Kingmaker: Fear and Loathing in the Green Belt

[Lost Demiurge]

This is a continuation of the Kingmaker game: Here Comes the Calvary! It has been started due to hitting the 50 page limit on the original thread. Now, on with the show...

"Eep!" The grasshopper-centaur things scatter into the long grass, fading out of sight. The little dragon howls. "No! Wait! Don't... Oh broken teapots."

Brin immediately finds her urge to dance fading, and gone. She is in control of her limbs once again.

The little dragon thing clears his throat and glares at Maple. "Your invocation of parley has been accepted! Put that Sneeg away and we shall palaver all parley-like! No tricks now! Or it's the piggy head for you!"

Meanwhile, at the far wagon...

The thin Sczarni scowls at Alistar. "You nuts? We lose the hostage they'll swarm us."

The thick one grunts. "Yeah. And the pay we'll lose out on-" The thin one shushes him.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar snarls at the Sczarni, baring his teeth in a decidedly inhuman way. "That last bit? That's the thing you shouldn't have said. I don't want to be fighting a bunch of fae if I don't have to, so here's the situation. You have thirty seconds to decide that listening to me is a great idea. Should you not decide that, the three of us will have a problem." As he says this, his form begins to warp and twist, growing larger and more bestial until, a few seconds later, the werewolf stands before them. He continues speaking in a low growl. "And I don't think I'm one you want to have a problem with."


Yah, that's an intimidate check. If these guys count as "brigands" I get a +1 to it. If not, the check is as written. (Come on dice roller, work with me here.)
[roll0] Edit: That's not...horrible I suppose. Though I doubt it's a success. Unless changing into a horrible monster right in front of them gives me a circumstance bonus.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin's limbs slowly stop moving and finally rest at her side, she didn't know whether to feel enraged or utterly embarrassed. In the end she decided to go with neither and just reamined quiet with her bow drawn. A silent prayer that no one had really noticed that god awful display, one that had not been seen since the monks tried to teach her to chance and she had ended up knocking out her partner with flailing limbs of fury. The miniature dragon was surely odd but Brin decided to honour the terms, despite not being asked herself to shoulder her weapon. Frankly, talking was not her strongest point so in the best interest of the party Brin removed herself from the conversation and wandered towards Alistar.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple appears immediately agreeable after the music stops, as she lowers her gun.

"Good, the devil music has ended... So, what can I do for you guys again? You guys said something about a friend being here against their will? That's not good at all."

Maple then uses her detection skills to find out if these guys are actually on the side of evil before she continues the parley.

Detect Evil

"Excuse me as I check to see whether you are telling lies of not."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan is a bit dissapointed that Brin stopped dancing, but he'll manage.
He sees her wander over to Alistar, so he'll go support Maple in her little chat.
"Greetings, inhabitants of the Greenbelt." He says with a broad smile. "My name is Roqoan, this woman holding the gun is Maple and we're part of a group dedicated to pacify these lands.
Now, i just want to make sure to mention that we were hired by this caravan to protect them, but we did not know that there was trouble between you and them. Or that they have kidnapped one of you.

But since we're all reasonable people, i'm sure we can work this out. I think i speak for the whole of our group when i say that we will not accept kidnapping. So if you stop your attack on this caravan, we will sort this mess out. If there has been a kidnapping, we will make sure that he or she will be set free. If needed we will search the whole of this caravan.

And perhaps once this has been taken care of we can talk about contact between both our groups. We could perhaps make a treaty. I'm sure there are lots of ways we can help each other out."

Edit: Forgot diplomacy roll, so i did it in the OOC

[Lost Demiurge]

ALISTAR
The thick Sczarni takes a step back, shaken. The thin guy is made of sterner stuff. "Jacken, go get Sciotto." He looks at Alistar, and puts a hand behind his back. "Maybe you don't want to threaten us, hah? See, I'm guarding this door cause my elder said don't let no one through it. Maybe you're hit by a fae charm and not in control. Maybe you're werewolf bandits who were gonna jump us out here in the all alone. Trust is a little thin on the ground, now that you're wantin' to liberate a prisoner judged by the Bandolier himself. But I ain't scared of you, so you can either wait till the Bandolier gets here, or we can start fighting and see who wins."
The large Sczarni cautiously moves past Alistar, then bolts for the main circle of wagons.

-----

THE REST OF THE GROUP
"It's not devil music! That was pure hoopy six-string bliss! It was my personally scribed toccato with grigs and cotton candy! Well, without the candy."

Up close the dragon is a faint pink in the reflected firelight. Spiralling light blue horns add about two pounds to his weight.

MAPLENope, no evil here.

KNOWLEDGE NATURE DC 20That's a faerie dragon! Their breath is equivalent to a strong hallucinagen, and they've got a lot of minor magical tricks. Like, oh, going invisible at will.

He bounces up and down, wings flapping as Roqoan talks, interrupting towards the end. "You're darn tooting there's been a kidnapping! These rolling house people stole Buxxit right out of her happy home! She was minding her own business, helping the Levetons, and WHOOSH! My friend Tyg-titter-tut heard her calling for help, and we got the story from her last night! So here we are to save her! So you better give her back, or you're guilty of faenapping too!"

Back toward the firelight, a heavy-set Sczarni with a crossbow runs toward the circle of wagons, and talks to a sleepy, now not-dancing Sciotto. He gestures back to the rear wagon, where... Alistar is in full wolf-form, confronting one of the Sczarni? Hooboy.

Meanwhile, from his ancient wagon, Barn Owl strolls out, leaning on his walking stick.

MAPLE Perception DC 10
And suddenly there is evil present. He's the only thing in that direction, too. Pretty strong evil, as it goes.

He walks painfully over in the group's direction. "Is there a problem? You need some help fighting off those things?"

[Sithis]

Alistar

The skinny man's last sentence brings a horrible, toothy smile to Alistar's face. "Oh, I think we both know who'd win." Regardless, Alistar relaxes his threatening posture just a bit. "But you're partially right. I don't want to be threatening to hurting you. Hell, I'm supposed to be protecting your stupid asses. But I have to say, I don't like being deceived, I don't like being lied to, even by omission, and I don't like kidnappers. According to them, those Fae are only here because you kidnapped one of them. If that's the case, it seems to me that the logical solution is to just give her back. Because if you refuse and the fae take offense, I'm not going to feel inclined to protect you from something you have coming."

[Morbis Meh]

Noticing the situation turning ugly, Brin does the sensible thing, she goes of and hides so if fighting does break out she will have a clear shot of an unsuspecting foe. Of course she doesn't just run off into a bush she simply turns around and begins walking away and once she is out of sight and out of mind she takes time to find a suitable sniping spot and hunkers down.

So taking 10 on perception she isn't rushed or pressured as of yet for a 22, I will roll stealth since someone may be watching
[roll0]
Bah silly fingers and brain, take the roll if you want, which was a two (been getting serioulsy RNG screwed here as of late lol ) for a 14 to hide not a 24, if you want a reroll then fine

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"I see...."
He turns to Maple. "Well, looks like another crisis to solve. I think we've become trouble-magnets somehow.
What do you think? Can we believe these fae?
I think we should just investigate the caravan anyway. And it seems that Alistar may have already found something, he's gone into wolfform."

Roqoan casts Mage armor on himself, just to be sure.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Reloading her Hackbut, she finishes the loading process and immediately points it towards the Barn Owl.

"Halt there evil creature! I don't think we've been properly introduced. Who are you?!"

Maple looks really serious with her finger almost pulling back the trigger on her gun.

[Lost Demiurge]

The old man looks perplexed. "I'm Barn Owl de Wise. I'm de mystic for this caravan. You signed up to guard me en de boyss. Your pally Roqoan alretty spoke wit' me to negochiate, an' I'm enchantin' items for part of yer payment now. Whadda does it matter if I'm evil, goot, old, young, whatnot? You signed on to protect me, an' dose little squickly bastiches over there mean us harm."

"YOU TOOK BUXXIT!"

"The brownie trespassed, an' is payin' de price for snoopin."

"SHE WAS GONNA CLEAN YOUR WAGON!"

"Which I diddin' ask her to do, nor invite her in. She DISTURBED my sanctum."
-----

Meanwhile, Sciotto hurries over to Alistair. "Here, here now. What'sa the problem?"

The thin man fills him in, quickly. He looks to Alistar. "The brownie's a prisoner, and she'll work off the debt of her crimes when we sell her in Ustalav. What the hell are you kicking up a fuss for? These are just trash fae, borderlands nuisances. Shouldn't be more than a scuffle for a burly werewolf or two to handle."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"Which is why I said "properly introduced". If I had known your evil nature was far higher than that of a normal trader, I would have never allowed my group to work with you.
Now release the Bakery Good (I don't get the Fae at all) and I'll pay for the damages it caused to your gang if any."

All of this over a Brownie? Maple thinks to herself.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Quietly, (but still loudly enough for the two Sczarni to hear him) Alistar growls, "Slavery is an Abomination."

"Why am I kicking up a fuss? Because I don't like being lied to and deceived. I don't like kidnappers. And I ESPECIALLY don't like slavery. Which is what you're talking about here."

"You're right about something though. Were I so inclined, I could probably tear that entire group of fae apart. Not feeling so inclined though. You hired us to fight a bunch of undead for you, not fae who have a legitimate grievance with you. You wanna press this situation, that's fine. But if the fae decide you've left them no choice, don't expect me and mine to step in on your behalf."

Alistar steps closer to Sciotto and speaks quietly, so that only the two of them can hear, "Oh, and a friendly warning. Whatever you decide to do, one way or another, you're not going to be selling that fae in Ustalav. Or anywhere else, for that matter. I'll make sure of that."

Alistar steps back a little bit and folds his arms, glaring at Scottio. "Well, make your call Caravan Master."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan is stunned for a moment, this guy was screwing him without even blinking. He hates getting screwed over. He had it happen to him in the past, and that's why he keeps notes of everything. He quickly pulls out his papers, searches for the right page and starts reading it out loud to Barn Owl: "I quote from what you said to me when we made our deal, although i did filter out your weird accent.

'All you and your friends have to do is run with us for about a hunderd miles or so. Get us past some unquiet undead. It's an old grudge against us, totally a mistake but try telling that to the spirits, interested?'

End quote.
Now, as you may have noticed, there is no mention of us protecting you and your boys. All we needed to do was take care of some undead for you.
You never mentioned Fae. Or the fact that you kidnapped any.
Now, i think we can end this peacefully by just giving back the fae.

And Maple, had i known that your evil detector would classify him as pure evil, i wouldn't have made a deal with him."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin casually lounges about, arrow drawn and bow ready for any sign of hostility towards her companions. She figured this would get ugly fairly quickly which was why she had her eye on this barn owl fellow...

So readying an action in case poop hits the fan.

[Lost Demiurge]

Sciotto palms his face. Then he considers Alistar for a long moment, sizing him up. "Tellin' you that the buyer's probably gonna carve the brownie up for parts probably ain't gonna change your mind, is it? No. It ain't. Gods save us from ****in' HEROES. Allright, allright. Lemme hash it out with Barn Owl. He's the one who got offended, so he gotta be satisfied..." He heads back to the main group.

PERCEPTION FOR ALISTAR DC 23The wagon shifts slightly, and his keen ears can here tiny feet moving around inside, as well as slight creaks of wood being peeled back, and chains jingling. There's a whispered, high-pitched conversation. The thin Sczarni doesn't seem to have noticed.

Barn Owl glares at Roqoan. "Boy, ifya lawyer up on me, Imma point out dat we also diddun agree dat we'd treat with ya fair an' square, pay ya in real gold n' magic, or avoid killin' all of yez an' dancin around in ya skins cause ALL OF THAT IS IMPLIED IN HIRING YOU ON TO ESCORT US! Pullin letter of agreement on me, ane expectin-"

Sciotto hurries up and pulls Barn Owl aside. They have a quick conversation, and finally the elder spits in disgust, and shuffles back to his wagon.

Sciotto walks over to the group, and sighs. "Paladins will be the doom of all of us. Okay, okay. How's THIS deal? We forgive the brownie her crime, and return her to her... Kin..." He rolls his eyes at that part. "Since you offered to pay for her crimes, Barn Owl keeps the items you gave him which he ain't used to make things yet. You get the one item that he made for you thus far, but he won't make the other. You stick to the spirit of the agreement and protect us from hostile forces until we cross the bridge. And when the dead come, you fight them on their own cause I ain't riskin' my people alongside guards who are willin' to turn on us over some trash fae ain't even their concern."

"You're RUDE!" Yells the little dragon.

"Yeah, an' you're a freak. Difference is, I can take etiquette lessons."

"Oh, it's the PIGGY HEAD for you, alright!"

"Cast a curse on me I'll club you to death with an iron rod, you little semprini."

[Sithis]

Alistar


Perception: [roll0]
Edit: DAMMIT DICE ROLLER


Without a further word and still in full on wolfman form, Alistar follows Sciotto back to the rest.

He snorts derisively at Sciotto's little speech. "I follow the Old Ways caravaneer. Fae and other creatures of nature are my concern. But so is the destruction of the undead. Don't worry, we'll destroy your dead for you. As was agreed."

"I must say though, what were these crimes that the "punishment" is being sold to someone to be torn apart for...spell components? Something of that nature? Must have been something VERY serious. What did she do? Kill someone? Steal horses?" The sarcasm from this last bit is quite obvious.

[Lost Demiurge]

Sciotto gives Alistar a grave, flat look. "She almost killed us all, Hero. Without even realizin' it. And that's all that I'm sayin' because goin' farther ain't none of your business"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Oh come now, we pay the price for three magic items but get only one. And
we still need to pay for releasing the fae. That's not very realistic.
Why don't we just keep the current deal, plus a ransom for the fae.
That way you're not losing anything, and still making money on the fae. Plus you don't need to haul her all the way back to civilization to sell her.
We protect you for the rest of the way and fight the undead alone like you said.
If you accept we only need to set the price for releasing the fae."

And again i forgot my diplo roll..... i'll do it in OOC.

[Lost Demiurge]

Sciotto spreads his hands. "That price WAS to pay her fine. We'd stand to clear mebbe three thousand in Ustalav for her sale. Barn Owl says he's gotta bout three thou worth of work on yer stuff to go. Unnerstan', this is to pay him back personally. He was within rights to kill her for intrudin', but I persuaded him otherwise. Look, I gotta keep him-"

There's a loud whistle from out of the night.

The Faerie Dragon laughs. "About time! Smell you later, LOSERS!" And POP! He's gone. The grass rustles in all directions.

PERCEPTION DC 24
Small and tiny invisible creatures, lots of them, are booking it in all directions away from the camp.

"What the-" Sciotto whips his head around... And sure enough, the thin Sczarni by the lone wagon is on his back. Visibly snorting. The door is open.

Sciotto palms his face. "Mother... NMF! And this. Is why. You don't. Deal. With fae. Cheat ya every time."

Barn Owl stands, shakes his head, and goes into his wagon. He emerges, carrying a finely made cloak and several items Roqoan recognizes. (Hey, that's the payment for the enchanting, less what it takes to make a cloak of elvenkind!)

"Here. I think I ain't feelin' up to enchantin fer you no more. Sciotto's deal with you is his own bidness, but mine's done."

And he starts limping back to his wagon.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin was growing bored, not enough yelling and scrambling to keep her entertained.

Perception
[roll0] doubt I will see this but meh... well what do you know?

Until she saw a band of fae start dashing away from the wagon Sneaky little buggers... they owe us one then she notices the decrepit old man drop their previous payment Make that two... They'd better pay up With a bitter and disappointed expression, Brin shoulder's her bow and walks back to the camp. This time she walks directly up to the caravan leader and pokes his chest "Now, before we move even an inch of this spot you WILL tell us, everything no half truths, no piss poor pitty stories. Tell us exactly what you're involved in or I will walk, screw the agreement that you made based on false terms."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Lowering her weapon,

"...Did everything resolve itself? Isn't that nice."

[Lost Demiurge]

Sciotto looks down at Brin, and pushes her hand away from his chest.

"Tell you everything? Sure. You and your friends just helped distract our guards so that the fae could free a prisoner we'd tried for trespassing, wanton endangerment, and p****** off the wizard that we need to survive this crossing. Costing us a few thousand gold along the way, and now you're saying you want to go back on your agreement and leave us."

"How exactly is that a threat, given your f****** track record to date?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan quickly grabs the hand Sciotto is using to push Brins hand away. "No touching the lady, buddy. Or i might need to get angry." He says. To make his threat a little bit more credible he lets Iago appear from the tattoo on his arm. The raven jumps out of the ink embedded in Roqoan's skin, screeches and pecks on Sciotto's thumb as a warning.

He lets go of Sciotto's hand. Iago hops back up Roqoans arm to his shoulder.
"Now lets just settle this as civilized people.
You caused that distraction yourself. By not telling us about the fae, you had us running around without knowing what was going on. In the time it took us to find out and try to solve the problem, they freed their kin.

And before we can move on to your little undead problem, you are going to need to tell us the full story. Not the crap about 'some old grudge', i want to know how and when this grudge started, who started it and why.
I agree with Brin on this one, if we don't get all the info we have no more deal."

Intimidate roll to have Scitto leave Brin alone, but not for the rest of the post. Roqoan only wants to make his point about Brin and be civil for the rest of the conversation.
Intimidate: [roll0]

Diplo roll for the rest of the post: [roll1]

Edit: why do my social rolls keep failing miserably....

[Morbis Meh]

Brin regards the man with cold, tightly controled fury "I would watch that fat mouth of yours if I were you, the only reason you can travel these roads at all is because of us and if you think you can **** with us then you will end up dead like the other imbeciles. I have been stabbed, shot, gnawed upon, burned and blasted with infernal magicks. Don't think for one moment that I will hesitate to kill all of you, screw your kin and your agreement. It was made under false pretenses and would not hold up in any court, as for allowing your 'prisoner' to escape that was entirely your fault in the first place. Kidnapping is a heavy offence by any nations standards and I WILL NOT TOLERATE it these lands. The fae may have been trespassing but the last time I checked the penalty was not slavery. Now if this is how you are going to handle the situation, then I will say this as blunty and clearly as possible...GET THE HELL OUT OF MY LANDS BEFORE I SHOVE MY FIST DOWN YOUR THROAT AND MY ARROWS UP YOUR A$$!"

Intimidate which will fail horribly... why doesn't pathfinder allow the alterative to use STR like 3.5 *sigh* [roll0] I expect a negative roll

[Lost Demiurge]

Sciotto folds his arms. "We're done here. Leave. Your help ain't worth this crap."

And he starts walking back to the fire. And the ten or so tense Sczarni, who have casually, very casually put their weapons within reach. They are visibly sweating.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Smooth Brin, very smooth." Roqoan says with a smile. He makes sure that the caravan people can't hear him.
"Well, perhaps this is for the best. Kidnappers can't be trusted. And i think that we should secretly follow them to this crossing they're talking about. First of all to make sure they leave these lands. And second of all to see what the hell is the deal with these people.

Or perhaps we just ignore them and try to contact those fae, see if we can work something out.
What do you guys think?"

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Stowing her weapon away,

"We'll follow them. Although they are evil kidnappers, we did promises them to protect them from undead forces. Undead can not be left to wander and attack travelers, regardless of their nature.
Get our items together and prepare for anything."

She then looks towards where the fae once were and shouts,

"You're welcome!"

She then goes to retrieve her Apples and pack of heavy stuff.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin frowns "I doubt they're going anywhere tonight so it is pointless to do anything now and following in day light is pointless if we want to keep hidden, we lost our ace in the hole with Alistar revealing his more primal nature. We could track at a distance but that is a gamble... I wouldn't place any hope on the fae, they're unreliable at best and painfully annoying at worst, I think the best we will get from them is that they'll leave us be."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Nodding at Brin,

"You are correct... Either way, I don't trust Apples in their care anymore so keeping him safe is the least I can do."

[Lost Demiurge]

The Sczarni don't say a word as the group packs up their possessions and animals, andthe caravan folk post their own pickets to keep a night's watch.

They do keep shooting wary glances in your direction, though. Probably wondering why you're sticking around, and hoping that it's not to kill them all in their sleep.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

When it's Roqoan's turn to keep watch, he keeps a good eye on the Sczarni. He hopes they'll leave soon, away from their tower. They conquered this tower, so it's rightfully theirs.

He also keeps an eye out for the Fae, who knows if they might come back to chat.

Perception: [roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

When the morning comes, the Sczarni pack up and leave early.

A light rain starts to fall, beating down on the surrounding plains and forest and leaving a haze throughout the area. The ruined tower is a cold shelter at best.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Hmm, think we could follow them with this rain?
I don't know anything about tracking, so i don't know what kind of effect this will have. I could send Iago after them, but since they already know him, it might be dangerous for him.

Maybe Alistar is better suited for this, he can sniff them out and leave signs for us to follow."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin shakes her head "The rain will not impede sight by any major factor and i wouldn't feel right about sending Alistar alone... they know what he is and just may attack any wolf on sight. In conditions like this it would be very easy to track at a distance, since muddy enough to create definitive tracks but not enough rain to wipe them out."

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar fastens the new cloak* around his shoulders, hoping it would keep the rain off as well as do what it's supposed to do. "So, you do want to follow them then? We can do that, I suppose. Though honestly, I would feel better about going by myself. Much easier for one of us to stay hidden then for all of us too. Besides, if we get found out then it may not matter if we're all there or not. At least, not if Barn Owl is who and what I'm beginning to suspect him to be."



*If anyone objects to Alistar taking the cloak, I'm fine with it. But I do think Alistar will benefit most from it.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"We'll do a bit of both. Alistar can move ahead of us while we follow in the back. Perhaps you can borrow Iago to help relay messages, and I doubt the bird will hamper your stealth."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin shakes her head "If your caught you are effectively stranded, going alone is never a good idea and I am just as or even more so adept at sneaking than you are my canine chum. I can also see in the dark and if need be attack both a close and long range. If you insist on going after them, then I will go with you albeit trailing behind you to cover you if you need to make a break for it."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Alright, the two sneaky people can move ahead. I'll take the horses with me while Maple keeps an eye out.

And Alistar, who do you think Barn Owl is? I'd like to have all the info before we dive into this."

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar shrugs. "If you want to come, I'm not gonna stop you Brin. But I'd rather risk the fewest number of people possible.

"As for who and what Barn Owl is? I'll give you the short version. In the River Kingdoms, before my people fell, there was a group called the Caravan of the Cresent. A bunch of criminals and outcasts, largely made up of half-elves apparently. They got involved in the politics of the kingdoms, ended up making themselves into traitors and oathbreakers. When one of the more powerful kingdoms kicked their asses, they ended up turning to necromancy to fight back. It backfired though, and they got almost wiped out. Thing is, one of the major players in that caravan was called Barn Owl. And that guy there...he looks pretty damn old. If he's a half-elf, he might be old enough to about fit the time frame. And anyone who's that old and knows magic is probably someone to be wary off."

[Morbis Meh]

Yippee more necromancers! What is with stupid people and playing with the dead? Don't they know that when I shoot something between the eyes it is supposed to stay down.... men

Turning attention to Alistar Brin laughs "Being valiant in a place like this will get you killed, and not some glorious death that some fools think will earn them a passage in an epic ballad but the kind that is just a plain waste. Strength is in numbers and if you get caught you will have to fight off an entire caravan not to mention a necromancer, last thing I feel like doing is fight a rotting version of yourself. I will stay behind you, just within eye sight that way I can at least cover you/warn the others if things go to hell."

[Lost Demiurge]

Brin and Alistar move ahead, one silent in the misty morning's light, the other a wolf, and easily hidden in the tall grass. They easily keep the caravan in sight.

As Roqoan and Maple saddle up, Maple finds a small twist of parchment braided into Apples' mane. Neither the twist nor the braid were there before.

MAPLE
The parchment has writing on it, and reads "THANK YOU FOR STICKING UP FOR BUXXIT. SHES REALLY HAPPY AND LOVES YOU ALL FOREVER. WERE TAKING HER HOME NOW BYE."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

After reading the letter,

"Say Caster Roquan, do you think the Fae might help us out when we try to go after the Stag Lord? I'm not too familiar with these creatures so I don't know if the Stag Lord is harming them or not, or whether they would be willing to join us as thanks for helping them...
But I guess we wouldn't be able to find them anyways before the Moon situation happens now will we?...
I wish we had more time to prepare; especially seeing as our magically enhanced weapons idea flopped.
...
What do you think of our current situation?"

Maple seems unusually worried.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Sadly, i don't know much about Fae. We should ask Alistar once we're done with this caravan, he knows a lot more about nature than the rest of us together.
But before they help may help us or not, we're going to have to search for them. We've already seen that they're good with illusions and invisibility, so that might be usefull.

And you're right, it's not good that we didn't get our magic weapons. We could have really used them against the Stag Lord.
But we still have time, and i'm sure we can find something or someone that can help us out. And if we don't, i plan to go after him anyway. Maybe i'll get killed, but at least i'll die trying to forge a kingdom instead of being killed in a bar by one of my mothers goons...."

Roqoan obviously shares Maple worries and he seems a bit depressed. This caravan business and the kidnapping just plain sucked. He just hopes that Barn Owl is less dangerous than he fears he will be.

[Sithis]

Alistar


Some rolls up in here. I think we're traveling through a forest, right? If so, +2 to all of these rolls. And initiative, if it matters. (Favored Terrain, woo!)

Perception: [roll0]
Stealth: [roll1] (FINALLY)
Survival: [roll2] (+4 if the wolf +4 to tracking by scent works in hybrid form.)


Alistar stalks through the underbrush, making hardly a sound. Hard to tell if the cloak was working properly, but he guessed it was. At the very least, it was breaking up the outline if his large hybrid form.

This rain'll mean mud, and that should make the caravan easy enough to track. I should probably hang back a bit... It's these kind of things he ponders as he moves downwind of the caravan, and begins to silently track them.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin silently follows the now canine form of Alistar, being low enough to the ground to still pick him out amidst the tall grass. The morning dew quickly soaked her attire and the unpleasent feeling of clothes sticking to bare skin made Brin mutter to herself. She didn't particularily care what happened to the caravan, though she hoped that Barn Owl and the caravan leader both died via spirits. The remainder of the caravan seemed decent enough when they didn't try to get into your purse. She did hope that this situation would resolve itself but her darker side craved the heart pounding euphoria battle brought. Brin was glad she left the monastary, shooting wooden dummies didn't have the same appeal as shooting into flesh. The power in knowing that you are superior to your foe was addicting but her training kept those primal desires in check... to an extent anyways.

perception [roll0]
stealth [roll1]
screw survival that's what the wolf is for but if he leads Brin astray she will hit his nose with a news paper!

[Lost Demiurge]

The caravan heads west, and you follow at a leisurely pace. Nothing troubles it, nothing out here seems desperate or willing to take on a group of its size.

For two days and nights, Brin and Alistar observe them setting up camp, posting pickets, and keeping a tight watch. Barn Owl rarely leaves his wagon, though he always does a walkaround of the perimeter each night, after the majority have gone to sleep.

The terrain is changing as you go. They're skirting the Narlmarches, the vast and wild old growth of the majestic forest to the south. But as you travel, the land gets wetter, the trees get a little more far apart, and things seem to be taking a turn toward swamp. Makes sense, you're headed in the direction of the infamous Hooktongue Slough, a great wetland area between here and Pitax.

On day three, the caravan starts slowing down. Brin and Alistar are almost taken by surprise, but manage to hold up in time to avoid being seen.

Ahead is a great river and wide, that has carved a deep gorge through the rocky soil. The gorge plummets fifty feet to the water, and spanning it is an ancient stone bridge, built on a scale to that of giants. Fifty feet wide, it stretches at least a quarter of a mile across the wild river.

Though it's only about noon, the Sczarni have stopped before the bridge. They have circled the wagons, and seem to be dumping bags full of some kind of powder in a wide perimeter around their quick camp. They seem to be anxious.

----

Meanwhile, back with Maple and Roqoan, the sound of slow hoofbeats echoes from behind them, back to the east. A lone, armored figure on horseback can be seen picking its way over the somewhat-sodden plains...

[Morbis Meh]

Just some clarification... did you mean Maple and Roqoan or Brin and Alistair since those are the two people groups together... also it seems as our rplacement trap monkey disappeard man we just don't have any luck... are we going to look again or just go with us 4 who are pretty damn dedicated and awesome

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple takes out her Hackbut at the sounds of hoofbeats. Though she then returns the firearm to its holster on her back upon seeing the lone traveler. Still riding Apples, she calls out to the armored man,

"Greetings traveler, where might you be heading?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan dismounts and grabs his crossbow, he tries to peer into the distance to see who it is that is following them. Or perhaps travelling in the same direction? No, that would be too much of a coincidence.
"Is he or she evil, Maple?" He whispers.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

She whispers to Roquan,

"Once he/she gets close enough, I'll check."

Maple readies to use her detection ability once the mysterious stranger gets into range.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar remains hidden in some brush downwind of the caravan's camp. That's certainly a hell of a bridge. I wonder who built it? He silently watches, trying to puzzle out where they're doing with powder.


And then I remembered I have Knowledge: Geography! Let's see if that bridge is a clue that finally gives Alistar reference as to where he is!
[roll0] (+2 if we're still counted as being in a forest.)

And then Knowledge: Nature to see if Alistar has any idea what they're doing with the dust and whatnot. Probably not really applicable, but I'll throw it out there anyway.
[roll1]

Edit: Alistar must be tired from all the tracking and whatnot he's been doing. That is my excuse.

[SamBurke]

The figure moves behind, trailing the party for several hours before gradually catching up to the party. His horse is short, but massive, with heavy plates of stone and steel tied to its muscular war-bred frame. The figure is similarly armored in black-painted jagged steel, not a glint escaping anywhere.

The armored knight rides alongside the caravan for a minute or two, about a hundred yards out, before slowly circling in front and dismounting with a dull thud of impact.

"Hello, gang. It's good to be back!"


Because the last introduction wasn't cinematic enough.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan lowers his crossbow once he recognises the dwarf.
"Well i'll be damned, it's Fermor.
I didn't expect you to come back to the Stolen Lands. I thought you had a death in the family you had to attend to?
But wait, before you try to explain what happened, i'll tell you what we're doing since we need to start moving again soon.
We had a deal with a caravan to protect them against some undead further up ahead, but they turned out to have kidnapped a Fae. We broke our deal, but are now following them to see what they are up to. Brin and Alistar are out scouting ahead and we're following their trail.

So we better all get back in the saddle and keep following them before we lose the trail. You can tell us all about what happened while riding.
Sorry to throw you into action this fast again, Fermor, but you know how life in the Stolen Lands used to be, and it hasn't improved while you were gone..."
Roqoan gets back on his horse and starts following Brin and Alistar again.
"So Fermor, tell us, what happened and what brings you back?"

[Morbis Meh]

Brin notes the archetecture of the bridge More than likely dwarven, the stoneborn sure know how to work with material as hard as their heads. she looks over to Alistar who has the one of the most hilarious faces, until this day she didn't know what a confused wolf looked like. She could understand the feeling, the travelling folk were sure odd, she had never dealt with the likes of them before and could only surmise that this act was one meant to protect them. From what? Probably the spirits they angered though if Barn owl was a necromancer then how was he not capable with handling a couple of spirits? Bored, the dwarven archer ducks back behind the bush and looks to Alistar "Want to bet they're setting up a ward of sorts? 10 gold says I can mess up the circle with one arrow, what do you say?"

[SamBurke]

Fermor nods. "Aye'm always willin' to put a dent in some bare skulled undead. As to my family, it was a sad piece. Young man died, one with a lotta promise... quite a sorrow. I rode back as quick as aye could, to rejoin you here. What's ye progress against the bandits?"


Still upgrading to Level 5.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Well, we killed Vargan or whatever his name was. The Duergar holed up under some tree.
We made a deal with the Sootscale Tribe, they helped us assault the lair.
So it's only the Stag Lord left, but we do have a deadline now.
He's going to do some sort of ritual in a month or three. We're thinking it's not going to be good for us if he succeeds in this ritual, so we need to stop him before he can do it.

That's about it i guess, we know he's holed up in some old monastery in the south. So soon we're going to have to start exploring again."

[SamBurke]

"Seems like a good plan. Gotta find this place before we can destroy it, right? What sorts of allies do you think we can gather for that? Is the Lady still back at the fort?"


I forget her name...

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"Only Svetlana is waiting for our return. Though they seem to get a lot of traffic these days. I'm glad I didn't have to resort to using this weapon yet."

She points towards the large gun on her back.

[SamBurke]

"Aye... looks pretty intimidating. Is everyone well? Any more unfortunate casualties...?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Nope, everybody i can think of is still alive.
Fae'l disappeared though, together with some barbarian that you haven't met. We were at Oleg's, and suddenly both of them were missing.

Very strange, but we had to move on with our task, so i hope they're both fine."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"We also had an interesting cat person who probably wandered off after realizing that we were fighting potentially lethal undead. At least the missing outweigh the dead..."

[Lost Demiurge]

ALISTAR AND BRIN

As you watch the carvan, Barn Owl comes out of the wagon. He casts a spell, and the circle glows for a minute.

SPELLCRAFT DC 20
A variation on magic circle against evil. Binds it to whatever powder was used to make the ward.

Then he sighs, and looks west, across the bridge. As the Sczarni move their horses to the center of the circle and start forting up, he starts heading that direction.

Now might be a good time to go grab your friends, judging by the Sczarni's anticipation, something is about to happen.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar glances over at Brin as she speaks. "Yah, you probably could break the circle from here, but don't. There's no tellin' what could happen if you do. Magical energy just suddenly unleashed like that? Bad stuff." He looks back over at the caravan, watching as they perpare. "I don't like this. Stay here, and stay hidden. I'm gonna run back and find the others." Without another word, Alistar changes into his much faster wolf form and begins heading back to the others.


As he approaches the area where he knows Roquan and Maple are, he catches a third scent along with theirs. It seems familiar, like...dwarf? As he nears them, he changes back to his human form. "Fermor! Good to see you!" He walks up wearing his big grin. "Didn't think you'd be back already!"

[Morbis Meh]

Brin sits, in her bush, not doing much of anything except watching the people cross the bridge So, why was I left here alone like always? Damn men and there need to 'protect'! Now grumpy, Brin grumbles silently as she keeps watching from her hiding place.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

A bit surprised by Alistar's arrival,

"Oh, hey Doggy Alistar. Yes Hot-Blooded Fermor is back with us though I think most of the story telling can wait. What's up?"

[SamBurke]

Fermor glances around. "I'm confused. What are ye doin' at the moment?"


I don't have the foggiest clue what's going on anymore... :smallconfused:

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Well, we were hired by these gypsies to escort them and take out some undead. But without us knowing about it, they had kidnapped a Fae. When the other Fae came to free her, we and the gypsies disagreed about the kidnapping. We obviously didn't like it. So we broke the deal.

But we didn't really trust those gypsies, so we're now following them to see what they are planning and what those undead are all about.
Oh, and there's an old half-elf with them that has magic and is sorta their leader, Maple used her special magic sight thing and he's apparently very evil.
I think that's about it.

So let's not waste anymore time and head over to their camp.
Lead the way Alistar."
Roqoan will follow Alistar, holding his crossbow.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar nods at Roquan. "Yah, the Sczarni are doing something, and it smells like trouble. They've set up some kind of giant warding circle, not sure exactly what kind though. Maybe you can tell more when you see it. Come on, I'll show you." He waves for them to follow and begins to follow his trail back the way he came.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Better leave the horses, they might make too much noise." Roqoan says, while tying his horse and that of Brin and Alistar to a tree.
Once he's ready, he follows Alistar.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple follows suit, leaving her non-combat supplies with Apples.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin watches the not so sneaky group stumble along towards her, it was a good thing the camp below was nearly empty or else they would have noticed them by now. Gods can't they even try to be quiet? That halfling sure has gotten louder and fatter since the last time I heard here walk... wait that's not Maple... Oh by the beard of my father we have him back? Fermor lets people in a one mile radius know where we are just by breathing... good bye any chance of being hidden it was nice while it lasted.

[Lost Demiurge]

As the group moves up, two things happen at once.

First, a serious fog starts building up around the bridge. Barn Owl comes running out of it, skinny legs pumping and robes flapping in the wind. Moves pretty fast for an old guy.

MAPLE
There's an overwhelming feel of WRONGNESS coming from the fog.

Second, from down the gorge, a group of heavily-cloaked horsemen spur up a trail, and surface a few hundred feet away from the caravan. The Sczarni are taken completely by supplies, as the riders start forward, lighting torches as they go...

Brin's current spot (which is now shared by the rest of the group), is about two hundred feet back from the circled wagons, two-hundred fifty from the start of the ancient bridge. About 300 away from the first of the riders.

[SamBurke]

Fermor throws a quick hitching post loop for his horse over a tree, and dismounts, running as fast as he can towards Brin. Sadly, in his haste, stealth is all but forgotten. "BRIN!" He bellows happily, "Good to see ye!"


Dwarves. Whatcha gonna do?

Quad-timing it, for 80 feet/6seconds until I'm near enough to cast, which is within 100 feet...

[Morbis Meh]

Brin's eyes begin to twitch and for a moment she contemplates shooting Fermor, with a blunt arrow of course, nothing that would kill him only shut him up. Using all of her restraint, Brin puts a finger to her mouth to indicate the priest to shut it then points over to the scene before them.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple takes out her Hackbut.

"This fog... There is something wrong with it... I can sense something dangerous.
Caster Roquan, do you know what this fog might entail?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Let's have a look."
Roqoan casts detect magic and takes a look at the fog. And at the circle surrounding the camp.

[Lost Demiurge]

Roqoan casts... And realizes that both the fog and the camp are a couple of hundred feet away, while the range of the detect magic spell maxes out at about 60 feet.

Meanwhile, the riders start to pick up speed. The Sczarni start breaking out bows and yelling, and the first of the riders hurls a torch at one of the wagons...

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Noticing things are going bad for the Sczani,

"Let's Move Out! These might be the undead those guys talked about... Horseback riding undead... But still!"

Maple rushes forward into, scouting for the nearest Rider.

[Lost Demiurge]

Maple rushes forward, as the main cluster of riders hits the camp. Maple's still about 120 feet away, by the time all's said and done.

Torches start to rain down on the wagons, and the riders move through, pulling swords and taking a few hacks as they go. Still, the Sczarni WERE prepared for trouble.

Not this kind, though, so the casualties start to rack up.

Barn Owl immolates a few with a fireball, but the riders aren't slowed, there's a good dozen of them left.

And the mist is starting to spread, and in it, dim moving shapes are crossing the bridge, plodding inoxerably toward the camp...

ROUND 1

[Morbis Meh]

Brin unshoulders her bow and takes sights, focusing her ki on one of the mounted horsemen, using her mind she makes the distance seem shorter between her and the target. The dwarf's heartbeat slowly to a steady controlled dulcimer and when her target feels like it is right in front of her she lets go of her bowstring loosing the arrow knocked on it. She doesn't waste time watching if it hit, instead she moves in after Maple.

Yay finally a battle where Brin can attack from afar and not get mauled! once she is within 110 ft she can proceed to rain pain upon the enemies. I am using a ki point to increase the range increment on the bow so that it is still within the first one. Also i am going to use deadly aim for once! Since the enemy would be flat footed against Brin.
Ki points 6/7
to hit [roll0]
damage [roll1]

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Here we go again..." Roqoan says. He's not too fond of charging into battle, but it has to be done.
Roqoan gives himself some magical armor and starts running after Maple and Brin. He makes sure he stays behind Maple and Alistar.

Mage Armor on Roqoan.
HP 20, AC 16

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple continues her stride towards the nearest Rider. If she comes within 60ft of one of the Riders she'll use her detection to determine if they are a force of evil or not.

Move Action: Move 20ft forward
Standard Action: Detect Evil
Or
Full-Round: Hustle (60ft)

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar is already in motion, and in mid-step transforms from man to wolf. He runs flat out, attempting to get to the fray as quickly as possible.

Move Action: Transform into wolf form.
Standard Action -> Move Action: 50 feet of movement toward the camp.

[Lost Demiurge]

Fermor hurries forward, getting to within about 120 feet of the Sczarni camp!

He's soon passed by Maple, who takes the lead, getting to 100 feet away from the camp...

Brin puts an arrow into the nearest rider, who yells and gestures at the incoming adventurers! (Always a hazard out here.) Six of the dozen horsemen peel off, with the man furthest back pulling a short bow as he goes, and putting an arrow back toward Brin. It misses horribly. The rest continue to circle around the wagons, throwing torches and occasionally rushing through camp, striking with sabers.

The splinter group of riders are 50 feet in front of Maple!

MAPLE
You detect the presence of evil in the area. Want to concentrate to try to narrow it down? That'll be your next full round if so.

And Alistar, in wolf form, charges up behind Maple. He's about 50 feet behind her...

Roqoan casts and moves up, getting to 70 feet behind Maple.

ROUND 2

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple wants to make sure, so she concentrates on the evil source further.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

While running Roqoan suddenly seen Alistar in wolf form sprint past him. He also sees the riders close in on them. So he makes his decision.
He stops dead in his tracks and uses his magic to make Alistar into a giant wolf again.

Full round action: Enlarge Person on Alistar. 4 minutes remaining.

HP 20, AC 16

[Sithis]

Alistar

The wolf continues charging, but suddenly feels a bit..strange. The ground seems to be getting further away, and in front of him Maple seems to be even smaller than usual. The realization hits a moment later, and if Alistar still had a human mouth he would have had a wide smile on his face.

The now horse-sized wolf charges at the nearest rider.


What I'd like to do is to charge the closest rider and do a bull rush to knock him off his horse. I'm not 100% sure how that would work mechanically. I do know I need to roll a CMB roll, so here's that.

[roll0] vs the rider's CMD

If bull rushing the rider isn't possible, then it will just be a regular charge attack.

[roll1] Edit: Well ****.
Bite
[roll2]

AC: 18 (16 this turn)
HP: 31/31

[Morbis Meh]

Brin switches her aim to the other archer calming herself to find her centre of balance. Her breathing and heart rate slow as the world moves at a crawl, using her minds eye she locks on the rider and with unrivalled speed and grace looses three arrows in rapid succession.

Spending a ki point (5/7) for an extra arrow and using flurry of arrows! (two are perfect shots 3/5) Also deadly aim for great justice

attack one [roll0]
Perfect Strike [roll1]
damage [roll]1d8+4[/roll

attack two [roll2]
Perfect Strike [roll3]
damage [roll4]]

attack Three [roll5]
damage [roll6]

[SamBurke]

Fermor keeps trundling forward, pounding his heavy plated feet into the ground, ready to defend the bridge against whatever menace plodded its way across.


Going to move another 80 Feet, as close to the bridge as possible.

[Lost Demiurge]

MAPLE
As best Maple can tell, given that they keep moving in and out of her cone of detection, some of the riders are evil. None of it seems to be supernaturally strong, however. Just bad men and women.


The riders are startled as the now horse-sized wolf bears down upon them! The nearest wheels his horse and tries to ride off, but fails as Alistar LEAPS, and barrels into him, knocking him head over heels! His horse flees.

The rider draws a saber and scrambles back up to his feet. This close, Alistar notes that he's got some decent armor on under the wrappings, scale mail at least...

Brin puts one arrow into the archer, but two more glance off of him. Armor of some kind. In response, he fires two shots back... Hitting both times! This fellow's got a good enough aim to offset the drawbacks of a short bow.

BRIN
13 points of damage.

Meanwhile, ignoring the riders, Fermor plods toward the bridge. He's about halfway there!

And the first two outriders catch up to Maple, slashing and riding by... But her nimbleness and armor spare her any real hurt. Another one rides up to save his friend from the giant wolf, and he manages a gouging wound to Alistar's flank!

ALISTAR
5 points of damage. Not a crit, though.

The final one rides toward Roqoan, building up steam for a charge. Looks like he means to trample the sorceror...

[Sithis]

Alistar

The massive wolf lets out a snarl as it's flank is pierced. It's body begins to morph and change. It's form is not made for battle after all, it's for hunting and chasing. No, there's a much more efficient shape for fighting.

The werewolf lets out a howl as it attacks the unhorsed rider.


Move Action: Switching to hybrid form. I don't THINK this provokes AOOs, but I could be wrong. I hope I'm not.

Standard Action: Longsword attack against the dude on foot. With a large longsword. Hells yah.
1d20+9
Damage
2d6+6

In Case of Crit

Confirmation:
1d20+9
Damage
2d6+6


If for whatever reason I can't attack. (Not close enough or something.) Then Alistar howls and does an intimidate check instead.
[roll0] +1 more if these guys count as brigands or outlaws.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin grimaces as the arrows strike her, the bastard got lucky that's about it... steeling herself she lets loose another flurry of arrows at the so called archer.

Boo urns to DM luck and player curse... the fact that you also rolled good damage is also lame so another ki point to get a third arrow and another 2 perfect strikes... hopefully I don't get rng screwed again

to hit [roll0]
perfect strike [roll1]
[roll2]

to hit [roll3]
perfect strike [roll4]
[roll5]

to hit [roll6]
[roll7]

[Morbis Meh]

Rolling crit confirm... [roll0]
damage if applicable [roll1]
Wow... if that isn't overkill then nothing is... 42 dmg in that round should kill the archer pretty quickly

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan keeps an eye on the rider charging at him. He focuses his mind and lets a little ball of golden particles explode at the rider and his horse, hoping to blind them in the process.
If they still keep charging at him, he will wait until the horse is close and step out of the way once it can't change it's course anymore.

Glitterdust at the rider, the horse will be affected and need to make it's save as well.
Will negates, DC 16. 4 Rounds.

If the horse keeps coming at him Roqoan will take a 5 foot step at the last moment, hoping the thing will miss him.

AC 16, HP 20

[SamBurke]

Fermor keeps up his run, panting just a little bit at the exertion. "Dwarves... 'n' Cross Country... or is it sprints? You know the rest..." At long, long, last, he reaches the bridge, and plants his massive towering shield at the edge of its wood. "Ye come... no... further, beasts!" His ragged voice can barely get out the battle cry, a sorry sight indeed.


It just had to be done. (http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000150/quotes)

Am I there yet? :smallbiggrin:

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Evil seems to bring more Evil... How sad. Maple aims towards one of the Horsemen (Within 40ft from her current position) and fires at shot from her Hackbut.

Move Action: If needed to get in range (up to 20ft of Movement)
Swift Action: Focused Aim (Grit 4/5)
Standard Action: Double Hackbut Shot VS Rider's Touch AC
- Attack: [roll0]
- Damage: [roll1]
- Crit Attack (20): [roll2]
- Damage (x4): [roll3]

[Lost Demiurge]

The downed rider gasps, as Alistar slashes across him... But he's still fighting. Well, trying to. His desperate cuts are easily parried.

The horseman now flanking Alistar tries his own attacks, to better effect!

ALISTAR
That'll be 8 points of damage, then.

Meanwhile, Maple blows away the lead rider in one shot. Swearing, his partner goes in for a charge... And manages to catch the small halfling with a solid gouge.

MAPLE
8 points, as you are sabred a good one!

Brin puts the best three shots of her life into the bow-wielding rider, rocking him back onto his horse.

And yet... And yet, the bastard is clearly a cut above the other riders, as he does not fall.

Instead, he wheels and rides back toward the chasm. Brin catches the flash of glass as he drinks a potion as he retreats.

But he's not back to the chasm and cover JUST yet...

And as the last rider bears down upon Roqoan, a SHINY burst of powder explodes out of nowhere in his face!

The rider is fine.

The horse is not.

The rider is thrown by the horse, and struggles to his feet, swearing, glowing, and clearly ready to charge Roqoan once he gets his balance... Meanwhile, his horse gallops around in circles, blinded and panicked.

------
And huffing and puffing, Fermor gets to the circled wagons. The gypsy mage leans on a wagon, nursing a gouged side, but the piles of ash that were riders are a testament to his skill. The ones that weren't immolated are busy being dragged off their horses and hacked to bits by angry Sczarni.

"De... De ward..." The mage indicates the ruined circle of salt. "Dey wrecked it. Please. Please help hold the dead back. Until I can safely let my las' resort free. Jus' hold them, slow'em down as many as ye can."
He retreats to his wagon.

Meanwhile, Fermor sees spectral skeletal figures marching through the nearby mist. Marching off the end of the bridge. They point to the camp, and a high, keening wail comes from their midst. There look to be about 20 in the first wave, with no visible weapons.

And above them, comes the beat of enormous wings. From on high, a spectral warrior riding a see-through moth the size of a wagon descends, diving toward the ground... His eyes are glowing pits, lost in his helm.

KNOWLEDGE RELIGION DC 20
Those spectral skeletons are probably some manifestation of the mist. Normal weapons won't hurt them, and magical ones will just slow them down. Positive energy is your best bet at disrupting them.

That moth-rider, though? That's a wraith. Those things are DEADLY. Incorporeal as well, so you'd need magical weapons just to have a chance at hitting it, and even then it's tough to land a solid strike.

[SamBurke]

"Die, monsters! It be time to meet your maker, and suffer for your wrongs again!" Fermor pulls out his war axe, and grins a gleaming grin to match its dark, sharp, angles. "Now I wonder what you lot are... probably shoulda paid more attention to the other faiths. Never thought it'd be much matter out on the frontier."


I am unfortunately not trained in Knowledge Religion. Fail cleric is fail.

[roll0] (If needed)

I cast Mage Armor.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan is glad he's not getting charged anymore, but there's still that rider to take care off. He had hoped to blind him, but this'll just have to do.
He clears his mind and conjures two magical arrows to throw at the rider.

Magic Missile at the rider.
missile1 [roll0]
missile2 [roll1]

[Morbis Meh]

A smirk forms at the corner of the Dwarven archer's mouth as she watches the coward turn tail and ride away, though it would be satisfying to kill the bastard she notices the man going for Roqoan. A lump forms in her thraot, she is conflicted but tears her eyes away from the coward and puts her sights on the would be threat to My Man... no one touches him. Calming herself, Brin puts all the focus she can muster into her shots, picturing each shot before she does it, drawing the target nearer to her within her minds eye. She feels peace and serenity within her soul as she draws the first arrow, take extra percautions to aim it true. She lefts it fly with a silent prayer, one for vengeance against the fool that dare harm Roqoan. The next two arrows are simply a follow up, shots in the dark that may or may not hit their mark.

Sweet baby budha I am sure glad we have a cleric right now or we would be severly pooched... anyways ki (3/7 left) point for another three arrows and I am using my last perfect strike on the guy attacking Roqoan.
To hit 1 [roll0]
Perfect Strike [roll1]
Damage [roll2]

To hit 2 [roll3]
Damage [roll4]
To hit 2 [roll5]
Damage [roll6]

[Sithis]

Alistar

The werewolf lets out a roar as it is injured once again. Against two enemies at once, there is only one thing it can do. With a weapon in each hand, it attempts to cut down both enemies at once.


Right. I'm attempting to hit the already injured man with my shortsword, and the other guy who keeps attacking me with my longsword. And then my bite attack goes the injured guy if he survives the first attack, or the other guy if he doesn't. If they both die from their first attacks...uhh..any other enemy in range? Which I think is no one?

Longsword Attack
1d20+9
Damage
2d6+6

Shortsword Attack
1d20+8
Damage
1d8+6

Bite
1d20+3
Damage
1d8+6

In case of Crit

Longsword Confirm
1d20+7
Damage
2d6+6

Shortsword Confirm
1d20+6
Damage
1d8+6

Bite Confirm
1d20+3
Damage
1d8+6

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple looks at her wound, then looks at her gun, then looks at the Rider with a very unamused stare.

"So then... Why are you guys here again? Depending on your answer, you might not end up like the last few guys."

Diplomacy/Intimidate: [roll0]
Or
Bluff?: [roll1]

[Sithis]

And I once again prove that I am unable to roll the dice properly. :smallsigh:

Let's try this again.

Edit: That's pretty friggin' meh. And I apparently wrote it wrong too. The shortsword and longsword attacks should only be at +7 and +6 respectively. :smallsigh:

Longsword Attack
[roll0]
Damage
[roll1]

Shortsword Attack
[roll2]
Damage
[roll3]

Bite
[roll4]
Damage
[roll5]

In case of Crit

Longsword Confirm
[roll6]
Damage
[roll7]

Shortsword Confirm
[roll8]
Damage
[roll9]

Bite Confirm
[roll10]
Damage
[roll11]

[Lost Demiurge]

The rider by Maple pauses a minute. "Just doing my job," he says. Then he glances back at the fleeing archer, and the misty cloud of evil starting to envelop the Sczarni camp. "Hell, there goes my employer. I'm out. Nothing personal." He sheathes his sword, and rides like mad after the archer.

For the dehorsed rider by Roqoan, it IS personal! He staggers forward and tries a cut at the sorceror, who manages to evade. Bombarded by magic missiles and arrows from Brin, he goes down to one knee, gasping. "Yield. Fine, @%#%@% it, I yield."
Alistar finishes off the dehorsed rider with a solid sword-thrust... The man gurgles as his blood waters the soil. The last rider shakes his head, and withdraws, spurring his horse to follow the fleeing archer.

And the first rank of skeletal phantoms is on Fermor! The spiritual weapon slices at the nearest one, who keens and draws back.. Curiously enough, two more seem to follow him. But three more claw at Fermor, their hands passing right through him. Though they do no damage, his mind is bombarded with images of blood, death, the land itself being torn apart, and a mighty battle lost for nothing...

FERMOR
Take 16 points of nonlethal damage, and roll me a will save, DC 16. If you fail, take 2 points of wisdom damage as the images assail your mind...

And still more skeletons don't stop at Fermor. Oozing around him almost like water, they breach the perimeter of the camp, as Sczarni scramble back from them, shouting...

And above, the mothrider pauses, hovering as it considers Fermor. Finally, lowering its spear, it spurs its mount into position for a diving charge, even as another mothrider wings into view out of the mist...

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Things seem to be wrapping up here. If anything, we stopped a few more bandits or something... Maple thinks.

Maple then looks towards the camp.

"I'm going to check on Hotblooded Fermor."

Maple reloads her Gun and heads out to the camp.

[SamBurke]

So this is where I die? Hm.


Fermor groans for a second, and begins to pant harder. "Wha... wha.... what's all that? Who are ye, monsters!" He gathers a pulsating orb of brilliant white-gold light, and sheathes the tip of his axe in it. "I beseech the blessin's of all those who hate evil in the world."


DnDSheets is acting up, so I'll post HP totals here. Current HP=15. AC=21. Not that AC matters with these folks.

I also cast Bless Weapon, which makes it Good Aligned, and allows me to hit incorporeal creatures, if they're evil. I hope they are!

[roll0] Glad I'm a Cleric Right now...

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"I accept your surrender." Roqoan says to the man. "I am now going to leave you here so i can go help my allies. You will remain here, when i get back we will ask you some questions. Play your cards right and you will live and even get something out of it, perhaps work or a place to stay.
Oh, and if you know something that can help me, let me know now.
If not, i'll see you when this is over."
Roqoan will then run after Maple towards the camp of the gypsies.

Diplomacy to get that guy to trust Roqoan a bit and stay where he is and to get him to tell something usefull: [roll0]

Full round action: run after Maple 120ft.
I think that takes Roqoan within 40 or 50 ft from the camp. If Roqoan is closer than i think, he will stop about 20 ft from the camp just to be safe.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar watches briefly watches the riders escape before turning his attention to the horde of ghosts moving across the bridge. With little idea of what else to go, he begins running over there to help Fermor.


Full Run (120 feet) toward getting over there.

Not that I can actually do anything once I get there. But Alistar doesn't know that.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin looked around, watching the transleucent horrors attack the dwarven priest, she knew she wouldn't be able to help him and would only succeed at wasting arrows but she couldn't just sit and watch the man die. Calming herself she focuses her soul energy into her arrows, she did not know if this would work but she would try none the less. Taking aim at the large flying apparition poised to charge the dwarf, Brin says a quick prayer and lets her arrows fly.

I have been realizing that i have been doing flurry of blows wrong... I have been short changing myself because you treat your BaB equal to your monk level... damnit lol Anyway using Ki strike on my arrows so they count as magical to overcome damage reduction which at the very least should hit the ghosts... I hope.

to hit [roll0]
damage [roll1]

to hit [roll2]
damage [roll3]

[Lost Demiurge]

The skeletal figures surround Fermor now, though hesitant, due perhaps to the holy light glowing from him. They claw nonetheless, and the claws seem almost to scrape through his soul, drowning him with memories that were never his own...

And the spiritual weapon continues to chop at them, driving a few of them back. Something seems odd in the way they move, though...

And more lurch off of the end of the bridge. At least another ten, surging forward with the mist, passing around Fermor like water...

KNOWLEDGE RELIGION DC 20
The skeletons aren't individual creatures. This is the manifestation of a curse... The mist itself is probably the "creature", such that it is.

The mothriders, though? Those are wraiths.

FERMOR
10 points of nonlethal this round! Another will save, DC 16. Fail and take 2 points of wisdom damage.

Behind him, the Sczarni draw back hastily, but the few creatures that have pushed through claw at them too. One youth falls, frothing at the mouth, and thrashing. The remaining Sczarni are dropping their spears and drawing flaming branches out of the fire, hoping for the best.

Above, one of Brin's arrows passes through the mothrider, but the other seems to catch something, and tear at its form! It whips its eyes around, and goads the moth into a stuttering flight, soaring to a position directly above the scarred archer.

Another one, however, emerges from the mist and looks below. Something about Maple seems to incite it, as it starts a descent toward the tiny paladin...

Meanwhile, Maple, Roqoan, and Alistar reach the outskirts of the camp. Sciotto looks up from using his torch to drive one of the skeletons back a bit? "You again? Whatever! Grab a torch and fight until Barn Owl's ready!"

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Knowledge (Religion): [roll0]

Edit: (All Bolded stuff will be the changes made due to passing the Knowledge check and knowing what Maple is fighting):

Knowing the enemies to be Wraiths,

"These are no normal undead. The riders are Wraiths while the Mist is summoning the Skeletons... Be wary!"

Maple aims at the Mothrider. Although she really just wants to hit the Rider over the Moth with her next shot.

"You are no friend. Smite Evil"

She then fires.

Swift Action: Focused Aim (4/5 Grit)
Swift Action: Smite Evil (0/1)
Standard Action: Hackbut Shot VS Mothrider Touch AC
- Attack: [roll1] +5 = [26]
- Damage: [roll2] -4 = [14]
- Crit Attack (20): [roll3]
- Damage (x4): [roll4]

[Sithis]

Alistar


OOC: Unless you'd rather I have to make some kind of check, I'm assuming Alistar knows enough to realize these are ghosts from Evenholm. (At least, I assume they are. Mothriders and whatnot. Which might give him some clue as to where he is!)


Wraiths and a Mist that summons ghosts? I think I'm a bit out of my depth here.

Regardless, he rushes forward, dropping his swords as he does, and grabs some torches. He then advances on the ghosts, growling as he does. "You are a long way from your mountain, ghosts of Evenholm. Go back to your shadows and leave us be."


Dropping the swords as a free action.
Not sure what the stats would be for flaming branches/torches so...
Really, I'm not sure what any of these actions are. I assume picking up the torches would be a move action, and that I still have to move to either get to the torches or get to the enemies. Which means all I can do this round is grab torches.

If I can get torches and still be in range of an enemy, I'll attack.
[roll0] That's just my generic roll with no modifiers. I guess just take any improvised weapon modifiers or whatever out of that.

If I can't attack, but I still have my standard action...uh...try to intimidate the wraiths? They're intelligent, so they can be intimidated. Right? Yah, I'll go with that.
[roll1]

Edit: Yah, NOW I would get good rolls.

[SamBurke]

Fermor tries to push the memories out of his mind, but he can't. "I wanted to be there! I would have saved you, Vezair! I TRIED! I DID!" He sobs for a moment, and lashes out with his axe, cutting into the nearest monster.


[roll0]

[roll1]
[roll2]

Question: Do I get AoOs?

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Hit them with a burning piece of wood? Not for me, thank you." Roqoan says. "I'll just do something about those flying things. Wraiths or whatever."
Roqoan pulls out the wand that can shoot lightning. He knows it has one charge left, if only he can get the damn thing to work.
He aims at the one hovering over Brin and hopes for the best.

Lightning bolt (5th lvl) aimed at the one flying over Brin.
UMD, i think it's DC 20: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Morbis Meh]

Brin cracks a smile at seeing her arrow tear through the undead and breathes deeply when she watches it approach her. Not wasting any time, Brin begins firing arrows at the vile aparition.

So if I am reading this correctly, as long as I have a ki point in my pool then my strikes are all considered magicl for the purpose of DR... thus I can use my swift action to get my extra arrow for FoB which I will do (2.7 points left) also i take it point blank shot is in effect. If the wraith is dead before Brin shoots then let the arrows hit the things surrounding Fermor
To hit 1 [roll0]
damage [roll1]

To hit 2 [roll2]
damage [roll3]

To hit 3 [roll4]
damage [roll5]

[Morbis Meh]

I think PF allows crits on undead does it not? if so then here's my roll to confirm
[roll0]
damage [roll1]

[Lost Demiurge]

Brin's shots tear through the wraith above her! Two go awry due to some weird quirk of its being, but the third one seems to hit something vital, as it staggers before recovering. It begins its descent, but Roqoan's lightning bolt catches it in the side, and tears it into wisps of vapor. With a scream of anger, the wraith bursts into black fire and is gone.

The one above Maple takes the bullet, as it punches a large hole through its chest! Angered and smoking from the holy attack, it dives down and THROUGH the paladin, ripping as it goes!

MAPLE
6 points of negative energy damage! Also, give me a DC 15 fortitude save. Fail, and take 4 points of constitution drain.

It ends up at ground level, surveying the surroundings. Sczarni flee from it, and a middle-aged takes a blackened wound from a longspear as it lashes out at them, too. She drops, shaking and pale.

Alistar beats at the misty skeletons with his torch, and at the touch one of them puffs into foul vapor! Oddly enough, two more behind it puff in a similar fashion.

And as he utters the word "Evenholm", the skeletons suddenly stop. One by one, their glowing eyesockets turn to face him, and they press forward, ignoring other targets to assault the werewolf...

ALISTAR
11 points of nonlethal damage as they claw at you. And as they do, your mind is assailed by memories of a terrible battle, of undead marching against mothriders, and the land itself being rent asunder by horrible magics... Make a DC 16 will save, or take 2 points of wisdom damage.

Alistar's declaration buys Fermor some time! His weapon and the spiritual weapon by him lash out at the skeletons, and four of them perish in puffs of greasy mist. They seem to have forgotten the Sczarni for the minute, but the rush is NOT stemmed. The next rank is almost up to the camp, and the mist seems to keep churning the damned things out. Fermor is an iron block in the river of the dead, but they Just... Keep... Coming...

FERMOR
I'm rolling the AoO's for you, to save time. They're factored in to the EOT report.

And then, from Barn Owl's wagon, an inhuman voice that sounds like a chorus of many tones at once rings out. You shouldn't be able to hear it over the noise of the keening dead, but you do... And after a second you realize, that you didn't hear it with your EARS.

The voice says, simply, "YoUR BaRGAin iS aCCEpted."

Sciotto, swinging a torch by Alistar's side, takes a second to choke out a few sobbing words of his own. "Gods help us all..."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin doesn't hesitate and immediately refocuses her efforts on the mothrider targeting Maple. Quickly drawing three arrows she shoots in rapid fire, hoping to stave off the foul ghost.

so I have one point left in my pool after this, so I hope these shots count!
to hit 1 [roll0]
damage [roll1]

to hit 2 [roll2]
damage [roll3]

to hit 3 [roll4]
damage [roll5]

[Morbis Meh]

here's another crit confirm
to hit [roll0]
damage [roll1]

[SamBurke]

"I would... have saved you.... I just would have..." Fermor is still sobbing, even after the monsters turned to his friend. Slowly, his hands begin to shake, and a burning-gold light tears out from underneath his skin, and explodes in a burst, covering the area around him in a clinging, holy, light.


Aaah. Thanks. I dislike AoOs myself, but I figured that we really need it.

[roll0]

Does Positive Energy heal Non-Lethal Damage? I think it does, but I don't know.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple starts to get visibly upset by the negative energy, to the point of sniffling a bit.

"Poor Specter of hatred and foul deeds, perhaps you should leave this would behind already. Allow me to aid you."

Maple outstretches a hand with a benevolent smile across her face.

Standard Action: Lay on Hands (6/6) VS Wraith's Touch AC
- Attack: [roll0]
- Damage (No Save): [roll1] + [roll2] (If Greater Mercy Applies)

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Bargain? Gods help us?
What the hell happened? What did that old idiot just do? And at what price did he do it?
Tell me what you can Sciotto, tell me everything so we can save as many of your people as we can."
Roqoan does his best to get through to Sciotto, hoping the man will see some sense and finally trust them.
He also does his best to open his mind and get some information from Barn Owl directly. He tries to read his mind and know what he just did.

Diplomacy for Sciotto: [roll0]

And Roqoan uses his Mind Reader ability on Barn Owl in his wagon. Will negates.

[Sithis]

Alistar


Will Save: [roll0]

Edit: Whelp, that's two Wisdom gone. So, is this the permanent kind of losing wisdom, or the kind where it comes back after a few days.


The ghosts' claws go straight through Alistar, and the giant werewolf lets out a whimper as his mind is assault by memories that are not his own. He wants to just curl up on the ground and cry, but the ghosts haven't stopped attacking. Nor are they likely to.

With that in mind, Alistar continues trying to fight.


Alistar continues to try to fight.

Alistar should have a torch in each hand, so two attacks! Which will be in the OOC thread.

[Lost Demiurge]

Two of Brin's arrows and Maple's energy-infused hand strike at the wraith, sending it screaming into black flames, and gone.

Alistar helps fend off the skeletons, but there are just so many reaching claws... Still, his and Sciotto's efforts are buying time for the Sczarni to drag their casualties back.

And then Fermor calls upon his god.

The power erupts from him, driving the mist back, back onto the bridge! Every skeleton that the mist leaves behind evaporates in a heartbeat, wailing as it goes!

For a second, everything PAUSES.

KNOWLEDGE ARCANA DC 20
The skeletons are not individual creatures. They are manifestations of the mist. The mist ITSELF is some kind of entity or effect.


Roqoan finds his attempt to thought-probe hit by a wall of willpower, but Sciotto trembles as he sags back, in the sudden calm. He confesses to the sorceror...

"He was tryin' fer an angel. Not one a' them stuck up types, one a' them animal things instead. Whatchacallums. But the book he used, the book was flawed. He got... It ain't a fiend. It's worse."

Barn Owl's wagon cracks. The roof of it is shredded, as something LARGE unfolds itself, and slithers out of the frame.

From the lower body down, it is a massive serpent, with scales that seem to shift as the light hits them between brilliant shimmering green to sudden rainbow sprays of color that hurt your eyes to look at.

The torso itself is that of a muscular human male, but the arms end in raven's claws. The head itself is of something like a raven, bearing a crown of what appears to be shifting mercury held in a loose framework of invisible force. Three eyes blink out from the beaked face, and those eyes are white pits of pure light that seem to swirl in all directions at once, as you look upon them.

It flexes its claws and speaks. And as it does so, a current of whispers flood the area around it;

"GrEEtiNgs AnD SAluTaTions, ENSlaVeD ONeS. a PAx AGaiNSt VIolEnCe, tHAt tHiS hUMBlE mARqUiSe MaY CoMpleTE iTs TasK. wILl yOu ConCUR?"

The whispers tug at your thoughts, alien and disquieting...

-Even numbers of appendages? All of them? Boring, and easily fixed...Ah! Wait, no scissors...
-The small one is tainted and lost, pity, no time to help her... Perhaps a puppet show? Possible, need puppets...
-The angles are wrong. The angles are wrong. The angles are wrong. The angles are wrong...
-The sun has only one color? I must tell my liege, she'll laugh until the berries grow and the serpents descend...
-Oh, they're all full of smaller life! Wouldn't take much to make it grow...
-What is this green stuff I rest upon and why must it scream so? I wonder if it would scream if it were blue...
KNOWLEDGE - THE PLANES DC 23Angels are manifestations of pure goodness. Fiends are manifestations of utter evil. But rarer still and less known are the creatures of absolute law and chaos, the Inevitables and Proteans.

This is a protean, a being of unfiltered chaos. Though the exact name of the creature's type escapes you, it's clearly one of sizeable power as they go. And judging by the crown and title, it's a little more skilled than your average protean of that type.

Fortunately for everyone around, and everyTHING around, including the plants, stray animals, elements, and very essence of the planar fabric in its near vicinity, this one seems to be bound to a pact...


Barn Owl limps out of his wagon and looks around, seemingly unconcerned by the huge serpent-thing by him. His eyes go wide at the sight of Fermor channeling. "Wait, ya gotta priest? We gotta chance. Quick, quick, getta salt back inna circle, make it whole again! You, priest! Hold th' mist back with yer faith, I'll be right back!" He heads back into the wagon.

[SamBurke]

Fermor groans, and turns towards the sight. "What've ye DONE?!?" He bellows. "All together, on me!" Blue-gold streaks from his hand, and he swats it on his allies as he runs past. Every time, the gold clings to them, and deep ultramarine blue covers their bodies in a shimmering shield.


Thank heavens I had Protection against Evil, Communal prepared! I can save 3 other people, and we can make a square around him. He can't touch a 1-foot radius out from us, meaning that we can effectively fence him in if we hold out weapons and such.

I'm giving a minute apiece to Me, Maple, and Alistair. One extra minute goes to me, I think. It confers +2 AC, and +2 Saves. In addition, evil creatures cannot use natural attacks against you, nor touch anything within a one foot radius of you. You cannot have any mental stuff put over on you (no dominates or charms or any of that.), which might be nice.

Basically, I'm still putting it in, as it's a good thing to protect us.

[Morbis Meh]

A surge of adrenaline and pleasure washes over Brin as she downs another target, her masters would be appalled by her lust for battle but she didn't care this is where she excelled and she wouldn't let anyone take it from her. The sudden explosion caused Brin to reel back but it was the figure that came out that caused her to stare out in mute horror. Whatever the hell it was she knew it wasn't something to be triffled with Damn it that thing is right next to Roqoan... Steeling herself, Brin rushes down to the caravan and gapes at how the old fool walks out of the wagon non chalantly. Fermor's shout causes Brin to cringe, the fool would only make things worse Why didn't his family do a more traditional funneral, the one where everyone is passed out drunk for a month straight?

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Whoa, relax Fermor." Roqoan says, while putting a hand on the dwarf's shoulder. "That old idiot is powerfull and i have no doubt that creature he summoned is going to be out of our league. Best that we deal with one problem at the time. That thing wants a pact against violence, so we're not going to do anything violent against it.
Why don't you just do what the old man said, hold back that mist. And don't let those skeletons fool you, they're part of the mist. Manifestations of it.
The mist itself is the creature. Guard the bridge!"

Roqoan turns to the creature. "I accept your pact of non-violence, but only for as long as there is no danger to me or my allies. Only until we need to protect ourselves."

The next thing Roqoan does is run after Barn Owl and into the doorway of the ruined wagon. He quickly casts detect magic and tries to search for something that seems usefull in this fight. He yells at the old man: "Barn Owl! What is that creature? What did you do? And what are we up against? And hurry up and give me that bloody salt!"

Detect Magic and searching for something usefull.
Perception: [roll0]
And Diplomacy to get Barn Owl to tell something usefull: [roll1]

Edit: Good thing Roqoan is so charming, because being blind as a mole doesn't do him much good....

[Sithis]

Alistar


I'm writing this going off what I thought was happening. That is, I thought Fermor was running past all of us heading toward the protean thing.


Alistar let's out a triumphant howl as Fermor drives the skeletons and mist back. "Great work Fermor! If you can keep that up, then we..." This sentence is interrupted by the giant creature bursting out of the roof of Barn Owl's wagon. Alistar is momentarily struck dumb by the sight of this insane creature, and the whispers tugging at the corner of his mind. "...we might...might have a chance." WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?

Fermor's shouting breaks him out of his daze, giving him a chance to notice Barn Owl's nonchalance about the horrible creature and put the pieces together. The large werewolf move to grab and restrain the dwarf. "Fermor, no! I think that's something that Barn Owl summoned. Attacking it would probably be very bad! Besides, we need you watching the bridge. You're the only one that can do **** about those undead."


Dunno what "grabbing and restraining" would be, since I'm not actually intending to grapple him so much as just grab him by the shoulder and halt forward movement. Straight strength check maybe? What, I'll just a strength check down here, and I'll redo the modifiers for whatever it should be.

[roll0] + 6 if it's a strength check. Edit: Dice roller, you and I are going to have a conversation if you keep this up. It will not be a nice conversation. Many unkind things will be said. It will be unpleasant. Understand?

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"What... Is that? Friend? Foe?"

Maple is unsure what that summoned creature is, so she uses her detection on it.

Detect Evil on Summoned Creature.

[Lost Demiurge]

Fermor spreads forth the blessing of Glory upon himself and his friends! But they manage to hold him back from charging the... Marquise?

At Roqoan's acceptance of the pack it bows, then straightens up and nonchalantly starts to slither into the mist, taking its strange whispers along with it.

The mist, recovering from the holy burst, starts to seep back to the campsite, ghostly skeletons rising back up from the ground as it gets closer once more...

And Maple scrutinizes the thing before it goes.

MAPLE
It is not evil.

Sirocco sighs in relief, then groans as the mist starts flowing back... He points at the circle of powder, with gaps in it where the horsemen trampled. "Salt! Quick, either hold off the mist or help scoop the salt back to fill the gaps!"

-----

Meanwhile, in the remnants of the wagon, Roqoan sees that the curtain to the back is gone, revealing a chalk circle, much smudged now. Barn Owl's digging in a trunk, and finally he pulls out a heavy bound tome.

"That thing? An Imentesh Protean. Long story, tells ya later. If it does its trick, it'll solve th' mist fer now, we jus' gotta survive till den."

ROQOAN
That name combined with your previous 20 is enough, you may now read the spoiler box for the knowledge-planes check that you didn't make before.

"De mist is part of a curse. Undead come with it, like th' glowy mothwraiths, an'... Other things. Again, long story. I'mma read directly from my book, recast de circle, if yer friends can get it up an' hold off de mist an' whatever else comes out of it..." He hobbles outside again, and looks around, sighing.

"In fer a copper, in for a quart. Who wants a big weapon enchantment spell?" He leafs to a page, wincing as he does so...

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"The summoned being isn't evil. Good enough for me!"

Maple proceeds to help with the salt circle as she doesn't really have a way to combat... Mist.

But she'll repair her own wounds before helping out.

Lay on Hands: [roll0]

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar lets go of the dwarf as the creature moves past them and the mist begins advancing again. "Fermor. Bridge, undead things. Holy power, please!" He gives the dwarf a small push toward the bridge, and is about to follow when he hears Barn Owl's offer of enchantment. He hesitates for a second, before he begins walking back the other way, throwing down his torches and picking up his swords again as he goes. A moment later the huge werewolf is standing before the half-elf holding out his swords. "Yes, enchantment. That would be great."

[SamBurke]

Fermor runs back to the fight, waving his axe -which doubles as a holy symbol- and screaming, "FER GLORRRRRRRRRYYYYYYY!" His deep dwarven voice appears to be in full power, and with another bellow, he unleashes a burst of energy, setting a soul fire in the mist.


[roll0]

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan follows Barn Owl out of his wagon, he's not happy with this. Not happy at all. Between the Protean, the mist and Barn Owl, he feels like this is a disaster waiting to happen.
Once this is all over they may need to deal with this old man. Permanently....

He sees Fermor head over to the bridge to defend it, Brin comes running to the camp and Alistar and Maple are recovering a bit from the previous fight.
"That thing we just met is a Protean." He says to the others. "It's a creature of pure chaos, although it's not evil it can still be very dangerous. The crown and the 'marquis' title probably mean that this thing is powerfull. I think this one is bound to the pact that Barn Owl made. Or that i made when i accepted it's deal, i'm not sure on that one. As long as it's under this pact, we're probably safe from it.

Better get that circle repaired though, because that mist is still bloody dangerous."
Roqoan will help repair the circle with salt.

[Lost Demiurge]

Maple and Roqoan help with the circle! Sciotto, one of the few Sczarni who isn't tending to the wounded, helps scoop as well. The horsemen trampled it, but salt is salt and it can be reformed given time.

Barn Owl chants a spell from the book, and touches one of Alistar's blades, wincing as the spell unravels itself from his spellbook. He sighs, and flips to a new page. "Right. Who wants a LITTLE weapon enchant spell?"
ALISTAR
One of your swords is now a +3 weapon for the duration of this fight.

Brin makes it to the camp, managing to avoid treading on the salt circle.

And Fermor holds back the mist! The protection spell upon him seems to make the skeletal creatures hesitate, and as they do, it gives him a chance to force them back with holy might!

As the mist recoils again, something is vaguely visible on the bridge. Something BIG, and see-through...

PERCEPTION DC 20
It looked all the world like a ten-foot tall, bandy muscled and hunched over figure, carrying a mace the size of Alistar and armored to hell and back. It was incorporeal, like all the other undead of the mist...

[Morbis Meh]

Alright first things first, perception then post... just need an 8 come on dice don't fail Brin now... [roll0]

[Morbis Meh]

Brin dodges the commotion and makes her way to Roqoan she looks up at Barn Owl "Oi, old codger enchant my bow as well, we're not done yet and you will need me." Brin looks back towards the bridge and stares in horror at the shape forming and emerging from the mist By the gods, what have these fools done to stir up such hatred from the spirits? Steeling herself the dwarven lass bellows forth a loud a clear warning "IN THE MIST! THERE IS A GHOST OF A HEAVILY ARMOURED GIANT BE CAREFUL!" Quickly she looks for a good vantage point to begin her next assualt and begins moving towards it.

[SamBurke]

The dwarf stares at Brin. "Mother of all the False Gods in the Pantheons..." he mutters, looking at the bridge in apprehension. Still, he hacks away at the mist, saving another burst of energy for later. Then, just after his swing whiffs through a burst of cursed air, he sees the figure. A monstrous, vile knight, stamping his way across the Bridge. "WHAT ARE YE...!? Fermor bellows.


[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar sheathes his shortsword and takes up the other, now glowing, weapon in both hands. "Yah I think this will do nicely."

When Brin shouts about a thing on the bridge a few moments later, Alistar turns, lets out a roar of challenge, and charges toward the creature.


Alistar is going to charge the creature and attempt to kill the hell out of it. If he's not in range to do so, then he'll do a double move.

For if I can charge
[roll0] (+2 from charging)
Damage
[roll1]

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple may be helping with the salt circle, but she will not accept any gifts from the evil owl.

"Hmm, I really hope by ghost you mean a former adversary... because I can do little to ghosts now... best focus on the salt."

Maple continues putting effort into fixing the circle.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"I think i'll stay in the circle as well, i'm not going to do any good out there. I can hit the thing with something while i'm not being smashed to a pulp."
Roqoan helps Maple with the salt, unless Alistar's no longer huge. If so he'll make him huge again.

I'm not sure on how many time has passed. If more than 4 minutes have passed since we attacked those riders, Roqoan will recast enlarge person on Alistar.
If not, he'll just help with the circle.

[Lost Demiurge]

Fermor fends off the mist, which seems to be hesitating for the minute...

...And from it, the heavily-armored form of a spectral giant strides forth. Hunched over and with long, bandy arms and claws, a crooked nose poking out from a reinforced helm, and bearing a club that's WAY too large, black fire burns around the outline of the creature, and two glowing blue eyes like holes in the sky peer from behind its visor. It appears to be nothing less than some sort of undead troll.

And as Alistar charges the thing, it swipes the club in return! The massive club passes THROUGH Alistar, ripping at his soul as it goes...

ALISTAR
8 points of negative energy damage. Also a DC 17 Fortitude Save. Fail and take 5 points of constitution damage.

...But he strikes it, and his enchanted blade spills black, fiery blood. The troll-wraith grunts, and settles in for the fight...

Meanwhile, Roqoan, Maple, and Sciotto work on the circle. It'll take a few more moments to get it reassembled, though! Sciotto keeps glancing up. "Uh, fire MIGHT work on that thing? Just sayin', we got torches if you need..."

And Barn Owl's eyes widen as he tears his vision from the troll, to read from the book before touching Brin's bow. Her weapon glows, as the spell unravels from its page. "Circle won't stop THAT. Please re-kill dat ting."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin offers a vicious gin to the old man "With pleasure, though you may want to sic the Marquise on that thing or is that not apart of your deal?" Brin focuses one last time, pouring all of her energy into her shots then rapidly fires three arrows at the spectral monstrosity.

Well flurry of arrows it is and a +3 will help nicely will use deadly aim
attack one [roll0]
damage [roll1]

attack two [roll2]
damage [roll3]

attack three [roll4]
damage [roll5]

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"I don't even know what this circle is for... Well, might as well test fate."

Maple goes to grab a torch.

Move Action: Find Torch
Standard Action: Wield Torch into combat like the idiot she is. :smalltongue:

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan keeps working on the circle, he hopes to have it repaired while the others kill this thing. Again.
"I don't know how you got yourself into a craphole THIS deep, but once this is over you're going to need to give us an explanation." He says to Barn Owl

[Sithis]

Alistar


[roll0] Edit: HA! Thank you dice roller. No con damage for Alistar. Well,yet.

But regardless, Alistar currently has 10 HP left, and has 11 nonlethal damage. That blow renders him unconscious.

And that would be...four times now? Well, the other three were actually him DYING rather than just being unconscious, but I count it anyways.

Must find a way to make Alistar tougher. Some DR would have been great, but...:smalltongue:


The adrenaline keeps Alistar going for a moment after his blow falls, but just a moment. He staggers back, as the full effects of the blow from the spectral club take hold. He struggles to stay conscious, to let out a roar of challenge, but he simply can't do it. He giant werewolf crumples to the ground.

[Lost Demiurge]

(Alright, guess I'm puppeting Fermor until Sam shows up again...)

Barn Owl shakes his head at Brin. "The Marquise is takin' care o' the sickness. That thing's jes' a symptom." He winces as Alistar falls. "Mind ya, is a symptom that could munch mosta my kin here..."

All of Brin's shots are on target, but not all of them seem to be doing damage. Still, enough are getting through that the thing's showing serious damage...

The trollwraith looks down at the fallen form of your werewolf friend, and raises the mace high... And grunts, as Maple charges up to meet it! It grunts even more in surprise as its swing goes wide!

Howling in rage, it readies to slay the little paladin... And misses once more.

Barn Owl glares at Roqoan. "Wouldya believe mosta this ent my fault? This is what happens when ya work fer stupid people! But yeh, I owe ya da full story."

And Fermor hurries up to Alistar, staying just out of the Trollwraith's reach! Kneeling down, he chants a prayer, and touches the fallen werewolf's back....

ALISTAR
Heal 8 points of real damage, and 8 points of nonlethal damage, please. Remember, you are PRONE. You can stand as either a move or a standard action. Standing as a move incurs an attack of opportunity.

[Morbis Meh]

"Bah damn men and their tomfoolery! Why must we women clean up their messes?" Grumbling to herself, Brin looses another couple arrows at the ghostly troll, hoping that something happens.

Still using deadly aim...
attack [roll]1d20+11[roll]
damage [roll0]

attack [roll]1d20+11[roll]
damage [roll1]

[Morbis Meh]

Damn code lol damage also sucked pretty hard..
attack [roll0]

attack [roll1]

[Sithis]

Alistar


I seem to be in a damned if I do/damned if I don't position here. I can use the standard action to stand up, but then I can't do anything useful. And if I use the move action to move, I provoke an attack of opportunity anyway. Or I could use the move action to stand, provoke an AoO, and maybe TRY to attack. Or I could not do anything, and then probably get attacked anyway.

So no matter what I do, I'm PROBABLY going to get attacked. And if I get attacked, there's a pretty decent chance of being taken down again. So, I guess I try to do the thing that gives me a small chance of at least doing damage.


The feeling of waking up to divine energy coursing through him is getting all to familiar for Alistar. He rises, snarling and growling as he gets his head back into the fight. As the creature makes it's inevitable attack, Alistar tries to duck under it and make an attack of his own.


So, move action to stand up, gonna be eating an AoO here.
Standard action to attempt to cave it's face in.

Two-Handed Longsword attack
[roll0]
Damage
[roll1]

In case of Crit

Confirmation
[roll2]
Damage
[roll3]

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan keeps on trying to fix the salt circle, unless it's already been fixed.
If it's been fixed he'll fire some magic missiles at the troll.

I'm not sure if the salt circle has been fixed or not.
If it's still a broken circle, he'll keep his focus on that.

If it's been fixed last round, he'll fire his magic missiles at the troll.
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple goes ahead and flails the torch in her hand at the Troll Ghost, not expecting much but hoping something good comes out of it...

Standard Action: Torch Attack VS Troll Ghost AC
- Attack: [roll0]
- Damage: ? + ? Fire Damage

[SamBurke]

Fermor bellows, and unleashes another burst of energy, this one not intended to harm, but heal.


Channel Positive Energy, Healing:
[roll0]

This should help everyone get back to fighting ability...

Also, the Ancestral Weapon should still be fighting, if I understand the spell correctly. Hoping that that'll keep off the mist.

EDIT: I think that was my last healing. Let's hope this battle goes well...

[Lost Demiurge]

And as Alistar stands up, the mace comes down again...

But its cold touch is not enough to drop the rugged werewolf.

And as Maple draws its attention with the torch, dodging its strike in return, and Brin pelts it with arrows, a single massive sweep of Alistar's blade is enough to send the thing screaming into black ash.

From there, it's the work of scant moments to repair the salt circle, and Barn Owl ushers everyone inside. He flips his book to the last page and chants, sighing in relief as the circle snaps UP, surrounding the camp, clinging to the salt and making it glow with an eerie luminescence.

The mist billows forth across the bridge, as if it is filled with rage! But it breaks against the circle. Leering skeletal faces scrap long phantasmal fingerjoints across the circle, to no avail. Every square inch of space outside the circle is filled with spectral skulls, clutching claws, and seething mist.

"We're safe enough fer now," says Barn Owl. "De mist draws power from de essence it steals. If we'd hadda circle up from de start, it would only be a few hours wait. But de riders... And den it got life force from you an' de kinfolk it hurt. So it'd be goin' fer days, mebbe. So we best wait for de Marquise to do his job."

Wearily, he sits down, helped by Sciotto and a few of the Sczarni brave enough to emerge from the wagons. A few of the women emerge and start cooking lunch over the fire.

"So we got time. Whaddya want ta know? Where do I start?"

[Morbis Meh]

Brin shoulders her bow and gives a poisonous look at the old codger "Everything and from the beginning, don't mince words or we will leave you to your fate. We only came by to make sure you kept your word and left these lands for good. IF it was only you and a few of your kidnappers we would have left you to die but even i won't let innocent women and children die for some old fool's mistake."

[SamBurke]

Fermor dashes like a crazed dwarf, tumbling down the hill with screaming mist behind him. It tears the ground, and claws at the edges of his armor. "Helllllllllllllllllp!" He suddenly trips, and his thick, Herculean plate mail traps in a bouncing, crashing, roll all the way down the hill, before he slams against the side of a wagon and comes to rest. "I didn't order... tha much ale..." He coughs out, trying -and failing- to stand up again.

[Lost Demiurge]

Barn Owl sighs and stirs the fire. "Live as long as I do, see what ghosts YOU get. But awright... Way back about three hunnert years ago, the River Kingdoms was REALLY unstable. Too many players, not enough land. Lotsa people strugglin' to make sure dere folks ended up on top. Into this, comes my folks. Clan of mostly half-elven gypsies, with a wild notion o' makin' a half-elf nation and stickin' it to da humans. We were young and dumb's, my excuse." He brushes his hair back for the first time you've known him. Sure enough, his ears are somewhat pointy.

"I was a spy back then. Heada their covert ops. Had about as much magic as dirt. So bear in mind I ain't at fault for what happened later. Ennyways..."
"Ever hear a' Pitax?" He spits into the fire. "It was around back then, too. Rich city-state, west of here 'bout a hunnert miles or so. Pitax was ruled by a nutjob called Irovetti. Pitax was rich, but low on troops that was worth a damn. Which was bad, 'cause they had some neighbors dat weren't nice at all. See, there used to be a single mountain, west a'here, not far. A single mountain called Evenholm."

He shudders. "Everyone feared 'em. They hated anyone wasn't them. They were all pale, big eyed, quiet. Had some sort 'a weird mind thing going, could talk wi'out talking amongst themselves. Rode giant moths..." He falls silent for a bit, stirring the fire.

"The mountain's gone now. So are they, 'cept for a few old ghosts. The land's all swamp now, the Hooktongue Slough. But back in the day, they had the troops and they had the hatred, and they had the rich city of Pitax not far from dere doorstep."

"So Pitax goes looking for mercenaries. And like chumps, my kin sign up. Which y'know, ain't bad. Money's decent. Put our forces and Pitax together, and we're tough enough to do some damage. Could DISCOURAGE Evenholm, probably not win without help, but it'd be a fight and we could maybe get more help later."

"Bout this time, I get kidnapped by fae. No @$@%@! Boss sent me to track down info on an unseelie lord far to the southwest, and well, turns out his servants are good at spottin' spies. So I spend a few months gettin' torchered. Happens."

"I get back and I find things have fallen apart."

"My stupid, STUPID leader went and took a bribe from de Evenholmers to let'em through without a fight. Pitax gets stomped, but enough of the folks and all of the leaders flee that they lose their land, but still manage to stick together as refugees. And what's worse, dey was watching us when we betrayed 'em. They let the River Kingdoms know that we're untrustworthy liars."
He sighed. "Yeah, we deserved it. But hell, whatcha gonna do? Our boss made a bad call. Wasn't even enough of a bribe to do much, it was like a chest of gold is all."

"Then, if that weren't bad enough, we get butthurt 'cause our honor's been impugned. HONOR! HAH!" He spits in the fire again, looking sour.

Sciotto pats his shoulder. "Hey, grandad, you don't gotta be so rough. Different times, and it weren't yer fault..."

Barn Owl shifts. "I coulda said somethin'. Coulda done somethin'. But I followed orders, cause the kid was the boss. Eh. Tears in the rain..."

He shudders. "And it was nothing, compared to what happened NEXT."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"What happened next?" Roqoan says. He has been listening intently to the story of the old man. He's taking notes of the story to make sure he doesn't forget anything.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Daggermark happened next." Barn Owl's face twists. "It's an assassin's guild masquerading as a nation. See, there's no unny versal laws in de River kingdoms, but dere's these things called the Six Freedoms. All de big nation's respeck them, or say they do, ennyways. And one a' the big ones is simple. Oathbreakers Die."

"So since we're caught in an oathbreaking, Daggermark notes, mildly, that their assassination prices for oathbreakers are really pretty cheap. ZING! My boss gets scared, and goes and cuts a deal with Pitax. We help them out, an' Pitax stops accusin' us of oathbreaking, an' Daggermark accepts their flimsy story. We help Pitax out, which is fine. But then my DUMB boss decides eh, might as well reclaim our HONOR! He starts preparin' for an attack on Evenholm."
He looks into the fire, and sighs. "He blabs too much. Not much I can do. Evenholm figgers we're coming for'em, thanks to de blabbin', and launches a pre-emptive strike. Most of us die. The refugees end up goin' into Gralton, the only safe place nearby. Gralton's got a big *@$@$!@-off army, big enough ta match Evenholm. We're down to like six wagons of folks. Our fighters are all DEAD. Evenholm ain't but barely scratched."

"We get MAD. My boss goes to a few of our witches. A few of us say hey, maybe we better cut our losses but no, his HONOR was offended."
He's crying by this point.

"It's his stupid @%@%!%^ PRIDE. He never had any damn HONOR to start with."

"So he figures hey, we got a lotta dead people around. And hey, most a' Pitax's civilians got massacred by Evenholm too, and they're right over there. So let's summon up all them dead and point'em at Pitax! And de witches, damn dere stupid eyes, say "Sure, we can do that."
He throws his walking stick against a wagon, in anger.

"Course, we can't do it quiet. So everyone and 'dere mother knows we're workin' uncontrolled necromancy in a big @#$%@!% off ritual of vengeance. Dumb, dumb, DUMB!"

"We also cut a deal with the one nation worse den Evenholm, but that worked out pretty good. It worked out good because I FRIGGIN' WAS IN CHARGE OF IT! The Wisps came THROUGH, dammit! But anyways..."

"When de hordes finally rise and march, we're behind 'em in one big glorious stupid macho last-ditch throw. But it ain't jus' Evenholm, we're up against. No, a few other folks take exception to big, unholy rituals."

"See, there was a groupa wizards lived around here, in the middle of a swampy mess. They worked a ritual of their own, to make the land itself crack, burn, and rise up against 'de undead. Those undead we friggin' did de unholiest of rites to get, gone inta ash. And behind the spellwave, nothin' but moths. Oh, and Verdagathrous himself..." He shudders.

"Verdagathrous the Green. The Emerald Tyrant, the Scourge of the South, Warlord of de Maze. Eh, but I'm gettin' sidetracked." He makes a warding sign.

"This swamp you see? Slagged remnants of what used to be th' land here, thanks to the wizard's ritual. Unsurprisingly, our people die. Down to about a single wagon of folks, we flee. We get de hell out of de River Kingdoms. We go find other travellin' folks, marry into 'em, and decide to go seek fate elsewhere."

"But in a few decades, once things have settled down and the caravan I end up with passes near the old battlegrounds again... Well. Turns out the dead are still here. Turns out that the dead still remember."

He shakes his head. "Issa curse on de land itself. Curse on me, on de survivors, an' all our line. Anyone wi' my blood... The deadfog rises, an' calls 'em to task for what they done."

He sighs. "Eh. That's the ancient history. You probably wanna know about more recent stuff, though. Lessn' ya got questions about de past?"
He looks around. One of the women retrieves his walking stick. The others start serving the lunch stew, along with hunks of warmed bread. They're only shaking a bit, when they get near the grasping walls of the dead surrounding the circle...

[SamBurke]

The dwarf stands quietly at the edge of the circle, completely ignoring the chaos behind him. "That be a sad tale, me friend... Sad indeed. How long will these monsters attack us? Do we have time to prepare...?"


Best. Monologue. EVER.

Is that in the Adventure Path, Lost, or did you write it?

[Morbis Meh]

Brin listens quietly, her left eye begins to twitch the more she hears. When the old man was finished she began speaking in a slow, measured tone but her body was shaking slightly indicating the cold furry she was holding back "So you basically have us involved in a blood curse do you? Are we now included in your lovely mistake? Can we now never cross this point without being assailed by the ghosts of your past?!? You bloody idiots, despite you being away it doesn't mean a spit in the long run you could have simply killed your stupid leader or at the least exiled him for the good of your people. Don't give me no back talk about loyalty, true loyalty is standing up to the leader when they've dun goofed not following blindly like a whipped dog." Standing up suddenly the dwarf leaves grumbling loudly about men and their endless stupidity.

[Lost Demiurge]

Barn Owl sighs, as he looks at Fermor. "Relax. The Marquise does its job, the fog'll be gone 'fore the circle goes. I hadda plan for yez back at the post, but things got scuttled after we broke up de firs' time. And dem riders... Yeah, dem riders scuttled it worse."

He looks over to Brin, and glares.

"No, you ain't tainted by de curse. Unlike some'a de folks here, you ain't got my blood."
He spits in the fire, still glaring.

"And it's easy ta judge, sittin' here now. It's easy to see from yer lofty perch a centuries an' people who you ain't care about no one way or t'other. Easy ta judge, an' blather about greater goods, an' worthless."

"Because I tell you dis. I ain't a good man, and I done things that make devils laugh, but I DO NOT KILL MY OWN KIN."

"An' I'm honestly surprised to hear a dwarf advocatin' otherwise. S'more of a duergar thing."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin stops and begins laughing she turns around and grins "Oh but you did kill your kin, a lot of them, through standing idly by you are in fact worse than your leader. At least he had the excuse of being prideful and stupid but you KNEW what was going on and just watched as your kin was slaughtered but no you didn't directly kill your kin just raise their corpses from their graves. For the record, I am a dwarf by blood only, I have no clan so I tend to actual think instead of follow blindly. I will respect the ways of others but that doesn't mean I won't comment on their stupidity." Shaking her head, Brin keeps walking away.

[Lost Demiurge]

Brin finds her stalk interrupted by the edge of the circle. It's hard to stalk effectively when the only option for a dignified retreat leads into the arms of angry ghosts.

Barn Owl sighs, and turns back to the others. "So. Any other questions 'bout da past?"

[Sithis]

Alistar


So, did I take any damage in that last round there, or was it not enough to really worry about?

Also, given the "WHERE EVENHOLM AS IS JUST WEST OF HERE" bit, I'm assuming Alistar could now figure out where he is/has been without a check.


Alistar stood quietly through this whole story. He had already returned to his human shape, ignoring the pain and soreness left over from the wounds sustained (and healed) in the fight. Well, the physical ones healed, anyway. He'd probably be having nightmares for a while.

But he stood and listened. And pondered. And thought. And after Barn Owl reached the end of his story, Alistair was glancing around, as if trying to find his bearings. "If Evenholm was where the Hook Tongue Slough is now...it's just west then, that would mean..." And then, realization. And he begins laughing. "The Nalmarches? How did I not realize this! He glances back to the east, where they came out of the forest. And then he looks back to Barn Owl. "The Nalmarches were the Deep Forest, back then, wasn't it." He looks back to the east with a smile on his face. I can't believe it, I've been there this whole time! The names! It must be, we've always refered to places by their old names, but when we left, they named them something else!" He pays no attention to anything else, he's just to excited now.

[Lost Demiurge]

SITHISSorry, forgot to mention. You took 4 points of damage is all.

And no, no check is necessary. What's left of Evenholm is just over the bridge, where the Slough is now. Northwesty of here is the old, empty Azurite territory. More westy and a bit south of here is Pitax, which still stands today.

So yeah, Oleg's trading post and the Greenbelt are right in the middle of the northern stomping grounds for the old Coalition Lands...

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Maybe the others have some more questions about the past, but i'd like to know about the future.
What will happen when the Marquise is done? What will happen to the mist and what will happen to us in this circle?

And what are the plans of your people? This caravan here, where will you go? What are you going to do after you're free of this curse on your blood?"

Roqoan will also look around at the wagons standing in the circle, trying to see if some of them are broken beyond repair or if most of them made it through the attack.
If they have no more homes, he thinks he might have a chance to recruit these people to his cause. After all, there's still nobody living in the tower they conquered....

I'm not sure it applies on wagons, but i'm going to roll Knowledge Engineering: [roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

The wagons look mostly repairable. The riders damaged them a bit, and a few of Barn Owl's area effects took out some of the cloth covers, but it's nothing a few good repairs won't fix.

"Right. On to da present, den." Says Barn Owl.

"So's we're doin' our thing in Brevoy, and things get BAD. Local lords start turnin' on us, pressure gets on us ta get out or face da consequences. We're onna run for stuff dat, for once, we're blameless. Trumped-up charches, alla them."

"It's clear we gotta get. But north ain't an option, ain't nothin' north. East is Iobaria, an' we got better things to do then get stomped by giants. West... For some reason, de western lords is callin' fer our blood th' loudest. No way to get west."

"Only road open to us is back through da cursed lands... I tell yez, ain't no coincidence dem riders showed up now. We been herded dis way. My money's on Pitax... Dere's still an Irovetti in charge dere, an' I guess his ancestor's grudge been handed down."

"Trouble is, this crossing's never easy. So I go to de trouble of prepping... And I set up a last resort. See, I... Acquired a book o' bindings a little while back. Was gonna use it to get somethin' the mist couldn't touch, to help with th' curse."

"Turns out that th' book is flawed. I got somethin' all right. Jus' not what I intended. And a lot bigger'n I intended. The Marquise."

"An' I'm stuck. Don't have the money ta do another binding, an' banishing him... Eh, it'd be fiffy-fiffy odds. Too fair for my blood. So I keeps him trapped in a chalk circle, figgerin' that if we don' need him I can take time an' do a propa banishin' once we get to Ustalav."

"Then we get to Oleg's, and that stupid, STUPID Brownie decides to help tidy up our wagons. She gets inna mine, middle of the night, and the Marquise KINDLY asks her to clean up all dis messy chalk onna floor."

"I'd a been three seconds later at stoppin' her, he woulda been free. And UNBOUND." Barn Owl shudders.

"#!#!$%#%! brownie. Shoulda killed her on da spot, but Sciotto was all like "No! De fey will want vengeance forever! An' it didn't mean no harm! Soft hearted idjit." Sciotto sighs, and turns his palms up.

"But eh, couldn't let her go. She might talk to bigger fey about de Protean, an' we can probly use her to get past de other fey out here. So we hang onta her, den all this happens, an' you guys flake out with alla that drama an' crap, an' we realize we can't trust you, an'... Well. Still don't trust ya, but glad ya came back. And it don't matter much anyway. Your paladin got a mad on at ME, but she ain't gonna kill my kin. And I won't matter in a bit anyway."

He looks up, and sighs in relief.

The mist is getting thinner. The skeletal forms are slowing, losing their visibility.

"It ain't gone, a'course. If my kin come dis way again, it'll appear again. But it's outta energy fer now. He disrupted the source, but it'll recover in a few weeks or so."

"He did it. Now it's time to pay de price. Now I gotta go serve HIM for quite a long time, fer dis favor... Can't back out. If I do, he becomes unbound. That's bad for everything."

He looks around.

"You came back, an' if you didn', we'd be dead. So I owe ya for dat. Got some things in my wagon, you're welcome to anythin' magical in there. Leave th' rest... My kin'll have a funeral and they'll need that to hand out, it's our way."

Sciotto puts his hand on Barn Owl's shoulder, his mouth working in grief. He's trying very, very hard not to cry.

Finally, he says... "We're going to Ustalav, like we told you before. We've got kin there. It won't be as sweet as Brevoy, but we can start over. Put a few borders between us and angry lords who were bribed to hound us and kill us."

SAMThanks for the compliments! No, this part isn't in the main path. This is part of a previous game I ran in the same area. I'm diverting a bit from the path...

[SamBurke]

HOLY INCREDIBLE WRITING BATMAN.

Holy crap, dude. Pro Points to you. Not that you weren't there already, but that puts you solidly in the top 3 DMs I've ever had. Ever.


"I don't think ai have any pursonal questions," Fermor says. "But ai do wanna offer my condolences. It's a sad, sad, day when a young life is taken. And this nearly was a lot of lives lost. I hope you do better in the future."


I'm guessing I don't have to go through the nasties of rifling in the equipment of a man like this. Roquan'll do that well enough. :smallbiggrin:

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple has been sitting by where the summoned being was, not wanting to hear much about the evil trying to explain his actions. She decides to hit up the summoned creature for conversation,

"So... Where are you from?"

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar smile fades as he turns back to the group just in time to hear Barn Owl talking about his imminent death. He solemnly approaches the old half elf. When he speaks, he speaks quietly. "I know you don't have much time, Barn Owl, but I do have questions for you. You were around at the time, what do you know about the Forest Coalition? Did you know of Darius Crowley?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Barn Owl, you said that the marquise disrupted the source of the mist and that it's out of energy now. You also said that it would reappear if your kin ever come back here.
Is there something that could be done to destroy the source of the mist, to make sure it never comes back again to haunt anyone?

I'm asking this because if something can be, we might be willing to do it.
And we also may be able to give your people a home. Remember that tower where we camped a few days ago? Well, we conquered it from the bandits here. Your people could repair the houses at the bottom of the tower and live there. You could use your wagons to tranport trade goods around the Stolen Lands. We know a Kobold tribe with a silver mine, and Oleg is probably interested in experienced wagon handlers working nearby him.

And don't worry about Pitax or people in Brevoy. We're rather popular in Brevoy and if we announce that you're now under our protection you wouldn't have to worry about that anymore.
I wont lie to you, we're still having trouble with the Stag Lord and there are probably many other problems here in the Stolen Lands. But if you're willing to work for your future we will both benefit from this.

But all of this will probably only work if you know of a way to get rid of the mist permanently."

Diplomacy roll: [roll0]

[Lost Demiurge]

Meanwhile, Maple goes looking for the Marquise, and spots him coming into the camp from back across the bridge.

It looks down at her, tilting its beaked head.

"wHY, I Am fRoM thE ShIVerInG LIMbo, MoRTal. A PLeaSaNT PLaCE oF ABsolUTE fREEdOM. NoT FIxeD AnD STagNaNT aND OveRLOadED wITH RUles, LiKE YOuR HoME, HEre. WoULD YoU CAre to SeE It? ThaT COuLD Be arRANgEd..."

And the voices whisper...

-The dead are such a nuisance here. So predictable!
-The wizard owes me the wizard owes me the wizard owes me...
-Little mortal bound to law, come to Limbo? This should be amusing. Come on, say yes, say yes...
-Their faces don't move enough. WHY DO THEY NOT FIX THIS! THEY HAVE KNIVES! IT WOULD BE EASY!
-I desire milk and cookies and a nap. I'm tired.
-You know, if they kill him then the bargain's undone and I'm free. Oh, the things I could do!

Back at the camp, Barn Owl scowls at Roqoan. "Talk with Sciotto, eh? Not me. He's th' bardo of dis band."

Then he turns his attention to Alistar. "Oh yeah... Guess that makes ya a blooded lycan, den. Makes sense, seein' as yer not tryin' ta throat us all."

He purses his lips, and thinks for a bit.

"Don' know much ta tell ya. De Coalition of de Forest used to rule all through dis part of tings. Back when we were gettin' into it wit' Evenholm, dey were gearin' up fer war. One a' the Tiger Lord clans came west from outta Iobaria. De wolves were de only ones wit' de guts ta face'em."

"We wasn't around a few years later... Heard dat mosta yer ancestors started goin' feral, bout then. A disease or summat. Some was spared, but it got so bad dat de Coalition fell apart, an' th' Emperor of Brevoy had to send a few armies down to purge werewolves, an' keep border raids an' Lycanthropy from spreadin' north. Lotta folks in Brevoy still hate an' fear weres from those times, an' if I were you I'd keep yer nature under wraps around 'em."

"I dunno. There's prob'ly some old ruins from Coalition times still around here. Crowley? Hm... Name's familiar. I think he was like a head ranger of their group. Took on a friggin' frost giant practically by himself, once. Got spanked, but lived ta tell the tale..."

Then he spots Maple talking with the Marquise. "Ghhh..." He groans, then lifts himself painfully to his feet. "Awright, awright. You did YOUR part..."
-----

Meanwhile, Sciotto turns to Roqoan. He rubs his chin. "I admit. We had some good business going in Brevoy. It'd be nice to keep it going, and easier to do so from just across the border."

"Problem is, there's no law down here, and no one in charge. Our enemies could just ride down, and kill the hell out of us wi'out fear or even much inconvenience. But this is part of the River Kingdoms, an' government's always loose around here... If that was to change, and someone was to take charge, make a kingdom, then say "no" to extradition requests, then we could maybe do business."

"Mind you, first we'd head to Ustalav and drop off Barn Owl's kin, regardless. They don't need to be around the cursed area. But if someone capable and friendly did take charge, and were to send us word in Ustalav, I reckon we could find some volunteers to come back." Sciotto grins. "Hell, the old man's my great-great-great several times grandfather, but I'm good enough that I can sneak through borders on my own when I ain't escorting caravans."

"As to the curse... Feh, I dunno. It'd take some serious resources and knowhow to deal with. A small kingdom's worth, maybe. But I guarantee you, you manage that somehow, we'll be loyal unto @%#%@^! death. We'd even be willing to grant whoever did that honorary kinfolk status!"
He winces, as he remembers something.

"A course, whoever did that would prob'ly need to smooth things over with the local fae. They're, uh, prob'ly not too happy with us right now..."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple ponders for a bit before shaking her head,

"Not sure if Sarenrae has any power there, so I'll refuse for now. I have many more things to accomplish here that take priority over my curiosity... and... well.
Okay I'll be honest, I really wanted to know if I can have a scale? I have never seen anything like it before. So how about it?"

[Lost Demiurge]

"CERtaInLy, YoU MAy haVE a SCalE."
It casually rips one off of its chest. Strange, mercury-like liquid flows briefly from the wound, starting to form a new one as you watch. It hands it over to the tiny paladin, then continues on toward Barn Owl.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin doing her best to minimize hurting her overly inflated pride looks over to the monstosity and the tiny halfling templar. 5 gold says he could crush poor Maple and do it because she looked like a good shoe... At the mention of asking for anything, Brin calmly walks over towards the curious halfling "I don't think you want to do that Maple... you have no idea what the side effects would be from such an item nor the price such a thing would ask for. I think it would be best to just let it go on its merry way and leave this plane for the rest of time..."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"After we forge our kingdom then. I'll take that bargain.
Should be within a few months anyway. We have been given the right to found a kingdom once we deal with the Stag Lord and we're on a deadline. We only have about 3 more months until he does some sort of ritual. "

Roqoan walks over to Barn Owl's wagon and starts searching for the items the old man told them they could take. He casts detect magic so he can easily locate the magic items.

[Lost Demiurge]

Roqoan goes and rummages through the wagon.

Meanwhile, outside, the Marquise looks down upon Barn Owl, who looks back up, grimacing.

"AnD yoU wiLL NOw GiVe Me As mANy YEarS oF SerVICE As the DIGiTs of Pi SumMed TOGetHER, waS thE BARgaIN, yeS?"

"Yeah, but I'll be damned 'fi know why you keep talkin' bout pies made of fingers. Let's get dis over wit'."

The Marquise stretches forth his arms, embraces Barn Owl, and lifts him into the air... And with a shimmer, the two of them are gone.

SPELLCRAFT DC 21
Plane Shift, or something similar!

Sciotto sighs, and gets the caravan organized. He glances back at the group, while getting things underway. "Hey. Yeah, we hit a few rough spots, but you came back for us. That ain't nothin'. So... Here. We owe ya, an' despite nasty rumors to the contrary, we pays our debts." He goes into his wagon and pulls out a heavy, jingling sack.

IN THE BAG
1000 gold pieces worth of gold, silver, and platinum!

Meanwhile, Roqoan finds the following items in the wagon...

STUFF


You find Barn Owl's cache of marketable items, most of which are still there... No need to ID these, you know what they do.

Potion of Shield (Level 3)
Potion of Endure Elements (Level 3)
Potion of Waterbreathing (Level 5)
Scroll of Fireball (Level 5)
Scroll of Ghost Sound
Ring of Protection +1
Lens of Detection

You also find three arrows in the back.
SPELLCRAFT DC 22
Humanbane arrows +1

And finally, a book tucked away under his bunk radiates the strongest magic of all... The aura is of conjuration, and the title is in Draconic runes.

DRACONIC
THE BOOK OF PRISMATIC BINDINGS

SPELLCRAFT DC 40
If you manage this, I'll tell you via PM.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Placing the odd scale into her bullet pouch for now,

"Hmm, he(?) didn't seem to mind."

Maple then watches as the Outsider and the Evil Owl disappear to maybe that Limbo area she heard of recently. Her attention is then drawn to the Sciotto and their gift.

"Well, we really just wanted to uphold our deal even if a reward was not given. Though this wealth may lead us to better ourselves against the Stag Lor- Oh Apples!
I almost forgot about Apples!"

Maple suddenly runs out of the camp post haste.

[Lost Demiurge]

Maple runs east!

The first thing she encounters is the wounded, surrendered enemy rider, crouching behind a rock, staring west at the camp. "Are-are the g-g-ghosts gone?" Ignoring him, she races further east, and finds that the horses are fine. Apples is pleased to see her.

Hey, Apples' mane has been braided again! And someone's put a garland of flowers around her neck!

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple gets on her hands and knees and starts hitting the ground,

"... Oh no... I was... too late. Apples!"

She then dusts herself off and regains her composure.

"Why do people keep on girlifying my Male horse? Oh well, at least you are okay."

She hops onto Apples.

"Let's get you to a safe place."

Maple will also try to lead the other horses with her, tossing the cowering guy along the way onto the back of Apples with her.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar interjects quietly as Barn Owl talks, "What happened to my people wasn't a disease, it was a curse. A going away present from Verdagathrous." Beyond that, he listens patiently to everything the old half-elf has to say. And when old Barn Owl's time comes, he watches impassively as the old man goes with the...thing.

After, Alistar walks over near the center of the camp, finds a relatively comfortable looking bit of ground, and sits down to try to relax a bit. He take a little while to sit and smoke, staring off into the forests to the east.

What is the Nalmarches. What was the Deep Forest. What was, should still be, his people's home.

"Ruins, huh?"


By the way Steckie, I suspect that Roquan and Alistar are going to have to have a talk at some point about the exact nature of this new nation we're working on. Because I have a feeling they're going to disagree.

Alistar is going to want to create Coalition of the Forest 2.0, while I'm sure Roquan would prefer Roquanistan.

[Morbis Meh]

Brin only shakes her head and grimaces as he watches the old man being carried off to Torag knows where by the hideous thing. Brin watches with slight confusion/amusement as Maple starts sprinting off, tiny legs pumping like there is no tomorrow. Brin chuckles lightly then stops abruptly Do I look like that when I run? She hesitates for a moment then continues on, shrugging the thought off, towards the wagon where Roqoan was now rummaging. "Find me anything good pretty boy, or do I just get a free view of your rear?"

No No No you both have it wrong, Brin is going to establish the Holy Brintain Empire and rule with an Iron fist, she will just hang back in the shadows and strike when you two are at your weakest :smallbiggrin: Also I believe our Werewolf should get the ring... he could use the little oomph in defence

[SamBurke]

Fermor stands, staring at the two disappearing. "Pi... together..." He looks at the sky. What's going to happen? What will that... monster... do with him? Fracture, fragment, force. It's murder of the soul. Barn Owl, you idiot! You've sold yourself for all eternity! Every year, every day, to be one of those things... What about your family? You'll just leave them behind!? The dwarf stamps over toward Sciotto, and stops. No. No. I can't allow Roquan to build himself a kingdom out of all this, to desecrate the death of a family. I know too well that pain. "Roquan! Are you still working hard on your plans of Roquinistan?" He growls.


As a note, you can't have an accent in your mind. Well, you usually don't. Hence not having one.

Darn you to heck, Lost. I got the sniffles over some stupid codgery half-elf idiot.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Brin, you can admire my rear as much as you'd like because i found you a great present. These three arrows are extremely lethal against humans.
If the Stag Lord is human you may be able to kill him with a single shot.
You were amazing today. Again." He turns to her and gives her the arrows. He stands there looking in doubt for a moment. Suddenly he bends over to Brin and gives her a little kiss on her head, just above her mask. "You saved me again today, thanks."

He quickly walks away before she decides to punch him. Or use her new arrows on him. While walking he hears Fermor ask him a question.
"Roqoanistan? That sounds dumb.
No, i'm just trying to get as much people to work for.....eeuh with me to change the Stolen Lands into a truly functinal society.
Besides, we've been promised we can found a kingdom here if we defeat the Stag Lord.
This land is ready to be pacified. It's full of opportunities. And i really want to grab every chance i have to forge a kindom here.
Anyway, i see Maple coming back with the horses and with my prisoner. I'm going to go question him."

He quickly heads over to the man Maple tossed over the saddle. He helps him get on the ground, takes a good look at him and starts talking.
"Well, i'm glad you waited for us to come for you.
So tell me, who hired you and why were you hired? Where are you from?"

He also whispers to Maple: "Psst, could you do your detection-thing."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"Sure thing Caster Roquan, though I still dislike the ruler speak. It makes me a bit worried that you might do something... Stupid."

Maple uses her detection on the cowardly Horseman.

[SamBurke]

Fermor slips over next to Maple, and whispers, "Is it just me, or does 'e seem a bit... unstable? Not dangerous, no, just... power-hungry. An' I don't feel right 'bout him just usin' the family of that man to build a kingdom. Offering safety's one thing, but... What do you think?"


I don't think there's a problem... it's just that he's emotionally connected to Barn Owl now, and he doesn't want to see another family harmed like his.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar continues sitting for a bit longer, trying to just clear his mind and- Oh gods the memories (not mine) battle and blood and death and (whose are these?) war and-

He shakes his had, trying to clear it. Seems he'd dozed off for a moment. Alistar stands, Those damn ghosts. Gotta get my mind of 'em, go do something. I could...hmmmm... Seeing Maple, Roquan, and Fermor standing together, Alistar heads over.

"Hey, I'm feelin' a bit restless. I think I'm gonna go range out a bit, see if I can't find anything interesting now that we apparently don't have to worry about dead things for a while. That alleged werewolf is supposed to out here somewhere, maybe I'll see if I can find any sign of it."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"I (still) see no reason to mistrust our Caster Roqoan, as he has done nothing (of late) to make me think ill of him. He may be ambitious, though, unless he does something unlawful to sate that ambition, I'll stick by him and his dreams... within reason."

She turns to Alistar,

"Do not do anything reckless Doggy Alistar."

[SamBurke]

Alistar

Alistar continues sitting for a bit longer, trying to just clear his mind and- Oh gods the memories (not mine) battle and blood and death and (whose are these?) war and-

He shakes his had, trying to clear it. Seems he'd dozed off for a moment. Alistar stands, Those damn ghosts. Gotta get my mind of 'em, go do something. I could...hmmmm... Seeing Maple, Roquan, and Fermor standing together, Alistar heads over.

"Hey, I'm feelin' a bit restless. I think I'm gonna go range out a bit, see if I can't find anything interesting now that we apparently don't have to worry about dead things for a while. That alleged werewolf is supposed to out here somewhere, maybe I'll see if I can find any sign of it."

Fermor stands tall, and steps towards the werewolf.
"I'll follow, ye mangy man. 'Tis good to be back after all tha problems. What do ye propose?"

[Lost Demiurge]

The prisoner spreads his hands.

"Name's Rylan. I'm a mercenary of the Ninety Knives company. We got a contract to head down to Fort Medvyed, and meet up with a fella, and do what he says. We do so, and he says we have to go raid some criminals trying to escape west, cause some chaos, break up whatever weird ritual they got going on, then get out. No one said anything about CLOUDS of GHOSTS."

"Anyway, it was just a job. So unless you got a reason to shank me and take my boots, I'd appreciate being able to leave now. I might be able to chase down one of our horses and get back to civilization."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Oh absolutely, riding down women and children is just a job." Roqoan says with a sarcastic tone in his voice.
"Then again, i'm not in the mood to start executing mercenaries left and right. Perhaps you should buy your freedom? What have you got with you?" Roqoan asks the man.
He also uses his detect magic on the man and looks at him from top to bottom, hoping he has some magic stuff with him.

[SamBurke]

"Do we know he's done anything wrong, or is that conjecture? Because stealing things from people is wrong, too: even if it violates property and not life, it's wrong."


I actually don't know. Did they?

[Lost Demiurge]

Roqoan

"Oh absolutely, riding down women and children is just a job." Roqoan says with a sarcastic tone in his voice.
"Then again, i'm not in the mood to start executing mercenaries left and right. Perhaps you should buy your freedom? What have you got with you?" Roqoan asks the man.
He also uses his detect magic on the man and looks at him from top to bottom, hoping he has some magic stuff with him.

Rylan sneers at Roqoan's comments. "I didn't see no women and children out here when we rode up, so it's a moot point."

At the suggestion he should buy his way to freedom, he shrugs.

"So you're bandits?" He pats his scale mail and shield, shows a longsword and a short bow. "This is what I got. Course, I gotta make my way back home across the wilds, so the more of it you take the less of a shot I've got. Or if you need a merc for a while, my price is twenty gold a week. Your call."

[SamBurke]

"I say we let an innocent, albeit it morally lacking, man go and do his livelihood. It's all we'd ask ourselves." Fermor steps toward the man, between him and Roquan.


If we have charges, Fermor will request we press them. If not, I don't think he's worth taking stuff anyway, so it's moot.

[Sithis]

Alistar

"Mangy?"

Alistar gives himself a quick glance over. "I'm not really mangy, am I? Maple, am I mangy?" He starts to look himself over again, but then kind of shakes it off.

"Anyway, will you guys just let this idiot go? Despite his efforts, he didn't really manage to hurt anybody. Just send him along, and make it abundantly clear..." He turns so that he's facing the guy. "...that it's in his best interest to find another line of work. Or at the very least, a more morally sound employer."

"Oh, and Fermor. While I appreciate the offer to come with me, I'm gonna be hunting and tracking. I'm gonna be moving fast, and trying to move QUIET. No offense, but you're not really so good at either of those things." He shifts his gaze to the others standing around. "And honestly, I'd kind of prefer the rest of you guys don't come into contact with any other werewolves that might be out there. Most of them aren't as nice and polite as me, and a lot of them CAN turn you. So unless one of you have always secretly wanted to be able to turn into a dog, it's probably best I do this by myself."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Twenty gold a week? Buddy, i've seen you and your group fight and i know that price is too high.
But you heard the others, you're free to go. Go home and consider yourself a very, very lucky man.

Alistar, if you go scouting and tracking, how can we find you?
Do you want to leave a trail, or are we going to meet up somewhere?"

[Morbis Meh]

Brin freezes caught between sheer embarrasment and utter fury, unable to decide between one or the other. Roqoan was lucky he left while he did because once he did leave Brin chose fury because it was better than admitting she had feelings. She takes a moment to stady herself What is this?! Who does he think he is? He had no right? but it doesn't work You wanted and liked it No I didn't! No one would want me I am hideous You love him admit it! Shut up Shut up Shut up! in a bout of pure rage Brin punches the wagon with all of her might, the sound of splintering wood echoes throughout the tiny wagon. The dull throb of pain begins to emit slowly from her hand and spread up her arm. She takes solace in the sensation and focuses on it entirely. Using it to realign her center and shut out her inner thoughts despite the aching it caused within her heart. Slowly calming herself, Brin breathes out and puts on her stoic mask, the fasade she defaults to when faced with any type of emotion and walks out to the others.

She smirks at Alistar's comment "To be fair you could use a bit of a trim Alistar, you are getting a little shaggy. Though he is correct Fermor, you are a walking tin can and you will never go undetected anywhere despite your efforts. I will follow behind, like before, I can stay back far enough to not be in direct harm and I can keep hidden. If we do encounter on of these 'dogs' then I will be able to detect it besides last time I checked animals disliked burnt meat."

This is the point where Brin's Shadow self manifests itself and she denies it thus entering a boss fight of epic proportions which the party will overcome thus granting Brin an awesome persona enabling her to use wicked powers :smallbiggrin: Damn it now I want to play P4 again

[Lost Demiurge]

Crazily enough, the merc starts to argue. "Hey! Nobody said we were going into a situation with MAGES. Plural! We were outmatch-" He abruptly remembers that he's kinda at the mercy of your whims, and shuts up, before heading out as fast as he can go.

Alistar and Brin head south, into the swamp. This land is actually a bit outside their charter... It's properly part of the Hooktongue Slough, Alistar finds no human or wolf or hybrid tracks. Makes sense, the region the trappers were talking about was probably the western edge of the Narlmarches, which are back a day's ride east.

He DOES find numerous froglike tracks. Humanoid froglike tracks...

KNOWLEDGE NATURE DC 18 (Your favored enemy bonus applies)Boggards. Evil, cannibalistic tribal humanoids that look like giant frogs. Yep, this is the type of land they prefer. About as dangerous as a gnoll one on one, and their shamans can get pretty skilled. Looks like there's a settlement around here somewhere, but it might be foolhardy to go looking for it without backup.

The rest of the group waits, as the Sczarni pack up and leave. Sciotto shakes your hands. "Hey. Sorry for th' fey trouble... An' I'm glad you came back. Be well... Friends."

And just before dusk, Alistar and Brin return.

[Sithis]

Alistar


Knowledge: Nature
[roll0]

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"See you soon, Sciotto. Once we defeat the Stag Lord i'll send you a letter."

Roqoan will wait for Alistar and Brin to return, hoping they find something interesting.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Waving the people good-bye,

"Don't do anything evil now, or else you might get shot! Have a nice travel!"

Afterwards she turns to Roquan,

"So, how prepared do you think we are now to fight Mr. Evil Stag Lord? I don't think we'll be able to get too much from Mr. Oleg even with all the money we've gained. It took weeks to just find my non-magical gun... Granted it was an unusual request... but I'm just saying..."

She also announces to Fermor,

"Be careful with that new fire weapon, as it was used by an evil Asmodeus Cleric not too long ago."

[SamBurke]

Fermor jerks backwards with a start, nearly dropping the hammer. "Ye... don't say..." He glances at its fine engraving, and beautiful steel head, laced with embossed flames. "It's not the tree's fault that it was a gallows. Ai'll use tha hammer for good."


I didn't know that. :smalleek:

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"Unless the weapon starts telling you the secrets to resurrect loved-ones by sacrificing your allies, I don't think you'll have to worry about it... But if it does start talking to you, that would be pretty cool."

Maple starts pondering about what talking warhammers would sound like. Probably like an old Dwarf.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar walks back towards the camp, outdistancing Brin so that he can get to Scottio and talk to him quickly. "I found some weird tracks down south. Not sure what they were, but it would probably be a good idea keep cautious."

After this, he approaches the rest of the group. "No sign of it around here, not too surprising. I'll keep an eye out when we start heading back east. Speaking of which..we are heading back east now, right?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Yes, east again. And we need to decide what we're going to do: go searching for the Stag Lord or head to Oleg's. Or to the Sootscale tribe.
Maple made a good point earlier, we're not going to find much usefull at Oleg's at this point. We could just go exploring."

[Lost Demiurge]

And so the group makes its way back east about twenty miles, until the woods of the Narlmarches appear ahead of them. Scorning the faint trail that curves northeast around the wood, you follow the edge of the forest in a roughly south, south-west direction. The area here is still technically plains, but the ground is quite soggy, and there are quite a lot of bugs, mice, and rabbits scattered throughout the thick bushes and long grass. Mud is omnipresent, and it's a struggle to stay clean. (Yes, even with prestidigitation.)

You explore a large area, in about two and a half days, following the woodline. You find two things of interest...

One, at the farthest end of the northern reach, is an old stone cairn. About the size of a small hut, crude rocks have been stacked atop one another. The capstone is BIG, it would take either a lot of work or some engineering knowhow to shift it.

A rough stone pillar nearby is etched with faded runes.

LINGUISTICS DC 20 or GIANT
Here lies Coldeyes Helsdottir, fallen in honorable battle. Her crimes were redeemed through valor.

The other thing to the south just near where plains meet the woods and the forest spreads wild in all directions but west, is a scene of slaughter. The remains of about six mites and three giant spiders lie torn to pieces. Quite a lot of black blood lies splattered all around the area.

SURVIVAL DC 15
There are a ton of wolf prints around... But they seem to only crop up in pairs, and the feet are elongated and large. Probably a werewolf! The trail heads to the east, into the woods...

WOLF SCENT (Crowley)
This is the territory of an alpha female! She definitely tore these mites a new one.

[Steckie]

Roqoan

When they find the old stone cairn, Roqoan immediatly dismounts and starts looking for a way to remove the capstone or to find another way into the thing. He uses his vast knowledge of engineering to try to think of a way to do this.

But then he hears the others talk about the scene of a slaughter. There's probably not going to be much doubt about what they're going to take care of first. The slaughter is something new, the cairn has been there for a long time and can probably wait for a little longer.
"So, there are some slaughtered mites back there, what's it all about?"

Knowledge engineering check to look for a way into the cairn: [roll0]

[Sithis]

Alistar


I can't actually fail the survival check, so I'm not going to bother rolling it. (+14 modifier base, +18 with the bonus from wolf stuff)


Alistar stands in his hybrid form, his eyes scanning around. "It was a werewolf, no question. She went off east from that site, so I'm going to head out there. Like I said before, I'm not going to stop you if you want to come with me, but you probably want to keep back out of harms way as much as you can."

[Morbis Meh]

Survival roll just because I can... 50/50 shot of making it! Who knows in the near future it may go up?
[roll0]
Also since LD allowed me to identify writing as giant before I am going to take the same liberty because dwarves can learn it and would at the very least recognize it from their favored enemy.

Brin looks over the cairn and wrinkles her nose "Judging by the shoddy workmanship and the massive stone I say this is the work of giants, the script at the very least is written in it." Brin looks towards the massacre and shrugs obviously unaware of the signs in front of her but she did perk up at the mention of the were wolf "So, Alistar may have a potential lady friend in the wings... if you are planning on going we should at least spruce you up for your date big boy, you sure won't be impressing the ladies looking like a scraggy hobo. Maybe we can find one of those brownies to braid your hair, or at the very least give you a path hehehe" Brin begins to snort at her poor attempt of a joke then stops turning serious "Like I said before going alone is fool hardy, having no back up or even a chance to get back up is akin to writing your own death sentence. I will follow behind and keep out of sight; however, in your opinion is there anything nearby that I could apply to myself that would mask my scent? I can hide all well and good but if they can smell me then hiding is a moot point."

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar looks at Brin curiously. "Giant? That sort of reminds me of something...do you know what it said on the cairn?" The inquisitive look turns into a scowl as Brin has her fun at his expense. Though he is a bit surprised at how earnest she sounds about making sure he's safe. "Look, I appreciate the sentiment, I do. But this is far more dangerous for you guys than it is for me. One bite. That's all it could take. Like I said, I'm not going to stop you if you want to come. But you'd better be damn sure you're aware of the risks. As far as not being sniffed out if you do come...keeping downwind is always the best advice. But as far as a cover scent...let me think for a moment."


Survival check to see if I can come up with something that would act as a cover scent?
[roll0] (I don't think the bonus to tracking counts here, but +4 if it does. I might be counter-tracking, I guess? Using my knowledge of tracking by scent to work against it?)

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Staying out of harms way? Yes, our little group has been fantastic at that...
Anyway, i'm coming with you. You know me, i'm always interested in recruiting people to our cause."

[Lost Demiurge]

Alistar manages to scrounge up some Reekweed. It'll cover up scent, no problem! A single smear of the oil will last for a few days!

Mind you, it's debateable as to whether or not smelling like Reekweed for 2-3 days is preferrable to murderous lycanthropy. Stuff STANKS.

ALISTAR
Also it'll knock out your scenting ability if anyone with Reekweed is nearby. Just FYI.

[SamBurke]

Fermor walks over to the rocks, and pops his knuckles. "Ain't nothin' like a dwarf an' his stone. Gimme a good half-hour an' I'll tell ye somethin ye can use." He bows to the rocks, and chants a small prayer to three or four extra planar entities before beginning. Carefully, he pries away a single stone, and stands on top of it for a minute or two. After feeling the balance of it, he proceeds to lick every visible square inch of the cairn. Then, he smells the moss at its base, and listens to the runes. Finally, after a good hour and a half, he stands up and walks back to address the group.

"Well. That wasn't as thourough as ai woulda liked, but it'll have ta do. Now, with tha cursory examination, I can tell ya quite a bit. First off, it ain't a Giant's made thing, just an imitation. Secon' off, there's somma the Tiger Lord's Runes. They're much more common on the sou' side o' things, so that's odd in itself. In addition, and this's the part Roquan'll'ike: it's the sorta place that's not too holy. I mean, wi' the mortar work, it's almost a sin NOT to raid the place an' clear out the junk." He pauses to think. "But i'd have to be done right. By a dwarf or two. Brin?"


I will now make Knowledge: History checks about everything. Ever.

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar returns from a little bit of looking with a bundle of weeds held at arms length. "Reekweed. It'll definitely cover any scent, though you're gonna have to stay a dozen or so yards away while I'm tracking. I can't smell **** with this stuff around."

As Roquan speaks, Alistar rolls his eyes. "Yes, we're all keenly aware. But I"m going to be completely, brutally honest with you. There are two ways this could go. The other were' is fully sane, and she and I have a talk about how she needs to maybe be a bit more subtle before she gets people wanting to kill her. OR, much more likely, she's a feral. That means she's intelligent, but has absolutely no morals or respect for other life. If that's the case, then we'll, more likely than not, have to kill her. And that will NOT be easy. She will be tougher than me, possibly stronger than me, and much, much more ruthless. And on top of that, a single bite from her could be enough to infect you with the same curse. That's the situation. Understand?"

-----


[roll0]

History (or possibly Local) to see if the information Fermor comes up with reminds Alistar of anything.


When the dwarf returns and makes his report, Alistar is fairly intrigued. "A Tiger Lord cairn this far into Coalition lands? Huh, very odd indeed. To bad Lux isn't here, something she might be interested in. Probably best not to mess with it though. Blessed or not, it's someone's tomb. Might be a good idea to just leave them be.

[Lost Demiurge]

ALISTAR
You recall something about one of your ancestors fighting a giantess once. Though it supposedly didn't go well, and she later ended up becoming shield-sworn with him, before dying in a fight against some big evil thing.

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"I don't think I have to worry about being infected by anything. I've been stabbed by rusty and trashed stuff and have been riding around through rain and cold without even so much as a sniffle. We Halflings can take anything natural or supernatural and walk away with a spring in our step.
Also-"

Maple points at her eyes,

"I can tell how evil she(?) actually is by just looking at her, so we might have a chance to get a new Doggy out of this venture."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin cringes in mute disgust over Fermor's actions, quickly she looks to the group and says with obvious fright "Believe me you definitely DO NOT want to see a dwarf be thorough with a stone, the result is a sticky mess with beard hair everywhere... Oh gods, the horror, one of the few memories I have...Why Papa? Why did you take me to the appraiser's convention?" Trying to shrug off the memory Brin looks at Alistar and takes the weed "Good, I will give you cover if you need it as for harming them did anyone grab any silver or alchemical equivelents?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"So you're saying that if i come a little close to this thing, i could becomd a werewolf? But i remember you saying when we met you that a bite from you wouldn't change us into a werewolf.
What's different between you two that makes her so dangerous and you only dangerous when you want to be? You talked about a curse, what is that about?

And no Brin, i doubt any of us have anything silver or alchemical.
We really need to start preparing better...."

Roqoan tries to remember anything he might know about curses connected to werewolves.
Knowledge arcana: [roll0]

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar sighs, obviously getting exasperated. "If she bites you? Yes, there's a chance. I don't know what kind of chance for sure, but it's not a gamble I'd take if I was you. And really, I don't know WHY a bite from a feral can change someone into a were'. No one does. That's NEVER been something our people could do before. Hell, we still can't. Not unless we succumb to the curse and go mad like them.

"And why is she more dangerous? Because, she'd be, for all intents and purposes, a rabid animal. The curse I was talking about? That's what it does. It takes your mind, your emotions, everything that makes you a person, and it locks it away. It leaves you a beast, an angry, hateful beast that wants only to cause pain and spread it's affliction. That's what the curse is. The difference between me and her is that I was taught how to resist it, how to keep control. Someone without that, that's bitten and turned with no idea what's happen? They don't have a chance. They'll be mad within a month. And hell, that might have been what happened here." Alistar is quite agitated now, just short of shouting. "Now, does that answer your questions?

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Yes, that about answers my questions." Roqoan says, not sure why Alistar is so upset about all this.
"Go ahead and start tracking if you want, we'll follow you."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin cracks an amused grin over the two men debating "Get going lover boy or else I may make you stink like me before your big date." To show she means business she waves the Reek Weed Alistar's face.

[Sithis]

Alistar

The whole curse is a bit of a touchy subject, since it's responsible for demonizing and nearly destroying Alistar's people. I think he's justified in being a bit angry about the whole thing.

Alistar snarls at Brin as she waves the plants in his face. "Agh! Don't do that! You think it smells bad for you? How do you think it smells to me?" He snorts, trying to clear his nose as he begins walking away, to begin tracking.


Rolling stuff

Perception: [roll0] (This should have actually been +14, so it's actually 28)
Stealth: [roll1] (ALL THE STEALTH. ALL OF IT.)
Survival: [roll2] +4 more if everyone else stays far enough away with that reekweed so that I can use Scent to track.

[Lost Demiurge]

The trail curves to the southeast, after getting past the treeline. The trees here are cypress and mangrove, and the terrain is no less muddy or damp for being under the forest's canopy. It's OLD here... Likely not been cut for at least a few centuries, or more.

You are forced to cross a wide river at one point, that reeks of sulphur. It's fairly fordable, just a muddy affair from start to finish. Alistar picks up the trail on the other side... The tracks are barefoot human rather than wolflike now, but the scent's the same.

Not far past the eastern bank of the river, the trees open up into a boggy clearing. Pools of shallow water lie standing here and there, and off to the side, a single-story stone ruin stands, half-sunken into the soft ground. The walls are bare of any real markings, and it's hard to figure out who put it there.

In front of the ruin, two froglike humanoids are working. One of them scrapes at a hide stretched out on a rack, another one seems to be attempting to cook some sort of meat over a fire. He's not too good at it, and keeps burning his fingers. Beyond them, a purple, froglike, spiky creature the size of a horse rolls lazily in some mud, enjoying the warmth and sunlight of midday.

Alistar has managed to go unnoticed, but getting closer would probably break cover... Nothing good to hide behind until the building.

He's also pretty certain that the trail goes straight to the lone archway that leads into that building.

The horses and the rest of the group are about twenty minutes back.

Now what?

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar stays, watching the strange frog creatures for a few moments longer. He then slips back the way he came, backtracking a few minutes worth until he thinks he's out of sight and earshot of the strange frog creatures. Then he waits for the rest to catch up.

When they do, he tersely says, "Her trail led to a ruin of a small ruin. Not much cover around it, so I figure you guys wouldn't want me going in by myself. The weird thing? There are some creatures near the buildling, some Bullywugs and a Slurk. But she apparently didn't attack them."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin sits back from the wolfman, being considerate to his senses "They may have only showed up recently while this person slept or they may be a look out of some sort who knows. The real question is what do we do now? Do we attack said frog things and go on ahead or do we diplomacize with them? We could sneak by if we got Fermor running in the opposite direction as bait."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"They don't look very evil, though looks can be deceiving. Caster Roquan, do you speak Frog by any chance?"

[Steckie]

Roqoan

"Nope, just draconic and dwarven.
We could go try to talk to them and hope they speak common or some other language one of us knows.
What are these Bullywugs and a Slurk? I've never heard of them before, do they do something special?"

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"Well, best not sit around and wait then."

Maple walks out towards the frog people with a smile and nonthreatening demeanor as she greets them,

"Greeting Forest Folk, do any of you speak the Common tongue?"

Diplomacy (First Impression): [roll0]
Edit: And once again, Maple makes an amazing first impressions.

[Lost Demiurge]

The group follows Alistar back to the clearing... As Maple walks up, she can see that the sound of their horses has proceeded them... The two bullywugs are armed with javelins and shields.

They look nonplussed as Maple strolls out and starts talking, but her demeanor seems peaceful enough. They jabber back at her, in croaking gasps, putting their spears down and making wibbly wavy arm movements.

LINGUISTICS DC 20 OR BULLYWUG
"Hello small thing! With larger things behind it! Why are you here? Are you friends with the boss thing?"

From the ruined stone building, a haggard female human peers out from the doorway. Her brown hair is tangled and her face is dirty. You can see she's wearing some kind of armor, but the way she's using the door as cover prevents the identification of its type.

"Oh what the Hell? You lot! GO AWAY! Trust me, just ride FAR AND FAST AS YOU CAN!"

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"Greetings, I don't suppose you can tell me why I should leave? "

Maple makes an earnest question, though she can tell something is amiss. She decides to use her detection skills on the woman while she waits upon a response.

[Lost Demiurge]

The bullywugs seem to get alarmed as Maple gets closer! They pick up the javelins and make "Whoa" gestures.

Still, she gets up to about 20 feet from the Bullywugs and 40 feet from the woman, close enough to scan her.

MAPLE
One of the bullywugs is mildly evil, the other one doesn't register. The woman has a weird thing going on... She seems evil for a few seconds, then not. Maple's only seen this effect with crazy people before. Like there's different people in the same body vying for dominance...

EVERYONE: PERCEPTION DC 20
The slurk is hidden in one of the shallow pools near the Bullywugs, presumably in preparation for trouble. It pokes an eye out as Maple gets closer...

"Just GO! There's... There's a beast in these woods, and if you don't get clear as fast as you can it might come after you later!"

[Morbis Meh]

Rolling me perception before I continue [roll0]

Brin rolls her eyes, she was growing tired of the situation and thought it best to come clean "Look lady, we damn well know you're a were wolf, and not by birth since you seem to be freaking out over it. Our pal Alistar here, don't mind his shaggy appearence we told him to clean up, is also a werewolf but one of birth. We came here in the open in hopes that we can talk this over peacefully and help. So please calm down and tell your frog friends and their odd mount to lower their weapons."

[Sithis]

Alistar


Perception: [roll0]


Alistar walks into view from out of the woods, now in his human form. "Yes, thank you Brin. That was incredibly subtle and tactful of you." He moves forward a bit more, so that he's between the woman and the Bullywugs and everyone else. "When were you bitten, miss?"


I don't suppose some kind of Knowledge: Nature check or something would tell me anything about her lycanthropy (how long she's been infected, how close to going crazy she is, ect)?

In case it CAN,
Knowledge - Nature: [roll1]

[Lost Demiurge]

The Bullywugs move to keep themselves between Alistar and the woman. Now they're frowning, glancing at Maple and Alistar, clearly not liking this. And the woman's yelling, adding to the tension.

"Another werewolf! Great! HOW THE HELL DOES THAT HELP NOW I WANT TO THROAT THE INTERLOPER IN MY TERRITORY!"

She calms herself, with great effort. "Unless you know a cure, then nothing you can do can help. Which means that either you'll kill me or you run the risk of being killed by me. You don't look like those damn stag bandits so I have no reason to want you dead, so you're best served by GETTING CLEAR OF ME!"

She glares at Alistar as he comes forward, and sniffs several times. Snorts. Growls... "A month orrrr two ago... You... You need to leave or submit... RRrrrrriiiight now...."

[Morbis Meh]

Brin huffs "Pfft you've traveled with me long enough to know that subtley and tact mean little but dill dallying around the actual point. I prefer to forgo all that time wasting nonesense and get to the heart of the matter. Besides I feel it is more honest being direct."

[Sithis]

Alistar

Alistar motions for everyone else to move back, before holding up his hands as non-threateningly as possible and backing away with his head held slightly down.

"There is no cure, not really. But the mere fact that you're talking to us now means that all isn't lost yet. You can't be rid of it, but you can fight it, CONTROL it. I might be able to help you, but you have to stay calm, and let me. "

[Lost Demiurge]

She relaxes. Slightly. As he and the others back off...

"I... I... I don't know. It's hard. It's hard as hell fighting it... After the first few weeks... I'm starting to lose why I wanted to fight it in the first... And why the hell are random people coming out of the woods and offering me help? This is real life, that only happens in stories! This is a trrrrrap! I should... I should... Gah."

She leans against the doorframe, and grimaces. "Look. You wanna stick around here and talk, I gotta give the beast something to shut it up. You, you're the leader, right?" She points at Alistar. "You smell like the alpha. Put down your weapons, come over here and lie down. Bare your neck."

"I know how it sounds. But if you want me to trust you, you have to trust me."

SITHIS
What she's describing is basically submission. It means you'd be acknowledging her as greater than you, and your boss.

[Sithis]

Alistar

"I know it's hard. It's hard for me sometimes, too, and was BORN to it." As he talks, he slowly and carefully places his swords on the ground, followed by his bow, quiver, and pack. He continues as he begins approaching, his hands still up in the air.

"I'm not going to lie, it won't really get any easier. But you'll get stronger. Hell, you're already doing pretty well, I wouldn't have given you more than a few weeks before you went mad, but here you are." Assuming the Gullywugs won't try to stop him, he continues past them before laying down on the ground before the woman.


I'm assuming Sithis should be replaced by Alistar. Unless this game just got WAY more meta.

[Lost Demiurge]

The woman nods. "Okay... Okay good. Wolf. Definitely wolf. Not beast, wolf will be easier. Hold still. I should be able to-"

And her flesh RIPPLES, as she doubles over in pain. The transformation that takes Alistar mere seconds to accomplish takes half an agonized minute, as blood squirts from gaping rents in her skin, and raw muscles bulge as fur pushes out to cover them.

Her armor falls to the ground inside the building with a CLANG, and finally, a brown wolf, definitely smaller than Alistar's wolf form, stalks warily out of the building.

Gaze not moving from the prone form of Alistar, the wolf moves toward him, gaining confidence with each stride. It bears its jaws wide as it goes...

The bullywugs at this point are running for the trees. A big, purple form (Must be the Slurk Alistar mentioned) splooshes out of a nearby pond and joins them, bounding at an impressive rate of speed.)

[Morbis Meh]

Brin smirks "And they called it... Puppy love hehehe"

[Chained Birds]

Maple

Maple smacks Brin on the back of the head,

"No Archer Brin. Just no..."

Maple gives her a serious look before shifting her gaze back to the werewolves.

"She is possessed by evil and Doggy Alistar is helping her deal with it. Even if he has to degrade himself to do it. I will not allow any disrespect towards him right now."

[Lost Demiurge]

The brown wolf settles its jaws around Alistar's throat.

Right now. Right now it could squeeze. Teeth right through the artery, and that'd be that.

It does not. After a minute, it lurches back. It limps back toward the building, transforming as it goes. As the last of the fur sloughs off, the woman dives inside the building, scrabbling for her armor and clothing.

After a few minutes, the Bullywugs poke their heads out from the bushes. And the woman's voice calls out again.

"Okay. Okay, that... Helped. It's not threatened anymore. I guess for whatever the hell reason you have, you DO want to help me. Fine, let's talk."

[Sithis]

Alistar

Two streams of though go through Alistar's head.

The animal part RAGES. How dare this bitch* try to claim superiority over him? He should rip her throat out!

The human half, however, reacts different. OH **** OH **** WHY AM I DOING THIS IT WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA AHHHHHHHHHHH


And then the wolf backs off, and Alistar slowly stands, obviously looking relieved. When the woman speaks again, he answers, sounding surprisingly calm. "Alright, let's talk. We can start simple, who are you? What's your name?"


*Ha! Correct usage of the word!

[Lost Demiurge]

"Loris. Dame Loris of Mivon. Order of the Cockatrice. Who are you people?"

KNOWLEDGE LOCAL OR KNOWLEDGE HISTORY DC 15
Mivon is a River Kingdom just south of the Greenbelt. It's mainly one large, walled and fortified city and a bunch of supporting villages. It's technically ruled by the Mayor of Mivon, but it's not exactly stable. It's home to a lot of Aldori students, and is famous for its duellists. It does not like Brevoy much, probably dating back to the fact that it was founded by refugees fleeing Rostland to get away from the dragonflights of Chorral the Conqueror, the guy who unified Issia and Rostland into Brevoy back a few centuries ago.

KNOWLEDGE NOBILITY AND ROYALTY DC 15
The Order of the Cockatrice is a knightly order dedicated to the ideals of fame, glory, wealth, and power. While the knights of the Cockatrice can swear allegiance to a cause, nation, or group, ultimately they MUST sever the allegiance if they are not gaining anything from it. They don't hold with self-sacrifice, they fight only for themselves.

Doesn't necessarily mean that they're bad. Just that they have to find ways to align their goals with others, or be getting something by helping others out if they want to stick with them for long.

[Sithis]

Alistar


Alistar doesn't actually have ranks in ANY of those. Which is fine, really. I wouldn't expect him to know much about stuff like what the Order of the Cockatrice is.


"Well met, Loris. I am Alistar Crowley. A werewolf, as you know." He begins pointing to the others as he refers to them. "The short one with the firearm is Maple Leafsinger, a Paladin of Sarenrae. The other heavily armored short one is Fermor, a cleric....I'm actually not sure who his deity is. The short one with the mask is Brin, hell of an archer. The only other not-short one besides myself is Roquan, who's a mage of sorts. Collectively, we're a group hired by Brevoy, mostly to try to take care of the bandits in this area. But we've kind of just been doing what we can to help out around here.

"If you're wondering how we found you...well, people have taken notice to your being out here, and sent the message our way. Honestly, I'm actually pretty glad to find you as you are. I was expecting to find someone who had already gone completely mad. Glad that's not the case."

Now, if you don't mind, my question for you: The bullywugs and the slurk, what's their connection with you? Nothing against them, but as far as I was aware bullywugs tend to be a bit territorial."

[Steckie]

Roqoan

Roqoan starts to open his mouth and wants to talk to this creature, let Alistar help her and recruit her to their cause....... But decides against it.
The wolf would probably attack him if he interferred in this. This is important to him. Besides he doesn't know much enough about werewolves for a talk like this.
He needs to shut up now. And it's harder than he thought it would be. His job is talking dammit, not shutting up and letting the werewolf handle it.
He opens his mouth again......And just can't resist saying something.
"I'm not a mage of sorts, Alistar. I'm THE mage of sorts."

[Lost Demiurge]

"Adventurers? Shoulda known. Well I don't have any gold or magical gear on me so I'm probably safe."

She emerges from the building, giving final tugs at her armor. She's wearing a nice breastplate that was clearly once part of a bigger set, and she's got a rough fur skirt that looks thrown together. A sword at her belt and shield on her back complete the ensemble.

The Bullywugs and Slurk creep cautiously out, looking froggily relieved. They stroll up to the group as she does, and one of them offers Maple a dead snake.

"To be honest I don't know why Gurk and Murk and their Slurk are here. I don't talk frog, they don't talk common, and neither of us really know much else in between. They were here when I came here. First time I turned I think I bit Gurk, but he hasn't turned. Not sure they CAN. They both submitted right the hell fast, and the Slurk's their pet so the beast doesn't think it's a threat."

"They're the only two here, though. Odd for bullywugs. If I had to guess they're maybe on the run from troubles back home."

"Still, they've been good company. And they helped kill the Stag Lord's boys, so there's that at least."

[Chained Birds]

Maple

"Do you have any hatred towards the Stag Lord? As in, if you had the drive to do so, you wouldn't mind taking him out? And no, this isn't a recruitment or anything. I wouldn't want someone in a delicate situation like yourself to be put on the front-lines."