Forgotten World IC

[Ryuk01]

You are in a small, grassy clearing that seems relatively safe. Imposing trees loom around you, and above the forest, you can see a pale orange sun, graceful in its ascent to its zenith. You have yet to make camp in this strange world, and have close to no food. There are strange game deeper in the forest, and plants you have never seen before in your life.

Everyone in the party feels something amiss. Perhaps it is the eerie silence in the air, or the tense atmosphere. A zephyr blows softly, carrying a horrendous scent that causes you to gag. The nausea passes, leaving you wondering what that strange smell was. Almost immediately afterward, a howl filled the still air from the opposite direction of the wind, chilling your blood. All these new changes to your surroundings leave you feeling lost and disoriented. What is this strange world? And how will you ever survive in it?

And on that note, what do you do? Will you investigate the horrible stench, or the strange howl? Or do something else? I'm giving you free rein. :smallsmile:

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisa covers her nose and mouth with her sleeve as the stench drifts past the group.

"Something upwind of use smells bad... and I think something downwind of us just noticed it. Perhaps we should avoid getting caught in a fight between the two."

Narisa reaches into her handy haversack and pulls out her light crossbow, loading a bolt into it and keeping it ready in the event that anything comes out.

"Hopefully the predetors of this ecosystem will prefer to stick to prey they know about instead of taking a chance with us. Or they'll decide that we taste like stabbing pain and sharp objects and leave us alone."

[Moranica]

Moranica

Grrmbll.... I don't like this ... at all. We have to move or we'll be caught in the middle. My nose says we should go downwind. At least we'll smell what's coming if whatever is upwind decided to come to us.

He crouches down, not at ease. He knows he's not the smartest and he looks for the others to make a decision.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Not saying anything in particular, Eudi pulls a torch from one of her deep pockets, and starts to fumble around with some flint in an attempt to light it. When she manages to complete this task, she looks downwind. "I'd rather deal with a wild beast than a mysterious stench, but we'd best try to circle around it. It can probably smell us as well as we can smell whatever is that way...We could also just go crosswind and try to avoid both."

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Kaidos is using his Guisarme to support himself now that they've reached a clearing. "I agree with going crosswind. Until we know where the heck we are it'd be best if we avoided any creatures. A hiding spot for the night would be good as well."

[Randel]

Narisa

"Hiding spot? Well, we can either try to find a cave where we can guard the entrance or climb a tree where enemies can't climb up. Though we could climb a tree anyway to get a better view."

Narisa looks up to see any particularly tall or sturdy trees they might climb or potentially stay the night in.

"Oh, and in case we are worried about food, I brought some berries I can enchant to make decent meals for us until we find a more mundane and appetizing source of fare. I can't conjure up fresh water, however."

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Climbing trees and eating berries huh. I'm a BARBARIAN!!! ..... so I'd prefer to do something else. Why don't we find out what we're up against. It could be the rotting carcas of a dead animal and some bunny that got scared. Unfortunatly, I'm not good at sneaking and stuff, but I'll save all of you should it be necessary.

[Ryuk01]

Another strange howl comes from the same general direction of the first one, this time slightly closer. You have all heard a similar sound before: the sound of a wolf before a hunt.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:
"THAT's a bunny? I think it's too late to hide from it now."

Eudi adjusts the grip on her torch, seeming ready to throw it at the noise

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"Whatever it was, we better move fast."
Kaidos will grip his weapon firmly, in case he'll need to use it.

[Moranica]

Wolves huh, I've seen them before. They're the hopping kind with the long ears right? I can take 'm. They make nice furcoats.

Moraaaargh gets ready to charge anything dangerous coming out of the forest.

[Ryuk01]

Listen and Spot Checks everyone.

[Shade Kerrin]

Spot:[roll0]
Listen:[roll1]

[Gray Mage]

Listen [roll0]
Spot [roll1]

[Moranica]

Listen [roll0]
Spot [roll1]

[Ryuk01]

Out of nowhere, a wall of darkness slams into Moraaaagh from behind, lacerating his chest with a claw and a bite. Recovering from your initial shock, , you manage to get a glimpse of this feral beast. It has sleek, black fur on a massive, stalwart body. The beast has shining emerald eyes and sharp, deadly claws that constantly extend and retract. Perhaps its most noticeable feature is the vertical slash that runs down its head, which opens up horizontally to reveal row after row of glistening teeth.

Initiative please.

Moraaaagh:
You take 16 points of damage.

[Gray Mage]

initiative: [roll0]

Edit:Wow, nat 20. :smallbiggrin:

[Shade Kerrin]

Initiative: [roll0]

[Randel]

Initiative: [roll0]

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh 31 / 47

Initative: [roll0]

[Ryuk01]

Initiative OrderGray Mage
Randel
Monster
Moranica
SK Kerrin

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos
Surprised by the monsters sudden apearence, Kaidos quickly readies himself for the battle, invinting the monster to come after him. "Why don't you have a bite at this." He slashes at the thing.

HP 40(0)/ 40(10)
Activate Iron's Guard Glare stance (the creature gets -4 on attack rolls on my allies when I'm treaqtening it), move to 10 ft near it to use Stone Bones (if the attack hits I have DR 5/adamantine for a round).
Maneuvers: Stone Bones Tactical Strike
Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

[Ryuk01]

The beast, with amazing agility, barely dodges the blow from the warrior. It opens its vertical mouth, roars, and continues fighting.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

WHRAAAAAAAAAAARRGHH!!! Moraaaargh releases his anger (rages) and hits the thing that just hit him. If neccessary he charges it.

[Ryuk01]

The beast, after dodging Kaidos' blow, is unable to see the barbarians ax as it swings towards him. The great ax cuts a deep slash across the creature's flank, bleeding freely.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:
Noting the proximity of the others to the beast, Eudi opts to not complete her plan for the torch, instead concentrating on a point a few feet behind the creature. A flame spontaneously bursts from the point, and a small wave of fire flares outwards towards the beast

Reserve feat:Fiery Burst. Reflex save DC 16 to halve [roll0] fire damage

[Ryuk01]

The creature attempts to dodge the burst of fire, but is too slow and yelps as the flames burn its shoulders.

Waiting for Randel.

MoranicaWhen I rolled for the creature's attacks, I got a natural 20, another natural 20, and a 17. The beast would've instantly killed you. Don't worry, I rerolled and you didn't die. :smallsmile:

[Randel]

Narisa

As the beast charges to attack the group, Narisa quickly holds out her hands and calls upon the power of her bloodline to disable the beast and make it easier for her allies to attack it. A stream of bright sparks fly from her fingertips and cover the area around the beast while not hitting her allies, the sparks stick to everything they touch.

Narisa casts Glitterdust on the beast, Firing the spells area attack so that only the beast is caught in the area of effect.

I think the beast needs a DC 16 will save to avoid being blinded.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos
OOC: I think it's my turn again, right?

Bothered by his miss, Kaidos will try to aproach the problem in a diferent light, strking it so it'll be distracted, alowing the barbarian time to move to a better position. He makes a sweeping motion, praying to hit it this time.
40(0)/40(10)
Maneuvers: Stone Bones Tactical Strike Mountain Hammer
Using tactical strike, adding and extra 2d6 and Moraaaargh can make a 5 foot step.
Moranica: I'd sugest using it so that you can make another one on your turn and flank it if possible.
Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]+[roll2]

[Ryuk01]

The cloud of golden dust particles completely covers the creature's body, and it roars in pain and fury. It faces the man with the ax and desperately attacks him in a whirl of claws and fangs. Having been blinded by the magical sparks, most of the monster's attacks miss, but a lucky claw managed to get past Moraaaagh's defenses and makes a long, painful gash on the barbarian's arm.

The crusader's strike is nearly maims the beast, but once again the creature reflexively springs out of the way of the guisarme.

Moraaaagh:
You take 7 damage.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh (24/47)

Whaaaaaaarggh!!! You'll pay for that!!!

He swings at the beast with his axe.

And thank you for letting me live! :smalleek:

[Ryuk01]

The greataxe lacerates the creature's chest, and it howls with pain. The scream of the creature gradually dies off into a soft rattle as it finally succumbs to all of its wounds and topples to the ground, lifeless.

Everyone gets 240xp. :smallsmile:

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi shrugs and puts out her torch, before tossing it upwards and chanting a few words. It halts around 4ft up from the ground, and seems to levitate on the spot. She then tosses lighting equipment to the same spot, which floats in a similar manner

Casting Unseen Servant to hold my torch

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Visibly anoyed by his lack of sucess in the batte, Kaidos will try to take a look at Moraaaaagh's injuries. "This isn't good, we ought to set camp somewhere safe, god knows how many of these are out here."

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh Exhausted Moraaaargh lays down his axe. "What a nasty critter that was! These wounds are nothing though, don't worry about it."

He activates his healing belt.
Healing [roll0]

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisa reaches into her handy haversack and pulls out a handfull of berries and starts enchanting them.

"These should give us nutrients until we find a suitable source of food... well, I suppose we could eat this beast if we figure it's not poisonous. But these provide a bit of healing as well."

(uses Goodberry to enchant several berries for the group)

1. [roll0]
2. [roll1]


Narisa enchants 13 goodberries (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/goodberry.htm) and distributes them among the group. Three to Kaidos, Eudi, and herself each while giving four to Moraaargh due to him taking the most damage.

"Anyone need some extra healing?" She offers, prepared to use some charges from her healing belts. "Though, I suppose now we should look for shelter or maybe butcher some of this thing before it attracts scavengers."

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh
Thank you, can someone check if this thing is poisenous?

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

"If this creature is poisonous to us, then so would just about anything else in this place....if so, I don't like our chances of long-term survival. In any case, it should be midday as long as there isn't a second sun hiding over the horizon, we should probably look for a more advantageous place to camp while we can still see"

Eudi proceeds to chew on the berries she has been handed.

[Randel]

Narisa

"Hmm... I'd recommend climbing a tall tree to get a better view of the area. I'd do it myself but I'm not an athletic type. I'll stay here and butcher this beast as best I can."

Narisa pulls a knife out of her adventuring kit and starts cutting the hide off of the beast. Its bloody work but she gets the hide off (albeit its rather cut up) and starts cutting off chunks of meat and puts them in a bag. She even opens the ribcage to see if its got any liver or heart to take as well.

Naturally there is alot of blood but nothing a Prestidigitation won't be able to fix later. She's not 100% sure if the meat is edible but they'd have to clean it and cook it up anyway to be sure. She'll cook some up and give someone a teeny tiny piece to taste and wait an hour to see if they have any problems.

"Actually, while you are looking please see if there are any nearby rivers."

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

I guess I AM! eating berries and climbing trees. Alright, I'll have a look.

After finding a good tall tree with a lot of branches Moraaaargh climbs it.

Climb check
[roll0]

[Ryuk01]

Moraaaagh:
You climb the tree easily and search for any rivers. Unfortunately, your vantage point isn't high enough to spot anything in the dense, heavily-forested areas.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"So, did you find anything up there?"

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Yes I did. Apart from a lot of branches I saw that this entire area is heavily forested. No rivers or what so ever are visible.

So, what's the plan now? Are we checking out that aweful smell?

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisa puts a bunch of meat and hide from the animal into a bag, then puts the bag into her Handy Haversack. Then she casts Prestidigitation to clean off all the blood and filth from herself, magically brushing the stuff onto the ground.

"Well... I suppose this means we can chop down trees for building material or firewood if we want. Or start a forest fire if we really want to clear out everything in the area. (I'm only half kidding about that by the way)"

"Investigating the smell could be useful."

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi concentrates on the floating torch for a few seconds, setting it alight again. She then sends it 40ft ahead of her in the direction of the stench.

"Let's go, then. Try not to get too close to the light"

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Moraaaargh follows after a grumbled "good".

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Kaidos will do his best to follow the group, protecting the back of the group as his armor would make keeping pace with the others a tad hard.

[Ryuk01]

As you all venture onwards, the disgusting stench becomes more and more noticeable. You tread on dead and decaying grasses, surrounded by disfigured, rotting trees and a fog tinged with green. Do you continue onwards?

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

"Tch, seems to be some kind of swamp. I don't think there's any specific threats to us here. Nothing tangible, anyway."

Eudi looks around at the fog suspiciously

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"There's something else here, a swamp isn't that rotten, at least ours weren't. I say we should continue, but keep an eye for anything suspicious."

OOC: Do we roll spot and listen check, or if they are needed you'll tell us?

[Randel]

Narisa

"Okay... judging from the dead trees and grass I'm suspecting that this area has something poisonous in it. Or maybe this fog is acidic or something..."

She uses the remnants of the prestidigitation spell she cast earlier to conjure a tiny candle flame hovering a few inches from the tip of her finger. She holds it up near the greenish fog, often toxic gasses will react with flames and turn the flame a different color (or make it go out if there isn't much oxygen or occasionally explode if the gas is flammable like methane).

Hopefully this will give some clue as to what dangers this gas might have.

[Shade Kerrin]

Actually, I already have a torch lit and being held via an Unseen Servant, so any such signs would have appeared already

[Ryuk01]

As you converse with each other, you feel a slight tingle on your skin. A low, constant, eerie sound shatters the strange silence of the forest.

OOC: I will tell you when to roll listen and spot checks.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

I don't know much about swamps, but this just feels all wrong, and I have no idea how to fight this kind of stuff. Perhaps we should turn around and try to find someone who can help us?

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"I think maybe it'd be best to make camp soon, in a safe place if possible.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

"I don't know if we can find anywhere safe, but dry should cover our needs. Set up a watch schedule and we'll be fine."

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

I'll take first watch.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos
"I can take the second one."

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

"Guess I'm up third, then."

[Ryuk01]

MoranicaYour watch is uneventful.

KaidosYou hear a rustle in the bushes, but it quickly goes away.

Shade KerrinA droning sound, similar to the one you heard earlier, appears once more.

Do you do anything during the night?

[Moranica]

MoranicaYour watch is uneventful.

KaidosYou hear a rustle in the bushes, but it quickly goes away.

Shade KerrinA droning sound, similar to the one you heard earlier, appears once more.

Do you do anything during the night?

Apart from my watch I sleep, snoring a bit.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos


Kaidos will also sleep, but will make sure that he removes his armor.

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisa sleeps soundly, being unaccustomed to some of the rigors of outdoor camping. Plus, she has to replenish her magic by sleeping.

Before going to sleep, she offers to use her magic to clean up and mend her companions armor, along with healing any scratches they might have left.

Use up all but my 3 remaining 2nd level spells on prestidigitation, mending, and healing spells along with charges from my healing belt. This should leave everyone with clean and mended clothes and bedding for the night

[Ryuk01]

Moranica: You dream of strange, red-skinned warriors chanting around a large altar. Atop the altar, you see a gruesome sight: A man, or at least what's still left of him. The man's limbs have been reduced to bloody stumps, leaving a head and a torso. And as an enormous, scarred man with a sickle opens the man's pupil-less eyes, you realize that the dead man is your father.

Kaidos: In you dreams, you see a monastery in flames. A wicked man with scars criss-crossing his back stands in the center of the monastery, holding what seems to be a rock. Suddenly, you recognize the fortifications, the lightning bolt symbol, and the drilling area: It is the temple of Heironeous that you spent your childhood in. In shocked horror, you discover that what you thought was a rock is actually your father's mutilated head. The monastery's pillars finally collapse, ending your dream.

Narisa: You dream of standing in front of thousands of starving people, all devoid of nutrients. Instinctively, you rush to help them, to cast a spell that will ease their pain, but your limbs are unable to move. Helplessly, you watch as everyone decays in front of your eyes, desperately reaching to you for the help that they will never receive. And as you watch the last despairing person succumb with tears in your eyes, you hear a wicked laugh, and your dream ends.

Eudi: You dream of a lumbering plant with a featureless face coated with warm blood. Behind it, you notice your old friends, having already been drained by this creature, leaving only a dried husk. Despair chills your bones and clouds your mind, leaving you powerless against this monster. In desperation, you attempt to pick up your weapons, to cast a spell, but the creature's tentacles have already latched on to you, sucking out your essence, feasting on your fear. Slowly, you feel your life energy ebb away from your body, knowing that you will soon share the same fate as your friends. The excruciating pain in your chest ends, and the last image you see is the flash of a grinning, scarred man. Your dream ends with the imprint of the man still fresh in your mind.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

As Moraaaargh wakes from his nightmare he let's out a bellowing scream.

"Nooooooooo!!!" What on earth was this. He'd never dreamt like that before.
He goes to whoever is on watch at the moment and tells about the dream.
"Any idea who those red figures could be?"

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisas eyes shoot open as she wakes up. She's had bad dreams before but none like this (Hers usually involve screaming goat heads, mudpuddles full of teeth, and running through big houses where the doors are all on the ceiling and floor).

She gets up and looks around the camp for a bit to see if everyone else is awake and calmly checks her inner magic reserves to see if she had replenished her magic over the night.

It simply wouldn't do if she lost her magic due to some bad dreams.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Kaidos has never had such a nightmare before, he was drenched in cold sweat when he wake up. He instinctively reached for his trusty weapon, trying to get hold of something real. Before falling to sleep again he tryes to remember the details of the dream, as if to make it clearer.

[Ryuk01]

Kaidos:As you fall asleep once more, you are barraged by such intense emotions of fear and evil that you jolt out of your dream, knowing that you would not fall asleep to these nightmares again. Your neck feels strangely bruised and sore, as if you had been choked by invisible hands. Take 9 points of damage.

As you all wake up, you realize that it is still nighttime, and that there is a full moon out, unlike yesterday, when there was no moon.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Assuming that third watch means I'm awake:
And since he specified 'Whoever is on watch at the time,' some knowledge checks to try to figure out anything about the red men in Mora's dream:
Acarna:[roll0]
Planar:[roll1]

As Eudi wakes she looks about herself in confusion, before remembering where she is and the watch duty she agreed to. As she stands guard she ponders over the meaning her dream might have, eventually dismissing it as just a particularly vivid nightmare, at least until she notices the clear discomfort of the other three as they finally wake.

To Mora, she states "I think everyone had some sort of nightmare here, but they don't seem to be the same. Perhaps we should all talk about this together."

[Randel]

Narisa

"Well... I had a dream where people were starving but I couldn't do anything to help them. I was paralyzed and I just saw all of them waste away to nothing."

Narisa blinks and opens up her handy haversack, pulling out the bag full of beast meat she had harvested the previous day.

"Speaking of which... I wasn't able to properly clean this on account of not having water to wash the blood off (Prestidigitation doesn't work that well on blood and meat)." She opens the bag and looks inside, not sure if the raw meat had spoiled overnight in the extra dimensional space.

"I could probably cook meat without washing it, but I'm pretty sure we need drinkable water if we want to stay healthy. Rivers tend to start in mountains and end at the ocean... so if there are any mountains with snow on the top around here then we could head towards them to find a river. Once we find a river we can head downstream to the ocean and possibly find civilization or whatnot."

"... come to think of it... was there a portal or anything on the spot we first arrived here? It might have been invisible or something but maybe we should find the spot we arrived here and put up a marker in case we have to find it again."

[Moranica]

Wow, I dreamt of red-skinned warriors chanting around a man who's legs and arms had been cut off. There was also a big man with a sickle.

Anybody know what this all means? I hate this kind of stuff!

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"I...I dreamt of a man with a scarred back, standing still as the monastery I was raised in crumbled. His grin sent chills down my spine, it has been a long time since I was this afraid. Now, about directions and such, I have never been in the wilderness much, even back home. I'll simly follow your lead, if you don't mind."

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

"This scarred man seems to have appeared in three of our dreams. Mine involved being eaten by a tree, with him as almost an afterthought. I can't tell what it means....but it was clearly not a coincidence"

[Randel]

Narisa

"Well, if this character is the same thing in all our dreams then its possible that we are being watched... or that whatever caused the stench and decay in this area has hallucinogenic effects."

"I don't know if this character is responsible for us being here, but it appears from the nightmares that he means us harm (or is trying to scare us off). I mean, if he had sent pleasant dreams our way then thats one thing but tossing nightmares at people and laughing at them certainly isn't winning any points in my book."

Narisa sits up straight.

"Therefore, I see two options at least:

1). We wait till its light enough to move and then start looking for landmarks to travel to. A river or lake would be a big help. Then go from there to see any signs of civilization or at worse set up a more stable home to better examine this strange world.

or

2). We head for a cave or clearing, selectively burn out a patch of grass to stand on and get some protective barriers set up. Then start a forest fire to get all these trees out of the way, scare off any monsters that might be in the general vicinity, burn away all the toxic gasses we might run into, and possibly torch this dream guy if he happens to live in the forest."

"Now I admit that starting forest fires might not be the most socially responsible course of action and would likely cause waay more problems than it solves (particularly if there are nearby civilizations or magical forest guardians around). But lets just remember that its an option in case mother nature starts toying with us too much."

"If Mr. Dreamboy wants to hurt us through dreams and we have no immediate way of striking back... and we apparenlty live in one giant forest... then setting the world on fire is as likely to cause problems for him as any other course of action."

She coughs.

"Though naturally I suggest only using option 2 if we have an easily accessible body of water on hand and/or we in enough danger that a forest fire won't make things worse."

[Moranica]

This is all way to weird for me. I do know one thing! Doesn't burning down the forest leave us without a source of food?

I prefer to just wait untill sunrise. Maybe catch some sleep. Or would that be unwise?

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"I think that we should go with option one, I'm not confortable burning the whole forrest."

[Ryuk01]

After you woke up, there is, once again, a slight tingle upon your skin.

OOC: Roll Listen and Spot Checks everyone.

[Moranica]

Spot
[roll0]

Listen
[roll1]

[Randel]

Narisa

Out of the corner of her eye, Narisa sees something like a tentacle off to the side. She raises her right hand, index finger upward as she says a spell.

"Hailook... lisen"

At the tip of her finger a light appears and with a flick of her wrist it flies over to where the tentacle is, the ball illuminating the thing while bobbing a little. The little ball of light helps illuminate the intruder while hopefully providing a distraction for any animals in the area.

"Somethings there." Narisa stands up, largely looking at the tentacle creature but also glances to see if the others spotted anything else.

Cast Dancing Lights to follow the thing and illuminate it. The ball is instructed to bob up and down to catch the attention of any animal that gets distracted by such things.

[Ryuk01]

Suddenly, the creature is illuminated. This lumbering plant has a featureless face covered with fresh blood and has a thick, dull-green skin. Although this creature lacks arms and eyes, it has eight thorny vines sprouting from its face that constantly twist and writhe as if sensing the area around it. The creature, now exposed, moves toward you with purpose. The monster's face hisses as a small purple cloud steams towards you.

Eudi, you realize that this is the nightmare in your dreams.

Roll Initiative.

Grid: {table]_|A_|B_|C_|D_|E_|F_|G_|H_|I_|J_|K_|L_|M_|N_|O_|P_| Q_|R_|S_|T_
1|
2|
3||||||||||||||M
4||||||-|-|-||||||E
5|||LM|LM|-|-|-|-||||||N
6|||LM|LM|-|-|-|-||||||K
7||||||-|-|-||||||||
8|
9|
10|
11|
12|
13|
14|
15|
16|
17|
18|
19|
20|[/table]
LM: Large Monster (Only 1, he takes up four squares)
-: Purple Cloud
M: Moraaaagh
E: Eudi
N: Narisa
K: Kaidos

[Ryuk01]

Initiative Order:Moraaaagh
Narisa
Kaidos
Eudi

What do you do?

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisa sees the huge creature moving towards them and belching out the gas.

"Eeek! Tentacles?!" Her eyes open with alarm as she gets up. Despite being the first to notice it, it takes her a moment to think of what to do.

She quickly runs to the side, out of the way of the gas. Channeling her magic, she rubs her hands together before pointing at the ground the creature is crawling on. The grass and dirt are suddenly covered in a slippery oily slime which will hopefully trip the creature up. Without eyes, its doubtful that her blinding spell would affect it.

Narisa moves to J2 and then casts a Grease spell at the ground the monster is standing on

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

When Moraaaargh sees the creature he knows instinctively.

That thing has to die!! Or we die! "AAAAAAAAARRGGHHHH!!!!!"

As he charges his face changes into a wolves head, his muscles bulge and he plunges through the cloud as he holds his breath. If he comes out he tries to hit the creature with an overhead chop with his greataxe, as well as bite him.

Rolls
Attack Axe (PA 3) [roll0]
Dam. Axe [roll1]

Attack Bite (PA3) [roll2]
Dam. Bite [roll3]

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Seeing the thing rise, Kaidos quickly picks his weapon in hand and assume a battle position.
"Even the plants want us dead here? Just where are we?"
He'll carefully aproach the plant creature, taking care of trying not to breath the gas.

31(0)/40(10)

I'll stay in Iron Guard's Glare stance, and I'll double move to D8 where I threaten it, avoiding the gas and giving him a -4 penalty to attack anyone but me.

Leading the Attack Mountain Hammer

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi seems frozen in fear for half a second, before she dashes towards the beast while shouting out a series of incoherant curses that seamlessly roll in to the words of the most powerful spell she can muster.

I move to K-4, or however close I must be in order to be 30~30ft away from the thing, and fire of a Ray of flame with the Searing Spell metamagic feat applied(ignore res, half immunity).

attack: [roll0] vs touch ac
Damage:[roll1]
If it hits, DC 15 reflex save to avoid catching fire

Spells:
0- 0/5
1- 1/5
2- 1/3
Rapid Metamagic: 1/3

[Ryuk01]

Grid: {table]_|A_|B_|C_|D_|E_|F_|G_|H_|I_|J_|K_|L_|M_|N_|O_|P_| Q_|R_|S_|T_
1|
2||||||||||N
3||||||||||||||
4||||||-|-M|-|||E|||
5|||LM|LM|-|-|-|-||||||
6|||LM|LM|-|-|-|-||||||
7||||||-|-|-||||||||
8||||K|
9|
10|
11|
12|
13|
14|
15|
16|
17|
18|
19|
20|[/table]

Round 1:
The quick-acting barbarian charges at the creature, but as he plunges into the purple fog, his movement suddenly turns sluggish. Moraaaagh only manages to charge 5-feet in the purple cloud before stopping. Distracted by Moraaaagh's movement towards itself, the monstrous plant's thick legs slip and fall under the oily slime Narisa conjured. It's tentacles sense the crusader moving to its right while the plant manages to stand back up despite the slippery surface. Suddenly, a ray of flame sears toward the plant and strikes it in the upper leg, igniting the grease around the plant. Flames rage around the plant as it recoils in pain.

[Ryuk01]

Initiative Order:Moraaaagh
Narisa
Kaidos
Eudi

Kaidos, you receive Stone Bones.

Round 2, what do you do?

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Still raging like a badger!!! Charge!!!

Rolls
Attack [roll0]
Dam [roll1]

Attack bite [roll2]
Dam [roll3]

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Kaidos will make a tatical move to the left and thrust his Guisarme at the plant, tensing his muscles, ready for it's counter attack.

31(0)/40(10)
5 foot step for C8 and will use Stone Bones. If I hit I get DR 5/adamantine for a round. He still have a -4 penalty for attacking anyone but me.

Attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Leading the Attack Mountain Hammer Stone Bones

[Randel]

Narisa

As the creature slips on the layer of grease and flails at the others, Narisa concentrates again and casts another spell to disable the creature. A brief tingling comes across her fingers as she thrusts out her hand as if throwing something at the creature.

Then, under the beasts multiple limbs and slipping feet, a scattering of sharp objects appear to jab their spikes into its feet and limbs to slow it down.

Then she moves towards Moraagh to help him escape the cloud if need be.

"Moraagh! Get out of the cloud... you can probably just move around it!"

Cast Caltrops under the monster, covering squares D5 and C6. The caltrops last 4 rounds.

Attack: [roll0]

If successful, it deals 1 point of damage and halves its land speed.

Also, she moves to G3 and is ready to give Moraagh any help he needs to escape the cloud. Possibly an Aid Another.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi

Her previous burst of magic having drained her of her rage along with some of her arcane energies, Eudi approaches the battle from a much calmer state. Though she continues to employ the same basic tactic against the creature of her nightmare, she now does so in a much more efficient manner.


5ft step ahead to J4, and using my Fiery Burst reserve feat on the creature

DC 16 reflex save to half [roll0] damage

[Ryuk01]

Moraaaagh, take 5 points of damage and make a Fort save.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh (46/51)

[roll0]

[Ryuk01]

Grid: {table]_|A_|B_|C_|D_|E_|F_|G_|H_|I_|J_|K_|L_|M_|N_|O_|P_| Q_|R_|S_|T_
1|
2||||||||||
3|||||||N|||||||
4||||||-|-|-||E||||
5|||LM|LM|-M|-|-|-||||||
6|||LM|LM|-|-|-|-||||||
7||||||-|-|-||||||||
8|||K||
9|
10|
11|
12|
13|
14|
15|
16|
17|
18|
19|
20|[/table]

Round 2:
The monster finds an opening in the barbarian's defenses and lashes out with a tentacle. Its tentacle latches on to Moraaaagh's shoulder and begins draining the life out of him, swelling with fresh, warm blood. Moraaaagh grimaces from the assault and swings his axe in a vicious arc, managing to cut a tremendous gash across the creature's chest. Green blood spews out from the wound, and the plant unleashes a roar of pain. Immediately, the plant feels the deep thrust from Kaidos's guisarme as it enters its side, and it collapses to the ground, lifeless.

You are all tired from the sudden attack by this monster. Suddenly the plant stands up once more, but now, its featureless face is replaced with the face of the man in your nightmares. He grins at you, showing razor sharp teeth, and brushes his long, greasy hair aside. In a booming, baritone voice, he says, "Well done, you have killed my little pet, the Blood Talus. I don't know how you came into my forest, but you will leave. Die!"

Suddenly, the Blood Talus explodes. Everyone is lifted off their feet and thrown back from the sheer force of the blast.

Everyone receives 700xp and takes 16 points of damage. Moraaaagh, take 3 CON damage and an additional 5 points of damage from the tentacle. Good job everyone, I didn't think you'd kill the Blood Talus that fast (He didn't even get to full attack). BBEG is now introduced. :smallsmile:

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi stands up from the blast carefully, the taste of blood in her mouth.
As she looks to see how her companions have fared, she asks aloud, "Is this the sort of game we've fallen in to?"

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Kaidos stayed on the ground for a bit, surprised by the explosion, before sitting up. Mental note: beware of plants.

"*grunts* Whatever this is it, we're dealing with a really paranoid fella. We should be more carefull from now on, someone big is out to get us."

[Randel]

Narisa

The blast flies out and knocks Narisa down.

OOC: 18 max hp - 1g hp = 2 hp!

"SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP MY SKIN!!"

Her body is covered in blood and wounds as she manages to pull herself off the ground. "Ugg... healing belt." She reaches for her healing belts and activates them to heal her wounds.



Using 2 charges
charge 1: [roll0]
charge 2: [roll1]

has 4 charges left between the two belts


When she's feeling a bit comfortable and her wounds are magically healed, she looks to her companions. "Who else needs help, and can we burn down the forest yet?"

She starts healing her allies, starting with Moraagh since he seems to have suffered the most damage.

To Moraagh:

I've got 4 healing belt charges worth 2d8 hp each. Use as many as you need.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Blegh!! Filthy plant. I'm hurting all over, but at least we killed it.

What's up with that guy, he sure is a big pain in the ass. If we meet him, I'll kill 'm!!

......

But first I need some healing. Good thing I have this healing belt.

Thanks for the offer Narisa, it's a good thing I've trained for this sort of thing. I can take a hit!

Using all three charges in seperate activations.
[roll0]

[Ryuk01]

Suddenly, you hear a voice behind you. "Drop your weapons! We have you surrounded." Everyone whirls around to identify the speaker, but all you can see is the glint of metal in the shadows of the trees. "I said DROP them! If you don't, we'll fire."

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"Hey, hey, hey, let's not make any rushed judgement cals, ok? Before we do anything, I'd like to know who is talking with us? We're new here and I must say our experience here hasn't been very nice."


OOC: Do I need to make a diplomacy roll or something?

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Are you responsible for this plant thing?? Moraaargh yells.

[Ryuk01]

"Drop them. Now." The voice says this as a last warning. "Then we'll talk."

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisa isn't holding anything weaponlike and holds her hands in the air, holding a position thats almost surrender but ready to drop to the ground or run if things go wrong. If there's one thing she knows about being in foreign lands its that surrender is only the best option if you know who you're surrendering to.

She lets the others speak to the newcomers. Meanwhile she tries to discern the location of the assailants.

Also, she mentally commands the dancing lights to move towards the sound of the assailants to illuminate them. The glowing orb moves its way around the perimeter of the shadows to 'flank' the newcomers (to hopefully sneak up on the newcomers or momentarily distract them from the party members).


Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

Dancing lights have a speed of 100 ft per round. Though it has a duration of one minute (10 rounds) and I'm not sure how long it was since she cast it to expose the plant creature.

Also, Narisa readies an action to cast Glitterdust at the enemies if they start attacking the group. She'll probably drop to the ground or run for cover after that.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Though she also has no offensive items in her hands, Eudi does lower her pack to the ground, along with the Glaive that hangs from the side of it. In her mind, she wonders how many spellcasters these people have needed to deal with in the past, let alone ones who can perform without signals

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh
Moraaaargh lowers his weapon, but waits for the rest of the group to drop their weapons. If they do so, he does so.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Kaidos will slowly lower his guisarme to the ground, but won't take his eyes off the voice's source. "Fine, we've dropped them, can we talk now?"

[Ryuk01]

The person steps through the bushes, and you can see that she is in fact a fierce-looking woman holding a bow with two short swords at her side. Perhaps the first feature you notice about her is her pale, yellow skin color. She wears jet black armor made of hide you cannot identify. As she nears you, she says, "There are many archers in the trees, do not do anything rash." Suddenly, she is illuminated better by the dancing lights. "Dispel this magic," she almost spits at the party. She is obviously uncomfortable with the floating orbs of light. "Then we'll answer your questions."

[Randel]

Narisa

Seeing that they are being addressed by someone who is unlikely be a serial murder rapist or the man from their nightmares, Narisa mentally cancels the spell and relaxes.

The dancing lights wink out of existance and Narisa stands unarmed and is willing to listen to what the woman has to say.

[Ryuk01]

"What do you wish to know?"

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Who are you and why are you threatening us?!

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

"Slow down, Mora, I'm sure we'd do the same if they appeared out of no-where in front of us back home.
We are travelers suffering under planar displacement. What we would mainly like is a way to get home. Failing that, we would like to know the basics of how to survive here, and possibly the identity of a scarred man, with long hair and pointy teeth."

[Ryuk01]

"'Planar displacement'? What is this you talk about?"

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:
"Right, sorry...I meant we are travelers from an alternative world...The man who got us here has met an untimely end

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisas blinks as she hears that.

"Oh snap, we were brought here by a planeshift misfire. I can't believe I forgot about that... we... we have to go raise our wizard from the dead or something."

"Though I suppose working out this situation comes first." she remembers looking at the people with arrows pointed at them.


Narisa offers up, "We arrived here by accident and have no way home." She turns to the exploded corpse of the plant creature. "Though I notice these woods have some very dangerous creatures and hazards in them. Er, the greenish toxic gas and rotting trees aren't normal are they?"

While this world is different and the creatures strange (along with the freaky nightmare visitations)... hopefully the native humanoids would see trouble with green acidic gas and would see value in getting rid of it.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

This whole planeshifting stuff is way over my head.

[Shade Kerrin]

I think that was supposed to be thoughts

[Moranica]

I think that was supposed to be thoughts

Oops, bad reading on my part. Barbarians should not have mind-reading capabilities. Edited.

[Ryuk01]

"It isn't normal," the woman says curtly. "Come with me to the Dargoon, leader of the Panidu tribe. He'll answer your questions better than me." She gestures towards Eudi and Narisa, "If you cast any magic, my blade will find its way between your lungs." She smiles threateningly as if welcoming the thought.

OOC:I really apologize for all the delays in posting. Real life made me busy, but I should be a lot more active from here on out.

[Randel]

Narisa

"Duly noted." Narisa says somewhat deadpanned.

[Moranica]

"It isn't normal," the woman says curtly. "Come with me to the Dargoon, leader of the Panidu tribe. He'll answer your questions better than me." She gestures towards Eudi and Narisa, "If you cast any magic, my blade will find its way between your lungs." She smiles threateningly as if welcoming the thought.

And should your blade find any of my friends. Your head might have a close encounter with my axe. But enough with the pleasantries. Lead the way to this tribe of yours!

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"The pleasantries of a new friend, so heartwarming." said the crusader in a light tone, followed by a small chuckle. He'll pick his weapon again beforefollowing the woman, but won't keep it in his hand.

[Ryuk01]

"Follow me."

She moves through the forest expertly, as if she memorized the path to her tribe. You can hear the rustling leaves to the left and right of you, and you know that they are the archers. You can almost feel their gaze on the back of your necks, constantly watching you for signs of threatening movement. The forest is hushed as you march with her with only the pale rays of the moon to illuminate your path.

The woman stops so suddenly that Moranica almost runs into her. "We are here." Everyone steps through the bushes, and you finally see the tribe. In the dim lighting, you observe organized rows of tents that surround a strange amphitheatre. A yellow-skinned man, standing guard, converses with the woman in a soft voice that is clearly audible in the stillness of the forest. "Glad to see you back so early, Thalea. What are those... people you brought with you?"

"I found them near Shanti borders, shaken. Said they got plan... -er- 'planar displacement'. Have you heard about this?"

"No. Best ask Dargoon. Do you think they could be Faceless Ones? A spy?"

"I will take them to Dargoon to ask. He'll know."

She takes you down to the tribe. You cannot see much in the dim illumination, but you know that you are treading across a plantation. You reach a rather large tent and enter after a brief conversation between Thalea and the guards.

Inside, you enter a comfortable dwelling lit bright with candles. You see a old, wrinkled man sitting on a one-legged stool next to a tall middle-aged man. They look as if they were having an argument. As Thalea quickly introduces you, the old man observes you with recognition in his eyes. He realizes that you notice this, and quickly replaces his expression with an emotionless mask.

He stands up and looks at each of you with a piercing gaze as if he were assessing you, and says, "Hello, travelers, I am Dargoon. I believe you have questions for me?" His speaks with a lilting accent that sounds slightly ridiculous.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi remains quiet, attempting to assess this man herself.
If he were younger, if he were more human in appearance, would he match up to the scarred man? We've only seen projections of him, and magic can lie...
Not wanting to be the first to talk, she gently nudges Narisa.

Sorry, had to say this.
Eudi notices that he notices that she notices his recognition of us

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisa bows her head to the old man in respect and not showing any sign that she noticed his recognition. "Greetings, I am Narisa Debi, a sorceress of healing." she introduces her team mates. "These are my team mates Eudi, Kaidos, and Moraaaargh."

"We come here... lost." She says this frankly and regrettably. "We recently suffered a cross-planar teleportation accident, don't know where we are, and have no visible means of getting home. We didn't even know there were people here until we met the charming woman and the archers. The first two signs of life we saw were a large beast that attacked us and later a plantlike creature that belched out toxic fumes which we suspect has been killing the local plants and trees."

"So, I guess our first questions would be 'What is this place?', 'Are there any other creatures or hazards we should look out for?', and 'Are there any other tribes or people who are in the area?'"

She thinks for a second, "Also... who or what are the Faceless Ones?"


Diplomacy: [roll0]
Sense Motive: [roll1]

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

I, the great Moraaaargh, also have a question. You have captured us, yet you do not seem to agressive. So perhaps you will not eat us or sacrifice us to some idiot god. What will you do with us then?

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"It's an honor to meet you, Dargoon, I believe that we started with the wrong foot in our encounter in the forest." He keels down before the elder, just as he'd do if we'd meet a king or a high-priest.
"As my companion said, we're stranded here, but if you could just point us towards the nearest person capable of bringing our friend back from the dead we'll leave peacefully. We do not wish you harm, we just want to go home." Kaidos tries to put his most trusting and friendilier smile, they need these guys help.

Diplomacy [roll0]
Sense motive [roll1]
How are we doing aid another rolls? The best result is the base and the others the aid?

[Ryuk01]

The old man ponders all of your questions and answers them one by one.

To the sorceress, he replies, "Ah, a fellow spellcaster. You know, I happen to be a quite capable sorcerer myself! As for your questions, you are in the land of 'Nardel Irion', which means 'The Seven Isles'. There are many dangerous things out in the forest, but to list all of them would be too time-consuming. As long as you stay with us, you should be safe. There are other tribes in this area. Perhaps the closest one are the Inlectu people, whom we trade with often. And of course, there are also the Shanti and the Vadiren." Dargoon almost spits out these last two tribe names.

He now faces Moraaaagh and Kaidos. "What will we do with you? Well, I'm afraid that we cannot let you go. Yet. You may stay at our tribe and rest while we come to a decision. Also, what 'friend' are you talking about?"

After Dargoon finishes talking to them, Narisa reminds Dargoon of her question concerning the Faceless Ones. The old man simply waves dismissively and says, "That isn't important." Quickly, he changes the subject, "Could you describe to me the monsters you faced?"

[Ryuk01]

Kaidos:You get the feeling that something is not quite right about this man, but you cannot put your finger on it.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"Oh, he's a spellcaster as well. One of his spells when a lil' bit wrong, leaving us here. He could hopefully bring us back to where we're from. Now, we're thankfull for your hospitality, so forgive my question, but how long would that take? And, err, what would that "decision" be."

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi begins to describe the creatures, but does so using enough 'technical' terminology to muddle what she is attempting to describe.('lupine creature with a vertical orifice equipped for consumption,' etc) If prompted to do so, she will give a more understandable description.

If you think I need to do this, a bluff check to prevent him from realizing that Eudi is talking like this deliberately to confuse him.
[roll0]
Edit: ack, hopefully I get a circumstance bonus of some sort

[Moranica]

The old man ponders all of your questions and answers them one by one.

He now faces Moraaaagh and Kaidos. "What will we do with you? Well, I'm afraid that we cannot let you go. Yet. You may stay at our tribe and rest while we come to a decision. Also, what 'friend' are you talking about?"

Decide about what? Our lives?

[Ryuk01]

"We will make the decision as soon as possible. I need to contact some of my 'associates' to talk about this. This decision may or may not have to do with your lives, I am still not sure."

Dargoon pauses and listens as Eudi describes the creatures. His mouth hangs slightly open in confusion upon his totally puzzled face. At this moment, the man standing next to Dargoon smiles and says in a deep voice, "Ah, I believe the 'lupine creature with the vertical orifice' sounds like a Drask. And the monster with the 'acerose thorns' was most likely a Blood Talus, though I shudder to think of how you encountered one. I'm afraid you're going to have to use more extensive vocabulary to trick a wizard like me." He grins at Eudi's surprised expression.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi smiles at the man's comment, before replying.
"Sorry, I'm just a bit of a show-off sometimes."

To herself, she thinks, So he's a spellcaster too? Good to know.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Kaidos' smile drains a bit on the mention of 'associates', that's never a good sign. "If your decision will take some time, could you lend us some acomodations? You see, this has been a long day and I think we'd like a chance to digest all this information."

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

So you still have to decide whether you will decide about our lives or not??

Moraaaargh then turns to his companions

Did he cast confusion on me or something?

[Randel]

Narisa

"Blood Talus? Greenish coloration, numerous tentacle-like appendages, senses by touch, emits toxic gas and explodes upon death?"

Narisa ponders what she had seen of the creature during the battle, nothing about it had particuarly cried 'blood' aside from the explosion at the end that had nearly killed her. Also, the words of that scarred man and the laughter... but no need to bring that up now (if these people know anything about him then see if they bring up the subject).

"That was certainly a fight... is there anything particularly dangerous or special about them aside from... well the deadly gas and exploding part?" The sorceress asks, interested in knowing what sort of creatures inhabit this land.

[Ryuk01]

"Exploding? I've never encountered any Blood Taluses exploding. Are you sure? However, the rest of your description is correct. Perhaps their most dangerous trait is their ability to latch on to a victim with their tentacle and insert the small thorns on their appendages into the victim's body. They will proceed to drain the victim of all their blood, leaving a dry husk to be eaten by other creatures."

"Come. I will direct you to your quarters."

[Ryuk01]

The man directs you to your quarters, which is essentially a small cabin made of what seems like dark wood. Inside, there are 4 beds with a small table in the middle. He leaves you with a 2 candles and leaves without a word.

Do you do anything before you sleep?

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Kaidos will head to the nearest bed, sitting on it carefully, as his armor adds a lot of weight. "So, what's the plan? I didn't like that elder, but I can't put my finger around why."

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:
"It could be the fact that he knows us despite never having met us before. It could be that he offered token responses to our questions and evaded the ones that are actually important. Personally, I think it's the sheer 'convenience' of us being found just after we had dealt with the Talus."
Eudi sighs, before continuing to speak.
"I say we look for a way out of this place, but I doubt we would be in a good position to escape tonight. For now, we should probably sleep in shifts and stand watch overnight."

[Moranica]

I could try and break down the hut using parts of the bed as a ram. It will not be a very silent escape method however.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

"Getting out of the hut's the easy part. It's escaping the campsite that's the difficult part."

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"I don't think escaping is a good idea. If we do that then they're really going to be after us, and they know the region well."

[Randel]

Narisa

"That and the fact that they have all those archers to track us. I think if we are going to attempt an escape then doing it in daylight might be better... at least then we could see them coming after us."

Narisa thinks about it, "Actually, for all we know these people can see in the dark. They didn't seem to need much light to follow us (although it could have merely been them using the light from my spell)."

She checks the bed for bedbugs before trying to get some shut-eye. "But all the same, hopefully these people have some sense of gratitude for us dealing with that Blood Talus for them."

Narisa prays to her goddess Labarin for protection during the night and for any help out of the situation (while giving the traditional promise to help anyone else in need who they come across). Then, unless anything else needs to be done then Narisa lays in bed and waits till morning. Its very unlikely that she falls asleep for real but she lays down as she watches the room.

[Ryuk01]

You all sleep fitfully on your seperate beds and recover 4 health. Unlike your previous night, you do not have any of the nightmares.

You wake up to the sound of light knocking upon the door of your cabin. A gray-haired woman, around the age of 50, walks in with a tray of steaming food and water. Her wrinkled face gives you a warm smile as she passes the meal to every person. Your bellies rumble as you realize the last time you've eaten, and you eagerly accept the warm food so unlike the cold, meager rations you consume in adventures. The food is what appears to be a long, green sponge. Despite its abnormal appearance, it is juicy and sweet, with an almost exotic taste to it. The meal is filling and the serving woman smiles, pleased that you enjoy the meal. The rich scent of the food hangs in your mouth long after you've finished it.

After eating, the woman talks to you, "Hello, I am Mags. I'm glad to see you liked your meal, because you will need it for the raid you will be undertaking." With this statement, she looks genuinely concerned for you. "Dargoon has decided that the Shanti tribe is left vulnerable after the damages from the Inlectu. He plans to land a swift attack on the Shanti, but doesn't have enough warriors. He feels that you coming will not only boost his numbers, but will help determine your loyalty towards the Panidu. Aiding the Panidu in the destruction of the Shanti will ensure that you are not one of their spies. I'm afraid your only alternative is imprisonment."

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisa bows her head before eating but before actually praying she asks "Oh, just out of curiosity what local deity should I thank for this meal? And for that matter, what is it?" She holds off on eating until she gets and answer.

Then when she gets the answer, she makes a prayer thanking both Labarin and the local god... and casts Detect Magic as well (mixing the vocal and somantic components into the prayer itself) she takes a moment to examine the food and if its clean she looks up to the old lady, secretly examining her as she asks some questions.

"A few questions about this raid:

1). What are the Shanti like? Mostly in the martial or magical sense, I suppose. And of course how do they differ from the Panidu. (the last thing she wants is to go into a battle where both sides look the same)

2). When you mean 'raid' and 'destruction of the Shadi', are we talking about a raid to steal as much of their food supplies as we can, wreck havok on some specific part of their village, or is this a wholehearted attempt to exterminate the tribe completely?"

She holds up her hands in a sign signifying that she genuinely doesn't know what level of 'raiding' the tribes in this area regularly employ.

"Either way's fine, back home we'd have goblinoid and humanoid enemies and there were different rules of engagement for the two."

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi remains silent as the woman speak, but seems to look quite annoyed at the last comment of Narisa. She gaurds her words carefully, as she says, "Well, let us go out and determine our loyalty, then."
As she moves to pick up her items, she gives a look to Narisa that seems to say 'We will talk about this later.'

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

This turn of events was unsettling, to say the least. In the first few days they have been attacked, harrased in their dreams by a psycho and now drafted in a feud between tribes. He didn't like that, simply exterminating another village because it's more convenient by them, he needed more information before deciding.

"It is a pleasure to make your aquintance, Mags. My name is Kaidos. What are those 'Shanti' you speak of? Why there is such a conflict with them?"

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Hmm, this is actually pretty good, Mags. And about that raid, to me it's all the same. I mean the options aren't so different.

Either we fight with the Shanti or we fight with you to break out. Well, I'd prefer the Shanti then, since that means we still get nice food.

[Ryuk01]

"The Shanti are pure savages. 50 years ago, they came in massive numbers and attacked us while we were in famine. They drove us out of the area, claiming the fertile soil for their own. My father was killed in that war," she says bitterly, "They are hunters and barbarians, still raiding neighboring tribes for supplies and animals. We struggle to make a living off of the land, and they simply swoop in and take it, burning and looting. 'Destruction' may be too strong of a word. We are going to try to drive them out of the area that was rightfully ours." She leans in closer to you and says in a hushed tone, "I really do hope that you will help us. I have a good first impression of you, and I really hope that you don't get hurt. I heard that your squad leader might be Thalea. Watch out for her. She is...'different' from the rest of us. Her brutality towards people is unsettling. There are rumors that she reached her rank among the Panidu's military through murder."

OOC: Sorry I took so long to post. Christmas is really dragging me down.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"Sure, could you give me and my friends a moment to prepare?"

When the old lady leaves, Kaidos will face the group. "What should we do?"

[Ryuk01]

She closes the door, and you hear the sound of footsteps receding.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

"Do? We don't really have a choice other to go along with things for now, so I think we should do that until an opportunity to get out presents itself, or we have more information. Who knows? The Shanti might actually deserve what comes next."

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

I'll leave this one to you guys. Politics never was my strong point.

[Randel]

Narisa

When Mags leaves the room, Narisa silently moves toward the door and uses her Detect Magic spell to spot the magic auras through the door to see that the woman has left (Detect Magic is blocked by 3 feet of wood so she should see the auras through the door if she's just outside.) If Mags is gone then Narisa quickly scans the rest of the room for magic before turning to the others.

Edit: Narisa detects some faint slivers of magic which could just be lingering auras from the magic items... or a sign that Mags didn't quite leave. She quietly moves to the others and whispers to them. Its possible she's being overly paranoid but considering their current position and Narisas own lack of combat abilities then she's not taking chances.

Whispering to the others, she says:


"One thing I should mention: While I was praying I used a spell to examine the room for magic. Our food was free of magic but Mags has three magic items on her. Her bracelet was too powerful for me to identify but her cloak and headband are both enchanted to enhance her charisma and persuasive abilities. While its possible that she was telling the truth, her magic items made her more persuasive then she actually would be normally."

Narisa waves her hand a bit as if to say "Don't expect me to be able to explain how magic makes arguments more persuasive."

"Basically, don't take anything she said at face value... or that Dragoon said at face value either. Actually... if Mags has a Cloak of Charisma then Dragoon probably has one as well which means it magically enhanced his diplomatic skills passively... which means that if you think he was lying through his teeth and actively withholding information and stuff then just mentally subtract a few points of credibility from that and assume that the new lesser number is how he actually is."

"So, in short: Never trust a sorceress farther than you can throw her (irony noted here). For the moment I agree that we have to go along with this because even if we did escape then we have nowhere to run to and there's no telling how the other tribes will treat us. However, if anyone gets any plan to escape then I will totally go along with it."

"I recommend that we go with the Panidu, fight with them with a vigor to prove our loyalty, and generally kiss as much ass is needed to get us a decent chance of survival in this place. However, lets choose a codeword that we can shout if we suddenly have to bail out. Like... if we are fighting the Shanti and Eudi sees that they are peaceful women and children being slaughtered by Panidu soldiers then she can shout "For the Honor of Geremund" or something and then we all know to head to her side, hit the Panidu soldiers as we can, and basically switch sides or escape. Something similar if Thalea is trying to send us on suicide missions or the like."

Narisa turns to Eudi "Oh, and I did notice the look you gave me when I spoke to Mags about extermination and the like. Trust me when I say that I find the idea repulsive and I was just trying to judge her reaction and see just how far this battle will go. We... we have no means of getting home and we are pretty much at the mercy of these people and I'm not exactly seeing an abundance of mercy here. I am totally prepared to bend over backwards to sweet talk our way to these peoples good side to ensure our survival. But I'm not going to sell out our values in the process... I'll lie about it but seriously we're in a den of thieves here I'll play along until we're out of shanking range."

(edited to include reaction to finding trace amounts of magic which could be lingering auras or something else.)

...

"Actually, Eudi? Can you detect magic auras? If so could you check the lingering auras to see what you can find?"

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi mutters a few arcane words to herself as a response to Narisa, her eyes seeming to glow slightly as she examines the room.

I cast Detect Magic

[Ryuk01]

Make 6 Spellcraft checks in the OOC thread.

[Ryuk01]

What do you do after the failed Spellcraft checks? Do you follow Narisa's plan to join the Panidu for a short period? Or do you try something that I would have never thought of? :smalltongue:

[Randel]

Narisa

The sorceress picks up all of her things, ready to go.

"Well, we may not know what else she had but we can't wait too long. I say we head out and go along with this as long as its safe to do so."

Narisa heads out the door and looks for Thalea their new squad leader.

[Ryuk01]

You see that outside, the sun is out, dazzling you with the sudden brightness. About 60 yards away, you can observe a Panidu farmer crouched down and drenched with sweat from a morning spent planting crops. A dirt path winds snake-like down from your cabin, disappearing around a corner. You look around in the trees surrounding you, but you cannot see if the "archers" are still there.

This marks the beginning of Day 2 in this strange new world.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Moraaaargh looks around cautiously as he steps outside. "No guards?" he wispers to no one in particulair. He steps forward a bit more and puts his hands to his mouth. 'HEY, ANY GUARDS AROUND?"

[Ryuk01]

There is no response.

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:
"I don't think they'd respond if they were there. Let's just get this whole thing over with."
Having not being given any location to report to, Eudi starts heading in the direction of the elders.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

"Hmmm, you are a smart one, that's good thinking!", Moraaaargh says as he heads after Eudi.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

"Yes, for the best use for an ambush, I'd bet." Kaidos says under his breath, tailing behind.

[Randel]

Narisa

"Pardon me, good farmer." Narisa says to the farmer. "Can you direct us to where the military training camp is?"

She also looks at the farmer to see if the person needs help or how they do farm work in this world (or if there is anything suspicious about them or signs of abuse from cruel taskmasters).

[Ryuk01]

The farmer stiffens at the sound of your voice, and stops his work. Slowly he turns around to see you, almost frightened by your presence. Perhaps his most prominent feature is his large nose, sitting slightly crooked on his hardened, dull yellow face. His clothing is soiled and dirty from the hours of farmwork, but overall, he is in decent condition. The seeds the man holds are dull green and shaped long and narrow. Although he doesn't speak, the farmer points a calloused hand towards the dirt path that Eudi was walking down.

[Randel]

Narisa

"Thank you, Sir." Narisa bows before heading in the indicated direction. She gets the feeling that staying to help would likely be more awkward than helpful... and she could theoretically help him after they return from the mission.

[Ryuk01]

As you turn the corner, you see Thalea in green armor emblazoned with the picture of a ram-like creature, holding a glaive and carrying an already strung composite bow with two dozen arrows. In a gruff voice she says, "We're raiding. Now. Do you have your weapons?"

[Randel]

Narisa

Narisa nods, holding her crossbow in her offhand while leaving her right hand ready to cast spells.

[Moranica]

Waargh!! , growls Moraaaargh as he swings around his axe.

[Ryuk01]

Thalea snaps three times, and a dozen archers emerge from the trees, prepared to assist you on your raid.

[Moranica]

"Heeey!!! I knew it!!!"

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Kaidos motions to his Guisarme, resiting in his back. "Before we go, any usefull information about them that we could need?"

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi

"Yes, what are the Shanti, anyway?"
Of course Eudi remembers Mags' description, but she'd rather hear it from a tongue that is unlikely to have been magically honeyed.

[Ryuk01]

"They are a mighty warrior tribe that-" Suddenly, Thalea's voice is cut off by the sound of a horn. Her face turns slightly red with anger as she realizes the signal. "Damn, they're already leaving! We need to catch up.I know a path will bring us to the Shanti tribe faster."

[Randel]

Narisa

"Gotcha." Narisa nods and follows Thalea on the new path. "We really are on a schedule." the sorceress says in awe since they were only informed of this raid so recently and are already heading out to fight.

[Ryuk01]

Thalea jumps through the bushes and expertly maneuvers her way through the trees. Eventually, you see that you are on a barely visible dirt path with the tracks of many animals still on it. "This is a hunting trail that only I know of. It's been awhile since I've last hunted in this place, but I still remember the path. Don't stray from the trail. Wouldn't want you to get mauled by Drasks again."

For several hours you alternate between walking and jogging down the trail. Ahead of you, the dirt path is obscured by many piles of leaves. Blue and purple songbirds flutter and chirp behind you, making a pleasing natural melody. Below this layer of song is a low, barely audible droning sound, possibly from bees, coming from a distance to your right. As you stand between these grey-barked trees paying attention to the sounds around you, the DM forces you to make a Spot Check.:smallamused:

[Randel]

Narisa

The sorceress suddenly spots something white and shiny out of the corner of her eye.

"Thalea, I see something over here. It looks like a white pearl." Narisa says, pointing to the tiny white sphere poking out from under some yellow-green leaves.

Obviously, a pearl couldn't have arrived there on its own (unless there are land oysters growing in the trees or something) so either somebody dropped it as a trap or dropped it due to an accident. And its probably best to consult the local here before doing anything that might result in an 'accident' happening to them.

Plus, it could be some kind of exploding bee egg or whatever.

"Somebody must dropped it, accidentally or otherwise. Want me to check for magic?" Narisa asks her commander.


If Thalea gives her permission then Narisa casts Detect Magic to scan the pearl and local area for auras.

Spellcraft (on the pearl): [roll0]

for anything else:

Spellcraft 1: [roll1]
Spellcraft 2: [roll2]
Spellcraft 3: [roll3]

Then, after checking the pearl and local area, Narisa will keep concentrating and turn toward Thalea to discretely note what sort of magic items Thalea has on her person.

Spellcraft 1: [roll4]
Spellcraft 2: [roll5]
Spellcraft 3: [roll6]

[Ryuk01]

"Don't use any magic!!" Thalea bursts out in a voice mixed with anger and even a little fear. "Don't use any of your sorcery until we are at the Shanti tribe." She stops talking and looks at you as if expecting you to do something.

[Randel]

Narisa

"Okay! Okay!" Narisa holds up both hands as if surrendering and makes no attempt to make any moves that could be misinterpreted as 'magical'.

She does however remember that the pearl is still there so Thalea can see for herself.

"Um... just out of curiosity. Is this restriction on my spellcasting going to prevent me from casting spells at Shanti warriors? Or healing injured allies? Or using magic items to heal them? I do have a crossbow but its sort of a back-up weapon."

She gulps as she keeps an eye on her commander. Considering that she got exactly zero seconds of pre-fight training and they are now on an old secret hunting trail that apparently only her commander knows about and they are out to fight an enemy she knows next to nothing about... and she's not sure if she can use magic against them.

Well suffice to say that troop morale could stand some improvement from where she's standing.

[Ryuk01]

"You can only use magic when I tell you to. If you do anything weird, I'll make sure my archers will put 20 holes in you."

Yeah. Thalea is very hostile and suspicious towards magic because of her past.

[Randel]

Narisa

"Duly noted." Narisa says in a voice that makes it perfectly clear that the reason she had asked for permission in the first place was because she knew she needed permission to cast magic.

"Anyway, suspicious object over there that... I figured you'd want to know about." she points in the direction of the easily missed pearl-like object.

She says nothing more, merely pointing to the object in question.

Note to self: Never do anything good for these people ever again. Just... just totally half-ass it from now on.

[Moranica]

Moraaaargh

Don't worry, I will protect us with my axemagic.

[Ryuk01]

"It's probably nothing," Thalea says. She walks straight over the pearl,


... and it explodes with a tremendous cracking sound that almost shatters your hearing. Thalea crumples her knees in pain, clutching her bleeding ears. In the confusion, a long scythe slashes Narisa across the shoulder in its vicious arc. The sorceress grunts and covers her wound, trying to make sense of the chaos that broke loose.

Roll Initiative.

[Ryuk01]

You see the green scythe handle, almost 20 feet long, retract back into the bushes.

{table]_|A_|B_|C_|D_|E_|F_|G_|H_|I_|J_|K_|L_|M_|N_|O_|P_| Q_|R_|S_|T_
1||||||t|B|B|||||B|t|B|
2||||||B|t|B|||||B|t|B|
3||||||B|B|t|||||t|B|B|
4||||||B|t|t|||||B|t|B|
5||||||B|B|t||T|||B S|B|B|
6||||||B|B|B|||||B|B|t|
7||||||B|B|t||M|N||B|B|B|
8||||||t|B|B||E|K||B|B|B|
9||||||B|t|B|||||t|B|t|
10||||||B|B|t|||||t|B|B|
11||||||B|B|B|||||t|B|B|
12||||||B|B|t|||||B|B|t|
13||||||t|B|B|||||t|B|B|
14||||||t|B|B|||||B|t|t|
15||||||B|B|t|||||t|B|B|
16||||||B|t|B|||||B|B|B|
17||||||B|t|B|||||B|t|t|
18||||||t|B|B|||||B|B|t|
19||||||B|B|t||||B|t|B|
20||||||B|t|B|||||t|B|B|[/table]

M- Moranica
N- Narisa
K- Kaidos
E- Eudi
B- Bushes
T-Thalea
S- Where scythe retracted back to
t- Trees

Initiative Order:Narisa
Moranica
Monster
Kaidos
Eudi

[Randel]

Narisa

"Gah, that wasn't me! Don't shoot me you &%^$ing archers!" Narisa yells as she feels the blade hit her shoulder.

She quickly raises her crossbow, undoes the safety on it (yes, she had her crossbow loaded this whole time somehow... but the safety was on, seriously) and looks at where that big scythe thing had come from.

"Oh shi... okay, Thalea? Yeah, can you please tell me what that thing was? Or at least let me know if that was one of your archers? Seriously, it took a bite out of my shoulder and its still a toss up between it being an actual enemy or just one of your guys taking potshots at me."

It takes Narisa a few seconds to note the sharp ringing in her ears and the fact that she can't hear any of her own words before realizing that she is deaf.

...great.

Stuck in an alternate world, in a forgotten hunting trail far from the only civilization they know of... who's occupants are lying bastards, serving in the military to attack an enemy they don't know and under the command of someone who constantly threatens her personally for doing anything that could possibly help this little military squad... and always under the potential watchful eye of about a dozen or so invisible ninja archers who could probably solve this whole fiasco faster without all the fuss.

And now her total &!#@% commander got herself blown up and deafened by stepping on a suspicious thing that Narisa had tried to point out. That would be a blessing if it wasn't for the whole being lost in a forgotten trail with ninja archers hanging around and the recent attack.


Narisa moves to the back of the group where she should be safe from the scyth and can watch the groups back. She sticks with her crossbow partially out of fear of Thalea and her ninja archers and partially because the deafness will make it difficult to cast spells. She watches the bushes with a careful eye, ready to fire at attackers.

Narisa moves to J9 and readies an action to fire at anything that looks like an enemy (and isn't one of the archers or whatever).

She also makes a spot check to spot anything hiding in the bushes.

Spot: [roll0]

[Shade Kerrin]

Eudi:

Eudi sighs at the latest turn of events. Forbidden from magic, and lacking any other way of probing the bush, Eudi simply hold her Glaive ahead of her, preparing to deflect any other surprises. Of course if this supposed ranged support doesn't do anything soon, she'll consider herself free to throw whatever spells she wishes about.


Total Defense action.

[Gray Mage]

Kaidos

Just great. How did they get ambushed with that many archers around? This doesn't smell good, but for now it's best to end the attacker. He tried to speak for the squichier members of his group to stand back, but no sound came out. Deafness? That will pose a problem. But first, that coward.

HP 19 (3)
[roll0]

Iron Guard's Glare stance, as usual. If the thing that attacked us is in sight, Kaidos will move towards it and attack using Stone Bones (if hits I get DR 5/Adamantine) and use Combat Expertise 3. (AC 21 and attack 8)
If he isn't, then Kaidos will ready the previous action, if possible.

[roll1] (+1 from furious counterstrike, increase if attacked) [roll2]

[Ryuk01]

"Damn! Thalea!" Archers rush out of the bushes, eyes wide with shock. The flash of steel is all you see before another scythe cleanly decapitates a man, causing a fountain of blood to spray from his neck as his slain body crumples to the ground. A second scythe carves the next warrior's bellow open, his hand the only thing preventing internal organs from leaking out. These two new 25-feet long scythes retract back into the forest. The remaining archers fire into the bushes, but you cannot determine if their arrows hit.

{table]_|A_|B_|C_|D_|E_|F_|G_|H_|I_|J_|K_|L_|M_|N_|O_|P_| Q_|R_|S_|T_
1||||||t|B|B|||||B|t|B|
2||||||B|t|B|||||B|t|B|
3||||||B|B|t|||||t|B|B|
4||||||B|t|t S|||||B|t|B|
5||||||B|B|t S||T|||B S|B|B|
6||||||B|B|B|||||B|B|t|
7||||||B|B|t||M|||B|B|B|
8||||||t|B|B|DA|E|K||B|B|B|
9||||||B|t|B|IA|A|N||t|B|t|
10||||||B|B|t||A|A||t|B|B|
11||||||B|B|B||A|||t|B|B|
12||||||B|B|t|A|A|A||B|B|t|
13||||||t|B|B||A|||t|B|B|
14||||||t|B|B|||||B|t|t|
15||||||B|B|t|||||t|B|B|
16||||||B|t|B|||||B|B|B|
17||||||B|t|B|||||B|t|t|
18||||||t|B|B|||||B|B|t|
19||||||B|B|t||||B|t|B|
20||||||B|t|B|||||t|B|B|[/table]

M- Moranica
N- Narisa
K- Kaidos
E- Eudi
B- Bushes
T-Thalea
S- Where scythe retracted back to
t- Trees
A - Archers
IA - Injured Archer
DA - Dead Archer

Initiative Order:I forgot about the -4 to initiative from deafened, so here's the new order:
Narisa
Archers
Monsters
Moranica
Kaidos
Eudi

[Ryuk01]

The wounded archer gladly gulps down the goodberries, saying a quick word of thanks. Once more, the archers mass fire into the bushes, but this time, you hear a surprised yelp as an arrow sails true. Three monsters leap out of the bushes, giving you an opportunity to observe their strange features. They stand 3 to 4 feet tall, with varying patches of green skin all across their body, giving the illusion that the colors are moving. Along the back of their hand is a strange tube that results in an organic scythe-like weapon that seems to have a mind of its own, constantly extending and retracting to great lengths. With wild shouts, these creatures attack with a flurry of blades. Kaidos and Moraaaagh are slashed by the blades and lurch back, but are not harmed significantly.

Kaidos:Take 7 damage.

Moraaaagh:39/47

{table]_|A_|B_|C_|D_|E_|F_|G_|H_|I_|J_|K_|L_|M_|N_|O_|P_| Q_|R_|S_|T_
1||||||t|B|B|||||B|t|B|
2||||||B|t|B|||||B|t|B|
3||||||B|B|t|||||t|B|B|
4||||||B|t|t|S||||B|t|B|
5||||||B|B|t||T|S|S|B |B|B|
6||||||B|B|B|||||B|B|t|
7||||||B|B|t||M|||B|B|B|
8||||||t|B|B|DA|E|K||B|B|B|
9||||||B|t|B|IA|A|N||t|B|t|
10||||||B|B|t||A|A||t|B|B|
11||||||B|B|B||A|||t|B|B|
12||||||B|B|t|A|A|A||B|B|t|
13||||||t|B|B||A|||t|B|B|
14||||||t|B|B|||||B|t|t|
15||||||B|B|t|||||t|B|B|
16||||||B|t|B|||||B|B|B|
17||||||B|t|B|||||B|t|t|
18||||||t|B|B|||||B|B|t|
19||||||B|B|t||||B|t|B|
20||||||B|t|B|||||t|B|B|[/table]

M- Moranica
N- Narisa
K- Kaidos
E- Eudi
B- Bushes
T-Thalea
S- Where scythe retracted back to
t- Trees
A - Archers
IA - Injured Archer
DA - Dead Archer

Initiative Order:
Narisa
Archers
Monsters
Moranica
Kaidos
Eudi

[Randel]

Narisa

Seeing the monsters coming out of the bushes and take a swipe at her friends, Narisa decides to pull out the stops and take these monsters down before anyone else gets decapitated.

"I'm trying to save Thalea here so don't kill me!" Narisa says before concentrating and weaving magic with her hands.

Holding out her hand, she makes a claw like shape, raking it through the air as if combing her fingers through sand. Sparks appear around her fingers and what looks like glittering, glowing, dust fills her hand.

Then she waves her hand toward two of the monsters and the dust flies out to explode into multicolored sticky rainbow sparkles.

At the very least, the spell should keep these monsters from hiding in the bushes anymore but with luck it will blind them.

Cast Glitterdust (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/glitterdust.htm) on the monsters at K5 and L5 (Could have hit all three monsters if Thalea wasn't in the way).

Monsters must make a DC 16 Will save or be blinded. Regardless they get a -40 penalty to hide checks.

[Shade Kerrin]

((I'm at the bottom of the initiative, why is nobody posting?))
Eudi:

Eudi looks at the....creatures, yet another wierd thing in this world.(They sound like zerglings, though) Well, the archers are in plain sight, Thelea is in danger, and they are just painting a big target on themselves. Eudi concentrates on the coordinates of the critters near Thelea, releasing her standard minature explosion.


Fiery burst reserve feat against the creautes in K5 and L5, DC 16 reflex save to half [roll0] damage.
If they move or somebody's motion prevents the safe deployment of a 5ft burst, she shall satisfy herself with getting one with the edge of the effect.

[Gray Mage]

((I'm at the bottom of the initiative, why is nobody posting?))

((Before I post I need to know if I spent the Stone Bones Maneuver and hit or not.))