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Hazrond
2015-02-06, 12:21 AM
Hey, this is my first time making one of these so i am sorry if i make any mistakes, but without further ado let me introduce Blood, Sand, and Cinnamon, alternatively known as A Caravan to Agrahbah.


Maka of Cheliax, a Half-Giant Fighter who escaped slavery and who lives in fear of being caught again, friend of Arsaya.
Arsaya Jimbe, a Sylph Oracle who deigned to teach Maka the art of smithing and to help the poor man find a place in the world.
Ahri Foxfire, a Kitsune Sorcerer who hails from a small tribe in the Verduran Forest. Her past is filled with Vague prophecy, all she knows is she must find her destiny and cannot return until it is filled.
Ruielas Greenoak, a wandering Half-Elf who came to town looking to make some money. This cheerful Bard attempts to liven up every day with song and music, but gold has it's hold even over him and his familiar Angel. A small songbird of great courage.
Panchito Martinez, a Human Gunslinger who came to town searching for answers about the gold medallion left to him when his father and mother died. Convinced the answer must be out there he walked to the edge of the world itself in search of clues.



As the curtain rises on our tale we find two figures walking into the small settlement of Bordertown, so named because it lies at the border between Avistan and Casmaran. One figure was a hulking half-giant clad in armor, known as Maka, the other a more slender figure, that of the Oracle, Arsaya. They came here following the lead of another escaped slave Maka knew once upon a time. As they make their way into town they begin scoping out work as smiths. Soon afterwards another outlander makes their way into town, Panchito, unmistakable in his chaps, caballero vest, and broad sombrero. He quickly found himself a seat near the entrance of town where he unpacked a well-worn guitar and began playing for tips. At this time another newcomer strides confidently into town, that of a short and slender human with piercing green eyes, Ahri, who found herself work dancing in the less-than-reputable theater of the town, which doubles as a club of a sort. The last stranger to enter town is Ruielas, a tall half-elf with a small songbird on his shoulder, none other than Angel, his familiar. He finds his way to a shady spot near the entrance of town and pulls a small harp out which he uses to play a tune for any who enter the town.

As the various newcomers ply their respective trades for gold night slowly falls until upon the second day opportunity strikes. A very finely dressed full orc passes by posting an ornate letter on the job board before drawing everyone's attention with the booming sound of his voice. He announced that the Wonderworker needed guards for his caravan and that any who joined were to be promised 3000 gold as payment, as well as that all who wished to join the caravan must meet with him in the tavern. Ruielas rose to his feet immediately upon hearing the mention of such a large sum and followed the orc to the tavern, while the others took time to read the letter which simply read "Caravan Guards Wanted. Inquire at tavern".

As the curious potential adventurers were lured in by the promise of such a sum, they entered the tavern to find several tables pushed together into a makeshift desk, behind which the orc sat with several contracts as well as a quill and inkwell. Ruielas sat first, thoroughly inspecting the contract for any sort of clause or by-clause that seemed suspicious, finding nothing he was satisfied and signed on the dotted line. Next Maka and Arsaya were given their contracts, to which they asked what would happen if they were to fail their task. The orc responded, explaining that the Wonderworker would hold no ill will to them if they were overpowered and that they would be free to go on their way if they survived, after all, it is not likely that somebody like them could stop say, a tribe of giants. To which they had a hearty, slightly concerned, laugh, and with their fears allayed, signed the contract. Ahri and then Panchito signed their contracts as well, having no more questions than what had already been asked. This motley crew was informed by the orc that they were to be the rearguard, watching the caravan's back in case of bandits.

The next day was spent preparing for the journey and when they were complete with their preparations, they set off. All went well until they passed into the mountains, where a loud explosion rocked the front of the caravan and they could see a flaming tree topple in front of the caravan's path. Not moments later another tree fell in front of the rearguard's cart. Then two hyenas raced out of the brush from the south tearing into the flank's of the horses while two gnolls with longbows began firing from the top of a cliff in the north. Within mere moments the horses were dead as the hyenas tore at them and the gnolls focused fire on them.

Meanwhile Ruielas and Arsaya and the cart driver were firing arrows and bolts from the cover of the cart at the gnolls while Maka handily killed the hyenas, swinging in a flurry of death with her warhammer and pickaxe. Panchito on the other hand, had aspirations of heroism, jumping into action and bouncing off both his cart and the corpse of the horse he made his way to the cliff from which the gnolls were firing and with a mighty jump lined up the shot that ended the battle, unloading a bullet into the head of the horrible creature, shattering its skull and blowing its head apart with the force of the shot. Seeing it's allies dead and the fight turning against it the other gnoll ran into the underbrush, harried by arrows as it withdrew from the fight by our archers.

With the horses dead and the enemies defeated, the driver activated a small chest near the front of the cart, which he had been told to only use in emergencies and that if we lost it the Wonderworker would have our heads. Inside the chest contained a magical compass as well as a map of the route the caravan planned to use. On the corpse of the gnoll was a necklace which contained a small amber gem. After identifying both a scrying and message effect on the gem Ruielas decided to activate it. By concentrating on the gem it brought up a three dimensional map of the area, including raiding paths and battle strategies the gnolls must have been following.

Upon consultation between the two maps the party found that the original route was too heavily fortified to pass, and that their only path was through Windstorm Valley, a valley known for sandstorms that was marked on the caravan map as a last resort.

As the party arrived in windstorm valley they were met with something very intimidating, a wall of locusts that stretched to both walls of the valley was heading directly towards them. As the party scrambled to find a way to stop or avoid the oncoming wall of bugs Ahri lit a torch, seeing this Ruielas walked up pulling an arrow from his quiver. "Could i get a light?" he asked with a smile and Ahri gladly lit him another torch as the locusts grew closer. Not understanding what he meant Maka asked for a light as he drew his own arrow, gladly obliging Ruielas lit his arrow and Maka fired it into the swarm, which had no effect just as the last arrow had. When finally the swarm began to close in Ruielas lit his arrow on fire and threw it to the ground, creating a cloud of smoke through which the locusts would not pass as they approached, flying around the cloud, leaving Ahri, Maka, and Ruielas, as well as the cart and chest, unscathed by the swarm.

However, they shortly found why the massive swarm had been running. A huge sandstorm was bearing down hard on them and before they had a chance to find cover they were enveloped. Maka, through his incredible resilience and size, was nearly unaffected as the storm tried to force the others to their knees and with his keen senses, he followed the smell of wood smoke through the storm and led the party to a cave through much effort just barely before they would have collapsed from the strength of the storm. As the party entered the cave they were treated to a setting not unlike that of a typical tavern, and soon after they entered they saw a mysterious bald man walk up behind the bar, grinning. He set out a bowl of salt, and when spoken to he spoke in an unfamiliar language, after multiple tries it was found that Maka could speak to him using Giant. They conversed and he left the room for a short while, returning later able to speak Taldan.

The man introduced himself as Hakeem, owner of the tavern we were currently residing in, known as Smiling Hakeem's. We spoke with him about staying out the storm and he told us that it would be 60 gold each. After scrambling for a short while to figure out how to pay the group realized they still had the gems the gnoll had dropped, each worth about 100 gp according to our own estimates (Appraise rolls of 20 and 21). We offered forth 3 of the gems and Hakeem took a moment to inspect one before pushing the others away and returning with a bag of platinum coins. After a short bout of confusion the party realized that Hakeem had estimated each of the some-odd 23 gems as worth 150 platinum and with glee the party split up their loot and began perusing Hakeem's wares. Maka picked out a large magical warhammer and asked Hakeem about it, when he was told of all of the good's in this shop being stolen, he was struck by his morality and bought not a single item from the shop. Meanwhile Panchito browsed through the small store of firearms the friendly bartender had while Arsaya and Ruielas were looking through various potions and Ruielas picked up a wand of cure light wounds.

After purchasing several thousands of gold in magical items and consumables the party moved to their sleeping area, several beds oriented facing a central firepit with a nearby well for water, and began to talk and socialize in the warm firelight. Maka and Hakeem played dominoes while Ruielas played a soothing song on his harp that coincidentally assisted in lulling Ahri to sleep. For several minutes Hakeem, Ruielas, and Maka made idle chatter until Hakeem caught wind of their destination, Agrahbah. Hakeem began telling the two about how it was a very bad idea to go there until he stopped for a moment, and began extolling the virtues of Agrahbah and how we should visit the city, yet his body language told a different tale. As he began talking about how great it was his hands rose and covered his neck with a small X made using his fingers. This seeming odd, Ruielas cast detect magic and was staggered by an overwhelming aura of necromancy, with his knowledge of spellcraft he deduced that the man was cursed.

As the night wore on Hakeem would cover his throat in an X when he was being forced to lie. As they spoke Hakeem offered them a small job, about 1 day's ride from here was a tomb containing a treasure named the Alabaster Eye of Ta'lab, a mystical pearl with healing properties. When asked why he wanted it he was forced to lie and say he wanted it to sell. The party was unsure of this and, as a symbol of goodwill, Hakeem gave Maka a red scarab, which attached itself to her armor. The scarab, he explained, would grant her resistance from flame but had limited uses per day. Such scarabs were common in Casmaran, he explained. What few magic item crafters existed needed their work to be versatile, and as such they developed magical scarabs that could be attached and detached at will to make magical items more flexible. A scarab of flame could be attached to a dagger, a sword, or even a bow to enhance their damage, and could just as easily be removed. The party agreed to retrieve the Alabaster Eye in exchange for several more of these curious scarabs and a deal was struck. With this the party tucked in for the night and fell into slumber.

Whew, now that that's done, thoughts? :smallbiggrin:

Kid Jake
2015-02-06, 12:31 AM
One suggestion: Try spacing out your thoughts a little bit; it's hard to focus through the giant wall of text.

Hazrond
2015-02-06, 12:44 AM
One suggestion: Try spacing out your thoughts a little bit; it's hard to focus through the giant wall of text.

Thanks, is it better now?

Kid Jake
2015-02-06, 12:46 AM
Yar, I'd say considerably.

Tommy_Dude
2015-02-06, 09:57 AM
Well, it was an interesting session to say the least. You guys almost dropped one of the locust swarms.

IZ42
2015-02-07, 11:12 PM
This seems interesting, I'd like to see where it goes.


Ahri Foxfire, a Kitsune Sorcerer who hails from a small tribe in the Verduran Forest. Her past is filled with Vague prophecy, all she knows is she must find her destiny and cannot return until it is filled.


... Are you aware of the reference here? Does she focus on evocation? Please tell me she focuses on evocation. And enchantment.

Hazrond
2015-02-07, 11:25 PM
This seems interesting, I'd like to see where it goes.




... Are you aware of the reference here? Does she focus on evocation? Please tell me she focuses on evocation. And enchantment.

we were very aware of this particular reference from the moment it was brought into existence, :smalltongue: but we let him do it anywayys, so far the only thing she has done is shoot a hyena with a Ray of Frost so im not sure what her focus actually is

UndyingFishbait
2015-02-08, 01:59 AM
Yes what Hazorond said. I know exactly what i based that character off of i'm an avid player of the base. So when the DM had Kitsune in list of available races it must be done. No my focus is not evocation and this character is only a partial physical reputation but what else to name a (eventually) 9-tailed fox, other than that of Naruto.
:smallwink:

Hazrond
2015-02-12, 11:37 PM
New stuff is up

Tommy_Dude
2015-02-13, 11:58 AM
You know, if you keep taking great notes like this, I'll probably start referring to this for my own campaign refreshers.