." Logan said with a slight glare, hefting his backpack and trudging forward towards the small trail.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"Sounds good. But I smell anyone worth eating, I'm stopping for a meal."


[roll0] to scent food. Note that Clyde has the Scent ability, though I'm sure that's rue for most of us.

[Sliver]

Clyde
You detect a weak scent of fire to the north.

[Sliver]

Logan (and those who follow through the trail)
The path is small and the vegetation is thick, and you don't manage to avoid brushing against the branches and getting small cuts. You can't imagine visitors going through this way, and start believing that they didn't, and it is probably a back exit or something unused..

But soon the trail widens and becomes more comfortable to move through and after a couple of minutes you find yourself walking uphill. The trees stop at one point and you find yourself at a grassy area. You hear the sound of falling water to the east and up the hill to the north is what looks like a small cave in some rocks that stick out of the ground and make a little cliff.

Approaching the cave reveals a weak, dying fire and some still warm rags, probably used to sleep in not so long ago. They are dotted with blood and you believe they even smell of Bob.

[Aecus]

"I don't like thisss." Sszaast hisses "I'm going to go sssee if there is anyone elsse here. We can't be the only oness to follow the trail. If those blood sstains are what I think they might be... ssomething bad is around here. Ass it is undissturbed..." Szaast's hisses as he starts to move around the cave, weaving in and out of the shadows projected by the hilltop.


Sszaast is going to take 10 on a survival check for a total of 27 to find whatever tracks he can here (he does have the track feat), specifically tracks that don't like they were caused by bob or anything that would have left those blood stains, though he will note any humanoid tracks as well.

Szzaast is also taking 10 on a hide check and a move silently check for totals of 34 hide and 22 move silently wherever there are shadows in order to keep himself hidden as often as possible when he does this.

[Sliver]

Sszaast:
You find some tracks that go east towards the sounds of the waterfall, but they stop abruptly 40ft from the cave

[Kainte]

Kaya

Kaya aproches to the rags.
"I believe it belongs to Bob."

Kaya starts looking around her trying to find more information about the cave.
Search check - [roll0]
Spot check - [roll1]

"Looks like a place to hide from the rain."
While taking a suspicious look on the rags.Though, something bad happened here, and most certainly, it happened to Bob."

[Aecus]

"Careful everyone. Careful. Whatever did thiss iss probably sstill in the cave. There are trackss leading into it. If we want to approach it we sshould get ready." Sszaast hisses towards his comrades as he finishes his inspections of the tracks, though they might not be able to see exactly where he is speaking from, as he is still hiding in the closest shadow.

[Kainte]

Kaya

"The fire is still alive and the rags are warm. Could it be Bob is still alive? I believe we should find out."
As she speaks looking in the direction Sszaast's voice was heard from.

[Aecus]

"Actually now that I look at the trackss again... they sseem to be leading away from the cave, not towardss it. Whatever wass here hass left." Sszaast seems almost to cackle at his own mistake.

[Sliver]

You might have noticed before, but couldn't tell what it was, but now at a higher spot without the trees to block sight, you see the airship hanging high in the air among the clouds.

[Aecus]

"An airsship? Sszaast hisses with a slightly positive note to the sound (as far as one can tell with a hiss) "Perhapss we can usse thiss. Maybe we can make ssome ssort of ssignal to it, like with ssmoke and ssee if it comess over to uss. We could get out of here or fight out what happened."

Pausing for a second, Sszaast adds with a slightly deeper hiss "Or the airsship could be whoever did thiss and took away Bob. In which casse I'm not ssure we want to contact them. What do you all think?"

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"Bob's hurt! I think, at least, looking at all of this. He probably needs our help. The good news is that we've found a place to rest. The bad news is that it doesn't seem to have been too safe, and... what's that?" he adds, pointing to the airship.

[Kainte]

Kaya

"Alright then! Let's make a signal! Maybe they have answers or at least we could try."

[Zore]

"Alright, let me do the talking. " Logan told the others gruffly, "Worst comes to worst I can hold them for a few seconds and the rest of you can attack."

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"So, if we can get their attention, we'll either get answers or lunch. I'm good with that."

[Zore]

Logan reached down to his crude belt, grasping his his spell components and muttering the guttural sound of Draconic to himself. He felt the magic surge around him. Tossing his hands into the air he willed the magic to form unnaturally colored words that spelled out HELP in common as big as he was able.


Craft: Visible Letters[roll0]

[Aecus]

"Alright then. I'll try to build a ssignal fire then. Whoever can, help me with thiss." Szzast hisses as he goes about his work gathering various pieces of wood and leaves in order to create the signal fire.


[roll0]

[Sliver]

Logan: What are you trying to write?

[Zore]

"Help" in a shade of vibrant clashing color that would stand out.

[Kainte]

Kaya

"I don't know if the fire is going to be effective, but I've got an idea! I've got some oil, bow and arrows and there's a little fire out here."
She starts taking out the "ingredients" of her backpack.
"I'm just going to tear a little piece of Bob's robe, soak it in oil, cover with it the the head of the arrow and fire it up at the airship's direction!"
"Hopefully it'll work."

[Sliver]

The bright letters seem to help in some way.. A crate appears before you!

[Zore]

"A crate? How did it..." Logan muttered to himself. "Hey, someone who knows about traps and such take a look at this and tell me if its going to kill us."

[Aecus]

"I sshall do sso. Sstand back in casse ssomething bad comess out." Sszaast hisses towards his comrades as he approaches the chest.


Sszaast is going to take 20 on a search check for traps on the crate for a total of +29

[Voice of Reason]

OOC: Ninja'd thrice; past actions in spoiler.

Irieonna takes especially great care in examining the scene. It's not that she does not trust Szzast, she is sure he's capable enough, but it never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes, and a nose, on the job. Especially where Bob is concerned. After going over the perimeter, she returns to the bloodstained sleeping garments, and rips off a small, bloodstained piece. Wrapping it in some unstained cloth, she puts the garment into one of her belt pouches. This might be of use to them someday in helping to track down either Bob or whoever else may have been here; the scent will linger. She takes in another deep sniff of the sleeping clothes and rejoins the others.

Bob could very well have been here, the area smells a little bit like him. Irieonna cannot be entirely certain, but she wants to believe that she's right in her assumptions. If Bob was here, it means that he was alive not too long ago, and that gives Irieonna heart; there's not enough blood for him to have been killed on scene.

Hopefully, the airship will spot us and respond favorably.

All the same, Irieonna runs her talons over her weapons once again. They're a little unfamiliar, but not entirely alien. If the people in the airship prove to be unfriendly, she would be able to handle them. Irieonna begins gathering firewood to help get a signal fire lit, hoping the rain will be staved off until it is blazing.

Survival to find tracks and scent marks in the area [roll0]

Survival to find firewood for a signal pyre [roll1]

[Kainte]

Kaya

Kaya throws a glare at the crate a little amazed by what just happened. Slowly she puts all of her stuff in the backpack.
"Looks like it worked..."

[Voice of Reason]

Allow me to assist you. A second pair of eyes never hurts.

Irieonna walks forward with Szzast and examines the box with him, taking great care.

Aid another search check [roll0] - success.

[Sliver]

The crate seems not trapped, there is a note sticked to it.

[Aecus]

Sszaast looks at the note for a second before shrugging and reading it out loud to all of his comrades.


Assuming he can understand it.

He knows common, sylvan, druidic, and terran.

[Sliver]

"We are sorry for any inconvenience, a message has been sent and the proper authoraties will try and fix any and all your problems as soon as possible. Meanwhile, you are welcome to enjoy our delux survivor pack, available at stores around the world for low and affordable prices!

Robert's Rescue and Destroy Department"

[Kainte]

Kaya

"What's written down there?"

[Zore]

"... Well that's helpful," Logan muttered, "What does that even mean? Ugh, lets take a look inside the crate and see what they sent us at any rate."

[Kainte]

Kaya

"I just hope it's not going to be a BIG surprise"
Now she stands near logan, gazing at the strange object.

[Aecus]

"One way to find out." Sszaast hisses as he slithers closer to the box and tries to open it.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"Is it lunch?" He sniffs at the crate hoping for scents of food. "At any rate, it's kind of cold around here. I'd settle for a fur coat even if I don't get to eat what it was originally wrapped in."

[Sliver]

The crate contains a lot of small packages and a sheet of paper on top.

[Kainte]

Kaya

"At any rate we should organize a campfire in here."

Kaya aproches to the crate and look inside.

[Aecus]

"If the cold truly becomess a problem, I will be able to handle it tommorow. Ass for me. I already brought my fur coat." Sszaast hisses with a slight laugh as his scaly faces breaks into a small grin and he rubs the warm furs and clothing he is wearing. After he is finished, Sszaast picks up the piece of paper and examines it.


Looking towards his comrade Sszaast agrees "I sshall help do sso in the entrance of the cave sso the rain doess not put it out when I am done looking through the package."

[Sliver]

It looks like it is a list, with instructions at the top.

"Just add water to enlarge the item"

Then it Starts listing


2 tents
6 sleeping bags
6 winter blankets
10, chalk
2 buckets
10 candles
2 crowbars
2 jugs
3 flasks
2 flint and steel
6 grappling hooks
6 50ft long silk ropes
2 hammers
2 Lanterns
1 Mirror
2 Mugs
20 pints of oil
20 sheets of paper
10 pitons
2 belt pouches
6 bars of soap
10 torches
10 waterskins
5 acid flasks
5 alchemical fire flasks
3 smokesticks
2 sunrods
10 tindertwig
10 pounds of meat
10 pounts of vegetables and fruit
5 loafs of bread
1 kiddie meal with a surprise
wood, enough for setting a campfire to burn for 100 hours


"If you wish for the survival package platinum edition, please leave a hundred gold pieces in an open area and call"

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"Just add water..." he looks up at the clouds in the sky. "Right. Into the cave with the crate before it starts raining." He gets alongside the crate and starts pushing it (unless it's light enough to pick up and carry [1200#]).

[Sliver]

The crate is surprisingly light, and weights about 20 pounds.

[Aecus]

"Let uss only usse what we need from it. We sshould keep it in a ssafe place too. Depending on how long we are here, ssomething like thiss might become very important. I'm going to go build a fire, and then look at the cave. Letss not use the firewood until we have to." Sszaast hisses as he starts to slither back towards the forest and the remains of the smoke signals.


Sszaast is going to take 10 on survival for a 25 to build a fire a bit into the cave, sheltered enough so that the rain won't hit it.

Then depending on what everyone wants to do we can start searching the cave.

[Zore]

"Agreed. For now we should set up the cave as our base of operations at least until the rain passes. " Logan said, "And we should hurry. I hate getting wet."

[Voice of Reason]

Yes, into the cave with it. No use using whatever magical firewood they have inside until we need to; firewood is heavy to carry when it's not...whatever it is in the crate.

Irieonna gathers some wood as well, and carries it back into the cave, where she defers to Szzast with regards to the fire-starting. For herself, she wants a look at the cave where "bob" may have been staying.

[Sliver]

You carry the crate inside the bag and gather firewood. As you are almost finished it starts to rain lightly, so you hurry to be done with the task and return, and you manage to do so just in time as the wind picks up and the rain gets stronger.

[Zore]

"Does everyone have food? We should eat now and keep up our strength. I have some extra if you don't, we shouldn't trust magical containers that fall from the sky until we test out how it works." Logan said rummaging through his pack for the salted meat he had taken from the facility.

[Voice of Reason]

I brought some food with me from Bob's zoo, but it won't last more than a few days. Sooner or later, we'll need to either hunt for something fresh or open some of these packages that the airship has seemingly sent us...I am intrigued by the "platinum package" they offer. If it has more of the same, it would be much appreciated.

Irieonna takes a moment to examine the cave, looking around the immediate vicinity and sniffing around for the scent that was found outside. Somebody had been staying in this cave, and she had to know if it was the same person, perhaps Bob, who'd been sleeping outside.

Search check: 1d20+10
surivival check for scents: 1d20+14

[Sliver]

Irieonna:
You find tracks going from the cave to the east, the direction of the waterfall, but they, and the scent, disappear 40ft from the cave

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"In all of the confusion, I didn't really grab anything to eat. I was more worried about finding Bob."

[Aecus]

"Here Clyde. You can have one of the mealss that I took. Don't eat it all in one bite, it iss meant to lasst a while." Sszaast says with a slight laugh as he hands out a strange looking bar to Clyde. If Clyde were to actually bite into the bar he would quickly find that while under some strange definition, it might be food and it could actually fill him up, it was the most disgusting thing he ever ate. "I'm going to go ssearch the cave with Irieonna while we eat." He finishes before slithering off deeper into the cave, pulling out another bar for himself to eat as he does.


Trail Bars, yum. They are so disgusting you actually have to make a fortitude save if you eat a second one on the same day, though they last for a day.

Sszaast is going to take 10 on hide, move silently, search, and survival while looking deeper into the cave. For a 34, 22, 19, and 25 respectively.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

The dinosaur sniffs mistrustingly at the trail bar he is handed. "Doesn't smell like meat," he says.

[Sliver]

Deeper into the cave:
You start picking up the scent of something rotten, and soon enough reach a large pile of bones with little rotten meat left on them. Flies are filling this area of the cave and you even see a body of a dead bear. The cave goes on but you don't really feel like getting that close to the bear to continue..

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna looks at the disgusting-looking trail bar and sniffs at it.

It's ok, Clyde, it won't kill you. You'll have to go without meat for a night, but it'll feed you, even if it doesn't make you full.

Seeing Clyde's heart-breaking expression, Irieonna groans inwardly. She pulls out some of her meager rations: some tough, chewy, salted meat.

Here, I'll trade you for it, but I won't have meat every time you know...

Irieonna waits a little longer, munching on her own meal, before setting out with Sszaast. The cave extends a little ways back, but the pungent smell of rotting flesh is oppressive, and Irieonna feels uneasy about crossing the bear corpse to find out what's on the other side.

I shall go back and tell the others what we've found she whispers, and retreats to the front of the cave to share the small discovery.

I'm guessing rolls are irrelevant at this point, but just in case:
Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently: [roll1]
Search: [roll2]
Survival: [roll3]

[Kainte]

Kaya

Kaya sits near the fire and eating her dried meat.
A few moments after Sszaast proceeded further into the cave she stands up and proceeds as well.

The roten flash doesn't make her happy about her decision to proceed further into the cave but then she becomes thrilled by the possible discovery they could get to if they get further into the cave through the passage behind the bear's body. She starts to twirl her tail as she speaks.
"Must be interesting to find out what awaits us further, even though, the rotting flesh doesn't make me feel better."
She looks around and back to her comrades.
"So, rest for now and move on?"

"Though I don't think we're actually tired from our journey so far"

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"Hey, wait up!" Clyde eats the salted meat and carries along the other "food" while he follows behind the others. Upon smelling the corpse, his nose wrinkles. "Ugh. Not fresh. What killed it?"

[Aecus]

"Good quesstion, let me insspect it. Watch my back pleasse." Sszaast hisses from the darkness as he moves forward in the shadow to inspect the corpse.


Still taking 10 on hide for a 34. Going to move forward and make a survival and knowledge nature check to see how this thing died.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Sliver]

Sszaast
It looks like a mix of fire and something unnatural, unholy..

[Voice of Reason]

Having warned the rest of the party of her and Szzast's discovery, Irieonna throws some more wood on the fire and heads back into the cave where the rotting bear was, and waits for Szzast to finish inspecting it.

[Zore]

"Hmph ." Logan grunted as he looked at the corpse, chewing on his own meat. He wracked his brain, trying to remember if he had heard of anything like this before in his stolen glances at magical books.

Knowledge Arcana check [roll0]

[Sliver]

Logan It looks like more out of this plane, rather than magical

[Kainte]

Kaya

"Probably just a dead bear. The question is who or what put it like that, and why. To cause travelers go away and not go through the passage? Or is it just a poor victim that stood on the way of a stronger creature?"

She comes a little closer to the body.
"I believe it's time for us to move on."

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"All of this stench is making it hard for me to smell what's ahead. If we move on, it should be carefully. But I don't think we'll find Bob this way."

[Aecus]

"Thiss sstench iss making my tongue itch. Letss get out of here, and move on. We can't ssleep peacefully if whatever did thiss is sstill in the cave, and I would rather confront it now than having to wake everyone up from an ambussh that we might not even hear if we do posst watch." Sszaast hisses before slithering forward, staying as far away from the carcass as he possibly could, and remaining hidden in the shadows.

[Zore]

Logan
"I don't like this. That body looks like nothing I have any experience with, I don't think you can do that with arcane magic. Something very bad could be waiting for us, we can't rush ahead." Logan said, fur bristling, "If we move ahead we may end up like that."

[Kainte]

Kaya

"We've got very experienced scouts so I don't see any reasons to be afraid. After all we can always go back if things get loose."

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"I agree with Sszaast. If there's something dangerous here, I'd rather face it head-on than be caught by it while we're sleeping."

[Sliver]

As you go in further, you smell something burning and can even feel things heating up.. Even further and you see the light of dancing flames from behind a bend.

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna holds up a single claw and puts it to her lips for silence. She creeps forward as stealthily as she is able, and tries to hear if anything is around the corner before taking a small peak.

Hide - [roll0]
Move Silently - [roll1]
Listen - 23
Spot - 32 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7690397&postcount=39)

[Sliver]

Irieonna
You feel as you can't move on and actually see what is behind the bend, is if there is an invisible wall blocking your way. It's not a bug in the game world

[Aecus]

Sszaast follows after Irieonna, as quiet as he can be, and still hiding in the shadows.



[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Sliver]

SSzaastSee spoiler to Irieonna above

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

Clyde halts, letting the stealthier members of the party scout ahead, and conceals himself int he shadows as best as he can.

[roll0]

Clyde is generally good at hiding, but not quite that good at moving silently.

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna is puzzled; she has never been stopped by what appears to be just air. Cautiously, she explores the area with her talons, looking for some kind of clues as to its nature, or to see if there's any weak point or way though.

Search Check - 1d20+10=26 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7690541&postcount=40)

[Sliver]

Irieonna
It feels like stone. It's extremely smooth

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna creeps back to the rest of the group as quietly as possible, one footfall at a time. She whispers to them in her smallest voice.

Something up ahead is blocking my path. I don't know what it is, but it's invisible, hard as stone, and almost perfectly smooth; we may not be getting out this way. The only recourse I know of that we have left would be to attack it, but whatever is on the other side of it may hear us.

[Aecus]

Sszaast follows after Irieonna. Listening to her speak, he then adds from the shadows. "Do we even know if we can break through it? Thiss iss making me even more unssetled. Whatever can do that iss probably very powerful. Do we even want to attack it? Sshould we jusst try to leave it alone or look for another place to ssleep tonight even with the rain?"

[Voice of Reason]

Well...

Irieonna listens careful for a moment, trying to hear anything besides the sound of the others in the cave.

I see the light of the flames, but I don't hear any firewood crackling, or the sound of someone moving on the other side. Maybe this wall blocks out sounds as well? If so, as long as we post a watch to see if it comes down, we should be safe enough for the night as long as whatever it is stays on its half of the cave.

This was based off of the lack of sensory input from the earlier listen check. If I'm wrong, and there is something to hear, let me know and I'll be sure to edit Irieonna's reaction appropriately.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"I don't like it. But... really... what can we do about it? Maybe we should finish setting up camp and then study this some more? Or see if there's a way around?"

[Sliver]

DC20 listen check:
You hear something from behind in the cave entrance, where you left the crate unguarder

[Aecus]

Hissing in great annoyance Sszaast bursts out from the shadow and into fast movement as he hears the commotion back near their things. "Something is stealing our box!" He says to his companions as he rushes past them back to their spot.



Listen check is in the OoC thread.

Sszaast is going to break into a run to try to get back to the front of the cave. When the sound starts to get a little bit more clear he is going to go to half movement, hiding and move silently with the -5 penalty for moving at regular speed.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Kainte]

Kaya

Kaya gets closer to the invisible wall and touches it, just to find that it's hard like stone..

Listen check - [roll0]

"What?..."
Kaya starts to run to the entrance.
When she'll get near the entrance she will get sneaky.

[Kainte]

Kaya

Hide - [roll0]
Move Silently - [roll1]

Suddenly Kaya starts running on all of her 4 limbs like a cheetah!
She's got the ability to sprint, what means she can run 10 times her speed (500 ft.).
She enters her "Child of Shadow-Concealment as long as you move(10 ft. in a round)" stance.

[Zore]

Logan growled as the others began sprinting off, following at a more sedate pace as his mind raced with the implications. Someone else was here, and that someone could very well be very dangerous. As he moved he activated the pair of magical gloves he had found when ransacking Bob's things and cast a simple spell, the gloves increasing the potency of the magic he used.

Used Arcanist gloves and cast mage Armor.

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna is hot on the heels of the others at the news that somebody is stealing their box. That box means life for all of them if food or fresh water is scarce here in the wilderness. She just hopes that the noise of their hustle doesn't attract the attention of whatever is behind the invisible wall.

Listen Check - [roll0]

The option to be sneaky here may already have passed for some members, Kaya in particular at 500' in 6 seconds. We don't know the distance into the cave we are per se, bu the DC for listen checks is the modifier +1 for every 10' away from something you are, plus a few other things. Assuming the DC was 0, and the raider was making no attempt to be quiet, that's only 200' away from our position; if they were trying to be stealthy, they're even closer. Even assuming a very loud amount of noise (-10 DC is battle noise) the raider is within 300' of us; Kaya and several other members of the group, if they run, will reach the entrance in 1-2 rounds.

Of course, this assumes that there are no other modifiers in place, or that the DM is using the standard "listen" rules.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

Clyde notices the noise and at the realization that their supplies are at risk, also breaks into a full run, ignoring stealth.

[roll0]
Run speed 250' (5x base speed with Run feat)

[Sliver]

As you rush forward, you hear a sound similar to a gong being struck. From the cave entrance, you hear sounds of creatures whisper to each other and then a shout "We know you are there! Come out!"

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

Clyde slows his approach as he enters the mouth of the cave, taking a moment to see who or what is waiting up front.

[Sliver]

ClydeYou see a small group of (5) gnolls at the cave entrance. Some unpack their own bedrolls while one cooks meat on your fire. 2 others stand near the chest, it looks like they ready theirselves for something

[Aecus]

Sszaast follows behind Clyde, attempting to stay in the shadows, and masking whatever sound he does make by moving a short distance behind Clyde, so it would sound like Clyde was the one making the noise.


[roll0]
[roll1]

[Zore]

Logan hurried forward to meet up with the others, catching sight of the Gnolls busy using their equipment. His temper flared for a second, but he suppressed it. No, this was finally a chance to put that invocation to work. He smiled slightly and called out to the Gnolls, "Hello. May I ask what you are doing at our camp? We'd like to talk and ask you a few questions, so can we approach peacefully?"

Diplomacy check[roll0]]

[Sliver]

(They were using their own stuff)

They bark at each other in a language you do not understand (unless any of you can understand Gnoll) and one of them attempts to make their intentions clear with signs. Give me a sense motive check.

[Zore]

Sense motive check .[roll0]

[Sliver]

LoganIt doesn't like they are interested in a fight. They just want shelter and for you to share your strength and food with them, or they will push your crate to the rain. They seem to offer to help you know the land in return

[Zore]

"Alright, we're going to approach slowly. We won't hurt you, will we?" Logan asked directing the last to his compatriots. "They look like they just wanted to get out of the rain, and they might be willing to help us after."

[Aecus]

The shadows in the cave seem to twist and turn as Sszaast unmelds from them, coming into view. "I don't ssee any reasson why they can't sshare the fire. It iss not ass if thiss is our cave, we ssimply found it. Bessides, the more people one watch the more defensse we have againsst whatever iss behind uss. If they aren't hosstile, then the more the merrier." Sszaast hisses with a small laugh at the end.

Calling out to the Gnolls, Sszaast asks in his rasping voice "Are you the Zoo as well or are you nativess to the issland?"

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"I don't mind sharing the fire. Or their meat. They can have, um... this," he indicates the trail bar he's still holding, "in return." He says this with a smile and a wink.

Frankly, I'm just going with being able to be lucky enough to speak a common language with the rest of the PCs. (Int 10, not sure what my auto languages would be, but pretty sure Gnoll isn't included.)

Just to be thorough... [roll0]

[Sliver]

The gnolls that were next to your crate seem to relax and approach the fire, while the one next to the fire seems to wrinkle it's nose at the offered "food". A couple of them finish setting up their own tent, which looks like human-crafted and start talking among themselves while their meat is being cooked over the fire. They take pieces of the chunk and eat, but don't seem to offer to you any of it.

[Kainte]

Kaya

Sense Motive Check - [roll0]

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna steps out from behind Logan's position and moves back to the fire, still uncomfortable with the situation behind them, but with the one in front of them, there's enough to worry about for one night.

They look like anthromorphic hyenas. Just...not quite. Something's a little bit off. Maybe second or third generation? Do you think they know the island? We could try asking them to draw us a map.

Irieonna goes rummaging into the crate for the package labeled "paper," and splashes it with some water, hoping that it actually does what it says, and turns into paper so she can draw a diagram to compare with the hyena-like creatures.

I'm anticipating the need for Sense Motive - [roll0]

but I doubt that'll carry me very far.

[Aecus]

"I'm not ssure. While you do that, I'll be getting warm." Sszaast hisses with his irritating half laugh as he sets down his pack near the fire and starts to take out a blanket and a bedroll from it.

[Sliver]

As the package soaks, it expands and reveals to contain plenty sheets of paper, dry. One of the Gnolls looks at you, he shakes his head, points at his head, then pets the land and then puts his hands far apart, making a gesture to show it's big.

[Kainte]

Kaya

She aproches and sits near the fire but still keeping distance from those creatures.

[Aecus]

"Lookss like they don't have mapss, and jusst remember what they need to. Oh well, I'm not too worried. Bessides whatever is behind us, how bad can thiss island be? The tourisstss never looked too ssmart, and I'm ssure that they wandered off from time to time due to getting lost in their own sstupid little wayss. If the issland was too dangerouss, they probably wouldn't have kept coming. Sso ass long ass we don't do ssomething too sstupid, we sshould be fine for a long time. If the issland is big, food will be plentiful, and we can eassily find a more permanent basse of operationss later, when the weather iss not sso bad." Sszaast hisses as he finishes laying out his bedroll and blanket.

[Voice of Reason]

Hmmm...

This was not the answer that Irieonna wanted to hear. If the island is big, it will take longer to locate Bob if he is still on it, or it will take longer to get off the island to find Bob if it becomes necessary. At least Sszast has a point: there ought to be enough food to go around, if this hyena-thing's opinion of what is large is to be trusted. Irieonna decides to attempt a different tactic. She looks the "leader" of the hyena-things in the eye and says

I am Irieonna.

She writes her name on the paper and shows it to the leader.

Irieonna, she repeats, as she puts a hand to her chest to indicate herself.

We are anthromorphs

She writes "anthromorphs" on the paper below "Irieonna"

anthromorphs.

She gestures at herselves and moves her hand slowly over the rest of the group, attempting to communicate that "anthromorphs" is what they all are, or at least that the 5 of them are called "anthromorphs" as a group. The last part will be more difficult, but she hopes the hyena-man will be able to follow her.

We she indicated the group again came from she makes walking signs on her hand Bob's Zoo.

She writes "Bob's Zoo" on the sheet of paper below the other two words, and points in the general direction from which they came, leading back to Bob's Zoo; maybe the hyena-thing saw Bob's out of order sign on the weird, moving metal box.

Who are you?

She points a talon at the hyena-thing, and hands him the inkpen.

Sense Motive to understand - [roll0]

Let me know if I ought to be making rolls to try and make myself more clearly understood. Gnoll language uses the common alphabet, so here's hoping that counts for something.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

Not having much patience for communicating with the gnolls, Clyde paces near the entrance to the cave. "If Bob's here, he's behind that wall thingy. If he's not... well... we have to go look for him."

[Sliver]

The gnolls look uninterested, until you mention Bob's name. They suddenly get riled up, until their leader barks and points at one of them. The gnoll takes a clear rose-colored stone and throws it at the leader, who catches it and turns to you, suddenly speaking common, with Bob's voice.

"Bob went up, said he has to fix things before it's too late."

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna is thoroughly shocked by the hyena-things' reaction to Bob's name. She hoped she hadn't made a grievous error. Then the leader starts speaking in common. Now they were getting somewhere. The way he was using Bob's voice seems to indicate that the leader knew Bob personally.

You know Bob? Up? To the airship?

Irieonna points at the cave ceiling, obviously intending to mean the airship in the sky.

What does he need to fix?

[Aecus]

"Too late? That doess not ssound good. Did one of hiss experimentss go awry or ssomething? Can you ansswer any more of our quesstions or iss that just a messsage left behind?" Sszaast speaks up as he leaves aside setting up his bedroll.

[Sliver]

"Bob is gone... Up.. The airship is.." It seems the gnoll has hard time making complete sentences "Trap.. Help.." And then the stone turns to dust, and the gnoll drops to his knees, coughing.

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna offers the hyena-man a drink of water to ease his choking. The look on her face is grim as she turns to the others.

If Bob is on the ship, and the ship is a trap, how do we save Bob? We can't even get up there!

A moment thereafter, another thought occurs.

But...if airship is a trap, then why would they give us a survival package.

she stares at the sheets of paper in her hand.

It looks genuine. Do you think they could know that we were Bob's anthromorphs from way up there? It could be they think we're someone else; maybe we can use that to our advantage.

[Zore]

"Would they even care we were the Anthrpomorphs? Let us not forget we were caged and gawked at for years. Everyone thinks of us as circus freaks, not people." Logan replied, "If it is a trap I doubt its for us. We should also find out more before we rush into anything. I have no desire to die the day I finally find my freedom."

[Aecus]

Sszaast moves over to the Gnoll, as if to offer assistance if the Gnoll seems to want it. Turning towards his companions Sszaast hisses"Bessidess. What can we even do to help? I don't think we could get up there. Right now, we have to focuss on ssurviving here, and then looking for a way to find out what happened. If ssomething did trap Bob, as powerful ass he iss, then it might be out for uss too, and that could be very bad."

[Kainte]

"Trap?"
She asks with a surprised voice.
"And what can you tell us about the invisible wall in this cave?"
She looks at the creatures, somehow expecting them to start shaking and maybe even flee away.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"Nooo! Bob's gone? And I don't like the sound of this 'trap'."

[Sliver]

The gnoll drinks some water, but remains silent. Outside, the rain is starting to get weaker, and the wind seems to be calming too.

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna broods over this new information in silence. She's been vindicated. Something awful has happened to Bob; he hasn't abandoned them. But now, Bob needs their help, because the airship had been a trap for Bob...somehow, they needed to help him, where he can't even help himself. Bob is a powerful wizard. He gave Irieonna a new chance at life that she couldn't have even imagined in her youth. She had thought there was nothing Bob couldn't do. The knowledge that he can't, and that she must do it now, shakes her to her core. The rain begins to die down, and as Irieonna gazes out of the cave, she slowly begins to speak.

Well, the rain's about to stop. It's still about mid-day; what are we going to do? What do we know, for that matter? We know that someone sprung a trap on Bob while he was on the airship. Bob hasn't come back down, probably because he was captured or killed

Her voice wavers a bit, but when she continues, it is gone.

Despite this, the people on the airship have given us good supplies when we asked for help. This means they are either friendly to us, or we have a case of mistaken identity. Hopefully they will remain friendly. On the other hand, they have contacted the "local authorities."

Irieonna picks up the sheet of paper that came with the crate and re-reads it.

They've been alerted to our location. Given enough time, they'll probably find us, these "local authorities." The airship gave us a few days' supplies, so it might be safe to say we've got a day or two before they show up. The question here is whether we want to be found? After all, they've been called to our aid by the people who tricked Bob; would they really help us? How else can we even hope to get to the airship? Lure it down? Even if we get on board, can we do anything to help? Like you said, Sszast, they are either very powerful or very clever people. I'm having trouble deciding on any course of action...

[Sliver]

Give me a listen check, everybody.

One of the hyena men raises it's head in alarm. They start talking among themselves about something, looking concerned.

[Zore]

Listen check[roll0]

[Voice of Reason]

Listen Check - [roll0]

[Sliver]

Irieonna It sounds like weak thunder far outside, but there was no lightning..

Zore - nothing

[Voice of Reason]

There's something out there...

Irieonna puts her head to the ground and strains her ears. Something noisy is happening outside, perhaps the footfalls of some giant beast. Irieonna stands up and draws the two masterwork bastard swords strapped about her waist with her talons. She wraps the end of her prehensile tail around another and pulls it free of it's scabbard as well.

I don't know what's going on out there, but hopefully we don't have to find out...

Irieonna retreats from the fire and the mouth of the cave, and attempts to hide herself. If things get bad, at least she'll have the jump on whatever's coming. If nothing bad happens, well, it never hurts to expect the worst.

Hide check - [roll0]

[Sliver]

The gnolls look at Irieonna, don't quite understand.. One of them stands up and walks towards the edge of the cave cautiously, looking outside. He then lets out a whistle and points at the sky.

Irieonna Nothing, but please next time write exactly what you roll, right next to the roll itself.

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna notes that the hyena-things, although skittish, do not appear terribly concerned about the noise outside. She hopes she can trust their judgment as she puts her swords away and creeps forward next to the cave entrance to look out with the hyena-thing.

My apologies, I must have forgotten :smallredface: I will go edit that in now.

Spot check - [roll0]

[Sliver]

Irieonna You see smoke coming out of one of the windows at the airship.. You also believe you saw something de-attach and fall. The airship is located to the south-east of your location, btw.

[Aecus]

Sorry I haven't been on all morning.


[roll0]

[Sliver]

AecusYou hear something happening outside.. Some sort of, explosion..

[Aecus]

"Ssomething hass jusst exploded. What iss happening now?" Sszaast hisses out in irritation as he follows Irieonna out of the cave to look outside and see what has happened.

[Sliver]

Aecus You see smoke coming from a window at the airship.

[Aecus]

Turning aside to Irieonna, Sszaast hisses in speculation "Forget what I ssaid about not being able to reach the airsship before. If that damage iss bad enough, it might crassh and we could go and insspect it. The rain even sseemss to be clearing up" Pausing for a second, Sszaast added another thought "If that airsship wass a trap... then our box might be too. We might want to conssider if we really need it all that much. We don't know what kind of nassty thingss could have been added to it."

[Voice of Reason]

The box seems to be ok, the sheets of paper work well enough, but it never hurts to check. Maybe Logan can have a look through it for magic and poison and such. Something fell off that airship though soon after the explosion. What do you think? Could it be Bob? Maybe he outsmarted the trap! It landed somewhere over in that direction.

Even if it's just a piece of the ship, they might land to retrieve it; maybe even forced to land.

Irieonna points to where she saw the object falling.

[Aecus]

"Letss assk our fellowss what they want to do. But we have to be quick about it, or ssomeone elsse might get to the sship firsst. It would give uss a good excusse to get out of thiss cave anyway, and I'm not ssure how much help those Hyenass that can't speak our language could be." Sszaast hisses as he starts to slither back into the cave.

[Kainte]

"I believe that we should inspect it and see what's there."
She looks at were Irieonna points, standing near the entrance to the cave.

[Sliver]

Anyone looking outside the cave:
You see smoke coming out of the airship

[Zore]

Logan joined the others, frowning at the smoke rising off the airship. He growled slightly and turned to the rest of the small group. "This has got to be a trap. But, its probably our best bet right now. If they had the capacity and resources to send us that box of stuff solely based on seeing me cast a cantrip... Well there might be powerful magics we could use there."

"But one thing, we stay together and don't trust our sense. If they can teleport things on a whim who knows what kind of enchantments and illusions they have. If it looks too good to be true we run away as fast as we can alright?"

[Sliver]

Down? I didn't say it is down. It is clearly up in the sky with a little cloud of smoke coming out of..

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

The dinosaur is quite agitated at the recent turn of events, and his voice is strained. "Bob's on that... airship, was it called? If it's damaged, then he's likely in even more trouble than we first thought. We need to check it out, now."

[Aecus]

"I agree. Sshould we try to notify the Hyenass, or sshould we ssimply be on our way towardss where the airsship is? I don't care either way" Sszaast hisses towards his companions as they consider their course of action.

[Kainte]

"The hyenas promised to help us, so they should go with us."
She looks at the gnolls, and then at her comrades.
"Let's be on our way now, shall we?"

[Zore]

Logan

"We should hurry, before there is another explosion or the airship crashes," Logan said, hefting his pack, "And we should be very careful."

[Aecus]

"Alright then. I'll try to tell them." Sszaast hisses as he heads back to the Gnolls. Pointing outside and trying to mime some parts of this out, Sszaast speaks to them "I don't know if you can understand me, but we are going to go find out what happened to the airship. The place where Bob was."

[Sliver]

They seem to understand the general concept, nod and wave you off.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"If they're coming, that's fine. But we can't afford to waste time trying to convince them." Turning to the gnolls, he says, as he pantomimes along with motions, "we," pointing to everyone, "go look", mimes looking far away, "for Bob there," pointing to the airship.

Edit: DM Ninja!

[Aecus]

Heading back out, Sszaast hisses to everyone as he starts to head in the direction of the airship. "They aren't coming. Sso letss go. We can return here and try to talk to them later if we want, if they are still here. But letss go find out whatss happening there first."




If everyone is agreed to be going, Sszaast is going to try to find a game trail or such to make getting there faster. If such is applicable, I'll take 10 for a 25 in survival.

[Voice of Reason]

Immersa points out where she saw the ship lands, and works together with Sszast to find the swiftest, path to the point of impact, as near as can be guessed at.

Since there's no use making two separate survival checks for navigation (when two trackers argue, who are they going to believe?) Irieonna will auto-succeed on an aid-another check to help Sszast navigate. Just in case it is necessary:

[roll0]

Edit: has it actually stopped raining yet, and are we leaving the crate with the gnolls or carrying it with us?

[Kainte]

"Just one last thing before we go. Someone here should take the box with the "just add water" items. We could use it and I don't think it's a good idea to give it to the gnolls."
She's standing outside the cave about to start moving in the direction.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"Fine, I'll carry it I'll be along behind you in a few seconds.." Clyde closes the box as tightly as possible, picks it up, and then puts on a burst of speed to catch up with the others.

[Sliver]

The way is quite long and you head south-east. As you move on, without the gnolls, the sound of a waterfall is getting closer, and soon you find yourself near a lack at the edge of a waterfall. A river flows from the north, from a large rocky mountain and ends with this lake. There are many wild animals here, but they don't seem to react to you. The water seems to have an unatural sparkle in them, but it doesn't seem to bother the animals as they are happy to drink from the water.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

Clyde looks at the water and the crate in his arms in turn, nervously. "Um... guys? Is there a place we can stash this?"

[Sliver]

It is possible to go around the lake..

[Voice of Reason]

No Clyde, there's nowhere I can stash this.

Irieonna takes a good, long look around the area. The whole thing just seems...suspicious; prey is supposed to run when presented with a predator, and they are all unmistakably predators. It's not possible that all those prey animals are unfamiliar with all of the anthromorphs. Still, that may make this a good place to resupply later; Irieonna will be sure to ask the gnolls about it if they go back.

I don't trust the look of this place, but we may be able to use the food and water here later. Look how easily we could take one of them; I bet the others would hardly take notice. We're in a hurry though, so lets just hurry around this thing before whatever fell off the ship is gone.

Irieonna is not wearing a backpack or any similar item (just some light armor and a few belt pouches), so she is unable to stow the chest anywhere. Irieonna will look around and try to memorize the area so she will be able to find it again.

Spot - [roll0]

Sliver
As a player, this whole setup stinks of illusion magic. I'm trying not to let this slip into IC actions, but I believe some suspicion is reasonable. I'm not expecting anything, but if the spot check, for some reason, yields a will save to disbelieve, here's the roll ahead of time: [roll1]

[Zore]

Logan

"Hmmph," Logan grunts as he surveys the area. This seemed... odd. "I don't like this, maybe we should just go around. That airship isn't going to be there forever and we might not have the time to waste. The food and water will probably be here if we need it later, lets just go."

Rolling a Knowledge Arcana check to see if the sparkling water is some kind of arcane magic[roll0]

[Sliver]

Logan You don't recall any specific subject that has something to do with sparkling water.. Maybe it's something in the water, a creature or a material, or maybe someone just cast a spell on the water.. Maybe it what causes the animals to be calm and don't mind your presence.. Maybe it's a bomb?

[Aecus]

"I agree let uss move on for now. If we need to come back here, I sshall communicate with the animalss and ssee if there really iss something wrong going on here. We sshould remember thiss place though... it could be important for more reassonss than one." Sszaast hisses as he looks around the lake trying to discern what made this place different for the animals. When he finishes, he starts to move around the lake and back to finding the trail towards where they were headed.



[roll0]

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

Clyde just nods and keeps on going, keeping as far from the water's edge as he reasonably can while staying with the group.

[Sliver]

You notice in the water a large, long, scaly, green body moving swiftly. As you walk around the lake, you notice a snakelike head, with unblinking, yellow serpentine eyes, tracking you, as if he decided who his next prey is, but as you blink, it vanishes from sight.

Alright, I need a survival, spot, listen and track checks if you keep on going south-east.

[Aecus]

"I think it iss a good thing we did not sstop at that lake." Sszaasst hisses nervously as he tries to continue on the way South-East.



If everyone is agreed to avoid this thing for now and continue on our path. If not I'm fine with changing this and investigating.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

If I can still take 10 on the track check I will, but if I can't here is the roll.

[roll3]

[Kainte]

"Hmm.."
After looking at the strange creature in the lake, she continues moving and start looking around her.
Spot check - [roll0]
Listen check - [roll1]
Survival check - [roll2]

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"That doesn't look very friendly, and it's certainly not Bob. Let's keep moving."


[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll=Survival(Track)]1d20+9

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna leads the group around the lake, hoping they haven't lost too much time in dawdling by it. It may be an interesting place to come back to, but they're in a rush, and it's obviously making more than just her nervous.

Survival Check to navigate fastest route - [roll0]

[Sliver]

Going through the woods in the direction of the airship you encounter a broken wagon with crates and barrels in the middle of a clearing. Oddly, it looks like it isn't even an ambush, but it is quite random.. Maybe somebody just forgot it? :smallconfused:

[Voice of Reason]

A broken down wagon in the middle of nowhere is not what Irieonna expected to find as she led the group onwards. It looks like it's been abandoned for some time, but the things contained in the crates and barrels may still hold some value to the group. She calls for a halt. The island must really be quite big if someone needs a cart to carry supplies on; this seems to support what the hyena-man tried to tell her earlier. As Irieonna approaches the wagons, she keep her eyes and ears open. Putting her nose to the wagon, she discerns whether there are any lingering scents on them.

Obligatory spot check - [roll0]
Obligatory listen check - [roll1]
Survival check to "track" any scents on the carts (i.e., anything fresh and still in the area) - [roll2]

[Sliver]

There is a strong scent of spice from one of the crates, and you can hardly filter it out to find out any other scents..

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna takes a quick check to be certain that the crates don't contain anything hazardous; so far, there's no reason to be overly suspicious, but when in unfamiliar territory, a little paranoia goes a long way to keeping you alive. If she encounters nothing out of the ordinary, she will examine the contents of the barrels, starting with the strong-smelling spice one.

Search - [roll0]

[Kainte]

Kaya closes her eyes and concentrates.
She casts detect magic

[Aecus]

As Irieonna calls for a halt, Sszaast melds into nearby shadows. Watching as she goes forward, Sszaast decides to circle around the clearing. Wary of an ambush, or of possible traps, Sszaast goes to look for anything unusual surrounding the wagon and the clearing.


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[roll4]
[roll5]

[Sliver]

You find in the wagon a lot of goods: Incense, Coffee, Ink, Whale Oil, Silver, Herbs and Nuts. This entire thing probably weights more then three hundred pounds.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

"We don't have time to linger here. If there isn't an ambush, we need to keep going. After we find the airship and figure out what's going on, we can come back to look at this stuff."

[Aecus]

"But it might not be here later. We sshould at leasst try to quickly take ssome nuts for eating later on, ssome of the herbss because they might prove very usseful, and perhapss some of the ink sso we do have ssomething to trade with. Barring that, I think we are all sstrong enough that we could collaborate and place the wagon down somewhere where we can hide it better." Sszaast hisses with a greedy smile as he looks at the wagon. Adding onto his speech with a slightly dejected look he finished "Or we could jusst abandon it like you ssaid. It sseemss like ssuch a wasste though."

[Kainte]

"Let's just take what we need and move on."
She looks quite hurried and a little nervous.

[Voice of Reason]

I don't think hiding it is going to do much good; there's nowhere to hide anything that big for very long, and even if we could camouflage it, we'd lose valuable time.

Irieonna hefts one of the barrels. It's awkward, but she can carry it without difficulty. If she has to fight anytime soon, it's going to be extremely awkward, but she can always just drop the crate. It's better to have a few damaged goods than no goods at all.

They're not too heavy. I can carry one of these by myself without much trouble at all. Here, take all you can carry without slowing yourselves down. Time remains of the essence.

Irieonna picks up the goods and tosses them to the other anthromorphs as they call for them. Together, they manage to collect the lion's share of the wealth. Perhaps later they may be able to come back and repair the wagon so they don't have to lug all of this around all the time. It is comforting to know that they have something that they can barter with in a pinch.

She continues to lead the others onward to the landing site.

I'm assuming that these 300 lbs of goods are separated into many barrels and crates. Given this, it should be easy for most of us to carry a crate or barrel of goods (Irieonna's light load, for example, is 233, and she's only carrying 65 lbs worth of her own equipment).

Looking at speed scores, our slowest party member (Sszast) has a speed of 30'. Anybody with 40' or more base land speed can therefore afford to take a medium load without slowing down party overland progress. Keep in mind that you can drop the crates as a free action to lose encumbrance if desired.

If Logan were to take the crate from Clyde, Clyde could carry one of the heavier objects (since Clyde is wearing nothing but some bracers and has a high carrying capacity). Kaya could afford to take up to 67 pounds and still be only medium encumbered (35' speed). Likewise, the crate would put Logan just into medium load (30' speed). In this way, we could, hypothetically, take three of the good types (assuming a roughly equal distribution of weight on those good types; we will need confirmation from Sliver).

Irieonna will give a good to anyone willing to carry one. She will take the nuts/herbs and the silver. Baring any objections, I see no practical use to any of the other items that would justify grabbing one over the other. Therefore, Irieonna will use her best judgment on which of the remaining (whale oil, incense, ink, and coffee) to determine which is most valuable. Of course, if you disagree with her choices, feel free to let her know; you're volunteering to carry the stuff, after all :smallwink:

Appraise check (wealth of items) - [roll0]
Survival Check (to lead the way) - [roll1]

Edit: Natural 20 on the appraise check. Not a bad time for it to come up at all.

[Sliver]

Huh, I said it was more then 300lb... It was pretty close to 400..

Update coming soon..

[Sliver]

You distribute the crates among yourselves and continue moving in the same general direction. Due to your highly skilled trackers, you manage to stay at the clear trails and keep fast pace even with the added weight. Soon enough, you come under the airship that is high in the sky. The trees are broken and in the middle of the newly created crater is a large black-grayish piece of metal. It looks like it is covered in ruins, similar to those that are painted on the ground around it, and you hear some mumbling voices from the crater. You seem to notice an old naked man painting some stuff on the rock, but he doesn't seem to be aware of you.

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

Clyde sets down his parcels and studies his surroundings from his current vantage point, sniffing the air as well as using his eyes.

Make whatever "passive" rolls are necessary.

[Sliver]

Clyde notices a disk made of force floating a couple of feet above ground on the other side of the crater, between the crashed trees. On top of the disk is what looks like a pile of random junk. Besides that, the place seems pretty calm. That is, before the point the naked old man in the crater started singing about bear ninjas duel wielding crossbows..

[Voice of Reason]

Irieonna sets her package down as well and shakes her arms a few times to limber them back up. She taps Logan and, not wanting to draw the man's attention until they were sure they're ready, leans close and whispers over the singing to Logan

[whisper]Bob used to draw funny-looking ruins like that. Quite a few of them were magical, and I don't think our naked friend is just being scholarly. Do you "see" anything?

[Aecus]

In a whisper-hiss Sszaast says to Irieonna "I'm going to circle around and ssee if there iss anyone or anything elsse here, I'm no good at dealing with people anyway, I'll stay closse." With that hissed, Sszaast blends into the shadows and starts to circle around the crater.


Sszaast is going to circle around the crater at about the same distance they are now, looking for signs of anyone or anything else besides the man, and then come back to the rest of the group when he is done if he does not find any. He will avoid any runes, keeping away from them if he sees them.



[roll0]
[roll1]

Detection rolls to find people/things for the movement.

[roll2]
[roll3]

[Sliver]

Besides the man, the place looks deserted. The runes on the ground are in full circle, but he didn't finish drawing the runes on the metal yet, probably will take a couple of minutes to him to finish. He is quite focused on the runes and the ninja bears..

[Duke of URL]

Clyde

<whispers>"Clearly, he doesn't want to be disturbed. But I'm in favor of disturbing him anyway. Those runes may be harmless, but I'd rather not find out the hard way."

[Voice of Reason]

Sszaast circles around the crater with eerie stealth. Despite priding herself on her good eyes, Irieonna soon loses track of the snake-man.

It's as if the shadows themselves clothe him in their protection.

He returns suddenly, and from out of seemly nowhere, to inform Irieonna and the others that there is nobody else around except for the strange, naked man in the center of his pile of runes. On the good advice of Clyde (imagine, Clyde giving good advice about anything besides lunch! Irieonna is proud of his rapid progress) Irieonna steps out of the tree cover into the edge of the clearing and shouts above the singing.

Hello! You seem a little disoriented...Do you require assistance?

[Sliver]

The naked old man turns to look at the voice, his eyes seem to look beyond you, unfocused "Well yeah!" he seems really happy "Shoot it down for me, will ya? Thanks Billy!" and turns around to continue his drawing. And singing, ninja bears!

[Aecus]

"He iss obvioussly inssane. The only quesstion is how dangerouss iss he. I intend to find out." Sszaast hisses in annoyance as he creeps forward into the shadows again, in the direction of the runes and the man.



Sszaast is going to try to approach the man through the gap in the runes, using hide and move silently. I'm going to make a spellcraft check as I do so to try to identify the runes, if that succeeds assume my action stops pending the new info on what it is.

[roll0]

[roll1]
[roll2]

[Sliver]

You don't recognize the runes and nothing happens as you pass them. The man seems to almost complete the runes on the metal though..

[Aecus]

Sszaast creeps up to the man, remaining unseen in the shadows, and then whispers into his ear. "We ninja have heard your call, what do you want of a bear?"



I guess this would be a bluff check, and a continued hide check. I don't know if there would be any bluff modifiers to this but... heh.

[roll0]
[roll1]


Edit: Huh, a natural 20, lucky.

[Sliver]

"My child.." The old man speaks quietly "Pass the word, the fire.. It is not so much alive, but it is not dead... It is after him, he might not escape in time, without the aid of his pets.."

[Aecus]

"Where can the fire be found, and how can we further our goal toward it, or where can the targeted man be found and how can we further our goal toward him? " Sszaast whispers again, trying his best to keep from slipping into a hiss.


If you've noticed, Sszaast is currently avoiding saying anything that includes an s in it. This is pretty hard :smallsigh:

[Sliver]

"Gone, they are both gone. Can't be detected. No demon fire, no Bob, No one, no two, no three... And now that damned badger man won't reveal himself!" He punches the metal.

[Aecus]

"Calm father, they need to know more. The badger became the backing of which? The fire or the Bob, or neither?" Sszaast whispers.

[Sliver]

"Badger man! You know where is he?!" He asks excitedly "Well me too! He is below this chunk of metal of his! And he is the only one who knows how to reach the floating ship! Damn badgers! How the hell is he related to flying? But my magic doesn't seem to be able to lift the metal! It just keeps drinking the magic and leaving the runes useless! Damn it.. If only that darn snake wasn't there.." He seems frustrated.

[Aecus]

Snake? He might mean me, and If I am correct we want to let him finish his runes, and I might be interfering... "We are gone, but we can return if needed." Sszaast says, and then retreats from the rune field, carefully picking his way out to tell his companions of what he had heard.