Gentlemen of Fortune (IC)

[esorscher]

Dabny d’Cannith, the dragonmarked museum curator who has employed your services repeatedly over the past few years, on this occasion hired you to explore the jungle of Q’Barra to find the ruins of an ancient temple of Khyber, and retrieve the ancient tome within. You arranged for a Cold Sun lizardfolk to guide you to the temple Dabny described, and the knowledgable local did just that, though he was unwilling to go into the temple itself. The site, built into a large hill also covered with jungle foliage, had long been the target of archeological interest, though no one had ever returned.

Once inside, you discovered why. The antechamber led to a single long hallway, at the end of which flickering blue light illuminated a stone altar, in front of which there stands a stone podium, on which rests a thick, closed book. Some 30’ ahead of you, you see, barely illuminated by the light from the altar, the first of many skeletal remains of various humanoids on the floor, victims of the various booby-traps the long-gone builders left behind. You will need to step carefully if you are going to reach the altar.

{table] |A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H
1||||||||
2||||||||[/table]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal paces back and forth at the hallway's entrance, staring at the intimidating mishmash of bones with a woebegone expression on his face.

"Aiya! They're all crazy. Risking their lives for a dusty old book? I mean, the first of them is one thing, but what were the next few thinking? 'Oh, it was dangerous for them, but surely they've exhausted all the traps?"

He hits his head on something protruding from the wall. Wincing and rubbing his scalp, he turns to find a charred, broken femur embedded in the wall.

"You know what I'm really worried about?"

He takes another forlorn look at the bones, then makes a running leap onto the wall- where he clings, slowly and carefully picking out handholds as he climbs towards the book in the hope of preventing any pressure plates from being set off.

"I think we might be the same kind of crazy."

[Benson]

"I can't say I disagree with the sentiment," Zilla grinned watching her acrobatic companion. "By the way if your plan fails and you die I get to decide what gets written on your tombstone." She glanced at the remains of those who ventured here before and frowned for a second. Those poor smoes'...didn't even get to die in a crazy-awesome way.

[esorscher]

Cal clings to the wall, like a spider. He is able to navigate with some ease, and about 30' down the wall notices a few cleanly drilled holes in the wall. Zilla stands back at the start, watching.

(You can keep climbing all the way to the end of the hallway, if you want.)

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal picks his handholds out carefully- contorting himself into a number of amusingly pretzeled positions in an attempt to avoid putting himself directly in front of any of the holes in the wall- as he painstakingly works his way down the wall. Finally, he reaches the end of his climb, where he winces, shakes out one hand, and gingerly steps down to approach the pedestal that holds the book. He gives it a long look, trying to evaluate the text's condition and durability. If it looks fragile and ancient, then it's time for the old swap trick. If it looks like a sturdy volume, however, he tries something a little more innovative: tying a length of silk rope tightly to the cover, climbing his way back across the room with the other end of the rope, and giving it a sharp tug to send it sailing across the room and into his hands.

[esorscher]

You finally reach the end of the hallway. The room is easily 20’ x 20’, and contains only the altar and the podium, both of which appear to be carved from the stone of the room itself. The ceiling is much higher in this room than in the others; it is 20’ from the ground.

The altar is on the far wall. Two slightly recessed niches sit on either side of a deeply recessed alcove, in which you see the stone statue of an artfully formed lizardfolk, bent at the knees, with his palms raised and his thumbs pressed to his palms. He is adorned with a golden chest piece, two golden bracelets, and two golden anklets. In either alcove candles flicker with a blue, heatless light.

The stone podium rises from the floor, approximately 4’ from the ground, with no discernible seams between it and the ground. It is nothing more than a square column with an angled top, a slight lip carved to prevent gravity drawing what is placed upon it to the ground: a book, bound in bone, and locked. This is apparently the tome Dabny requested.

(You may want to search before doing anything.)

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Before going through with any of that, however, Cal gives the pedestal a quick once-over- not really because he thinks there might not be any traps there, more out of a morbid curiosity to know whether he'll be folded, spindled, mutilated, flambéd, drowned, smashed, poisoned, or transformed into an axlotl.

[esorscher]

Your search does not reveal a highly sensitive pressure plate the book on which the book rests. As you tie the rope around the book, you set off the room's trap.

The chamber rumbles, and a stone door slams shut behind you, sealing you into the 20x20 room. There are no obvious exits.

[In the next minute or so of game time a lot of things will happen, so declare your actions on a round by round basis. I will describe what is happening on both sides of the door, but right now Zilla is in a completely pitch-black hallway, as the only light is emanating from the altar in the now-sealed room.]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Round 1:
Cal's active precognition gives him just enough warning to let him turn around and make a single, abortive step toward the door before it seals itself shut. With a sigh, he turns back to the pedestal, takes the book and closely examines the pedestal for any features that might be of interest indicate how to escape: engravings, ideograms, writing, other moving parts, and the like. Spot check: [roll0] Search check: [roll1]

Round 2: If that yields nothing, he moves on to the ornate lizard statues, examining their outstretched hands closely. Do they appear well-sized to fit the book or any of the other objects in the room? If so, he places the object into its hands and waits to see the result.

[esorscher]

R1: You hear the sound of running water at a distance. Your dismal perceptive abilities do not reveal anything unique about the pedestal. The stone is perfectly polished.

R2: The sound of water is getting closer. There is only one lizard statue.

The altar is on the far wall. Two slightly recessed niches sit on either side of a deeply recessed alcove, in which you see the stone statue of an artfully formed lizardfolk, bent at the knees, with his palms raised and his thumbs pressed to his palms. He is adorned with a golden chest piece, two golden bracelets, and two golden anklets. In either alcove candles flicker with a blue, heatless light.

The statue is approximately 4' in height, and nothing about its hands or the makes it seem the two should be joined. After placing, and removing the book in the lizardfolk's hands, nothing happens.

[Benson]

"You know...I just had the feeling something like this was going to happen." Zilla then proceeds to cast dancing lights to illuminate the dark hallway where she stands. Seeing that she and Cal were pretty much locked in and with him way ahead of her on the other side she wasn't about to let him have all the fun. With whip in hand she uncoiled it and intentionally hit several areas in the hallway hoping to hit a pressure plate and get whatever projectile trap out of the way. Or so she hoped that, that was going to happen.

Action A: cast dancing lights
Action B: Test her luck with her half cooked plans about the hallway traps.

[esorscher]

R1: Dancing lights illuminates your path as normal.
R2: About 15' down the hallway you trigger a pit trap. A 10' hole opens up in the floor, revealing skeletons at the bottom of the pit. It will be a simple matter to jump across the 5' divide.

{table] |A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H
1||||p||||
2||||p||||[/table]

[Benson]

"Huh...well this looks interesting," She briefly smiles looking into the pit, "Must have had the misfortune of tripping over their bootlaces to fall into there. Well here's hopin' I remembered to tie my laces." She takes steps a foot back as she prepares to jump.


Jump:
and a Tumble check for the sake of theatrics: [roll]1d20+6

[esorscher]

Benson clears the pit, bounding nimbly through the air.

[Benson]

Proudly she smiled that she managed to clear such a difficult jump as she brought her hands to her hips. The dancing lights followed her as she figured that maybe her haphazard plan of wantonly and recklessly activating the traps wasn't just a one trick pony. Maybe.

"Half-way there, luck don't leave me now," As she repeated her previous trap activating behavior with much gusto.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal leans down to look the statue of this temple's long-dead builders in the eye, as if to divine the reason they felt the need to protect their holy text so outrageously thoroughly. Finally, he speaks.

"Look, I'm sorry about this. I know that you crazy little reptiles put a great deal of effort and ingenuity into engineering your incredibly clever little deathtrap, and more than likely some equally clever hidden way to escape should one of you brush that damn book with your tail on your way out. The only real way to respect and honor all that effort and brainpower would be to scramble around, look for clues, make some incredible leap of logic and find your hidden way out at the last moment."

He turns away from the statue and faces the closed stone door.

"But I just don't have those kind of skills. I am an acolyte of the Tashalatora, not some brilliant sneak thief. I know martial arts, not mechanisms. I'm sorry for cheating you."

He takes a low, wide stance, fists prepared to fly.

"...but not very much. A-TAA!"

He moves in an instant from perfect stillness into speed-blurred motion, feet, fists, knees and elbows slamming indiscriminately into the smooth stone of the door. Almost instantly it begins to crack and chip under Kalharath's assault- first pebble-sized chunks and then whole slabs of rock begin to clatter to the floor...

(Rounds 3-8: make a Flurry of Blows on the door. Stone has a Hardness of 8 and a HP of 15/inch. The door will be Medium and have AC 3, requiring only the avoidance of a natural 1 to hit. Using Flurry of Blows, so 3 attacks/round. Attack rolls (for natural 1s): [roll0][roll1][roll2][roll3][roll4][roll5][roll6][roll7][roll8][roll9][roll10][roll11][roll12][roll13][roll14]
Damage rolls: [roll15][roll16][roll17][roll18][roll19][roll20][roll21][roll22][roll23][roll24][roll25][roll26][roll27][roll28][roll29]
1.3 inches of stone destroyed.)

[esorscher]

Toptomcat:

R3: Water begins to trickle down the walls.
R4: Water begins to flow out of four holes high on each wall, nearly at the ceiling.
R5: The water is around your ankles.
R6: The water is above your waist.
R7: The water is above your shoulders, but you can still swim above it. (Swim 10).

Of course, Cal does not realize the danger he is in until it is too late, absorbed in his attacks. Within seconds, the water will be over his head. (Attacks made against the door from within the room are treated as underwater.)


Benson:
Your whip successfully sets off another pit trap, 30' down the hallway. This one is considerably deeper, 20', but no more wide.

{table] |F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
1||p||||||
2||p||||||[/table]

[Benson]

"Yikes!" She peers down the pit acknowledging its deepness. "Hey Cal!" Her voice echoed. "I hope you're having just as much fun as me!" She took a step back and hoped she didn't trip.

Jump:[roll0]

[esorscher]

Once again successful in her jump, Zilla clears the pit (though just barely). Her whip did not set off the other trap, however, and darts fly through the air toward her as she glides over the chasm.

Dart: [roll0], [roll1]
Dart: [roll2], [roll3]
Dart: [roll4], [roll5]
Dart: [roll6], [roll7]

(that was round 4, still some catching up to do to be in the same timeline as Cal.)

[Benson]

Zilla peers down the passageway with just the illumination from her spell as tries to see just how far away she is.


(Good gravy, I myself wonder just how long this passageway is :smalltongue:)

[esorscher]

(The passageway is 180'. You can continue whipping your way down the passageway and jump over the chasms that come from the pit traps, but you won't be able to avoid the dart traps by doing this.)

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Sensing that his blows will be entirely ineffective against the resilient wall with the water there to slow down his strikes, Cal resorts to taking a deep breath and bracing himself against the wall and heaving with all his might, hoping that the door may be damaged enough to give way.
(Making a Strength check to break down the door, augmented by one charge from the Brute Gauntlets as a swift action. The Strength DC to break down a strong door is DC 23, reduced to DC 21 if my previous efforts (resulting in a total of 22 damage by my accounting) have reduced the door to half HP.
[roll0])

[Benson]

Alas, the spirited Zilla continued her routine hopin' that there were only pitfalls to deal with.

[esorscher]

There are more than pits; each time Zilla crosses a divide she sets off another hail of darts. By the time she reaches the end of the hall (Round 8) she has provoked three instances of flurries, the last of which seemed especially dense.

Dart: [roll0], [roll1]
Dart: [roll2], [roll3]
Dart: [roll4], [roll5]
Dart: [roll6], [roll7]
Dart: [roll8], [roll9]
Dart: [roll10], [roll11]
Dart: [roll12], [roll13]
Dart: [roll14], [roll15]
Dart: [roll16], [roll17]
Dart: [roll18], [roll19]

You reach the door, and hear the sound of water on the other side. It shows signs of being weakened, as if someone has been trying to smash it.

Toptomcat:


Round 8: The water is nearly to the ceiling. There are maybe six seconds before you run out of space between the top of the water and the ceiling.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
As the water rises to the ceiling, Cal takes one last deep gulp of air, filling his lungs to capacity as he carefully rebraces himself and pushes with all his might once more...
(Repeat the attempt. Another charge from the Brute Gauntlets spent. Strength check: [roll0])

[esorscher]

As Zilla examines the door, it suddenly shatters under the tremendous strength of her sidekick, and a wave of water rushes out, carrying Cal with it.

The rush of water carries you back down the hall and out of the temple, along with the various corpses and skeletons of those less successful. You erupt out of the entrance in a spectacular wave, which then dissipates into the ground. Coughing, you get to your knees, where you realize the one lizardfolk you left here is dead, replaced by eight others, and though these pygmies are noticeably smaller than your guide, the poison dripping from the ends of their arrows looks no less deadly. They stand in a semi-circle in the jungle trail before you, the brush of which hampers movement slightly (¾ speed, counts as difficult terrain), ready to turn you into pincushions at a moments notice.

Standing before them is a halfling you recognize from your previous adventurers: Sorgav Tillatar, the treasure hunter that beat you to the Lost Temple of Kol Korran and left it empty for you when you arrived, who stole the dragonshard you’d been hired by House Sivis to locate, and who’d done similar to you countless times in the past. He is as ruthless as he is morally flexible, driven by greed and ego, and in your past meetings, he’s regularly gotten the better of you, both mentally and physically.

“Miss Gardner,” he says, “again we see there is nothing you can possess that I can not take away.” He holds his palm outstretched for the book, clearly having the upper hand. “You chose the wrong friends,” he sneers at Kalharath. “This time it will cost you.”

[Benson]

"Well that was a refreshing ride, wouldn't you say so Cal? Also, nice to see you again." She stood up wringing her sleeves. Cuts and bruises covered her exposed limbs, her clothing riddled with holes. "Believe me, it all ready costs me something...just look at my outfit...tailor made, got just a week ago and already in ruin." Zilla 'responded' to Sorgav nonchalantly, if only to irritate Sorgav.

"What are you expecting a copper piece handout?" Zilla smirked seeing his small palm outstretched.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"I, ah..."

Cal stands open-mouthed for a moment. Here he is- a highly-trained fighting monk, protected by years of rigorous training in instinctive dodging, a field of psychokinetic force emanating from his body, an amulet that thickens his skin, and reflexes tuned a fraction of a second into the future, unharmed if soaked from their last little adventure. Here she is- an adventuring musician protected by little more than a few pounds of decidedly nonmagical chainmail, bloodied in a dozen places and bruised in a dozen more. But for just that moment, he was the one getting just a little bit weak-kneed with fear, and she was the one who was acting like she was invincible. He feels a sudden pang of doubt that, however much he trains, he will never have her unshakable confidence. Working with her is a real experience. He clears his throat and reaches slowly into his pack for the book.

"...I think I should give him the book, Zil. Unless you have any other ideas?"

[esorscher]

"Believe me," Sorgav says, his voice dripping with steel, "The only way you are leaving this place alive is with the book in my possession."

[Benson]

"Oh don't be so small minded, surely there are other ways to leave than that," She then turns to Cal, "Wouldn't you think our reptilian natives could have their own opinion as well? Alas you speak their tongue if I remember correctly, please translate this."

She fearlessly strides over to one of the lizardfolk who makes a threatening jabbing motion with his/her spear as she nonchalantly pushes it to the side. "Surely we don't have to be hostile with each other, not I'm not saying we can be friends, that would be pushing it. But perhaps beneficial partners. Surely this halfling isn't offering you much considering he's a greedy latrine squatter. In fact, he'd probably kill you after he got what he wanted in order to get rid of loose threads."

"I simply ask, you help my colleague and I and you will find it beneficial for both parties." She does a gentleman's bow and tilts her head with the best earnest smile she can force her mouth into.


Diplomacy Check [roll0]

[esorscher]

(Assuming Cal acts as translator) The lizardfolk is willing to listen, at the very least, and he responds. "He promises to return our sacred relic, which you have stolen. If you want our help, you must make a better promise." He seems indifferent to your plea.

Sorgav does not seem thrilled by this conversation. He moves his hands, but no noise escapes his lips, and there is no apparent change in reality.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal speaks in the hard consonants and sibilants of Draconic, his soft throat beginning to ache a bit as it strains to reproduce a language unsuited to it.

"We are not honorless thieves, here to enrich ourselves by plundering your relics. That is the occupation of this man. We are archaeologists, those who seek knowledge of the past to enlighten the scholars and peoples of our homeland. I apologize for our ignorance and arrogance: we had assumed that all those who cared for this book were long since dead. If your scribes and craftsmen can help us make a faithful copy- of book and contents- then not only will we leave you in peace with your relic, but those in far-off lands will know of the greatness and accomplishments of your ancestors."

[esorscher]

The lizardman shakes his head. "We would not so easily give away our secrets. We already hold your lives in our hands."

"Enough of this chatter," Sorgav says, angrily. "The book, or death. Choose now."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal sadly shakes his head.

"You have already given your heritage away to this man. You just don't know it."

Switching back to Common, he turns to Sorgav and slowly hands him the tome.

"The book, then. Hard as it is to admit it, the upper hand is yours. Again."

[Benson]

"Hold on...why not give it to the lizard folk instead? If we give it to them and not Sorgav, we lose...but so does he...what guarantee does anyone have that he won't just keep it for himself?"

[esorscher]

Sorgav seizes the opportunity, and the book. "You should have listened to them," he says in draconic before disappearing. (Spellcraft DC 17)

The lizardfolk are angry, but have only themselves to blame. Of course, they don't see it that way. "YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE COME HERE!" one cries, firing an arrow at you. It misses wide, but the others ready their own bows, despite being without their powerful ally. Roll initiative.

Group Lizardfolk intiative: [roll0]

Move at 3/4 speed, counts as difficult terrain
{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L
1|
2||||x|x||x|x|
3|||x||||||x|
4||x||||||||x|
5|
6|
7||||||S*
8|
9|
10|||C||||||Z
11|
12|[/table]
*last known position

[Toptomcat]

Edit: swordsage'd, editing for further actions

[Benson]

"Huh...Come now...we don't have to fight. No one has to get hurt, and by that I mean you...and me, my friend here can probably hold his own quite well." Zilla tries to keep a non agressive demeanor despite feeling that these lizard-folk were fools indeed. She reaches for her wand of cure light wounds.

"Hey if you're still listening Sorgav, you suck." Zilla was sure that halfling had used some sort of invisibility spell and was considering to use Glitterdust.


Cure lights wounds[roll0]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal charges his way into the thick of the lizardmen, unlimbering his long polearm from its strap on the way. He cries a loud battle cry, knocks at the bows of the lizardmen aside with his long weapon, distracts the attention of those closest to him with little kicks and half-sweeps- doing his best to attract as much attention as possible and buy time for Zilla to heal herself and find cover.

[esorscher]

Cal's sudden movement startled the lizardmen, some of whom stepped back instinctively at his approach. His violent onslaught draws their attention, and all eight fire their bows at him, ignoring the pleas of Zilla.

Shortbow: [roll0], [roll1]
Shortbow: [roll2], [roll3]
Shortbow: [roll4], [roll5]
Shortbow: [roll6], [roll7]
Shortbow: [roll8], [roll9]
Shortbow: [roll10], [roll11]
Shortbow: [roll12], [roll13]
Shortbow: [roll14], [roll15]

If any of the attacks hit, roll a fortitude save.

Move at 3/4 speed, counts as difficult terrain
{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L
1|
2|||x|x||||x|x
3|||x|||C|||x|
4||x||||||||x|
5|
6|
7||||||S*
8|
9|
10|||||||||Z
11|
12|[/table]
*last known position

END OF ROUND 1: YOUR TURN

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal ducks low and whirls his guan dao in a precise arc that scythes out to threaten two of the lizardmen, ducking most of the arrows and knocking several of them out of the air- then momentarily takes his hand off the weapon to bat the last of them away barehanded. Closing the distance to one of the archers with a sliding step, he unleashes a flurry of sharp kicks- stunning it with a quick front kick, taking its legs out from under it with a sweep and spiking it down with an axe kick before it hits the ground.

[esorscher]

Cal's attacks made in response to the lizardfolks attacks knock them both unconscious. The third lizardman narrowly avoids the monk's strike.

Move at 3/4 speed, counts as difficult terrain
{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L
1|
2|||x|x||||x|x
3|||x|C|||||x|
4||x||||||||x|
5|
6|
7|
8|
9|
10|||||||||Z
11|
12|[/table]
*last known position
unconscious
prone

STILL WAITING ON ZILLA'S ACTIONS.

[Benson]

"Time for a little razzle dazzle!" Zilla shouted with a smile as she took a pinch of ground mica and whispered sweet nothings-I mean a quick verbal rhyme as she blew it out from between her fingers as that single pinch grew into a massive cloud of shimmering and blinding glitter shoot towards the lizardmen.


Using Glitterdust at I3-with 10 ft radius. DC Will 16 against blinding.

[esorscher]

Will Saves:
[roll0] (fail)
[roll1] (fail)
[roll2] (succeed)

Attack Rolls:
vs. Cal
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

vs. Zilla
[roll6] (50% miss chance)
[roll7] (50% miss chance)
[roll8]

[esorscher]

The two lizardfolk closest to Cal each step back before firing another arrow, and the third of that grouping runs 15' south before firing his. None of their missiles hit their target. The cloud of golden, glittering dust blinds two of the three lizardfolk it affects; they all respond with arrows, the vision-impaired firing at the spot they last saw Zilla. Sorgav is not revealed by the dust.

Attacks against Zilla:
miss chance [roll0] (miss), [roll1]
[roll2]

Zilla: 5 damage, Fortitude save (DC 17) or poisoned.
Move at 3/4 speed, counts as difficult terrain
{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L
1||||x
2||x||x||||x|x
3||||C|||||x|
4||||||||||x|
5|
6|
7||x
8|
9|
10|||||||||Z
11|
12|[/table]
*last known position
unconscious
prone
blind

END OF ROUND 2: YOUR TURN!

[Benson]

Zilla pulls out the arrow that struck her in her left forearm as blood drips out as the poison seeps a bit, here's to hoping' that she took her "iron supplements" this morning. She glances over the lizard man who made a move south towards the left

Fortitude Save: [roll0]
Moving to E9
Using whip to make a melee touch attack in order to trip B7: [roll1]

[esorscher]

Zilla feels herself weakened as the poison ravages her muscle tissue.

[roll0] Constitution damage

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal rampages within the ranks of the lizardmen, striking out with the butt and flat of his whirling weapon as he takes full advantage of the defensive openings they leave. He grits his teeth as an arrow hits Zilla, and it takes an effort of will to keep himself from using the guan dao's lethal edge. He follows it up with a flying triple kick that is perhaps harder and more painful than is strictly necessary.

Attacks of opportunity for subdual damage on D1 and B2 lizardmen for making ranged attacks within my threatened area. Combat Throw trip attempt of opportunity on B2 for being my Dodge target and attacking and missing me within my threatened area. After that, if either of the two lizardmen is not downed, five-foot step to C2 and full-attack flurry the surviving lizardmen- a prone one preferentially. If both are downed, charge the J4 lizardman.
AoO D1: [roll0] Damage: [roll1] subdual
Touch attack B2: [roll2] Strength check [roll3] Resisted by the highest of a Strength or Dexterity check, with a -4 if the lizardman qualfies as Small. Trip attempt made with the guisarme, so even if they make their check and try counter-tripping I can just drop the guisarme instead.
AoO on B2 granted by Improved Trip if the touch attack is successful: [roll4] Damage: [roll5] subdual
AoO B2: [roll6] Damage: [roll7] subdual

Charge attack (if applicable): [roll8] Damage: [roll9] subdual

Flurry attack (if applicable):
[roll10] dam [roll11] subdual
[roll12] dam [roll13] subdual
[roll14] dam [roll15] subdual

[esorscher]

The first lizardman narrowly avoids Cal's strike with the glaive, but the second is tripped, and Cal's subsequent attack knocks him unconscious. When Cal returns to the first assailant, he finds his blows meet the lizardman with enough force to render him incapacitated as well. The lizardman narrowly avoids the whip.

The two blinded lizardfolk fire again at the spot Zilla had been in, but she's no longer there. Their unblinded ally points them to the right spot, and they'll aim there next round. He turns his attention on Cal, however, noting the devastation the Kalashtar has dealt on the battlefield. He rushes forward and lets an arrow fly. The other lizardman draws his club, and charges Zilla.

F4 v. Cal: [roll0], [roll1]
D8 v. Zilla: [roll2], [roll3]

Move at 3/4 speed, counts as difficult terrain
{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L
1||||x
2||x||x||||x|x
3|||C||||||x|
4||||||x|||||
5|
6|
7|
8||||x
9|||||Z
10|
11|
12|[/table]
*last known position
unconscious
prone
blind

END OF ROUND 3: YOUR TURN!

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal fakes towards Zilla, running as if to give her assistance against the lizardman with the club- then stops on a dime, hops up onto a tree stump, and launches himself high into the air, descending on another lizardman with a dramatic flying kick.

"Resplendent Crane Descends from Heaven!"

Moving to C4 and C5, then using Twisted Charge skill trick to change direction and go to E5 but still have it count as a charge. That's twenty feet: making a high jump without penalty to try and get on 'higher ground', per PHB 151, for an addl. +1 to attack rolls and qualifying me to use my Peircer Cloak. (This is a handwavey thing, but the usual policy of my past GMs is to give it to me if I can make a five-foot high jump, enough to put me in a 'square' above the enemy before my attack. Doing so will require me to make a DC 20 Jump check.)
Jump check: [roll0]
Making a subdual, unarmed attack. [roll1] (+1 if higher ground is achieved). Damage [roll2], + [roll3] if higher ground is achieved by spending a daily charge from the Piercer Cloak.

[Benson]

Zilla grimaces as the poison burns within her body she clutches her shoulder. Foregoing the tripping she lashes out instead getting tired of this. Gripping the whip that begins to crackle she slashes out towards the nearest lizard-man.


Attacks at D8 for nonlethal damage, though the electricity damage is probably lethal: [roll0] Damage:[roll1d3+2]Plus [roll1] electricity damage
2nd Attack [roll2] Damage:[roll1d3+2]Plus [roll3] electricity damage

[esorscher]

Cal deftly executes a pretty awesome manuever to incapacitate the lizardfolk, and the shock of Zilla's whip is enough to take care of the other. The two blind lizardfolk don't put up much of a fight. None of them are dead, all incapacitated, but most won't wake up for at least a few hours.

The mouth of the temple trickles with a steady streamlet of water, but its nothing you can't very easily walk over, flowing slowly and shallowly. You can return to the altar without worrying about the traps, which were deactivated by the onslaught of water.

You can also begin your return to Sharn by heading back to Newthrone, the nearest friendly settlement and the only airship port in Q'barra.

Those are just two options, if you want to do something else, just say so.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Rather than attempt to quickly disable the blinded lizardmen, Kalharath instead disarms them both and makes one last attempt at reason.

"We made every effort to negotiate with you in good faith, and everything played out exactly as we said it would. We have gone to extraordinary lengths to deal with you without inflicting permanent harm, because no one should have to die simply because that rat Sorgav had deceived them. And though your lives are now in our hands, I am once again taking the trouble to resolve our differences through negotiation rather than force. Is this enough to convince you of my good intentions, or are you determined to be blindly stubborn to the end?"

[esorscher]

"Your mercy is unexpected," one of the blind ones say. "We will surrender."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"If you have an antidote to the poison that you carry on your arrows, please give me one. My companion has been shot. Additionally, if you have a skilled tracker in your group, tell me: I think Sorgav's spell may merely have been one of concealment, not transportation, and if we can catch him we may still be able to recover the text."

[esorscher]

"Hmpph. None of us is especially better than another," he says. Eventually the dust wears off, and he is able to look around the clearing. "But do you see any footprints?" he says. Indeed, no matter how you try, you only find footprints belonging to the lizardfolk and yourselves. "As for the antidote, usually one of us carries a dose in case we accidentally poison ourselves. And before you came out of the temple, one of us did just that." he points to one of the unconscious lizardfolk. "We have more at our camp, but we'll die before we bring you there. Although," he points at a different lizardfolk, "he does have a healing potion."

As you are talking, the poison's effects compound. The weight of Zilla's armor feels increased as her damaged muscles can not bear their normal load.

[roll0] secondary strength damage.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"As I have continually maintained, we are not thieves, and have no right to that potion despite these unfortunate circumstances. Watch over your companions until they recover, make them comfortable. It should take no more than a day."

Cal switches back to Common as he turns back to Zilla.
"No help from them, but I think they'll stay put. How are you holding up, and where do we go now?"

[esorscher]

"What is your name, stranger?" the lizardfolk asks curiously, as he and his companion move toward their fellows, assumedly to administer aid.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"I am Kalharath, martial monk of the Tashalatora monastary and sifu of the Eight Treasures school of martial arts in Sharn. My companion is Zilla Gardner, an itinerant bard of remarkable talent."

[esorscher]

The lizardman nods, impressed by your strong character.

[Benson]

"Not so well...that poison's really doing a number on me...." She gasps feeling the weight of her armor on her body. "But hey...a little muscle loss isn't going to stop me. I think I'm going to heal myself a bit though...oh and I don't think we're going to find anything else at the alter, we came for the book, had the book, lost the book...unless you saw something back there I don't see a reason to stay and have my muscle mass melt away." She grinned as she used her wand on her body to ease some of the pain.


[roll0]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"There were some statues that might be of value, but besides the moral issues involved now that we know there's a tribe that still lays claim to these ancient ruins, I'm not eager to lug a two hundred pound lump of rock and gold across ten miles of rainforest. If we head back to Newthrone quickly we might be able to head Sorgav off: it is the only airship port around."

[esorscher]

900 XP for defeating the lizardfolk (bonus for RP)


You encounter no one else on your return to Newthrone. The soldiers at the gate stop you, but you show them your traveling papers and are permitted to pass. The earliest, fastest and cheapest route back to Sharn is a Lyrandar cargo ship bringing a shipment of Tharashk dragonshards, which leaves in a few hours. There are other options, however, if you wish to spend the night. Returning empty-handed, you’re not sure if Dabny will be willing to even pay your expenses. However, your long history of success and the value of your relationship with the man encourages you to report your failure. Besides, Sharn is your home, and if you’re going to find new work, it’ll be there.

If he is not on the first flight out, the four inns Sorgav is most likely to stay at are: the Red Ape, the Dog and Rooster, both overlooking the Whitecliff River; Galifar's Pearl, on the other side of town; and the Scaly Drunkard, a cheaper, shadier option.

Newthrone: A port city on the mouth of the Whitecliff River, where the river empties into Adder Bay, Newthrone is the largest city in Q’barra. It is also the seat of government for King Sebastes ir’Kesslan (LG male human, aristocrat 4/ranger 1) and the community of New Galifar. Like all New Galifar communities, Newthrone is heavily fortified; over the past thirty years, it has repelled multiple attacks by Lhazaar pirates and the lizardfolk of the Cold Sun Tribes. While the city contains outposts devoted to many of the dragonmarked houses, more travelers and merchants hail from the Lhazaar Principalities and Riedra than from the inland nations of Khorvaire. Although not as grand and full of history as the great cities of the Five Nations, Newthrone has been built to replicate the architecture of old Galifar.

In some ways, it looks like a small portion of Cyre or Breland has been picked up, polished, and dropped in the Q’barran jungle.

[Benson]

"Well my friend, looks like our ship is preparing sail. It's only a damning shame that Sorgav got away with the prize and ended in what's can only be labeled as a blunder. Alas, things that don't always go as planned. I must say however you never cease to awe me with your funky foreign acrobatic martial ways." Zilla smiled as she addressed the state of damage of her traveler's outfit. She momentarily regretted not learning a mending spell.

"Well it's off to report to old chap Dabny...as soon as we board...with the cargo...how demeaning." She lightly chuckled looking at the ship trying to recognize what elemental it was.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
On his way into Newthorne, Kalharath asks the soldiers if they've seen anyone with Sorgav's description enter the city walls within the last little while. Assuming that yields nothing:

"Don't give up yet. Much can be accomplished with a little ambition. Don't you have some kind of spell or idea for tracking down Sorgav?"

[esorscher]

The guards nod. There aren't many halflings who come through the gates, and Sorgav's description registers. They don't know where he went, but he definitely came through here.

[Benson]

"I can't believe I forgot," She says lightly thunking her forehead with her palm,"Do you think the poison also affect brain tissue, ahaha. I can try to divine for the book, I did get a good look at it. Locate the book and we have Sorgav." She then proceeds to channel her divine energy into a forked twig she picked up from the ground.



Casting Locate Object for the book. I can't believe I almost forgot about that spell when I initially selected that spell for instances like this :smallredface:

[esorscher]

As you walk throughout the city, your magic points you in the direction of the seedy Scaly Drunkard.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal walks beside Zilla, watching her closely for signs of further difficulty with the poison. It seems that the greatest danger is probably past, but then he doesn't know much about poisons.

"What's the plan when we find him? After a day like today, I like 'I hold him and you hit him until candy comes out', myself."
He grins for a moment, then sighs.
"Though that's probably not the most constructive way to go about things. Probably we should make the book our first priority."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
As Zilla's eyes glaze over momentarily, Cal gives her a concerned look and waves a hand in front of her face.

"Zilla? You still with us? If you're that far out of it, we might want to try finding a cleric before we have a go at this..."

[Benson]

"Hmm...sorry...a cleric you say? I'd like to find me one and rid this nasty poison but I don't also want to risk losing Sorgav's trail, but then again if he's confronted and I'm still in this condition I may just well have damned us to repeat failure. Darn."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal stops walking and looks Zilla straight in the eye.
"Then make a decision, but do it quickly. Do we go ahead with this and make the attempt at recovering the book, or do we get you healed and risk losing it? You know how you're feeling better than I do: are you up to it? Yes or no."

[Benson]

"I fear I'm going to have to be selfish and say that I'll be putting my health above retrieving a book," Zilla weakly smiled, and with that she decided to seek some sort of healer to rid her body of this poison.

[esorscher]

You're eventually able to find a cleric willing to cast the two necessary spells to restore your health: Neutralize Poison and Restoration. He'll charge you 300 GP for each spell. You may be able to find someone in Sharn, as well.

[Benson]

"Good gravy elemental train...I'm sorry I wasted yours and my time," Zilla frowned at Cal. "I didn't think it would be so costly." Zilla felt like a turd for forgetting that she did not have the coin to pay services right now. And now she went and wasted valuable time and gained nothing from it either. "I seem to be making dumb choices left and right. Hopefully we can still get to Sorgav before it's too late." She makes for the Scaly Drunkard regardless of her condition.

[esorscher]

The Scaly Drunkard is a shady looking establishment, four stories tall and built in the style of the rest of the town, similar to Brelish buildings. Yet it seems that no effort has been put in to maintain the building.

It is the early afternoon, and with the exception of a passed out drunk in the corner, only the owner is present. He is a stout, portly man with a droopy, thick yellow mustache and a clean-shaven head. He eyes you with his one good eye, the other opaque and white, bisected by a thin scar, but says nothing.

[Benson]

"Hello there Barkeep, how's business been treating ya?" She makes a cliche feeble attempt at striking conversation as she takes to a stool. "Nice 'stache." She slightly winces as she sets down her pack.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal follows quietly behind his companion, content to let her take the lead for now.

[esorscher]

The man snorts. "Ale, or Beer?"

[Benson]

Zilla furrowed her brow and grimaced resisting the urge to consume some good ol' fashion ale. It was hard because she loved booze and getting intoxicated was a past time to her.

"To point are we? Well I guess we shall be to. My companion and I are looking for a halfling said to be staying here, a Mister Sorgav Tillatar. Possibly sporting a look of triumph, vertically challenged, etc." She gestured with her hand.

[esorscher]

"I know him. He stays here regularly. As for whether he's staying here now... that will cost you. 5 gold." He gestures with his hand.

[Diplomacy checks wouldn't hurt.]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal quietly observes the room, on alert for anyone who makes a sudden exit on the mention of Sorgav's name. If the barkeep seems reluctant to help, he leans forward and chips in.

"It's a matter of stolen property. And you will, of course, be compensated..."

[Benson]

"Oh come now, as my friend says you will be compensated. Surely you can render this a free service, or at least a sort of favor for which at some point can be returned." Giving her best decorous smile whilst keeping eye contact.

Diplomacy Check [roll0]

[esorscher]

The man seems nonplussed. "Frankly, I doubt your chances against him. I'll be compensated now, with the five gold you're about to give me. Unless you'd rather make it ten."

[Benson]

Zilla sighed as she then resorted to manipulating her words.

"I would rather you not make it ten
, but as an act of good will here instead
, An agreement I believe can be reached
, That in the end benefit us each.
, Contend my words I simply ask
, So my friend and I can get on with our task."

Using Fascinate bardic ability via Perform Lyrical Rhyme:[roll0] against the bar keeper's Will Save. If he fails his Will Save Zilla will follow up with using Suggestion which is another Will Save but against her DC of 18. The Suggestion to being "Would you kindly just tell us where he's at, truthfully?"

[esorscher]

The bartender's eyes widen, then his pupils dilate as he fixates on the bard's words. "Upstairs, fourth floor. Third door on the right."

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Benson]

"Thank you kindly for your cooperation my good sir, may your business prosper," She looks over at Cal with a slight coy grin as she picks up her pack with a slight grunt gesturing their next move.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"One moment, please."

Cal closes his eyes, takes a long, deep breath, makes a complicated gesture, and stands perfectly still for a moment. Then he opens his eyes again and nods.

"Okay, ready. Let's go."

Springing into action from total stillness, he takes the lead, taking the stairs two at a time.

[esorscher]

You arrive at the top floor without any interruption, and walk to the door described to you by the owner.

[Benson]

"I say we kick down the door with sheer recklessness disregarding any possible traps that knave Sorgav may have put in place because for some reason he strikes me as a cautious sort," Zilla brashly spouted with her trademark grin, making so that one would have to question that perhaps her muscles weren't the only thing softening.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal responds in a low tone, motioning for Zilla to keep her voice down.

"Sounds like a plan- but is your spell still pointing to that room? If he's keeping the book somewhere other than his room, we should go after it first."

[esorscher]

The spell points behind the door.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal tries the door, drawing his polearm as he does so: failing that, he just kicks it in. Either way, he walks in with a big grin on his face.

"Room service!"

If the door needs breaking down, spend the final daily charge from my Brute Gauntlets and take 10 for a 14, exceeding the 13 needed to break down a simple door. Assuming that doesn't work- perhaps because Sorgav has the door arcane locked- it's time for my Human Buzzsaw act again. Two rounds of Flurry of Blows, for ones: [roll0][roll1][roll2][roll3][roll4][roll5]
Damage, adjusted for hardness (10 HP per inch for a wooden door): [roll6][roll7][roll8][roll9][roll10][roll11]

[esorscher]

You successfully obliterate the door, the broken shards of which disappear through the dense black smoke obscuring your vision into the room. Roll initiative.

[Toptomcat]

[roll0]
Here we go!

[Benson]

Initiative [roll0]

[esorscher]

You can not see anything happening through the smoke.

ROUND 1: YOUR TURN

[Benson]

"A smokescreen eh? Well it looks like someone has been hitting the tobacco hard. Don't hide ya little pansy, we know you're in here come on out lest I start crackin' halfling jokes and other puns." She draws her rapier ready to get to the 'point'. "I'm ready to take a stab at ya."

Taking a readying weapon action against anyone charging toward her to the doorway.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal takes a deep breath and plunges headlong into the smoke, hoping to find a window on the other side that he can break to restore airflow.

Move action: move forward until I hit a wall, then move along it until I see a window. Standard action: break it.
Should I happen to see Sorgav during my move action, instead make a Stunning Attack as a standard. Should I happen to see the book, instead grab it. The book takes priority over the attack, unless Sorgav is holding it.
Attack (for window or Sorgav): [roll0]
Damage (for breaking the window only): [roll1]
Damage (for Sorgav): [roll2] + [roll3] nonlethal and DC 19 Fortitude save or be stunned for one round

[esorscher]

The smoke seems to be just a wall in front of the door; the room itself is clear. Sorgav is waiting for you, but the book is nowhere to be seen. There are plenty of places it could be--the room has a chest, an armoire, a desk, bed and nightstand. As you pass through the smoke, Sorgav casts a readied spell, and the floor beneath your feet is slick, too slick for you to do as you prepared. The grease covers the floor directly in front of the door. [Ref DC 17 or prone, DC 10 Balance check for movement at 1/2 speed]

{table]|A|B|C|D
1||S||
2|
3||C
4||_|_|[/table]

_ _: doorway/ wall of smoke

[Toptomcat]

Cal's feet begin to slip out from under him as Sorgav's spell takes him by surprise...
[roll0]

[Toptomcat]

Plus action point: [roll0][roll1]

...but at the last instant his feet splay out into a wide, low stance as he takes advantage of his sudden sliding forward momentum, cannoning into Sorgav's chest with an outstretched elbow.

[Benson]

"Cal!You alright?" Zilla called out as she dropped her stance, held her breath as she charged through the smoke.

reflex save [roll0]
Balance check[roll1]

[esorscher]

The blow connects with Sorgav, shuddering his body, but he shakes off the stunning effect. He takes a step back, casting a fireball spell just as he teleports through the wall and outside. The room erupts in magic flame, filling the whole chamber.

Fireball: [roll0]

Reflex save for half.

{table]|A|B|C|D
1||||
2||C
3||Z
4||_|_|[/table]

_ _: doorway/ wall of smoke

ROUND 2: YOUR TURN

[Benson]

Before the fireball shot out and erupted in the small room Zilla honed in on her reflexes as her body moved with theatrical grace to avoid the initial burst.

[roll0]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
[roll0]
Cal dives for the floor as the fireball explodes in the tiny hotel room, which seems like a good idea for the fraction of a second it takes for the enchanted layer of grease on the floor to catch fire and singe his whole body. Then it just seems like a painful one.

"Aaargh."

He limps painfully to the window and- seeing that the blast has blown the shutters off- shoves a bureau in front of it.

"That'll keep him from tossing another fireball in. Though I'll be very unpleasantly surprised if it turns out he's prepared three teleportation spells in one day. We need to find the book and get out of here. Tell me where it is."

Cal asks Zilla to tell him where in the room her Locate Object spell is pointing her. If it's somewhere difficult to trap, like on a bed or under a pile of clothes or in a handbag, he just takes it, but if it's in a chest or something similar then he takes 10 on a search check to find traps and manifests Defensive Precognition before trying to open it up.
If it's in a container that's easily trapped but also portable, then he just takes the container after poking it from a distance with his guan dao to determine whether it can be safely moved.

[Benson]

Zilla nods as she focuses on her Locate Spell as the magical flames continue to burn all around them in the room.

Concentrate [roll0]

[esorscher]

Your magic indicates the book is under the bed; looking beneath the mattress you find a small, locked chest, with an inscription written on it. As you look at the words, you can not help but read them, activating the magic within.

Explosive Runes, [roll0] damage, no save. Zilla, make a Reflex save for half damage.

[Benson]

Her eyes widen as she realized what this magical inscription was and in a cacophony of explosion and noise she jumped back and hoped she reacted quickly enough.

[roll0]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"AAARGH!"

Cal throws his hands up at the last instant, saving his face from becoming a grisly mess but sustaining terrible burns on both forearms. The skin instantly turns lobster-red and blistered, his hands begin to shake, and searing pain shoots up his arms.

"That's...aah! That's pretty painful. Think you could spare a charge from that wand of yours?"

Current HP 24/63.

[esorscher]

Zilla manages to avoid some of the damage. The chest remains locked. The words written: If you can read this, you're already dead.

[Benson]

"Well hah! And that's where you're wrong Sorgav, it's 'Almost dead'," She said aloud to no one as she winced from the pain. "Sure Cal, and I say that we take the box I don't think we have the time to open it in here, cause you know, room's on fire, etc etc." She took out her wand and touched Cal with it as it sent out a tingly feeling to him.


Using wand of cure light wounds [roll0]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal breathes in sharply as the magic washes over him and the blisters retreat from his arms. They remain an angry red, but the worst of the pain is gone.

"Okay. Now we need to get on that cargo ship and either take care of Sorgav or at least keep him from boarding. Do you have any clever ideas about how to get out of here subtly, or do you want to just run for it?"

[Benson]

"Subtlety? Me? I'm afraid now is not the time for jokes," Zilla says with a knowing grin. "Though I fear this little commotion with the fire and explosion what not may have alerted the local authorities who will want to ask questions and thus delay us. I say run."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"Well, I have got one idea myself. Whether it's a clever one remains to be seen."

Cal braces the small chest against a corner of the room, works the blade of his polearm into the crack between its lid and its base, and heaves.
"Rrrrk..."
Strength checks (17 needed):
[roll0][roll1][roll2][roll3][roll4][roll5][roll6][roll7][roll8][roll9]

Finally, after perhaps half a minute, there's a snapping sound as the lock gives way. He takes the book out of the chest, replaces it with a volume of Adaran philosophy that's pretty close to its size and weight, ties it shut with a length of rope, and stuffs the whole thing roughly into his pack, with the top of the chest peeking out from the bag. Then he hands the real book to Zilla with a wink.

"All right, let's get out of here!"

[esorscher]

The box is badly damaged, but you might be able to repair it. The lock was never broken. [Depending on how you leave the building, different things could happen.]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
After a moment's concentration, Cal tears downstairs and out the door with a holler of "Bill House Cannith!", Zilla hot on his heels.

Manifesting Defensive Precognition, augmented to 4 pp. 10 pp remaining.

[Benson]

As she ran she sang a little tune as her speed increased twicefold.


Casting Expeditious Retreat

[esorscher]

The bartender calls after you, but you run out the door and down the street before he knows whats going on. As you exit, you hear the horn blaring from across town, signaling cargo ship's imminent departure.

[Benson]

"Come Cal, be as swift as the wind for our ride bellows out a fanfare just for us," Zilla shouts with theatrical glee as she sped up passing Cal.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal tries for a moment to keep up with Zilla's speed- but only for a moment. Once it becomes clear that he can't match her pace, he takes an indirect route- vaulting off of a fruit stand and onto a low roof, he runs, leaps, vaults, balances and clambers over the roofs, railings and ledges of Newthrone, making his way as the crow flies rather than the winding roads to keep up with the spunky bard. As he makes one particularly hairy leap that has him teetering atop a lamppost for a moment before he regains his footing and launches himself onto the next roof, he gets a glimpse of Zilla below him, still outpacing him despite all that effort.

"Hrf. Magic."

[esorscher]

You arrive just moments before the airship's scheduled departure. The clerk is shutting the gate as you run up, panting, and he lets you in just so he the airship can depart on time. Once aboard, as the airship soars out of Newthrone and toward Sharn, he asks to see your tickets.

[Benson]

"Ticket...I know I have our tickets somewhere...I just bought them today," Zilla made a show of looking through her pack in an upset and worried manner. "Oh dear...I must have left them on the night stand back at the inn." She bit her lip putting on a damsel in distress act. "This is...terrible...I could have sworn I put them in my pack before we left. Oh dear and I'm on a tight schedule and if my friend and I don't return Sharn soon our boss will have our heads." Zilla dejectedly sighed as she slumped taking a little glee in her act.

"I could compensate you when we reach Sharn...I can surely...nevermind...I doubt I'd be allowed to do that," Zilla sighed. "Just...nevermind...just kick us off if that's what you do..."

Bluff 1d20+10

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal steps forward to admonish Zilla for trying to bamboozle the poor man, then just stands openmouthed at the enormity of her whoppers and the sheer joy she seems to take in the telling of them. Caught between an impulse to giggle frantically, step in and calmly fix the situation, and slap Zilla, he simply stands there bemused.

[esorscher]

"Oh, I could never kick off a woman in need." The clerk says, laying on the charm. "I'm sure we can find some way for you two to pay for your passage. Are you willing to work it off?"

The airship putters along.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"That depends. There isn't an halfling by the name of Sorgav on this ship, is there? Loose mage's outfit, terrible disposition, smile on him like a schoolful of sharks?
We can't do any work on a ship with him on it. Union rules, you see."

[esorscher]

The clerk shakes his head. "No, I haven't seen anyone fitting that name or description."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal visibly relaxes, going from a wary fighter's crouch to a sheepish near-bow and smiling apologetically.

"Excellent! Then lead me to the deck brushes, heavy loads, unwashed dishes and suchlike, and lead her... somewhere insufficiently musical, I suppose."

[Benson]

"Is that your way of saying I'm dainty and can take to doing manual labor?.....har har," She questions in a faux hurt way. "My good sir, show me to the deck scrubs." It was at the moment her muscles stung again as she winced before collecting herself. "Urgh, any whom as I was saying.."

[esorscher]

You're able to work to pay your way, both of you scrubbing the deck as the passengers look on. Of course, most seem to be paying more attention to Zilla's exertions, but most also seem to be men.

When you arrive in Sharn, the clerk thanks you for your hard work, and bids you adieu.

[Benson]

"Well...it could have gone worse for wear my dear comrade, at least we made it through the first stretch of this quest. Now we just need to get this book to Dabny and hope nothing goes wrong" Zilla looks over at Cal. She looks around the busy airship docking tower watching as folks scurrying about either trying not to miss their departure times or carrying cargo to and forth.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal theatrically looks to his left, then looks to his right, then gives Zilla a playful, gentle cuff on the side of the head.

"Now that line is an invitation for trouble if ever I heard one. I thought bards were supposed to be good at that kind of thing. Now we're jinxed."

He gives her an irritated look, and actually manages to keep his face straight for a moment or two before it dissolves into a cheeky grin.

"Yeah, let's make a beeline for Dabny. You want to grab a bite at the Cloud Dragon once we've given him the book? After a few weeks of airship food, dried traveling rations, and roasted jungle lizard on a stick, some really good eating would really hit the spot."

[Benson]

"Yea I could do with some quality food after we get this job done and get our pay," Zilla nods she gives a small smirk at the mention of getting them jinxed but makes nothing more of it. Gathering their bearings and what not she and Cal head for Dabny's location.

[esorscher]

You can expect to find Dabny at the Dezina Museum of Antiquities in the University District, and do. As curator, Dabny has a well-appointed office, and he is pleased to see you. "Hello, Zilla, Cal. How was your expedition? Do you have the book?" he says, gesturing to the two lush armchairs before his desk.

[Benson]

"Oh you know, it was all rainbows and sunshine," She playfully says as she takes a seat and pulls out the book from her possession and placed it on his desk. "Until Sorgav showed up...well actually it turned bad when the tunnel flooded and then he showed up with pygmy lizardfolk, convinced them to attack us, I got poisoned, still am, Cal displayed magnificent skills in the art derriere kicking. Oh and boy did that scamp Sorgav put us on a wild goose chase going after him back at port after he took the book. But we did get the book back and left with a semi-glorious dash for the airship lest we miss our ride. All in all-" She paused for a moment forgetting what she was going to say next.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Once Zilla is firmly situated, Cal takes a seat himself.

"-adventurous. And I seem to recall an impressive record on your part of magicking some derrieres yourself- I'd say you left it out due to modesty, but you and I both know that you have none. Your memory must be going.
May I ask if this item is intended for study or exhibit, Mr. d'Cannith?"

[esorscher]

"Seems like quite a story," Dabny says. To Calharath's question, he responds, "Study. Now, to your fee." He opens up the center drawer in his desk, removing two small pouches of coins. "I believe we agreed on 400 platinum. 200 to each of you."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"Excellent."

Cal reaches across the table and takes his portion with a smile and a nod.

"If we could stay in correspondence about what comes of your research, I would appreciate it tremendously. It's always nice to know about the indirect fruits of one's labor, and I appreciate what you do here at the museum."

[esorscher]

Dabny smiles. "Excellent, I was hoping you'd say something like that. I actually have another job for you, when you're feeling up to it."

[Benson]

"Yes, we'll keep in touch. Right now I need to find me an antidote for this irritating poison. By chance to you know any clerics who provide inexpensive services?" Zilla asks as she pockets her pouch.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"Really! I would be delighted, but...how time-sensitive is it? I do have my school to attend to, as well as a commitment to dinner with my lovely partner. If we must go gallivanting after whatever-it-is before the hour is out than I may well have to refuse you, but if a week or two's break is available then we are, as usual, at your service."

[esorscher]

"Indeed," Dabny says. "I would not require your services for at least a few days, maybe a week. I will contact you when I do. As for healing, I suggest you try the Pavilion of Hosts. I know a dwarf there, Thoggar, who should be able to help you."

[Benson]

"Thank you, now if you don't mind, I think I'd go see that cleric." She gave him a weak grin as she stood up and bowed her head slighty. "And yes give us a few days or so and we should be up and ready for another adventure." Now that Zilla had the coin she figured she could also pay off her debt to that half Orc Gil.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal rises and leans forward to shake Dabny's hand with a warm smile, then stretches and turns to leave.

"There's nothing wrong with me that wasn't fixed by a little rest the ride back: I think I'll skip the visit to the healer. You can meet me at the Cloud Dragon at six."

Ordinarily I'd sink a bit more of my adventuring money into the school, but with another job coming so close on the heels of the first I think I'd better spend most of my cash into things that will help keep me alive.

After a quick visit back to his apartment above his martial-arts school to have a much-needed bath, he hits the armorers, artificers, and sundry magical emporiums of Sharn, seeking a good place to spend his bounty. Visits to many of the more standard storefronts of the Fabricator's Guild prove frustrating and fruitless: there are new rumors of some great new find in Xen'Drik, driving the price of old adventuring standbys like guantlets of ogre power through the roof. Eventually, he finds an out-of-the-way place run by House Deneith's Blademarks Guild instead: run by a retired mercenary who turned to the artificer's path late in life, it contains a great many interesting and useful one-offs rather than standard Cannith designs, and Kalharath spends most of his money there without regret.

[esorscher]

You are able to find the healer and the shopkeeper and meet up at the Cloud Dragon at six without problems.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
By the time six rolls around, Cal has freshened up considerably, and he shows up to the Cloud Dragon looking very sharp. The restaurant itself is very nice- the architecture especially. The entrances and spaces are all far larger than required by simple utility- the place is sufficiently enormous to double as a cathedral, should the need arise. At the center of things is a radiant woman in an exquisite blue dress, full of energy and everywhere at once- welcoming new arrivals and leading them to their tables, asking diners if their food satisfies, dealing with the staff, putting out fires and dealing with emergencies. Cal pokes Zilla on the shoulder and points to her.

"Watch this."

As the two of them enter the restaurant together, Cal waves enthusiastically to the woman in blue.

"Hey, Kathya! I've got some bad news!"

As she catches sight of Cal, she rolls her eyes and tries to suppress a smile.

"Oh, no..."

"I forgot again!"

"You did not."

"I did! Why is your place called the Cloud Dragon again?"

She pulls a face, clearly trying to give him a dirty look, but the effect is spoiled by the giggling she is barely able to keep a lid on. Finally, she walks to a particularly open space, shakes her head, and stretches, reaching higher and higher as if to touch the vaulted ceiling- and her arms just keep going up and up, and...thickening...and-
Oh, my.
In a shockingly short time, the woman has been replaced by a huge dragon of the same hue as the dress, towering over the diners. Its head almost scrapes the high ceiling of the immense room- the reasons for the spacious architecture suddenly made clear.

"That's why, you thoroughly silly little mortal."

It only takes another split second for the dragon to shrink into the woman again, and she hustles over to Kalharath and Zeetha to take them to their table.

"I don't know why I keep indulging you in that."

"Don't be ridiculous. You love watching your patrons gape just as much as I do."

She tries to look serious at that, but again a smile comes unbidden to her face, and she simply sighs in amused exasperation and turns to leave them to their server.

"Don't miss the lobster tonight- the bisque or the tail in butter and terragon. We got a particularly tasty shipment of lobsters in just this morning, and our chef is in fine form."

***************

The next four days pass quickly by. Cal spends most of his time in hands-on instruction at the school, teaching at every level- from the basic technique drills and focusing exercises of the kids' classes to exploration of anti-archer and spellcaster-fighting tactics inspired by his recent escapades with his more advanced classes to repeated sessions of hard sparring with his small handful of elite students, paying particular attention to experimenting with the martial applications of his interesting new anklet and also to refining the training of one talented student scheduled to go into Xen'Drik with an adventuring party in a week's time. One challenger does darken their doorstep during that time- the village wrestling champion of a bugbear settlement near Fort Tansend, of all things- but his skills prove sufficiently rudimentary that a not-particularly senior student is able to deal with him in a tough and protracted bout, for which Cal congratulates him. Finally the time comes, and Kalharath returns to the University District to discover what new madness his favorite d'Cannith has ready for him.

[Benson]

Days after the enjoyable dinner, Zilla wasted her time and money on the love of her life, mead. Just kidding, mostly. Actually aside from small purchases of potions she would find herself in need of she paid off her debt finally and [i]then[i] proceeded to buy more booze and sing karaoke or the equivalent of it. Other days she took to relaxing and getting in touch with her lady side and hitting the equivalent of a spa. In between she took to [i]some[i] training in order to keep her finesse and dexterity in fine form. On the last day before checking in with Dabny she wanted to know what the word on the street was.


Gather Information: [roll0]

[esorscher]

Zilla:

You hear a few things:

A wealthy farmer from the Lake Brey area is coming to the Warden Towers to pay his taxes.

A famous retired fighter from Glyphstone keep is traveling around Breland, stopping in Sharn to show off his skills with his blade.

The Baron of Castle Arakhain is in town for a meeting of the Breland nobility.

----

Dabny's Office:

The receptionist shows you into Dabny's office, where he looks up from the various House Cannith paperwork on his desk. "Please," he gestures to the two seats before his desk. "First: I've finished my study of the tome, and I'm pleased to say it's been very enlightening. It was very descriptive in the rituals of the ancient Blackscale, and should give us special insight into what really goes in the jungles of Q'Barra. I'm writing a report to send to a colleague in Thronehold now."

"Now then, to new business. I'm sure you are familiar with the Mournland. As it happens, an ancient scepter belonging to House Cannith was being shipped across Cyre on the Day of Mourning, and I need you to go in after it. Although its been some time since the scepter was lost, the magical protections shielding it from discovery should have kept it from being stolen." He slides a manilla folder across the desk to Zilla. "The identifying information on the box and lightning rail car it was traveling in are in there. Unfortunately, we've been unable to pinpoint the scepter's exact location. The shipment was last recorded in Eston. I can arrange for your travel to Aruldusk; from there, if you can find a captain willing, you can cross Lake Arul to reach the Mournland. I can offer you another 200 platinum each for your services, plus 100 platinum each, in advance, for your willingness to enter the Mournland."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"The Mournland."

Cal leans back and takes a deep breath.

"Mmmmn. The Mournland is never a picnic. At least jungles are nice to look at, and you can always find food in them, even if half the time it's trying to eat you, too."

(Cal is not consciously trying to help Zilla negotiate for a better deal, but his concerns will probably help her do so anyway. Aid Another on Diplomacy: [roll0]

[Benson]

Zilla places her hand on the manila folder glancing at Cal than at Dabny, than back at the manila folder. "The Mournland you say...only fools go there willingly and I may be willingly to go for say...an increased advance, after all we'd need to acquire survival gear unless you are offering to provide such items yourself. I'm sure I'm within reason." Zilla clasps her hands together resting them on the manila folder looking Dabny in the eyes.

Diplomacy [roll0]

[esorscher]

Dabny puts his finger to his lips, thinking over your request. "I'll give you another 100 platinum in advance, but then you'll only get 100 when you return. And," he says, lingering on the last syllable as he walks over to a cupboard and unlocks it, revealing three rows of identical leather satchels. "I'll throw in one of these. We've just started producing them, haven't even hit the market yet. Should keep you well-fed and watered. He puts it on the desk.

Field Provision's Box, Magic Item Compendium.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal slowly nods.

"That sounds acceptable. All right, Mr. Dabny: only fools enter the Mournland, and for two hundred up front, we're your fools.
Incidentally, congratulations on your successful analysis of the contents of the Blackscale tome. Do let me know when your results see publication. Could you tell me what will happen to the original when your studies with it are finished here at the museum? If possible, I'd like to commission the creation of a replica for your own archival purposes and take the original off of your hands, and I would be willing to sacrifice a substantial amount of my pay on the back end to reach such a deal."

[esorscher]

Dabny pauses for a moment before answering. "Once our studies are finished, it will be returned to the lizardfolk. I'm afraid the magic of the tome is inherent to it; a replica, no matter how like in manufacture, would not possess the divine essence the book was imbued with at its creation. We do still have a few more examinations to make, however. If you like, you can be the one to deliver it, when the time comes."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal blinks, clearly caught off guard by Dabny's reply: then he smiles broadly.

"That was why I was asking, actually. I wasn't aware that it was already museum policy to return such artifacts when someone with a claim to ownership is discovered after the expedition is approved- even to entities like jungle tribes that are ambiguously sovereign- and I wanted to ensure the book was returned."

He chuckles softly, flushing somewhat in embarrassment.

"I must apologize, Mr. d'Cannith: you're a better man than I gave you credit for. We'll get your scepter."

[Benson]

"So I guess we're settled, pick a few things up before we go and I say we're ready to foolishly head into the Mournlands, this will be a story to tell the grandchildren I say." Her words, though they came out carefree, her face said differently as she stood and politely bowed her head.

[esorscher]

[Sorry, I suck.]

Dabny has arranged for you two to have tickets on the lightning rail to Aruldusk, on the shores of Lake Arul. After buying your supplies, you board the train, and a porter escorts you to your car, where you have a reserved private booth. The booth is 20’ x 20’, with comfortable, reclining seating covering three of the four walls. The wall with the door also has two cabinets for storage. You should be able to discuss your plans without worry of being overheard, as you soar over the landscape.

[If there is no discussion to be had in 24 hours I will advance the plot.]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal takes a good look around him.

"Mmm. Personally I'd rather have traveled coach and had another few gold to spend on survival gear. Or just had the difference donated to charity, for that matter."

Then, he flops down into the soft seating and stretches languorously.

"Now that I'm here, though, I'm not going to complain! A little bit of luxury before spending weeks dodging living spells and carcass crabs and living off that dodgy boxed contraption of Dabny's is nothing to turn your nose up at."

He settles in for a moment.

"We'll need a guide- neither of us are accomplished outdoorsmen or navigators."

[Benson]

"Aah...completely beats taking cargo class as such done with the airship," Zilla muses as she reclines in her seat. It's been quite some time since she last board the Lightening Rail and got lost in childlike reverie.

[esorscher]

As the sun sets and the train passes over a valley, a porter knocks on the door, wheeling in a cart of food. “Your meals, sirs.” You don’t recall ordering anything. He surprises you with a sudden flash of movement, touching his temple and sending a burst of psychic energy at Kalharath, then stepping forward and grabbing Zilla, who suddenly feels a barrage of blows around his body. Roll Initiative. [This counts as your assailant's surprise round.]

Zilla: [roll0] (v touch), [roll1]
Kalharath: [roll2] Will v. 16 negates

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal blinks as his mind shrugs off the psychic assault practically without effort, then springs into action- he feints high, tapping the side of the assailant's head to direct his attention upwards before directing three thudding palm strikes to their ribs and stomach in quick succession. Then he backs off a step or two to see the effect of his strikes, moving lightly on his toes.

"I don't suppose there's any way we can talk this out? If we can't resolve things that way, then please feel free to try to kill us afterwards- but to not even make the attempt strikes me as simple laziness."

Swift action to activate Iron Guard's Glare. 5-foot stepping to put myself adjacent to my opponent if I'm not already and to box them off from getting to Zilla easily if I am, Full attacking with Flurry of Blows, first attack is Stunning Fist attempt. Assailant is Dodge target. All damage is subdual bludgeoning.
[roll0] [roll1] and DC 19 Fortitude save or stun
[roll2] [roll3]
[roll4][roll5]

[Benson]

"Now he sure won't be getting a tip for that poor service," Zilla cracks wincing a bit from the sudden blast to her body. She begins to hum a melody as the sound increases.

She'll be using Deep Slumber, Will Save DC 17, and then tumble past him into the corridor outside the room [roll0]

[esorscher]

The porter, obviously only pretending to be such, repeats his actions but with alternate targets, touching Kalharath, who finds his flurry of attacks unsuccessful in causing any damage, and sending a mental projection at Zilla. He does not respond to your attempts at peaceful resolution, clearly set on your death.

Kalharath: [roll0] (v touch), [roll1]
Zilla: [roll2] Will v 16 negates

[Toptomcat]

Cal deftly sidesteps the man's lunge, grabs his other arm, locks it, and uses his forward momentum to send him into an unceremonious pratfall onto the hardwood floor of the coach- carefully controlling his fall so that he lands (hard!) on his side rather than his face.

"Do you speak Common? Hal tatakallamu allogah Quor? Nieh sikmhsik gong Reidrungwa a? Dragon-go o hanashimu ka?"


Opponent's touch attempt fails. Damn, it's good to be a monk. Taking the AoO granted by Combat Throw and making a trip attempt, expending a charge from the Brute Gauntlets as a swift action. Then full attack on the (hopefully prone) opponent. All attacks are still subdual bludgeoning damage.
Touch attack: [roll0]
Strength check (one charge expended from Brute Gauntlets): [roll1]
Unarmed strikes (represented by the armlock and making the throw a hard one rather than strikes per se):
[roll2] [roll3] and Stunning Attack attempt: DC 19 or stun
[roll4] [roll5]

EDIT: Oops. Subtract 5 from that last attack roll.

[Benson]

As the mental blast hits Zilla, she finds herself not able to stave it off as she takes the whole brunt force of the attack. Feeling weakened she takes to healing herself while Cal deals with the porter.


Yeesh, 6 HP left from that last attack. [roll0]

[esorscher]

Damaged, the porter breaks off his attack. He leaps away from Kal and out the window of the car, shattering it in a fitful hail of glass. Looking back, you see him floating gently to the valley floor below.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"Get back here, you-"

Cal starts toward the window, and is a hair's breadth from hurling himself out of it when the coach enters a tunnel and he is abruptly confronted with a speeding wall of brickwork that's about a centimeter from taking his nose off rather than the long, picturesque drop into a valley that he expected. He pauses for a moment before gingerly backing away from the window and sitting back down, a trifle shakily.

"...he timed that rather well."

[Benson]

"Urgh," was all really the bard could manage as she recovered from her wounds with her wand. "Now that's what we call a random encounter..." She said in a mostly irritated way rather than her usually joking self. She sat down in her seat.



Using wand, twice. [roll0]

[esorscher]

Aruldusk shares the austere and purpose-driven feel of the rest of the country, with its solid and rectangular buildings, drab beige in color and whose only contrast comes from the simple oak shudders on most windows. The lightning rail station is simple, a long rectangular hall with many doors leading outside. The docks are nearby, a short walk from the hall.

A stout dwarf is outside, his clothing matching the surroundings, and you recognize him immediately from your many past encounters: Saladjim, a merchant whose caravans have routes from Q’barra and the Mror Holdsacross Khorvaire to the Eldeen Reaches. You and he have worked together many times in the past; he is a reliable and friendly source for information, and he holds the two of you among his friends, enjoying tales of your adventures as payment enough for his services. If anyone would know of a captain willing to ferry you across the lake, it would be Saladjim.
“Zilla!” he bursts out as he sees you, a look of eagerness and mirth in his eyes. “and of course, Cal! Always a pleasant surprise. What brings you to this wretched excuse for a city?” Saladjim sneers at the lack of culture and art in his surroundings, and you recall his mountain home in Krona Peak exhibiting examples of exotic cultures from across the continent, but he soon smiles broadly, inviting your answer.

[Benson]

"Oh you know, the call of adventure, mystery, ancient relics, the excitement of danger that comes forth wherever we go, same old stuff." She grins as she pats Saladjim on the shoulder in a playful manner. "Actually what brings us to this hole is another one of our jobs. Oh and by the way old friend, but have you noticed any...sort of shifty characters around this place? Shiftier than usual if you catch my gist." She gives a general description of the mystery porter who attacked them on the train and is basically asking about if there have been other shifty folks here in this town.

[esorscher]

"I haven't noticed anyone particularly spurious, but then I do spend a fair deal of time with smugglers and thieves." He frowns. "Despite the blandness of this city's buildings I assure you it lacks nothing of the, depending on your viewpoint, less desirable urban character. There are plenty of places to hide if a person wanted to avoid notice. But I will keep an ear to the ground for you. In the meantime, tell me about this job. Is it something I can help with?" Saladjim is always hungry to take part in the thrill, to give himself something to brag about at the tavern in the evening.

[Benson]

"Well for starters...we're intentionally heading into the Mournlands, soon," She paused for dramatic effect.

[esorscher]

Saladjim swallows, rethinking his offer. His eyes light up with a realization. "I can help you get there. I occasionally do business with a band of scavengers that operate out of that wasteland. I am meeting with them tomorrow night, perhaps you can arrange something with them. I would be honored if you would stay with my family and me tonight."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"It would be a pleasure. You are a dwarf of culture, and to be a guest under your roof is a rare opportunity."

[esorscher]

Saladjim is thrilled with your assent, and provides you with a fantastic home-cooked meal, pleasant entertainment, and a night of revelry. You awake in soft beds feeling refreshed and ready for the day. (+1 circumstance bonus on saves for 24 hours)

The salvagers meet with Saladjim as promised, at a rarely used dock at d. There are six in all aboard; five men and an attractive human woman in intricate chain armor, lithe and light beneath the links, with red hair and an eye patch who seems to be their leader. Her arms are crossed across her chest.


“Evening, Saladjim.”

“Evening, Jeanne,” the dwarf says. “Where’s Bob?”

“Dead,” Jeanne says. “Ikar put me in charge tonight. Not the only change of personal, I see.” She turns her eye on the two of you. “Who are they?”

“Old friends. We’ll come to them later. What have you got for me tonight?”

“The usual, vases, urns, and the like. Oh, and Ikar told me to show you this,” she pulls out an ancient book. “He said you might know a buyer.”

Saladjim nods. “I might, but you’ve got to give me something more than jugs and books. Surely you found some dragonshards.”

Jeanne sighs, and pulls out a wrapped parcel. “I’m only authorized to give you this. You’re not going to get any more, so don’t bother asking.”

Saladjim nods again, handing over a sack of coins. “Alright, now to my friends. They seek passage across the lake.”

Jeanne turns her eye on the two of you. “Who are you, and what could possibly compel you to risk life and limb crossing these treacherous waters, just to get to a desolate wasteland so miserable, you’d as soon throw yourself to the two-mouthed sharks that swim these waters than set one foot on land? And what could possibly compel me to help you get there?”

[Benson]

"I am Zilla, Bardic thrillseeker," She theatrically curtsied. "I won't lie, my mind is obviously not in the right place to want to venture into something I may not live through and brag to the grandchildren I don't plan to have. However my unquenchable thirst for discovering new knowledge and solving history's mysteries and bringing them through light is only rivaled by my brash foolishness with a dash of sesquipedalian loquaciousness even though that doesn't make sense in this context." She liked talking.

"As to compel you? Well, there's my arsenal of grand tales, a little jaunty tune, gold, the feeling of an act of a good deed done.." She grinned as she listed all sorts of stuff, mostly nonsense as she was sure that little slip of the word 'gold' already snared her.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"I am Kalharath, martial monk of the Tashalatora monastery. I'm going for...hmmm, for a number of reasons. First of all, because my dear friend Zilla is enough of an incorrigible glory hound that she would be going with or without me, and it would be a terrible shame if such a beautiful woman were to die out there alone. Secondly, because my skills risk stagnation. The martial-arts scene in Sharn has been good to me, but the last three assassination attempts have been almost insultingly easy to deal with. If I want to improve, it's this or pick a fight with a dragon. Third, for the same reason you do: loot. Cyre's wealth does nobody any good sitting out there with no one to appreciate it but the carrion crabs and the Lord of Blades."

[esorscher]

Jeanne nods at Zilla and Kal. "An archaeologist, eh?" she says, "And her bodyguard. You've got something specific in mind?"

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"Yes."

Cal smiles placidly, clearly not about to give away any more than that.

[esorscher]

Jeanne smiles slightly. "Keep your secret, then, but it will cost you. 500 gold to get across the lake. Up front."

[Benson]

"Oh come now, surely we can haggle...I'll start at 400.." The bard begins putting on all the charm she can muster in her voice. "And I'll toss in an inspiring jaunty tune." Whether or not she's being serious or not is hard to tell.


Maybe diplomacy check: [roll0]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"Even four hundred is absurd. For that kind of money we could commission someone to teleport us across the lake. It might be an acceptable price if we could get not only a boat ride, but also a skilled guide and Mournlands survival expert to see us to our target and back..."

[esorscher]

Jeanne dismisses you casually with a wave of her hand. "Good luck with that. This isn't Karrnath or Q'barra or the Demon Wastes or any of the other possible dangerous places you might find yourselves. This is the Mournland, and if you can find a squishy wizard to teleport you there for the price I'm charging, feel free. If you expect me to guide you to a secret treasure you're not willing to tell me about, you've got another thing coming. Besides," she says. "I'm the one with the ship."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal sighs with exasperation.

"What possible legitimate reason could you have for wanting the precise nature and location of our target?"

[esorscher]

"None whatsoever, but I'm not a legitimate businessman. Don't forget who you're dealing with."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal rolls his eyes.

"Yes, well, I wasn't expecting to work with a travel agency. But the information you're asking for has no application that I can think of other than to permit you to shank us in the kidneys when we're halfway across the lake and go find what we're looking for ourselves. Whether your line of business is legal or illegal, when negotiating it behooves you to at least pretend that once bought, you will stay bought. Given that you are making no effort to even pretend to be trustworthy, why should we pay you anything at all?"

[esorscher]

"Whether you can trust me or not, I'm the only way you're getting across the lake. If you think you're tough enough to brave the Mournlands, I'm surprised you're so squeamish about a simple perilous boat ride."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal gives Jeanne a medium-long stare, his face unreadable. Finally, he smiles a crooked smile and chuckles softly.

"Squeamish, no. Surprised, yes. Most people who are planning to stab you in the back don't tell you about it to your front first, and I wanted to be sure that it was, in fact, what you were doing. Now that we fully understand each other I'm much happier. We are buying one trip across the lake and into the Mournland with continual attempts to discover our objective and one or more assassination attempts. That could be extremely interesting, but also a bit of a pain.

What do you think, Zilla? Is it worth it, or should we try finding some other way across?"

[Benson]

"Well if we survive the whole ordeal than it surely would be," Zilla said with a slight look as if though she was truly completing this.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"Not terribly enthusiastic about getting shanked in the kidneys, then. Hmmm...we'll spring for the full five hundred if it's held in escrow with our mutual associate Saladjim, to be retrieved only with a password that we'll give you when we safely reach the other side. Deal?"

[esorscher]

"Deal."

Jeanne keeps the old Cyran warship close to the shore, and in time, you understand why. About halfway around the lake the warship comes to an abrupt, grinding halt, rocking slightly in the unsteady waves. The crew draw their weapons, and you realize that there is something sinister in this sudden stop. Roll initiative.

DM rolls:
[roll0]
[roll1]

[esorscher]

The ship begins to rock, impeding your movement. (DC 10 Balance check to move at normal speed, failure reduces speed by 1/2, failure by 5 or more means you become prone.) Four tentacles rise up from out of the murky water, with sickening pustules oozing a green acidic fluid in place of some of the suckers. One of the salvagers is picked up by a tentacle and thrown into the air. His chilling scream ends with a splash.

Before the scavengers can react, the three other tentacles slither across the deck toward them.

Touch Attacks:
Tentacle 1 v. Scavenger 1: [roll0], [roll1]+[roll2] (miss)
Tentacle 2 v. Scavenger 2: [roll3], [roll4]+[roll5] (miss)
Tentacle 3 v. Scavenger 3: [roll6], [roll7]+[roll8] (hit)

Grapple Checks:

Scavenger 1 v. Tentacle 1: [roll9] v [roll10]
Scavenger 2 v. Tentacle 2: [roll11] v [roll12]
Scavenger 3 v. Tentacle 3: [roll13] v [roll14]

The scavengers try to hack away at the appendages with their swords.

Scavenger 1 v. Tentacle 1: [roll15], [roll16]
Scavenger 2 v. Tentacle 2: [roll17], [roll18]
Scavenger 3 v. Tentacle 3: [roll19], [roll20] (grappled)
Scavenger 4 v. Tentacle 4: [roll21], [roll22]

Jeanne, eyes wide, fires a small ball of flame from the point of her right index finger, which erupts in the center of the four tentacles. The three sapphires set in her black headband above her right ear glow as she casts the spell. (Fireball)

Reflex: [roll23], [roll24] (half)

The combination of Jeanne's fireball and the scavengers' fortunate attacks is enough to wipe out three of the tentacles, but Jeanne also unfortunately caught two of her own men in the blast, as well as the one grappled, killing them.

ROUND ONE: YOUR TURN.

Google Doc Map (https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?hl=en&hl=en&key=t_4qCv5ya8jAC9X9fCpPyHA&authkey=CIDIkO4I#gid=0). Let me know how you like it.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
At the first sign of trouble, Cal goes through a set of mental gymnastics that never quite gets familiar enough to stop feeling very weird. He takes an instant to settle into the peculiar sensation of dual perception of both this second and the next- then springs into action, beating feet across the heaving deck like it's solid bedrock. He brushes past Zilla, draws his huge polearm, and takes a threatening stance with a loud battle cry.



Standard action: Manifest Defensive Precognition, augmented to 4 pp. Move action: Move from I11-I8, draw guisarme (BAB +1). Can't fail Balance check- bonus higher than DC. Now threatening G8, G7, I6 tentacles. Swift action: activate Iron Guard's Glare stance. G8, G7, I6 tentacles take a -4 to attack anyone but Kalharath. Non-action: Declare G7 tentacle Dodge target.

[Benson]

"Tentacles? But its far too early for tentacles...except in the far east, but that is neither here nor there," The bard knowing that most of her spell would be...useless against...well limbs most of her spells wouldn't work, so she rhymed.

Alas the bard sings her song of rhyme in hopes of inspiring courage +2 within these sea folk and Cal. Tentacles be damned.

[esorscher]

(My bad. Lifeguard training and two midterms.)

The surviving tentacle writhes toward Cal as a soldier runs from across the deck to strike it. The rocking from the other four tentacles is punctuated by the sound of wood cracking and shattering as the octopus begins to split the ship in two, the timbers bending and break along the bow. Jeanne fires off four missiles of unerring force, striking the nearest tentacle to her alongside the ship. "Quickly!" she cries out, "In a few seconds this things will snap the ship in two!"

Touch Attack:
Tentacle 1 v. Cal: [roll0], [roll1]+[roll2]

Grapple:
Tentacle 1 v. Cal: [roll3]

Constrict:
Tentacle 1 v. Cal: [roll4]

Scavenger 1 v. Tentacle: [roll5] (+2 to charge), [roll6]

Jeanne's Magic Missile: [roll7]

ROUND TWO: YOUR TURN.

Google Doc Map (https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?hl=en&hl=en&key=t_4qCv5ya8jAC9X9fCpPyHA&authkey=CIDIkO4I#gid=0).

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"..!"
An instant's precognitive warning makes all the difference: Cal smoothly rolls under the tentacle's swipe, the tip of the its suckers brushing his shirt. He comes up from the roll into an inverted triple kick from a handspring, the impact of each kick making a loud, wet THWACK on the rubbery flesh of the tentacle.
"I've got this one- concentrate on the tentacles on the sides!"


Defensive Precognition does indeed make the difference, raising Cal's Touch AC from 19 to 21, which Dodge makes 22. I'm assuming that tentacles are immune to trip attempts, otherwise I'd get my Defensive Throw attempt from a missed attack from a Dodge target. Full attacking H8 tentacle with flurry. +2 morale to attack and damage from Inspire Courage.


Attack: [roll0] Damage: [roll1] lethal bludgeoning
Attack: [roll2] Damage: [roll3] lethal bludgeoning
Attack: [roll4] Damage: [roll5] lethal bludgeoning

[Benson]

The bard who spells at the moment required proper specific sensory organs to effect was more or less forced to engage into good ol' fashion fistcuffs...but with swords and...yea. Avast, the bard rushed to aid her best against the tentaclely knave. With a thrust of her sword...she


Moving to G8, attacking H8
Keen Rapier Attack: [roll0] Damage: [roll1]
[roll2] Damage: [roll3] 15-20 attack crits

[esorscher]

As the fourth tentacle is severed, the whole ship shakes, but does not break asunder. The octopus abandons its attack, swimming away into the sea to recover from the unanticipated damage.

"That was close." Jeanne says, shaking her head and surveying the damage. "Ikar's not going to be happy with me." Her ship is badly damaged, and the surviving scavenger and she manage to steer it to land. Upon disembarking, you are overcome with the peculiar, unfamiliar sensation of the Mournland: a mixture of incredible grief and also a maddening desire to leave. Yet you gave your word to Dabny that you would return with the artifacts, and you've spent his advance. Jeanne looks uncomfortable herself, though that is perhaps due to her failure onboard. She shakes off the look, clearly at ease with herself despite the inhospitable terrain. Eston appears about 20 miles away, along the circumference of the lake.

"Well. You're here."

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"We are indeed. The password is 'Swordfish'. We'll be signaling our request for a return trip with a rotating ring of Dancing Lights an hour after sundown. Stop looking after...hmmm...two weeks. Do you want help in making temporary repairs before heading back?"

[esorscher]

Jeanne seems startled by your offer of aid, another cynical person in this world unable to help but be impressed by your characteristic good nature. "No, no, we should be able to handle it. You'll have your hands full, after all."

[Benson]

"Yes...my extended apologies to you and crew, especially those who did not survive that unfortunate attack, my prayers go with them," The bard was sincere even in her whimsical way of talking.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
"All right, then. The sooner we get moving, the sooner we get to leave."

Cal carefully consults the map, gets a good idea of his location and heading, and sets off, doing his best to take a direct route that avoids the worst of terrain hazards and minimizes their visibility to any roaming predators or warforged bandits. It's not quite his department, but he does his best.

[esorscher]

You walk for some time, longer than you would have estimated by your normal reference. It is clear the customary rules of nature no longer apply here, and the feeling of anxiety you experienced earlier returns, stronger. You shake it off when you finally enter the city, and though most of the houses appear to have been picked clean, there are a number of taller businesses and apartments that likely still have some items of value. You find the train station easily; it is along the main street of what was once a thriving city. Although you’re able to see it, reaching it will be another story.

Blocking your path some 100 yards away, two gruesome apes seem to be fighting over a scrap of humanoid flesh. They bear the same oozing pustules as the octopus.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal crouches down and stays absolutely silent, and holds his arm up for Zilla to do likewise. With luck, this problem will resolve itself without the need to intervene at all.

[Benson]

"Well that's an interesting sight..." She thinks with mild dread from being here altogether. She crouched next to Cal as she watched in silent morbid fascination.

[esorscher]

The two apes fight for a while, until one manages to pin the other and successfully wrest the meat. Suitably chastised, the other gorilla heads off in search of food, slowly, his head down toward the ground. He is moving in your direction at 20'/ round.

[Benson]

"Well friend, either we run...or we....run....or......we engage it," She says preparing for an expeditious retreat.

[Toptomcat]

Kalarath
Cal gives the oncoming ape a long look- then a slow smile spreads across his face.

"C'mon. We've faced worse. Just go through this brute and we'll be at the objective, we can get the widget and start heading back. No telling how labyrinthine an alternate path would be, or what dangerous beasts would block our path on it."

He takes a deep breath focusing, and the air before him shimmers. He takes another, and an intricate tracery of pressure points appear on the ape in his mind's eye. Finally, he unlimbers his polearm from his back and leaps atop a bit of likely-looking rubble for high ground.


Manifest Force Screen (unaugmented, 1 pp). Draw polearm. Clamber atop some rubble for high ground. Manifest Painful Strike (3 pp). Take Iron Guard's Glare stance. Declare pustule-ape Dodge target.

[esorscher]

The nearest ape notices you and takes off. He is about 60' away in seconds. The far ape is alerted by the grunting noises he makes and startings running toward you as well, finishing the piece of meat along the way.

ROUND 0: Your turn!

[Benson]

"And for a moment I' though we'd get off easy here," She grins with grim determination. She withdraws her rapier taking a defensive stance and whispers a little rhyme as she appears to be even more charismatic than her usual self.

Buffing with Eagle's Splendor on herself as she takes a five foot step backwards. Charisma now at 22 with a +6 mod.

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Damn. Here I was thinking we'd get away with just fighting one of them.

Cal breathes out sharply and focuses momentarily: his muscles bulge and tighten, abruptly transforming his gymnast's physique to that of a weightlifter.


Manifest Animal Affinity (Strength): 3 pp spent, +4 enhancement bonus to Strength. Maintain position, Dodge target, and stance. Initiative:
[roll0]

[esorscher]

The nearest ape reaches Cal, raising up on its hind legs threateningly, exposing its chest briefly before tackling and wrestling with the kalashtar, who avoids. The other ape will reach you within seconds.

ROUND 1: YOUR TURN

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
As he weaves back from the ape's headlong rush, Cal upsets its footing with a solid sweep at its leg with his polearm just as its foot hits the ground. Its balance disrupted, the ape lurches forward, its head ducking momentarily below Cal's waist level: he capitalizes on the opportunity with all his might, putting his whole body weight into delivering a powerful and precise chop to the base of the ape's neck.


Missed attack from Dodge target grants Combat Throw trip attempt.

Touch attack for trip check (performed with guisarme for droppability): [roll0]
Trip check: [roll1]
If trip attempt is successful, AoO gained from Improved Trip feat. -4 penalty to opponent's AC due to their prone state taken into account with an attack bonus to make the accounting similar, so compare this attack with their unmodified AC.
Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3] slashing

On turn, use a swift action to activate a charge from the Peircer Cloak and full attack with unarmed flurry.

Attack 1: [roll4] melee
Damage: [roll5]+[roll6] nonlethal bludgeoning
Attack 2: [roll7] melee
Damage: [roll8]+[roll9] nonlethal bludgeoning
Attack 3: [roll10] melee
Damage: [roll11]+[roll12] nonlethal bludgeoning

Yes, I know that i fluffed it as one attack rather than three. Ain't no rule sez I can't.

[Benson]

As her companion dealt with the ape that attempted to attack him, Zilla utters some rhyme and theatrically gestures with her hands as a fine light sand bursts in a ten foot radius around the second ape.

Casting Deep Slumber on the 2nd ape that is not engaged with anyone at the moment. Will save vs 19 DC

[esorscher]

The far ape exhales, blowing the dust away from its nostrils as it charges through the cloud unfazed. Seeing the trouble Cal is causing, it too moves to bring him to the ground.

Both apes try to grapple Kalharath.

Touch Attack 1: [roll0]
Grapple 1: [roll1]

Touch Attack 2: [roll2]
Grapple 2: [roll3]

OOC: What do you guys think of these fights? Are they too easy?

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Both apes lunge for Cal, and despite his best efforts at defending himself, four huge, hairy hands close on each of his limbs. He feels a moment of panic before he remembers the hours of drilling with his new magic items at Eight Treasures.

"Jump!"

The gem on his anklet glows bright purple, and the apes stumble, hands suddenly empty as Cal vanishes in a flash of purple light. An instant later, he appears at the flank of the first ape, striking out again with a flurry of sharp, precise kicks.


Swift action: Activate Anklet of Translocation to teleport out of the grapple and next to the first ape. Full attack and flurry, making a Stunning Fist attempt on the first attack.
Attack: [roll0] Damage: [roll1]+[roll2] nonlethal bludgeoning and DC 19 Fortitude save or stun
Attack: [roll3] Damage: [roll4]+[roll5] nonlethal bludgeoning
Attack: [roll6] Damage: [roll7]+[roll8] nonlethal bludgeoning

[esorscher]

The apes both come up grasping at empty air, confused. The ape shrugs off the added stunning effect of the first attack, but the combined assault brings him unconscious nonetheless. He collapses in a crumpled heap on the ground, enraging his partner.

[roll0]

(Waiting on Benson).

[Benson]

Zilla opens her mouth as she sings a haunting melody as the other ape is in proper distance.

Activating Haunting Melody Feat (p55 in Eberron, ape must make DC Will Save 20 or become Shaken for 10 rounds

[esorscher]

The ape is nervous, but continues to wrestle with Cal.

TA: [roll0]
Grapple: [roll1]

[Toptomcat]

Kalharath
Cal frowns as the vicious ape again blows past his guard with sheer power, establishing a solid hold on his forearm despite his best effort to repulse it.

"Jump!"

Again the gem on his anklet glows purple- but it's weaker now, and rather than winking out abruptly when the teleport is completed it sputters and fades gradually in a way that suggests it can't easily repeat the trick. Reguardless, it does take him out of the ape's grasp, and this time he reappears over its head, performing a showy aerial roll and delivering a trio of precise palm strikes to pressure points on the ape's crown, neck and shoulder before gravity takes over and puts him back where he started at the creature's feet.



Swift action: Activate Anklet of Translocation to teleport out of the grapple and above the ape, granting a +1 attack bonus for higher ground. Full attack and flurry, making a Stunning Fist attempt on the first attack. Fall 10 feet to the ground, convert 1d6 falling damage to 0 with a 1 on either a Jump or Tumble check.
Zero daily uses of Anklet of Translocation remain.

[Toptomcat]

Mucked up the rolls.
Attack: [roll0] Damage: [roll1] + [roll2] nonlethal bludgeoning and DC 19 Fortitude save or stun
Attack: [roll3] Damage: [roll4] + [roll5] nonlethal bludgeoning
Attack: [roll6] Damage: [roll7] + [roll8] nonlethal bludgeoning

EDIT: Subtract 5 from last attack roll.