Predators of Xendrik [IC]

[Chambers]

Predators of Xendrik






falling....






...falling






...falling...




The cold wind whips around you as you tumble and fall through the air. Turning head over heels the sky and earth twist and spin in a nasueating kaleidescope. A blast of frigid air rightens you and you see the sky above you, large white clouds hiding the sun. An immense jungle covers the earth below you, a massive canyon snaking through it. Far off, that a way, sunlight shines off a distant sea.

As you race to meet the ground you catch a glimpse of some other things, falling through the sky. Before you can gather your wits the air beneath you warms and flames lick off an invisible shell around you. You are rocked back and forth, slowing down for a few moments before the tall trees of the jungle reach out and claim you. Tumbling through the branches and leaves you bounce off a tree and slam into the soft dirt.

No birds chirp in the silence of the jungle. Within moments the oppresive humidity soaks through you and you can hear rustling sounds coming from a few places around you, out of sight. The noonday light is filtered through the canopy and soft shadows and shade cover the ground.

If you're subject to non-lethal damage, have 10 points of non-lethal damage. The other characters are the rustlings and noises you hear, and for simplicity you're all within 100ft of each other. Go ahead and post about meeting each other and talking and such.

The last you remember was being in combat and then seeing a bright light.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

An armored gnome dressed all in browns and grays stands up to take a look around. He doesn't bother brushing off the dirt; he's seen worse. "Donil?" he calls out. "Iloren? Archer 7? Anyone else here?" Hearing no immediate response, he shrugs and bends down to inspect the soil and plants around him. "Hmm. Still in Xen'drik, looks like. Not too far from where I was, either...maybe. Thank the Host for small favors." Returning to his feet, he calls out, "All right, then, if you're not my expedition team, who are you? I know someone's there."

[Chrono22]

Sollux

Sollux's eyes snap awake. His red-and-blue gaze scans his surroundings as he carefully stands up, brushing off the loose soil in the process. His right hand pats a sword pommel at his waist in a reassuring fashion.

Did you catch any of that? I think I got knocked out in the transition. That's the last time I buy discount liquor.
Your jokes are wasted on me, mortal. It seems you are not alone.
Yes, I see. Please stay quiet, just this once, ok? I don't need these strangers thinking I'm some deranged possessed maniac.
Fool! What hubris, to command my cooperation... but very well. I'll remain silent for now. Let them believe you are their friend. It will make their deaths more entertaining for me.

Sollux lets out an aggravated sigh, and responds to the diminutive man,
"I am here. My name is Sollux Captor...
Where are we? What is this place?"

Would my ring of feather falling have reduced or removed the nonlethal damage?

[true_shinken]

A tall, slender human with flowing long black hair falls on his back in the jungle. Van blinks tears of pain away from his blue eyes and stands up. He wears a breastplate with a tint of blue on it and a diamond engraved in collar, a shirt decorated with lightning bolts, worn boots and black leather gloves. He has two swords sheathed behind his black - and his royal blue cloak is very dirty from the fall.
This can only be a trick of house Orien., he mutters to himself. I must have really stepped on their toes this time... Where the heck am I?
He looks around for a time, until he sees other people. He weaves from a distance.
Hey! Where the hell is the place?

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

A tall man wearing a spiked shield stands up from the ground. The first thing you notice about him is his piercing blue eyes. They seem to bore into your very soul, searching it for any shadows that lurk within. It is almost unsettling.

Who are you, and what have you done to me? Answer me, in the name of the Silver Flame!

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Hold your horses, Flameite," the gnome says. "We didn't do any of this. At least, I didn't do any of this, and everyone else seems as confused as you and I. Don't start smiting anyone just yet, okay?" He turns to Sollux and smiles. "Nice to meet you, Sollux. I'm Jorden, Jorden d'Sivis. I really have no idea where we are, but I was in Xen'drik up until this whole"--he points up at the sky and waggles his finger around--"falling and crashing and burning thing. It looks the same and the biosphere is pretty similar, so I'm guessing that's where we are, but we could be in the middle of Sarlona for all I know. Who are the rest of you?"

[true_shinken]

Van hears the gnome patiently. Hm, I see. So it seems like the same thing got us all here. He draws his blades slowly. The longer one crackles with electricity, sparkles sizzling around the crystal in the pommel. The shorter one is surround by small snowflakes that soon fall to the ground.Well, if we are in Xen'drik or Sarlona, having my babies Tempestade and Nevasca here in my hands makes me a lot more comfortable. Oh, you can call me Blitz. I suggest we stick together, at least we know what the hell is going on.

[Grendus]

Garret stands up from the crater and pile of broken branches his fall left. "Yea, we're in Xen'drik. Can't you smell the drow ****," he says, taking stock of his surroundings. This was a part of the forest he wasn't familiar with. Granted, of course, the drow's forest seemed to change on it's own sometimes, but this was different, totally wrong. "I think we're closer to the middle, or maybe the east. Geography was never my strong suit. Lots of trees though."

[true_shinken]

So Xen'drik it is. Van shrugs. He turns towards Garret. And... who would you be, really? Also... drow? Never heard of them. I'm not that good with history or geography myself, as well.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden gives Van a skeptical look. "Not heard of drow? Really? Black skin, pointy ears, scorpion fetish? Where are you from?"

[true_shinken]

Van smiles, a little embarassed, at Jorden. I'm from Khorvaire. Sorry, I'm just more of an urban guy. The scorpion thing... kind of rings a bell, though.
OOC: I just thought I should point out that the intro reminded him of The Offspring's song Have You Ever.

[Chrono22]

Sollux

At Garret's remark about the dark elves' scent, Sollux inhales the earthy, musky smell of the jungle.
There may be enemies nearby, stay alert.
Your sparing mortal intellect has no comprehension of awareness-
Oh shut up.

Sollux climbs (or rather, walks) up the nearest tree to get a better vantage on their location.
From over his shoulder he calls down the to the others,
"You can call me Sol for short."
After scouting, he'll return to the party and tell them about any noteworthy terrain or geographic features, such as rivers, mountains or trails he sees.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden waves off Van's apology. "Don't worry about it. I didn't get out much for most of my life, spent a lot of time at the Korranberg Library. I forget that most sane people don't spend much time out here." Jorden puts his hands on his hips and looks up at Sollux appraisingly. "Okay, Sol. That's a pretty fancy trick you have there, walking up a tree without climbing or magic. How'd you manage it?"

[Chambers]

Sollux

The nearest tree is the one right next to you. This part of the jungle is dense and you can place your hand on one tree and reach out, touching three more. The top of the tree is around 60ft off the ground and from there you can see the jungle canopy extending for miles and miles in all directions. A break in the treeline lies a handful of miles north of you; perhaps the winding canyon you saw in your fall.

On the other side of the break the jungle thins out and you can see the tops of some stone structures poking out above the treeline.

As everyone gathers together and finds each other, you see a body lying on the ground. A human male, dressed in leather armor with daggers strapped all over, his neck twisted at an odd angle. A trickle of blood drips from his mouth and his eyes are glazed over, seeing nothing.

[true_shinken]

I wouldn't call myself exactly sane. He smiles at Jorden. But what do you mean about Sol, he is just climbing... holy crap, he is walking on that tree, how the hell did he do that?! he stares surprised as Sol does his thing. Hm, without spells, I mean. Is he one of...? Van finally mutters to himself. He is so surprised with Sol's stunt he does not notice the corpse.

[Ladorak]

A tall human, with jet black hair and many battle scars steps out from behind a tree. He is wide of shoulder yet slim of hip, looking every inch like the blademaster he is.
His weapons (Or as he would have it, his instruments) are strapped to each hip. The Kukri are so unnaturally sharp they cannot be shealthed by normal means. Ducking low, as if fearing attack at any second, he rushes to the center of the group. Only then does he straighten his posture, turning his eyes upward and turning on the spot, scanning the countless branches of the jungle.
'You with the shiny blade, put that thing out! I'll not be eaten for your decadence.'

[Chrono22]

Sollux

Sollux returns to the others to report his information, but stops short when he gets an eyefull of the corpse and the crazy looking character with the mop top.

"Yeah.. I saw a canyon a few miles that way." *thumbs the direction , "Who is this? Don't tell me we've already resorted to cannibalism to survive.."

[true_shinken]

Who, me? Van puts the blades down almost as a reflex. Hey, it's not even that shiny to begin with... He begins looking around. Holy crap where did that corpse came from?!, as he finally notices the body. This place just gets getting weirder and weirder!, he thinks to himself. He then realizes something interesting.
No, wait a second. Is he actually dead? You can probably tell for sure, right, sir priest?, he says as he turns toward Denaru. Wait another second, you are a priest, right? Damn, I'm confused.

[Ladorak]

The stranger grimances 'It's simply really. We've all pissed someone off...' He snarls to himself and mutters 'Probably a wizard. It's always a wizard. Louder he says 'So we've been dumped in the middle of the most dangerous place on Eberron.' He waves his arms around him, indicating the group 'Take a good look round. These are the only people you'll see for hundreds of miles who aren't going to try and kill you.'

[true_shinken]

Well, if that means you are not gonna try to kill me, I'm glad enough. the duskblade smirks. Oh, you can call me Blitz. But you probably already heard that... Who are you, anyway?

[Ladorak]

He regards Denaru coolly for a second before turning his attention back to Blitz 'For now, I am Stalker, although suddenly there is a grim irony to that. He steps forward and offers his hand to Blitz 'Honoured to meet you, Blitz.'

[Chrono22]

Sollux

Sollux searches the corpse and takes the knives on it.

[true_shinken]

Van sheathes Nevasca and shakes Stalker's hand. Honoured to meet you as well, Stalker. He points towards Sol with his head. Tree-walker slash body pilferer there spotted a canyon. I guess it's somewhat of a destination...
He keeps his look fixed on Sol for a few seconds. I will have to ask him a few questions. But not now., he thinks.

[Chambers]

The knives slide out of the sheathes without a sound. A second glance at the corpse shows an open satchel slung over one shoulder. A stoppered potion sticks out of the satchel.

A voice whispers from the trees around you all "...always a wizard...". The voice speaks in a heavily accented Common and then chuckles.

If anyone speaks Drow they recognize that it is a Drow speaking common.

Intelligence checks
Jorden [roll0]
Sollux [roll1]
Van [roll2]
Garret [roll3]
Grant [roll4]

If you beat DC 20, then...
You notice a magical sensor floating barely off the ground, 10ft away from the corpse.

[true_shinken]

Looks like you were right, Stalker. Van points towards the sensor with his longsword. Someone is watching us. And probably finding this to be very entertaining. He turns towards Denaru. Master flameite, I believe you can do something about this scrying sensor?

[Chrono22]

Sollux

"I'll take care of it."
Sollux flings a knife a the hovering sensor.

Dagger attack [roll0] Damage [roll1]

[Chambers]

The knife flies true but passes right through the sensor, embedding itself in a tree behind the sensor. The voice whispers again, "...care of it?"

[true_shinken]

Nice try, bad guy. Van sighs. I'm guessing only master flameite there can do anything about this. You can't just stab a scrying sensor.

[Chrono22]

Sollux

"Oh, you can't (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/pryingEyes.htm)? I don't know about magic, I just figured, if you stab an eye, it can't see. And I ain't a bad guy. Most of the time."
Totally got the guilty gear reference.:smallwink:

[true_shinken]

OOC: Chrono, I think you are looking at the wrong spell (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/scrying.htm).
Nice that you got the reference, I've been waiting for a moment to use it ever since you said to call him Sol. ^^

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Denaru looks at the body...He's dead. Obviously. The fall killed him, much like it should have killed us.

I'd do something about the sensor, but at this point, its already here and it's already seen us. We'd be better served just getting away from it. I'd rather save my resource for something more worthhwhile. Like getting the hell out of here. Which way is north? I need to get back to the church to report this...whatever, before any innocents are harmed.

[true_shinken]

Oh, so you are a cleric alright. I believe you didn't mention or name. Van grins. Well, looks we got ourselves a peeping tom for quite some time. Sol, you think we should head to that canyon you mentioned?

[Chrono22]

Sollux

I guess I have to rely on you again...
*cackles*
Just try to relay what I say, ok?
*cackles more*

Sollux attempts to tell the party telepathically:

That sounds like our only option. That or die in the forests. I noticed some structures and clearings beyond the canyon.. and if we're lucky it might also have a river. We should hurry, or else the drow will catch us.

What Soul Edge actually says:

Do not be afraid, mortals. I, the terror of the depths, Sher Alka, will guide you to your ultimate destination. We make haste for the ruins beyond the canyons... who knows what horrors await you there? But we know what horrors await you here, and what entertainment awaits me. If you stay here, you'll be slaughtered by the drow as surely as the days end in darkness. Speak not of our destination... we must deceive these karath arathash, so that we may move undisturbed.
Priest, dispel this nuisance, or our lies will be revealed.

Hoping for the best, a grimacing Sollux answers, "No, let's not go to the canyons. I think I saw a settlement in that direction." *he thumbs the opposite direction from the canyons.
"Let's take our time, too. Who knows what kinds of monsters live in this jungle?"


Sollux examines the satchel and its contents, and shoulders it. He also takes the knife sheathes/harnesses, and retrieves the dagger he threw.
how many daggers are there?

"We ready?"

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden quirks an eyebrow upon the telepathic communication without noticing anyone casting a spell of sending. Well then. Either there's a psionicist with us, or there's yet another somebody hiding in the trees, or someone has a lot of explaining to do. Five gold says the one who can walk up trees without magic is a telepath. His face shows no other reaction, and he continues aloud, "Good point, no sense in rushing anywhere if we don't know for sure what we'll find there. It might be a good idea to make a thorough search of the area before we leave, in case there are any other victims of the drow around here, alive or otherwise."

[Grendus]

If it's an invisible sensor, wouldn't it be a spot check DC 20 to notice something? If it's scrying, wouldn't we have had a will save to make the spell fail? I think it's a different spell, since I've never seen one with an int check to spot it may be something homebrew.

Also, spot and listen check on the off-chance there is a drow nearby
Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

Garret grimaces at the eye, or rather, at the point the others seem to be looking at. "Drow. Always with the magic and poison. And the sneaking. Best be on your guard, all of you. They have less of a sunny disposition than I do, and that boggles the mind," he grunts, eying the area around him. Remembering, suddenly, that he had not introduced himself, he adds "My name's Garret, by the way. No last name, just Garret, my clan stripped me of my surname after a... misunderstanding over payment acquisition methodology."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden narrows his eyes at Garret and moves his arms into a position covering as many of his numerous pockets as he can. "Does your 'payment acquisition methodology' involve acquiring payment without the payer's consent? Because I'm kind of attached to my stuff."

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Denaru waves dimissively at the magical sensor.

OOC, Spellcraft DC 18

Dispel Magic, taking 10, results in a 26. The sensor, if cast by a caster of 15th level or lower is dispelled.


I am Denaru Wavery, High Inquisitor of the Silver Flame in Sigilstar. And whichever of you is possessed by the demon speaking telepathically, step forward and be cleansed in righteous fire. I will find you, fiend, I swear by Tira Miron, I will find you.

[Grendus]

Garret raises his hands defensively. Truth be told, he very rarely preyed on other small races, feeling something of a kinship, but killing the gnome would make even less sense now seeing as they had a common enemy. Showing that his hands were empty, he recited his favored lie.

"I took back what was rightfully ours. Seven months we worked, two of our number died because the landlord demanded that half of us stay and defend his house instead of running off a pair of giants. The man had the gall to pay us half wages because we were half size. So I stole the difference and burned his orchard." In truth, it was one quarter wages and seven dead, and he had burned the man's house to the ground with his family in it, but he figured the gnome wouldn't believe the true story and wouldn't understand the righteous anger that drove him to murder. "The patriarch said petty revenge wasn't our way, and now we couldn't work for some of the more honest patrons there because we were wanted criminals. So he made me leave, which meant renouncing my family ties. I've been a soldier of fortune ever since." Which was also a lie. He had done the same thing in two more towns before the entire family had run him off. What could he say, mean tall people just rubbed him the wrong way.

[true_shinken]

Now that's what I'm talking about, Denaru. Van smiles at the cleric. Now, the demon-telepathy thing, that was... scary. Is there any way to deal with it now?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I notice Garret never said "no" in that tirade. Memo to self: Guard stuff while sleeping. I'm surrounded by crazy people. To Denaru, Jorden says, "While I'm as in favor of exorcising demons as the next gnome--really, I am, most of my relatives are Silver Flamites--I really think survival should take priority. Let's head to shelter, and once we're in less immediate danger from the drow, then you can start cross-examining us."

[true_shinken]

The gnome does have sound advice.

[Chrono22]

Sollux

"Yes, let's book it before whoever was watching us tries to spy our location again. If we hurry, we might be able to make some headway to the canyons before they discover we aren't going in the opposite direction."

He'll start marching (at a slow pace, so the others can keep up with him) in the direction of the canyons.
Every 15 minutes or so, he'll climb/walk a tree to reorient so they don't become lost.

[true_shinken]

Van follows behind Sol, Tempestade in one hand and the other on Nevasca's pommel. I might need a free hand to cast spells, after all., he mutters to himself.

[Grendus]

Hide and move silently rolls. Also, since I'm scouting a little, spot and listen checks.
[roll0]: Hide
[roll1]: Move Silently

[roll2]: Spot
[roll3]: Listen

Glad that the focus was no longer on his personal... indiscretions, Garret followed the others, slipping silently into the nearby brush as was his habit. "If you need me, I'll just be over here," he says, slipping ahead of the party to serve as a scout. Hopefully he could find another scout and get first pick of the items on the next corpse. Which would hopefully not be a bunch of items that were designed for tall folk.

[Ladorak]

Stalker waits until Garret has disappeared ahead. Then he snorts derisively 'Soldier of misfortune more like. If he hadn't burnt that orchard he probably wouldn't be here now. Still his misfortune is our fortune. We'll need every ready hand and much more before this is over.' Grant has misgiving about the group's course but he says nothing. Of course the wizard would send people to both the canyon and their stated direction. But splitting the difference meant marching into the unknown and at least open space would favour them when the inevitable fight came. He follows the others with the weight of impossible choices bearing down on his brow, frowning manfully as he scans the treeline.

[Chambers]

Travel through the heavy undergrowth is slow. In the hour since you set out from where you crash landed you estimate you've traveled a little over two miles, about a quarter of the distance towards the canyon. The walk is quiet, with none of the normal animal noises you'd expect from a primeval jungle. The close trees and thick undergrowth limit your vision and you almost stumble into a clearing before you see it. The trees stand alone in this space, spread out enough to have clear ground. The bushes and growth were cut away years before and somehow the jungle has not crept forward to claim it again.

Inside the open space are the first evidences of civilization. At least, some one's take on the word. Bones are piled together in large jumbles at the bases of several trees and an ashed out fire pit is ringed with blackened stones in the middle. Up in the trees you can see more bones of creatures, some full skeletons, others just a spine and skull, tied up in the higher branches. At the far side of the clearing you can see a small midden pit, though the stench of it hits you before you can examine it closer. Rotten flesh and exposed intestines are thrown on the heap and the ground around it is stained dark.

Tied up and staked to the largest tree in the space is what you think looks like the body of a dwarf, if you skinned all the flesh off him and cut out his entire stomach. Flies and other insects crawl and buzz around the mutilated corpse and the dwarfs eyeless sockets stare at you, it's empty mouth hanging open. There appear to be some marks scratched into the dwarfs chest, but it's too high up to make out what it says.


No one spots anything untowards in the travel time. The terrain in the jungle you've been walking through counts as Dense Forest (Heavy Undergrowth, difficult terrain which costs 4 squares of movement). The terrain will change, just wanted to let you know what it was.

The dwarf is 20ft above the ground. The open space is about 40x30 on the ground, with a few trees in it. No undergrowth.

You can roll various checks in the OOC if you want and open the appropriate spoiler boxes for more info, but you have to tell me what your character is doing: "Looking at the bones", or "searching for tracks", or "looking at the dwarf body", etc.

Quick Check: Someone has trapfinding, right? If someone gets the last spoiler box, assume they find it before other people do stuff.

Heal DC 15+ (on the dwarf)
You determine that the dwarf died somewhere between 1 and 2 days ago.

Heal DC 20+ (on the dwarf)
Though the dwarf appears to have died only a day or two ago, it seems as though his skin was cut off him 2 days before he died.

Survival DC 15+ (Track feat only)
You find a few sets of tracks that cross the area. The first are tracks from a dwarf that crossed through 5 days ago. The second and third are monstrous scorpion tracks that went through the area the same day.

Survival DC 20+ (Track feat only)
You don't find anymore tracks, but you do realize that there are tracks that you haven't found that you should have found. It's pretty clear the dwarf didn't stake himself to the tree and then skin himself alive, and though monstrous scorpions are big, they don't have the ability to do that either.

Search DC 15+
The bones in the piles around the trees are not animal bones. All of them come from humanoid creatures - elves, hallfings, orcs, goblins, and humans.

Search DC 28+ (trapfinding only)
You recognize the latent magic that hides in the markings carved on the dwarfs chest as an explosive runes trap. The markings seem appropriate enough, as the letters that are carved into the muscle spell "DIE". (A separate Disable Device roll will be needed if you want to disable the trap)

[Chrono22]

Sollux

Sollux retches as the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh assails his sensitive nose.

"I'm think I'm going to be sick."

Sollux will try to compose himself at the edge of the clearing (where they entered). If he gets any closer to the dead dwarf or the midden pile, he's liable to puke his guts out.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden looks a bit queasy as well; he takes one look at the dwarf and has to turn away. "Yeb, ids preddy bad," he says while holding his nose. "Whoeber did somethig this disgustig is one sig bastard." He walks a few feet away and casts a spell, then walks back over near Sollux (holding his nose once again) and makes some elaborate gestures as he walks around the site, careful not to look at, smell, or touch anything for fear of puking along with Sollux. After a few moments, the scent of decomposing dwarf is replaced by that of freshly-overturned soil.

Jorden releases his nose and takes a deep breath. "Ahhh. Mm-hmm, much better. Now, if someone else would like to take a look at Mr. Disemboweled over there? I can make it smell nice, but I'm not even going to think about touching anything."

Using prestidigitation to make everything smell nice, under the assumption that it's roughly equivalent to reflavoring.

[Grendus]

Uhh. I have trapfinding, but only 5 ranks in search plus a +2 int modifier. I couldn't find that trap, even if I took 20.

While searching, I ready an action to slash anything that comes out of the piles.

Heh, and they call me evil Garret thought as he surveyed the area. At least fire is clean and murder is swift. Stepping out from the brush, he addresses the rest of the group. "Those things aren't animal bones," he says simply. "My guess is, those are other people like us. Look now boys, that's what happens to those who aren't careful here."

Garret slips slowly into the clearing, sweeping the piles of bones for traps and any leftover treasure. As an afterthought, he draws his cold iron dagger and grips it, prepared to slash at anything that should jump out of the bones.

[true_shinken]

Van stares wide eyed at the whole scene. He tries to speak, but he is too enraged and too disgusted to do it at first. He stutters, and after a few seconds he manages to get the words out of his throat. Who... what... could do this? This... this is sick!
He grasps Tempestade strongly and keeps a wary eye around. Let's get out of here. Fast.
The duskblade knows he could cover a lot of groud by himself and escape faster, but being alone in the jungle is hardly encouraging and his companions all seem competent.

[Chrono22]

Sollux

Now that the air is cleared, Sollux is able to approach the tree without difficulty. The misery the dwarf must have suffered hangs heavily on Sollux as he looks at the death tree. He resolves not to meet the same fate.

Wordlessly, he draws out his scimitar. It is made of some kind of translucent violet crystal, but its edges seem indistinct when you look directly at them. Glowing veins of crimson energy pulsate throughout it rhythmically (almost like a heartbeat).
Observing the scimitar with a detect evil spell will reveal that it radiates strong evil.

Sollux walks to the base of the tree, and begins chopping it down.
It has approximately 600 hitpoints. By himself, it should take him about two minutes to chop it down (without resorting to psionic powers or other abilities).

[Grendus]

Garret, hearing the Elan chopping at the tree, turns and runs towards him in an almost blind panic. "Stop stop stop! Do you want to alert whatever did this that we're here. Maybe you'd like to join the dwarf, or suckers in the pit or piles? Idiot."

[Chrono22]

Sollux

"I'm sure your attitude would change as the lifeblood leaked out of you, as you dangled from this tree and contemplated the pain of having your skin removed and the insects gouge out your eyes."

Sollux will ignore Garret's fears and continue desecrating the tree.

"They'll know we were here soon anyway. They've left us a message." Sollux gestures at the carvings in the dwarf's chest.

"Let's leave them a mesage of our own."

[Grendus]

"What, 'come and get it'? We're playing their game, we're in the middle of their forest, and we just walked into their sacrificial pit or whatever the hell this is," Garret snaps back. "The only thing we may or may not have is that they don't know our exact location. Or at least, they didn't."

He sighs, mentally weighing the pros and cons of compromise... or murder. Mentally reminding himself to shove the Elan in front of the first Drow arrow he can, he says "Would you settle for me climbing up there and cutting the dwarf down?"

[Chrono22]

Sollux

Want some help?
No. No, I don't. Please don't. Don't.
Sure you do.

Soul Edge casts unseen servant as a spell-like ability and directs the invisible force telepathically. The dwarf's corpse starts to twitch. The eyeless head turns to stare at Garret. A bloodied, torn mouth makes puckered lips at him. The dwarf's mangled arms beckon him to enter his deathly embrace.

Sollux ***** (rhymes with "socks") an eyebrow at this spectacle, and responds, "You can do whatever you want to that thing, just as long as I don't have to watch... but I'll tell you what. Why don't you rig some ropes so the tree doesn't make a racket when it falls? That would be more productive than trying to convince me not to cut it down."

Sollux goes back to chopping down the tree.

[Grendus]

"Riiiiight, I'll just reach up and tie ropes around the top with my impressive 3 foot physique. To do anything, I would have to climb the tree that the stealth-less bonehead is cutting down. Were you slapped on the head as a child, or perhaps did you block one too many mace blows with your head?"

Being three foot tall, right behind Sollux, and nervously watching the tree trunk dwindle away, Garret doesn't even notice the corpse moving.

[Ladorak]

'Arches an eyebrow' works

Grant remains expressionless as he surveys the desecration before him. But he is a man used to desecrations; he has seen beautiful Cyre become the Mournland, he has seen the town he grew up in transformed to living glass and walking corpses, he has seen his family consumed by the living spells. Grant Sonnex is still capable of being horrified, but the Drow will have to do better than this to move his iron heart, torn to pieces and reforged colder, harder and unbreakable.
His voice is cool and level as he replies to Sollux 'I do not think this is a message for us... How would they even know we would come this way? Plus the dead have been... left here for a while. I remember that the Drow are nomadic... I think. If so then this is probably just one of their old camps.'
Grant thought himself immune to the horror of the scene, yet the scale of the Drow's desecration surprises even him when he sees the Dwarf start to twitch and beckon. 'By the Host! The Dwarf lives!' The man leaps up with greater agility then his companions may have expected from the plate armoured weapon master, severing the ropes binding the Dwarf in one sweep of his Kukri and catching him before he hits the ground.

Switching to Leaping Dragon stance
Jump check: [roll0]

[true_shinken]

Oh, relax, friend. The dwarf is not alive. Van sighs. If anyone has enough rope, I can tie the tree. Well, I guess I can.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden buries his face in his palm. "Please, everybody," he says through his fingers, "let's not start arguing with everyone else or insulting anyone. We're the only ones we have, and we need to stick together."

[Grendus]

Garret, remembering that the dwarf was naked and skinned and, thus, has no valuables to loot, jumps back to avoid being spattered with probably partially-decayed dwarf.

[true_shinken]

Van smiles at Jorden. Well, you sure are a man of wisdom. I say we bolt as soon as Sol over there finishes his thing. Sounds like a plan?

[Ladorak]

Grant gently lays the Dwarf on the ground, ignoring the splattered blood on his armour and quickly turns to Denaru 'I saw him move... He tried to speak. But look at him, and now there is no sign of life. Is there anything you can do?'

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden sidles up to Van and mutters, "Host protect us...I say we skedaddle before he finishes. This is a prime ambush spot right here."

[true_shinken]

Van places his left hand on his chin and ponders for a second. Then he turns his face toward Jorden and answers almost whispering. I'm not comfortable leaving him alone here. He points at Soul with his head. He looks tough alright, but we don't know what we're up against. Also, I like the spirit of what he is doing - sticking it to whomever brought us here. I don't think he is doing it right, mind you, but he has a point. But we should be on our guard, I'll give you that.

[Chambers]

Freeze! :smallsmile:

Who is standing next to Grant when he lays the dwarf on the ground? Answer in the OOC please.

[Chambers]

As Grant lays the corpse on the ground he sees the markings that were carved on the dwarfs chest muscles. Large letters in Common cover the whole chest and spell "DIE." As Grant's eyes flick over the letters they glow silver for a second and then the dwarfs chest explodes in a shower of gore and pain, the blast slamming into Grant and spreading out to those nearby.

The still loose muscles of the dwarf rip apart and are blown across the clearing, splattering blood and bits of muscle and bone everywhere. The explosion rings in your ears for a moment and then the jungle returns to silence. What's left of the dwarf isn't much - his chest and torso is completely gone, leaving a few dismembered limbs and head laying on the ground.

[true_shinken]

Van straightens up into a battle stance. Damn it. Explosive runes. he mutters to no one in particular. Guess they already know where we are, Jorden. He says while looking around. Do we stand our ground or do we run? I really think trying to run now would be pretty much pointless. Sweat streams down his neck and face. Van is nervous and shocked. He finds the jungle to be too hot, too wet. The flies and mosquitos buzzing around his ears are driving him crazy. I say we fight. Grim determination fixes itself on the human's sweat covered face.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Let's not jump to conclusions. They probably just left it as a trap to kill anyone who...well, anyone stupid enough to mess with it." Jorden looks around warily. "Still, being prepared for an ambush would be wise."

[Grendus]

Garret steps nimbly aside as the dwarf explodes, wrinkling his nose as pieces of dead dwarf land on him. "Well... now he's definitely dead. And now I smell like dead guy. Peachy," Garret groans, grabbing the cleanest bone he can find in the pile and using it to scrape gore off of himself. "Next time one of you decides to blow up a corpse, give me a heads up. My mouth was open and everything."

Hearing Van's comment, he adds "If my vague knowledge of traps is anything to go by, the explosive runes could have been left here months ago. Doesn't mean it was set up for us, just that they expected someone they didn't like to be coming through. And, what with being Drow and all, that includes pretty much everybody, even each other."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden waves a hand, and Garret is all cleaned off, smelling now of the faint scent of flowers rather than gore. "Khorvaire's newest fragrance: Eau d'Sivis," he comments dryly. "I'm not putting up with a stinking corpse and I'm certainly not putting up with a stinking corpse following me around. So...how likely is it that this trap was set a month ago, and how likely that it was set yesterday?"

[Grendus]

Garret shrugs. "Magical traps like this one don't rust or need to be maintained, far as I know. It would have to have been set after the dwarf was dead though, otherwise he might have set it off. Soooo... not long. Unless someone here knows how fast a body decays, I'm going to do a conservative estimate and say... more than a half hour, less than a week."

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

For once, I'm not the cause of arguement. Refreshing...

[Ladorak]

Stalker pushes himself back to his feet with a groan 'I should have known better... But I swear he asked for help.' He makes an effort at wiping the gore from his face but succeeds only in smearing it around a bit.

Spellcraft (Unseen servent) [roll0] Sorry, that's a spell like ability isn't it
Spellcraft (Almost certainly explosive runes) [roll1]

[Chrono22]

With a final swing, Sollux finishes off the tree. A racket of splintering and snapping accompanies its descent, and the sound of its impact can be heard for a distance in every direction.

"Well, let's be on our way, then. If we're still in this jungle by nightfall, we won't live to see sunrise."

[true_shinken]

Let's go, then. Van sighs. This place is gettin on my nerves.

[Chambers]

Leaving the clearing and the remains of the dwarf you head back into the jungle, the noon sun high overhead. After cutting through heavy undergrowth for another hour the jungle starts to open up. The trees are spaced wider apart and the underbrush is mere scrub and grass. In the distance you can see what looks like the edge of the jungle, just a few miles north.

Coming over a low rise you see the ground ahead of you tremble and crumble. Black and shiny claws poke out from the ground and chitinous legs hook out from the hole as a scorpion the size of a horse pulls itself out of the ground. It snaps its claws a few times as it turns in a circle, head swaying from side to side. It takes a few steps sideways and freezes, then whips around in your direction.

The scorpion is Large and is 60ft away from the party. You both surprised each other so there's no surprise round.

Sollux, Grant, & Jorden go ahead and post without respect to who goes first among you three. We'll see what happens to the scorpion after that and it'll be his turn, and then the rest of the party.

Knowledge (nature) DC 15+
It's a large monstrous scorpion. They are vermin with tremorsense, and use their pincers to grapple and their stings to poison people. They also don't normally burrow underground.

Knowledge (arcana) DC 15+
The scorpion bears the trademarks of what are known as magebred animals, yet normally vermin are not supposed to be able to undergoe the transformation.

[Chrono22]

Sollux

Sollux inhales deeply, trying to determine if any drow have been in the area recently.

Wisdom check [roll0]
I'm not sure what I'll be doing with my turn: I'll resolve what to do after I get an answer. Edit: I guess I know the answer! Scorpions and drow smell just like jungle! Who knew?

[Chrono22]

Sollux

Sollux runs up a tree, then across branches on a path towards the giant scorpion. He positions himself 25 feet above the offending arachnid, on a solid branch, and draws a dagger.
Here are some jump, balance, and tumble checks if they are needed:
Jump check [roll0]
Jump check [roll1]
Balance check [roll2]
Balance check [roll3]
Tumble check [roll4]
Tumble check [roll5]

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden shakes his head minutely. "Oh, just wonderful, a huge scorpion in drow territory. What a shock." Not wasting any more time, he makes a fist and holds it below his waist for a second, then punches upwards. As he does so, the earth under the scorpion shudders and a fist of stone and soil erupts from from the ground, mimicking his motions. The fist opens up at Jorden's behest and attempts to grab the scorpion.

Casting earthen grasp in the scorpion's space and attempting to grapple it: [roll0]

Also, Knowledge checks:
Arcana: [roll1]
Nature: [roll2]

EDIT: Just noticed Jorden auto-passes those checks, no roll required. Oh well..

[Ladorak]

'The sad thing is this day's just gonna keep getting worse...' Grant breaks into a run, his body kept low to the ground until the scorpion turns to him, with a simple side step he avoids the sweep of a claw and places a foot atop it as it passes 'When the Drow find this thing's body we're going to be wishing we died in the fall.' When the monster attempts to flip him he rides the motion and springs into the air, sailing over the scorpion as he finally draws his Kukri. Channeling the hallmark raw fury of the Tiger Strike school he attempts to sever the thing's tail 'So let's enjoy the good times now.' He says with a grim grin as he turns in his desent and lands back on his feet.

Still in LeapingDragon stance. Using Soaring Raptor strike
Jump check vs AC: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] + [roll2]

[Chambers]

While Sollux goes to the canopy Jorden's earthen arm rips out of the ground and grapples the scorpion. The shifting rock and dirt arm keeps the monstrous vermin from escaping while leaps over it and stabs the scorpion in the middle of it's twisting carapace.

The scorpion lets out an ear-piercing shriek and attacks the arm in a mindless fury. One of it's claws snap a finger off the earthen arm and the stinger goes straight through the palm, causing rocks and dust to spill on the ground.

Earthen Arm took 11 damage after hardness. The rest of the party is up.

Grant, are you adjacent to it? Dunno where you land when you use that maneuver.

[true_shinken]

Van barely has time to react to all the action. He looks around, confused, not knowing exactly what to do. I'm not used to being a group!, he whispers to himself. Should I cast a spell? Should I just attack? Should I teleport? Will anyone notice I'm from house Orien if I do? Oh - dash it all to hell., he thinks nervously to himself, gritting his teeth together. Oh, dang it., he finally mutters, waving his free hand through arcane gestures. I'll just slice that thing., he says before disappearing in a blur of movement. [Standard action -> Flash Leap]
Gripping his longsword with both hands, he hacks at the scorpion in fury [charge due to Flash Step, with an exta attack form Storm of Steel]
Attack 1 [roll0] - Confirmation roll 1 [roll1]
Attack 2 [roll2] - Confirmation roll 2 [roll3]
Attack 3 [roll4] - Confirmation roll 3 [roll5]
Damage 1 [roll6] slashing [roll7] electricity
Damage 2 [roll8] slashing [roll9] electricity
Damage 3 [roll10] slashing [roll11] electricity
After his attack, he backs away to safety. [move action, 20ft back]

[Ladorak]

Grant, are you adjacent to it? Dunno where you land when you use that maneuver.

Ah sorry, I'll give you more details regarding all the ToB moves from now on. Yes I'm adjacent to it.
Also, Soaring Raptor strike does still require me to roll an attack if I make the jump check, just with a +4 bonus. I left that out accidently, sorry. Here it is: [roll0]
Also changing TC synergy so it grants me +1 ac

[Grendus]

Move full speed towards the scorpion and throw a single javelin, since I can't throw multiple after moving.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]+[roll2]

Very hard to do damage with iterative attacks at such a long range /sigh

Garret conjures a single javelin, running forward and hurling it at the scorpion.

[true_shinken]

OOC:
Ladorak, maybe we could make Blitz and Grant set up flanking positions.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Denaru hangs back, keeping a watch out for anything else while his team mates are occupied.

Delay until further notice

[Chrono22]

Sollux

Sollux flips off of the tree branch, and draws Soul Edge as he plummets 25 feet down. As he descends, the scimitar begins to arc and crackle with violent energy. He lands on the scorpion's back, and plunges his blade into the soft tissue between its chitinous plates as easily as a leaf cuts the air.
Just as nimbly, he springs backwards off of the arachnid's back and does a series of back handsprings away from it before settling into a defensive posture 25 feet away.

Sollux is performing a tumbling charge attack from above: expending 2 power points to charge the attack for an additional +3d6 damage. He's also expending 3 power points to use the hustle psionic power.

Tumble check [roll0] to avoid attacks of opportunity from falling through the scorpion's threatened space.

Soul Edge attack *[roll1] Damage [roll2] + [roll3] (Critical range 15-20)
Confirmation [roll4] Damage [roll5]
*assuming he can flank and has high ground

Concentration check [roll6] to avoid attacks of opportunity while manifesting Hustle.

Tumble check [roll7] to avoid attacks of opportunity from moving away from the scorpion.

[Chambers]

The scorpion shudders in the grasp of the earthen arm as it is stabbed and slashed until it falls limp. A few legs twitch for a moment but soon the vermin lays still, held tight by the arm.

The jungle is still and quiet in the midday heat, the sweat from your exertions sticking to your clothes.

It's dead and we're out of rounds. What's your next move?

[Ladorak]

Stalker walks nonchantly around the scorpion as if enjoying a stroll through some quiet wooden area near Sharn. With one sweep he severs the monster's stringer, which he places in his backpack 'So I'm no Drow expert but I believe we just killed their god... We should move, quickly.'

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"I don't know about their god...totem animal, maybe, or something important, but I highly doubt they put scorpions on the same pedestal as the Host or the Flame. Either way, there's something unusual about this one." Jorden moves his hand so that his palm faces upwards, and the scorpion's corpse ends up in the palm of his earthen hand. "See the structure of the legs, the size of the pincers? This thing is--was--magebred. The drow must have some tricks up their collective sleeves; I didn't think doing that with an arachnid was possible. So everyone be extra-careful."

[true_shinken]

So it was some kind of superscorpion or something? Van whistles while he cleans the gore from his sword with a leaf. Not super enough, I guess. He smirks. Oh, and nice trick, Jorden. You kind of solved the fight there.
He looks around, checking if everyone is okay. So, should we press on?

[Ladorak]

Stalker nods to Van and sets off, muttering under his breath about wizards.

[Grendus]

Hide check: [roll0]
Move Silently check: [roll1]

Spot check: [roll2]
Listen check: [roll3]

Garret follows without commenting. He hated being ambushed, straight fights never suited him well. He slips silently into the brush near the party, working his way forward once again to serve as scout.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden gives Van an exaggerated bow. "Thank you, thank you. You just have to know the right bits of earth to manipulate and how they interact; it almost got through the hand, and if I'd used the dry, thin soil to its left instead of the richer, more pebble-laden soil that had--ahem, I'm sure you don't particularly care about the fine details. I'm just glad no one was hurt. Moving on would definitely be good." He does a double-take at Stalker's comments, and calls after him with an affronted expression on his face: "What, you have some sort of problem with magic? Or worse, geology? If you're going to say something about me or my chosen profession, say it to my face!"

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Man, and I thought I was the inquisitor here...

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden rolls his eyes at Denaru. "Look, I've already taken enough flak from my family about the whole earth magic thing, I'm not about to put up with it from some random person I just met. How would you like it if someone started bad-mouthing the Flame behind your back?"

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Ah, but I never speculated on your beliefs, Jordan of house Sivis. I mearly speculated on your defensive nature concerning them. Fact of the matter is, one who reacts with a disproportionate defense often has more to hide than he lets on. Are you hiding anything, Mr. d'Sivis? If you are, the light of the Silver Flame will reveal them in time. Until that time, I dare say we can ill afford to stick around here. Denaru's piercing blue eyes settle briefly on each member of the rag-tag group. You can't help but shudder briefly at the cold evaluation that gaze conveys.

[Ladorak]

Stalker does not turn back to the others, he simply rolls his eyes and changes his mutters to dark oaths only half meant concerning wizards and Flamites.

[true_shinken]

Van flinches under Denaru's gaze. Man, that should make interrogations pretty easy.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden hustles a bit to catch up with Stalker, then turns to talk to Denaru as he keeps walking. "Look, now he is mocking the Flame," he says, jerking a thumb at Stalker. "Anyway, I'm not defensive, just annoyed. See, I was supposed to train as an artificer like my older brothers; my family is known for crafting elemental-bound items, and I was supposed to follow in their footsteps. I started studying that, but eventually found that I only really like working with the earth elementals, so I kept hearing 'Why don't you want to work with air elementals, Jorden?' and all that. Then I decided I didn't like binding elementals just to get sold. Felt a bit too much like slavery to me." He chuckles ruefully. "Elementals are people too, y'know.

"Anyway, I started studying arcane magic to work with earth and earth elementals more, and that's when I started hearing 'What, elemental binding isn't good enough for you, Jorden?' and 'You don't have the finesse of a binder, so you're taking the easy route, huh, Jorden?' and 'Anyone can be a wizard, I thought you were better than that, Jorden!' and 'Host-damned wizards, you think you're so special' and so on and so on and so on. After I spent years as a highly-respected teacher at the Library of Korranberg and months as a highly-respected member of an adventuring party, I thought I'd heard the last of those smart remarks." He points at Stalker again. "And then moments after I pull off yet another stunning display of arcane skill, Mr. Stalker over there starts up with them again."

Jorden takes a deep breath and continues walking, face forward. "Sorry about that. I'm usually much nicer and don't go off on rants like that. He just found the one button to press to tick me off. So," he asks casually, attempting to change the subject, "anyone else have any stories to share? Might as well get to know each other better; it looks like we'll be here for a while."

[true_shinken]

Stories to share? Van suddenly halts. Of course not! Gee, my life was very very boring. And I don't know anything about dragonmarked houses. Never heard of them, even. More used to keeping his mouth shut, Van takes a few seconds to notice how suspiciously specific his denial was and he nervously tries to change the subject. So... earth elementals, uh? I guess I kind of like them. Or something. Hey, Denaru, tells us about the Flame or something.Is that a squirrel over there?

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Denaru pats the small gnome on the head. As long as you practice your magic to the benefit of your fellow...man, I have no problem with your devotion to earth. I hope, for the well-being of your life and soul, that you don't let your magic tempt you into darker things. Denaru says sternly, glancing over the others as if to include them in the statement. He is quiet for a couple seconds, then chuckles to himself softly.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Don't worry; the only time I get anywhere close to darker things with my magic is when I go spelunking," Jorden assures Denaru. He rolls his eyes at Van; it looks like he'll be doing that a lot with this group. "And Denaru thought I was being defensive. What could you possibly have done with--or to--a House that would make you that averse to talking about it? And why wouldn't you want to tell us about it? We're not exactly the Inquisition," Jorden adds, studiously not looking at Denaru. "And if you have some sort of issue with one of the Houses...say, to choose one completely at random, House Sivis...it would probably be a good idea to get that out in the open."

[true_shinken]

Van stutters and blushes. D-defensive? Uh? Me? A p-problem with a house? Of course not, man. He shrugs nervously. What are you talking about? It's not like I'm some kind of disillusioned member from House Orien pissed with their inner corruption that goes around the world in disguise basically being a pain in their ass.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden shrugs elaborately. "Oh, well, that's a shame. As some kind of disillusioned member of House Sivis who disagrees with their business practices and travels around the world exploring and occasionally being a pain in their ass, I might sympathize with the kind of person you definitely aren't."

[true_shinken]

Van lightens up as he hears Jorden. Wow, seriously? That's so awesome. We have a connection! He then muses for a second and says with a very serious tone. Hey, wait a second. Think this has anything to with the dragonmarked houses? Maybe they are putting as through it to makes us go back to them... or something.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Considering that doesn't even come close to explain why I'M HERE, don't flatter yourselves with imagined attention. Now, can we get the hell out of here? I was just about to lead a raid on an alleged Cult stronghold and I need to get back to my men. If the trail goes cold, I'll hold EACH and EVERY one of you responsible for aiding in their escape.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Possibly. It's your House with the Mark of Passage, though--it isn't exactly Sivis's style to teleport people to faraway continents. Plus, it doesn't explain everyone else." Jorden turns to Denaru. "Yes, yes. We're walking. Don't get your robes in a bunch."

[Ladorak]

Stalker turns and regards each of them in turn with a look that makes Denaru's frosty glare look like a sunlit beach paradise 'Might I suggest, his voice drips with sickly sweet sarcasum 'We find somewhere we can only be attacked from one side before issueing anymore threats to each other? And should we actually manage to make camp without killing each other, then we can work out who did this to us... And then we can work out how to kill them.'

[true_shinken]

Well, I wouldn't call it my house... Van mumbles under his breath. He then turns toward Denaru. OK, sir. He says, picking up the pace. I really thought only paladins were this strict. he adds to himself in a lower tone.

[Chambers]

The jungle continues to thin out as you head north. You can see the canyon that you spotted from the air less than a mile ahead of you. Arguing amongst yourselves you walk towards it and the thick canopy overhead changes to sparse collections of trees.

Two blasts of red energy erupt from two of those trees, both of them striking Grant in the chest. The thin, long spears of light pierce through his armor and burn his skin.

The attacks came from the trees labeled 1 and 2. It is Jorden's and Sollux's turn, then the drow.

Grant takes 29 damage. He is currently down 52 HP.

Spellcraft DC 17
Both of the blasts were Eldritch Spears.

Jorden/Sollux

Make 2 pairs of listen and spot checks before your turn please. There are penalties for these checks due to distance; subtract 5 from each of your checks. If you beat either the spot or listen check DC's you learn...

Set 1
Listen DC 24
Spot DC 21
You see/hear a creature hidden in the tree, location b11. If you beat spot you can see a shadowy drow. If you beat listen you hear the snap of twigs and creak of tree limbs.

Set 2
Listen DC 21
Spot DC 19
You see/hear a creature hidden in the tree, location I17. If you beat spot you can see a shadowy drow. If you beat listen you hear the snap of twigs and creak of tree limbs.


http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae206/unnamedhero91/jungle3.png

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden jerks back, startled, as the energy bolts hit Grant. "Look out!" he calls to the others, "Warlocks in the trees, one left and one right! I'll try to give us some cover!" He quickly reaches over his shoulder and, without looking, unfastens the top flap of his backpack. As Jorden makes swirling motions with both hands and mutters to himself under his breath, sand flows in torrents out of his pack and forms itself into walls on either side of the group.

ChambersI'm going to try something kinda complicated, if it's okay by you. Jorden is going to cast silent image to make it look as if he's creating walls of sand. Silent image gives him 13 10x10x10 cubes to work with, which gives him up to 130 1x10x10 wall segments with which to create two 1-foot-thick 10-foot-high illusory walls, one from T13 to a20 and one from R15 to R25.

The first wall is 60 feet long and the second is 55 feet long; with the connecting non-wall part of the illusion being 15 feet from R15 to T13, that's exactly enough volume. He'll leave gaps at R17-R19 and W16-X17 to let his teammates get around the "wall" if they want to attack without giving the drow LoS to anyone.

[Chambers]

The shadows cast by the Wall of Sand flicker and two drow appear atop each wall. One throws a three-bladed boomerang at Van; it strikes him and ricochets to Denaru, slicing him before spinning around and returning to the drow. He catches it with one hand and with his other releases a blast of energy at Jorden. The red blast misses and scorches the ground beneath his feat.

The other drow throws a similar boomerang at Sollux, slicing into him and flying back through the air to be caught by the drow. He too blasts with his other hand, the line of eldritch energy slamming into Grant. The two drow glance at each other and then dash back over the wall.


Sollux: 25 damage, 5 Strength damage, Dazed for 1 round.
Grant: 25 damage.
Van: 25 damage, 3 Strength damage, Dazed for 1 round.
Denaru: 7 damage, Dazed for 1 round.

The rest of the party goes (in any order): Denaru (dazed), Van (dazed), Grant, Sollux (dazed), Garret.

Here at the drow's Hide & Move Silently DC's to beat. If you beat them you know they are in the red squares, 10ft in the air.
#1 (on the left)
Hide 23
Move Silently 30

#2 (on the right)
Hide 14
Move Silently 28

Knowledge (the planes) DC 15
These drow are exhibiting the characteristics of a Dark creature, an extraplanar being from the Plane of Shadow. Their connection to that plane allows them to Hide in Plain Sight, though they must be within 10ft of a shadow.

Given from where they attacked from (or if you spot them, where they are hiding), the nearest shadow they could hide in would be the shadow made by the Wall of Sand.


http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae206/unnamedhero91/jungle4.png?t=1293645272

[Grendus]

Alright, here's where the massive iterative attacks pay off. Five javelins, the first against flat footed AC and with 6d6 sneak attack damage. I beat both their hide checks in the OOC thread.

First Javelin: Attack [roll0], Damage [roll1]+[roll2] acid damage+[roll3] sneak attack damage.
Second Javelin: Attack [roll4], Damage [roll5]+[roll6] acid damage
Third Javelin: Attack [roll7], Damage [roll8]+[roll9] acid damage
Fourth Javelin: Attack [roll10], Damage [roll11]+[roll12] acid damage
Fifth Javelin: Attack [roll13], Damage [roll14]+[roll15] acid damage.

On the off chance that one of those scores a critical threat, here are a few d20 rolls:
[roll16]

Focus on the one on the right, who didn't make the spot check to notice me. If he drops before I run out of attacks (presuming I'm allowed to do this, I've seen DM's go both ways) I'll switch to the other one.

After full attacking, he drops prone as a free action for +4 AC, which I presume would also apply against ranged touch attacks like Eldritch Blast, putting his touch AC at a cool 22 and his total at 29. That's doable, but tough. While I'm at it, since they're hiding in combat and there's presumably brush (how else am I sneaking along), I'll try to hide again. At -20 hide, so it would be [roll17]. Beat that!



Hearing the sounds of combat behind him, Garret turns and, spotting the drow, begins to unleash a hail of javelins at them, focusing on the one that seems least aware of his presence. His volley spent, he drops to the ground to avoid the inevitable counterattack.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Shaking off the daze, Denaru steps forward chanting.


Um, Chambers, I kinda rolled in the wrong thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10063798&postcount=144). Is this still ok or do you want me to reroll in this game? Its for my Quick Recovery feat, which allows me to shake off ****ty effects as a move action. Kinda like Iron Heart Surge, except its not automatic, its just a second save. Its in Lords of Madness if you want more info.
[roll0] for Mass Shield of Faith. Turn check is even, no CL adjustment. +3 deflection to everyone's AC.
5' step to S25

[Ladorak]

Since the walls aren't real wouldn't they just fall after teleporting up?

Grant moves to s-14 and burns 3 charges from the belt of healing [roll0]. Sorry, normally I'd do some proper writing but I'm soooo tired. 7 hour journey on a hangover, big mistake.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden looks over at where the two drow are and smiles slightly. He concentrates, and with a wave of his hand the walls dissipate, the sand falling in sheets to the ground and the drow following close behind. The sand takes on a spiky look around where the drow now stand, looking as if it were a bunch of caltrops covered in sand or perhaps composed of sand themselves.

Spot [roll0] and Listen [roll1] for the left one
Spot [roll2] and Listen [roll3] for the right one

Jorden will concentrate on the illusion, making the changes noted above.

[Chambers]

As Garret's javeling pierces the drows side it lets out a hiss and snaps his head towards him. The shadows fade from around them and you all can see them clearer; black and dark green paint in stripes all over their bodies cover their flesh that is left exposed from their black leather armor. Each carries a wicked three blade boomerang in one hand, but the first thing that catches your eye is the mask each wears. Nearly a foot tall, the black mask appears to be made of some chitinous hide, fashioned in the shape of an scorpion's head. The mask wraps all around their head with dark holes for their eyes.

The drow glance down as the wall crumbles beneath them and one of them laughs...a deep, throaty chuckle, leaving them floating in mid-air. The wounded drow reaches down to pull out the javelin and it dissipates in his grasp. He hisses again and bounds forwards toward Garret, throwing his boomerang just over the head of the prone halfing. It slices through the grass and whips away, missing Grant by at least three feet.

As the boomerange flies back through the air the other drow darts forward, his shadow passing over Grant and Garret. The drow reaches out to touch the wounded drow as the latter catches the returned boomerang. The wounded drow disappears and the other drow spins around, floating in the air over the caltrops on the ground.



Round 2.

Jorden went. [changed the illusion]
Drow went. [Attacked]

Sollux, Grant, Garret, Van, Denaru - you're all up.



Spellcraft DC 19
The non-wounded drow (the one that was on the left and crossed over) used Flee the Scene.

http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae206/unnamedhero91/jungle5.png?t=1294294465

The non-wounded drow is the red square, 10ft in the air. The wounded drow is nowhere to be seen.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Denaru dashes forward, moving to flank the drow.

Double move to W15 by way of X16, threatening the drow with my spiked shield.

[true_shinken]

Van shakes his head, blinking, trying to shake off the mental confusion. Great lighting! What in the Nine Hells was that?! Those things are ugly., he mutters arcane words, waves his free hand through mystical passes and finally touches his chest. His body is filled with strenght, recovering partially from the damage inflicted by the poison. [Standard action -> bull's strenght] Then, with a single word and a flick of his hand, he sends two beams of fire toward the drow. [Swift Action - quick cast scorching ray]
In a blink, leaving a trail of lightning behind him, Van moves behind one of the drow, with both swords drawn. Floating is nice, but you really should try teleporting sometime.[Move action -> Bolt Shirt -> triggers Flash Step, draw sword during the move action, uses Storm of Steel to get an extra attack] Arcane energy burns and sparkles around his weapons. [Free action -> sacrifice a 2nd level slot to power Arcane Strike]
He then attacks furiously with both weapons.
Scorching Ray
Scorching Ray 1 - attack [roll0] damage [roll1]. If crit, confirm [roll2] and deal [roll3] extra damage.
Scorching Ray 2 - attack [roll4] damage [roll5]. If crit, confirm [roll6] and deal [roll7] extra damage.
Caster level checks to surpass spell resistance: [roll8] and [roll9]
Flash Step:
Tempestade Attack 1 [roll10] damage [roll11] plus [roll12]slashing [roll13] electricity if crit confirm [roll14] and deal [roll15] extra damage.
Tempestade Attack 2 [roll16] damage [roll17] plus [roll18]slashing [roll19] electricity if crit confirm [roll20] and deal [roll21] extra damage.
Tempestade Attack 3 [roll22] damage [roll23] plus [roll24]slashing [roll25] electricity if crit confirm [roll26] and deal [roll27] extra damage.
Nevasca Attack 1 [roll28] damage [roll29] plus [roll30] piercing and [roll31] cold, if crit confirm [roll32] and deal [roll33] extra damage.
Nevasca Attack 2 [roll34] damage [roll35] plus [roll36] piercing and [roll37] cold, if crit confirm [roll38] and deal [roll39] extra damage.

[true_shinken]

Wow, a crit and a 20 on the confirmation roll, I never got one of those :smallbiggrin:

[Chambers]

As Van's blades strike out, slicing into the drow, it cries out in a shriek of pain. Burned from the fire blasts and cut from the swords, the drow seems to barely be conscious. It slaps something on it's chest and a dark blue button seems to fall for a moment before exploding in a small cloud of half-translucen smoke.

The smoke clears within seconds but the drow has gone, vanished from sight.


FYI, both the scorching rays hit but the second failed the SR check. The first 4 attacks hit.

You all can make Listen & Spot checks to see where they went. You will have some range penalties.

Hide [roll0]
Move Silently [roll1]

Hide [roll2]
Move Silently [roll]1d20+12[roll]

Grant and Garret have a -5 on their checks.
Jorden, Denaru, Van, & Sollux have a -8 on their checks.

If you beat the DC's...
You hear and/or see either one drow or both (depending on whether you beat both sets) hiding out in the high branches of the tree marked 1.

[Grendus]

Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

If I can spot the wounded one, I'll stand up and throw a single javelin at him. Accursed action economy.

Attack: [roll2], Damage: [roll3]+[roll4]

"Nice shot," Garret says, standing up and briefly surveying the furrow gouged in the earth next to him. He chuckles. "Panicked drow couldn't hit the broadside of a half giant. They act tough, right up until they start getting hit."

Spotting one of the drow in the tree, he reflexively conjures another javelin. "Not over yet boys. Up there!", he yells, pointing at the drow he can see. "Choke on this!"

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

The image before you is an illusion. Concern yourself not with their meer trickery. The brute is hiding in the trees over there. Denaru points in the direction the drow fled to.

[Ladorak]

Spellcraft: [roll0]
Charge to a11, incorparating a high jump to get up the tree
Jump check: [roll1] (speed of 40, leaping dragon stance)
Assuming I make that using Combat rhythum to make three touch attacks that don't do damage:
[roll2][roll3][roll4]
And using a swift action to activate my great reach bracers

Despite the pain Stalker grins like a hungry tiger 'My thanks to you two.' He bursts forward with a blood thirsty scream issued from the very core of his long standing hurt and rage. As red mist fringes the corners of his vision the Drow blurs in his mind, becoming the faceless wizard that he is so sure brought fair Cyre to ruin.
The actions are so practised, the anger so pure and the sense of righteous justice so overbearing he doesn't even realise he has jumped until he lands beside the Drow with murder in his eyes. Rather than attacking instantly he twirls and slashes testing the Drow's defences and building up a deadly rhythm, pin pointing his foes weaknesses.
Knowing that all wizards are cowards by nature and having already witnessed this one's willingness to flee he issues a mental command through the fog of war that crowds his rational thoughts. As he comes to a stop, posed perfectly as his hands and blades continue to twist and twirl the magic of his bracers takes effect, stretching his limbs to inhuman lengths, extending his killing range.

[Chambers]

Garret's force javelin finds it's mark again, while Grant leaps into the air and lightly touches the wounded drow, setting up a powerful attack for later.

The quori bound within Soolux rages as the drow's boomerang stuns Sollux's body. Incompetent fool! Allow me control and we will dance in the shower of our enemies blood! Your mortal frame is too weak to resist even a simple blow, yet you think to constrain me?

"Hrnngh!" Shaking his head as the paralysis wears off, Sollux scans the field of battle. Ugh, make yourself useful. Why didn't I smell them before they ambushed us?

Dashing across the field towards the tree Sollux seems to gain a burst of energy halfway there. Heading straight at the tree he puts one foot on its trunk and continues runing up it, drawing his crystal scimitar and slashing at the drow that Grant pointed out and attacked.

Unfortunately the poison coursing through his veins weakens his arm and his blow misses, slicing instead through a tree branch. The wounded drow laughs as Sollux drops from the tree, floating to the ground under the power of his ring.


Sollux uses Hustle for an extra move action, then runs up the tree with Up the Walls, and attacks (and misses) with his crystal scimitar, using Psionic Weapon.

Pretty sure I got it right. I don't play psionic characters...well, ever.


Round 3

Jorden is up, then the drow, then the rest of the party.

So far no one has spotted the other, non-wounded drow.

Map
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/ae206/unnamedhero91/jungle6.png?t=1294793822

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Wonderful. Nothing I like more than a nice game of hide-and-seek in a frigging jungle." Jorden relaxes his mental grasp on his walls of sand--they have served their purpose--and takes a few steps closer to the tree. Shading his eyes with his right hand, he moves his left hand through arcane gestures and ends up pointing at the tree Denaru indicated. A huge chunk of stone wrenches itself from the ground behind him and shatters into a multitude of rock shards which launch themselves up into the air, streaking toward the area where the drow are hiding.

The walls are gone now. Jorden takes a 5-foot step northeast.

Rolls vs. second drow (can't possibly detect the first one)
Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

If he spots the drow, Jorden casts hail of stone on him in such a way to hit him without endangering his teammates; if he doesn't spot the drow, he casts hail of stone on the a10-b11 area and hopes for the best. The spell has a 1-round casting time, so if the drow move on their turn I'll post again retargeting the spell appropriately to the best of Jorden's abilities.

Either way, it deals [roll2] untyped damage, no save; CL check vs. SR is [roll3].

EDIT: Goddamn SR. Why does a no-save rock shower even allow SR, anyway?

[Chambers]

The drow recoils from Grants touches, but laughs at Sollux as he misses. He makes a strange motion with his hand and says a word in drow, then vanishes from sight.


Round 3

Jorden [casting a spell]
Drow [disappeared]
Rest of Party [acting now]

To clarify: Neither of the drow are visible, unless you beat their Hide/Move Silently checks. If you can see through invisibility, subtract 20 from the Hide check.

Spellcraft DC 17
You identify two separate uses of the Walk Unseen invocation.

[Ladorak]

I've got mageslayer so he can't cast defensively, does that make any difference?

[true_shinken]

Van looks around helplessly. Where the hell did they go to?! I... I can't find them! Damn it! Frustrated, he assumes a defensive stance. [total defense]

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Eh, sounds like as good a time for this as any...

Denaru casts another spell, then moves closer to the tree.

Casting Invisibility Purge [roll0]

CL10, so thats a 50' radius.

[Chambers]

Denaru's spell radiates around him while Grant waits at the tree for the drow to appear. Nothing happens.

The tree limb that Sollux cut slowly bends and finally snaps, falling to the ground.
For OOC purposes we can drop out of rounds. Go ahead and act freely. If something you do would trigger something, I'll pop in.

That went pretty well for you guys. I expected at least one person to die. :smallwink:

[Ladorak]

Breathing heavily Grant mades his way down the tree with considerably more care then he showed in getting up it.
When he reaches the floor he stumbles and suddenly the fatigue and blood loss took their toll. His skin had gone ashen pale and his movements are pained as he makes his way toward Denaru 'Sir Priest, I am badly in need of healing...'

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Eh, you'll live.

Lesser Vigor, 15 HP over 15 rounds, then drawing a Pearl of Power and recovering the spell.

[Grendus]

Garret brushes the dirt off his clothing, nonchalantly joining the others. "Well d***, I was hoping we'd at least get one of them. I could do a lot with one of those boomerangs."

[true_shinken]

Guys, correct if I'm wrong. I spent half my spells on an illusion, right? I feel kind of stupid.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden rubs his hands together in a job-well-done motion and says, "That's not a problem, Van; I spent one of my spells on an illusion, after all." He grins cheekily and continues, "Or did you mean you wasted them attacking an illusion?" More seriously, he looks around at the group and says "We did well in that fight, think, considering we just met, what, less that half a day ago? Van, you did fine, drow are tricky like that and expending resources on illusions and traps are to be expected. Good job, everyone; I just hope we have the same luck the next time we run into them, 'cause I'm positive there will be a 'next time'."

[true_shinken]

Tricky and they also pack quite of a punch. Van sighs. So, Jorden. What's the plan?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Plan? I don't know; I don't want to be in charge here." Jorden shrugs. "We were heading somewhere, and got attacked on the way; no reason we can't keep going to where we were going. Unless anyone has any better ideas."

[Ladorak]

'Thank you Denaru.' Stalker tried to keep the begrudging nature of his thanks clear of his tone, and succeed admirably 'Although I fear your words are poorly chosen...'

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Have faith. I have work to do in the name of the Silver Flame. If I died now, I'd be unable to complete that work. We will perservere. Now, lets get going while my spells are still active.

[Grendus]

Hide, Move Silently, Spot, and Listen checks, for scouting ahead of the party.
Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently: [roll1]
Spot: [roll2]
Listen: [roll3]

"If you want my opinion, we should get going." Garret says, conjuring a force javelin and leaning on it calmly. "Same direction. They probably have a way to track us, and if they don't, those two... whatever those things were will let them know in an hour, two tops. Our best bet is to get out of here, or at least get somewhere where the terrain doesn't favor them."

He disappears into the brush, heading towards their previous destination. Worst case, if they don't hurry up maybe the drow will miscount and I can escape in peace.

[Chambers]

The trees thin out as you move closer to the canyon until finally there are none at all. A wide swath of grass runs along the edge of the canyon and you feel as if you were naked, standing there in the open sun without the protection of the canopy. About thirty paces to your right is an old rope and wood bridge. The thick vines holding the slats of wood together appear to be sturdy, though some of the slats are missing or broken.

The vines wrap themselves around two large stone pillars on your side; looking across the canyon you can see similar pillars on the other side. On the other side of the canyon the jungle waits, thick and silent. Below the bridge at the bottom of the canyon is a fast rushing river. The drop appears to be at least a few hundred feet.

The bridge is about a hundred paces long. You can cross it at half-movement speed with no problem. To move faster (full movement or run) you need to make a DC 15 Balance check. No taking 10 on this.

I don't mean that you have to run across it, just saying what moving on the bridge would entail.

Also, Sollux has 5 Strength damage and Van has 3 Strength damage from the poisons.

Garret
Your keen eyes spot the top of some stone structure through the tops of the trees on the other side of the canyon. You can't really make out what it would be but you can tell it's not that far from the canyon.

[true_shinken]

Van looks at the bridge and sighs. This smells of a trap. He turns toward Denaru. Master flameite, I feel a bit weak from the poison. Is there something you could do about this?

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Unfortunately, I was expecting a raid on a Dragon Below cult hideout today, not a forest full of Drow will no desire to do us good. I believe at this point, Sollux would better benefit my magic. If we can find solice to rest, I will no doubt be of more use.

Denaru chants for a couple rounds, waving his holy symbol at Sollux before touching him with a glowing hand.

Lesser Restoration for [roll0] Str.

[Grendus]

Garret draws his wand of invisibility and begins to sneak across the bridge, walking briskly but not so fast that he would risk falling. "If it is a trap, might as well see if we can get an opportunity to set our own."

Use one charge from my wand of Invisibility (no need for UMD, it's a class spell for Assassins), then cross the bridge at normal move speed.

Not sure if I can hide while invisible, or how that would work, but I'll make the check anyways.

Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently: [roll1]
Listen: [roll2]
Spot: [roll3]

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden looks down, down, down into the canyon and quickly backs away. "Would it be a bad time to mention that I'm afraid of heights? Walking across a rickety bridge a long, long way above the ground is not exactly my idea of a fun time. Comes from working with nice, solid, reliable, solid earth all the time. I'll stay right here until I know it's not going to break and send me to my doom, if that's all right with you."

[Ladorak]

Grant sighs heavily as he surveys the bridge 'Best we cross one at a time.' He leaves the rest unsaid That way only one of us falls if it's a trap.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

There just is't any good way to do this, is there...

[Chambers]

Garret
You cross the bridge successfully, noting along the way that although a few boards are missing here and there, the bridge itself appears to be sound. Arriving at the other side you also notice that the vines that anchor the bridge to the huge stones are sturdy as well, showing no sign of fraying or damage.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Denaru points to Van. You have teleportation magic, I've seen it. You got something that'll get us across here?

[Grendus]

Garret quickly gathers a few stones and throws them one at a time, across the bridge to signal that he's safe, before ducking a few feet to the right and crouching in the bushes in case of an ambush.

[true_shinken]

Sorry, I can only teleport myself with spells., Van answers instantly. He then remembers a little something. Oh, wait. I can bring you with me if I use my dragonmark's power. You over there, the other canned guy. Come on, I'll bring you both with me.
The human touches both of his armored companions on their shoulders and invokes the power of his dragonmark.
[Dimension door to the other side]

[Ladorak]

Grant frowns 'Canned guy? It's-'
They vanish, reappearing on the other side a second later 'Stalker.' He looks about and smiles 'My thanks however, Blitz.'

[true_shinken]

Oh, nevermind, I remembered your name. But 'canned guy' sounded funny. He smiles at Stalker. What now, guys?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden looks up, relieved. "Oh, that's an idea...I guess I don't have to walk over...." He snaps his fingers and the wind whips the light topsoil nearby into a whirling column of sand and dirt. <Hello again, Sandy> he says to the elemental in Terran, <would you mind carrying me over this canyon?> He steps into the column of earth and it shoots across the canyon to connect both sides, and then Jorden is whisked along it as if riding a wave into the shore. <Thanks, Sandy, you can go home now> he says on the other side, and the elemental sinks into the ground and disappears.

"Sorry about that, everyone," Jorden says, mildly embarrassed that his acrophobia made him miss such a simple solution. "Lead on."

Jorden uses his Summon Elemental reserve feat to summon an air elemental to fly him across, reflavored as a less-substantial earth elemental carrying him across an improvised bridge. Jorden is a Medium load for the Small elemental, which still lets it make it over the canyon at a 4x run in 1 round.

[Chambers]

The ground on the other side of the canyon is softer than the side you left behind and the jungle in front of you is thicker with underbrush and low hanging trees. A worn dirt path leads away from the bridge into the jungle towards the direction of the building you saw earlier.

The soft ground holds impressions better and you can easily spot multiple sets of tracks on the path, heading into the jungle. Though they are somewhat clumped together it's easy to make out the size of the creatures; mostly medium, with a one or two trails of smaller sized footprints.

Survival DC 15
Judging by the depth of the impressions and the erosion of them you determine that the tracks were made about a week ago. All of the tracks were from bi-pedal creatures and they all wore shoes or boots of some kind.

[Grendus]

"Something went through here," Garret says, still invisible. "About a week ago. They may be set up in ambush for us, or it could be coincidence. I think the Drow use this path a lot though."

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"I'd bet gold pieces to golems that this isn't a coincidence. Even if there's no ambush set up for us specifically, walking into a jungle that the drow frequent without any preparation is not the best idea." Jorden peers off into the jungle and notes wryly, "We had enough trouble with two drow hiding in two clumps of trees; I don't know how many drow are in there now, but I see a lot of clumps of trees." Turning to the others, he adds, "Van, Stalker, and, uh...Sir What's-Your-Name, anyone have any ideas for getting around, or are we stuck going through?"

[true_shinken]

Van pauses and thinks for a moment, hand on his chin. I think I could scout ahead, I have a somewhat long range teleport I can use very few minutes, but I can only use it on myself. I'm not a sneak or anything, though. I'd need some help to go unnoticed, if you guys can provide it.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

And when one of them hits you with one of those boomerangs while the others gut you faster than you can count? Then what? No, we go together.

[true_shinken]

Hm, you raise an interesting point, sir priest. I'll have to subscribe to Denaru's idea, yeah. Being gutted is not on my 'to do' list.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Noted.

[Ladorak]

Stalker laughs suddenly 'Noted...'

With a shake of his head he banishes the insistent grin. 'Aye, but it's no good just picking a direction and walking toward it, separate or not. But I don't trust these footprints.' Drawing one of his long blades he stabs it into the ground, in the indentation left by one of the smaller footprints. 'I can't imagine even the Drow would bring their young, when still this young, to the battle. Besides... It's too easy.'

[Grendus]

Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently: [roll1]
Spot: [roll2]
Listen: [roll3]

Invisibility should wear off shortly, unless we're ambushed right out I have to be sneaky again /sigh.

Garret sighs, then speaks gruffly. "Maybe you'd like to quit your jawin' and keep goin'. It doesn't matter whether or not the drow were set up in ambush, those... whatever's escaped. If they have any way to get a message to the others, they know exactly where we are, so we'll be ambushed either way. Unless you want to be a drow trophy, get your rear in gear." And with that, he crashes noisily (still invisible) through the brush in the direction of their previous destination.

[true_shinken]

Invisible small people are scary. Just saying.

[Ladorak]

'You get no arguement from me... I hope he knows where he's going at least...'

Doing his best to follow the sounds of the assassin Grant started off again

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Rolling his eyes, Denaru follows the others.

[Chambers]

This jungle is still wet from the last rain and the undergrowth is slick. Following the dirt trail, it winds back and forth for a few miles, always staying under the canopy. Garret spots some scuffed earth a few paces away from a large tree, and a closer examination shows a large pool of dried blood. Drops lead away from the pool until it reaches the base of the tree and then they disappear.

Less than a hundred feet away from there you can see the building in a wide clearing. What looked at first like a pyramid now reveals itself to be a ziggurat, four stories tall. The old stone looks weathered and smooth from where you're standing and you can see dark entrances at the base leading down into the structure. At the top of the ziggurat are four large poles, each with a body tied and strapped to it. From this distance it's hard to make out many details, but you can tell that they're not wearing any clothes nor skin, much like the dwarf from before. There's a large ramp that runs from the ground to the top of the ziggurat and the dirt path you're on runs right into it.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Peering up at the top of the ziggurat, Jorden remarks, "You just gotta love drow decor. Anyone else feeling foolhardy enough to want to go up there and check things out?"

[Ladorak]

'While I am wary of traps it would be good to get away from this damnable treeline... Close quarter fighting would suit us better than the Drow, and we do need to find somewhere relatively safe for the 'casters to bed down.
'That said... I can't help but smell a trap.'

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

If these scions of evil are really harbored up inside of that ziggurat, it is our duty to ensure that they are not allowed to harm others as they have harmed us, and these poor souls who have been so brutally tortured. I will not allow others to suffer and die due to my own personal neglegence.

Before we go in, last call for healing. It would be unfortunate if someone perished needlessly because they didn't speak up.

[true_shinken]

To hell with caution! Van says, as he dashes forward, sword in hand, going up the ramp.

[Grendus]

Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently:[roll1]
Spot:[roll2]
Listen:[roll3]


Garret draws his wand of invisibility again, prodding himself with it before silently following Van.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"I guess that's a 'yes' to the foolhardiness, then," Jorden grumbles. He begins to trudge up the steps after Van; after a dozen or so steps, he makes a fist and a creature rises up from the ziggurat, seeming to be formed of the same stone as the old temple. <There's nothing for you to do yet, Rocky,> Jorden tells the creature in Terran, <I'm just being careful, but you can help us take care of those bodies when we reach the top.>

Using Summon Elemental for an earth elemental, obviously. He'll just follow along next to Jorden unless something exciting happens.

[Ladorak]

The memory of the exploding corpse still fresh in his mind Grant lets the others ascend before he too mounts the steps.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Wordlessly, Denaru follows the others toward the structure.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Jorden waits for the others to catch up, then continues up the steps until he reaches the top of the ziggurat. He looks around warily for any sign of danger, then tells his elemental <Rocky, go take a look at those bodies for any sign of writing, runes, or the like; there were traps on the last set of bodies we found.> Jorden turns to Garret and Van as his elemental goes to carry out his orders, telling them "My friend there is checking the bodies for any more explosive runes. Assuming they don't end up as four large puddles of gore after that, you might want to take a look at them for more traps or any useful gear."

[Chambers]

The sounds of your own steps on the old stone are the only noise you hear, aside from the slight creaking of the poles bending under the weight of the bodies. Climbing the ramp to the top of the ziggurat, the earth elemental goes to each body in turn, it's featureless face staring at the bodies for a moment before grasping the pole with two hands and shaking it hard. The bodies sway a little, but no explosions happen, nor do spikes punch up through the floor, or darts shoot out from a hidden hole...nor any other manner of gruesome trap that you may happen to imagine.

The elemental completes its circuit and comes back to Jorden, pauses for a moment. It pushes one rock fist against the floor and moves it in circles and lines, almost as if it were imitating writing. Then it looks back up at Jorden at shakes it's head as it sinks down into the floor, a few pebbles left on the surface the only evidence of it's passing.

I don't think elementals can read. :smallsmile: So that's what he was trying to communicate.

Closer up you can see that these poor souls were not all dwarfs...in fact, none of them are. There are what you figure to be two humans, a halfling, and a half-orc. The corpses all appear to be males, though their sex is missing, along with several other vital organs. Your recent experience with skinned, trussed up corpses lets you figure that this one died a few days after the dwarf did. Like the other corpse, these are bare of all clothing or gear.

The ground below the corpses is sticky with semi-dried red spoltches and stains, the blood collecting in some depressions and then channeled towards the center of the ziggurat. The channels run from each pole to the a large grate in the middle, easily 15 across. The holes in the grate are small, no more than an inch across, and it looks sturdy, set into the stone floor. A glance down shows a long drop, the suns light illuminating the hole all the way to the bottom, about 200ft down. Down there you can make out some kind of stone slab in the middle of a room, set into a bowl depression in the floor. The blood has collected into the bowl, making a pool around the stone slab.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I was counting on elementals not being able to actually read any writing--wouldn't want to have poor Stony get his head blown off by an explosive rune, would I? :smallwink:
Jorden waves his hand to prestidigitate away the sickly stench of the rotting bodies and looks queasily down through the grating at the slab. "Well, something tells me this is more than just an execution. I thought that dwarf we found had just annoyed a powerful drow, but now I'm guessing it's a religious sacrifice of some sort. And a pretty Host-damned dark one, to boot." Too low for any of the others to hear, Jorden adds under his breath, "Hope they don't require the stereotypical virgin sacrifices, seeing as I was too busy for the cute gnomes at Morgrave."

Jorden stands, rubbing his hands together. "Sooo, anyone want to do anything about this--I'm looking at you, Mr. Inquisitor--or are we going to keep going?"

[true_shinken]

Van looks at the corps, deeply enraged. This is horrible. Those drows... I hate them. Tears forming in his eyes, he marches forward. I'll kill them for this. But I'll kill them swiftly and mercifully, because I'm not a monster like them.

[Grendus]

Garret grins evilly. "We'll make a proper survivor out of you yet," he says, standing a few feet behind Van (still invisible). "Unless someone else wants to waste time here, I'd say we should get going."

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

The question isn't whether or not we should do something. The question is, how do we get in and punish those damned scorpion-fetished...things. I'm loathe to even clasify them among the civilized races.

[true_shinken]

Van stops for a second, cleans his tears with the back of his hands and turns to Denaru. Master priest. Would it be okay for us to, uh, pray for these poor souls? I kind of don't know how, though.

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Words will be spoken, but for their souls to be at ease, their wrongs must first be righted. The soul can not know peace until justice is had. Denaru's eyes flash dangerously with conviction and fire, and the air around him nearly crackles with magical energies waiting to be unleashed.

[Grendus]

"Bah, we're all damned anyways," Garret says. "Not like we get a better or worse afterlife. Who cares about their spirits comfort, they're dead. Worry about the here and now, do you want to join them?"

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Your absence of faith is not proof of an absence of divinity. If you don't believe in cold, your body will still freeze to death. If you don't believe in hell, you're actions may still lead you there. We would do best to investigate and punish those who would treat their fellow denizens of this world in such a manner.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

"Gods, no gods, some gods...it really doesn't concern me," Jorden says. "I visit Host temples mostly because my family does, not because I'm expecting any divine intervention in my life. I've seen enough corrupt priests and priests of strange cults to convince me that divine magic isn't evidence of gods; it's essentially wizardry, but more faith, prayers, and incense than study, equations, and sulfur. No offense meant to you, Inquisitor; I'm sure you'd make just as good an arcanist as you do a priest."

"And those things aren't mutually exclusive, you know," he adds to Garret. "You can worry about your soul and your body. For instance, you can care for your soul by not making a senior Flameite angry, and you can care for your body by not standing out on a huge stone platform right in the open." He raises his eyebrows pointedly and crosses his arms. "While I like discussing metaphysics just as much as the next gnome, I don't think this is the time or place. Let's get back down into the tree cover and figure out where we're going next, then we can continue this discussion."

[Ladorak]

I think Garret's still invisible...

'Worse atrocities were committed during the Last War, although I grant that is only because of the scale. Aside from the rending of Cyre I have not seen such... pointless cruelty. To torture for information or even to dissuade others is understandable. This is.... alien.' He turned away, his voice choked with disgust and anger 'If we cannot spare their souls, nor tore this place down stone by stone then let us take what revenge we can, for ourselves and those who died before us. What do you suppose is the purpose of that?' He points down through the grate

[Chambers]

As if in response to Ladorak's question, chittering noises can be heard coming from the treeline. They pause for a second, and then start again, and seem to come from the area next to the dirt path. It lasts for another moment and then is silent. On the opposite side of the ziggurat, something in the trees seems to answer with more chitterings, almost like a response to the previous call. It screeches for a few moments and then silences as well.

Standing near the grate, Ladorak sees a dark shape flash across the stone slab at the bottom, a shadow passing through the sunlight. It's gone in an instant, too quick for him to make out more details. The noises from the opposing sources stops, and the top of the stone is silent except for a light breeze coming from the west.

Knowledge (Nature) DC 15
The noises sounded like the noises that scorpions make when they "talk" to each other. No idea what was actually said, but most lower vermin and beasts have a simple intelligence, their vocabulary related mostly to food and danger. Which one of the two they said you were, you're not sure.

[Ladorak]

Stalker stepped back from the grate and drew his twin blades in one swift movement. He did his best to keep attention focused both on the noises below and the grate beneath 'Dragon below! There's something down there, in all that blood. When the noise suddenly stopped he grit his teeth and said nothing, although he thought bitterly to himself Scorpions I bet.

Ready an action to use a psionic tattoo of chameleon if anything comes out of the forest

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Think there's a back door? I'd rather not have to rappel down into a scorpion infested blood pool...

[true_shinken]

Van draws his longsword Tempestade and waves his free hand for mystical passes, chanting angrily the arcane words of his spell. As the magic spreads through his body strenghtening his muscles, he puts his free hand on his short sword's pommel, getting ready to turn everything to shreds.
Casting Bull's Strenght on myself

[Keld Denar]

Denaru

Now is as good a time as any...

Denaru chants, and a slight shimmer passes over all present.

That will ward you against any unintelligent undead. Just a precaution. Don't attack them, and they won't be able to hurt you.

He then chants on more time, touching Grant briefly on the shoulder. This should help keep the voices out of your head. We all know you have enough of them as it is...

[Grendus]

Actually, Garret does believe in the gods. It's just that in Ebberon everybody gets the same afterlife, you go to another plane and your memories slowly fade away until you do. The temples teach that you follow the gods for rewards in this life rather than the next. Or so I've been told, I couldn't find it in any of the Ebberon supplements I have.

Just realized I had Garret worshiping a Greyhawk deity. I changed it, he'd probably worship The Mockery

Garret slides back behind the others, leaving his hands free to attack. Now would be a bad time to be encumbered with weapons.