Ancient Campaign

[Gorgondantess]

You all congregate in a small, stuffy tent, shoulder to shoulder, with barely enough room to breathe. Normally it would be freezing here, in the dead of night, but inside this cramped place it is sweltering hot. The village priest sits before you with a good 3 or 4 inches of space- a lot more than anyone else. You are light headed. There is a fire in the center of the tent, with only a tiny hole for ventilation, and whatever the priest is burning on there to connect with the gods isn't helping you. You can almost see him take a something very long from the back of the tent- you're starting to black out at this point, so you can't be sure. He sticks it in the fire and the end glows a bit, and he sticks it in his mouth and sucks in, breathing out on all of your faces- it feels like you are sucking in molten sand. The priest then sticks his nose in a pouch and snorts in several times. Finally he is done communicating with the gods, adn he is about to address you. The last thing you remember before passing out is that his lower face is covered with blood. You all wake up in the tent at dusk, drenched in sweat, with the priest nowhere in sight. You can barely remember what he said, but apparently you need to strike out somewhere and do something to save the tribe- probably to find a new place to live, what with the river drying. To the east is the Poison Water, where no man can cross. The north and south are barren wastes, with nothing at all- no hope of survival in there. The west is rolling, endless and plains. There you can see for miles, with nothing at all showing on the bleak landscape. You leave the tent to find packs stacked up, one for each of you, filled with about 2 week's worth of food- probably all the surplus the tribe has. All the people around are watching, pushing you along, to go out and save the tribe.

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin grumbles to himself as he walks over and grabs his pack. He glares at the others before motioning towards the plains. "Let's get this over with then..." He begins walking, not bothering or not caring whether the others followed.

[kopout]

wait! den calls out after the receding Barbarian i think the idea was that we should go as a grope. no one of us can single handedly do this .

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin calls back over his shoulder without slowing down. "Then hurry up!"


Don't forget, I have a charisma of 5. I'm not very social, or likeable.

[Kaiser Omnik]

Desert Fox

The one they called Desert Fox observed the people of his tribe, facing the possibility that he may never see them again. He looked into their eyes, into their soul, and saw no sadness. This was no surprise to the elf. They used to laugh at him and his strange ways. Every one of them. His divine powers earned him some sort of respect, but not love.

The priest turned its attention to his companions. What a odd bunch... He should get along with them just fine!

"I am coming."

Desert Fox followed the others while holding to his pack and his quarterstaff.

[Willfor]

Naine

He says nothing as he walks to his pack, and throws it over his shoulder. It wasn't quite real to him until the moment when he nodded to his tribe as a farewell. Then it was official; he wasn't coming back until he had done something to save them.

He turned to the others, and turned west. He saw quite a journey ahead of him and the others.

[kopout]

den

“i suggest we fallow the river so that we don't get lost and we may just find a guide in a settlement “
suggests den “we may even want yo think about making a raft”

ooc: sorry didn't know

[Gorgondantess]

OOC: 2 things to note: boats have not been invented yet, only rafts. 2nd, the tribe does not contact any other tribes, and there is extremely little trading.

[pup3k]

Ohk'Tahr

Leaving the tent and seeing Blood-fang waiting dutifully outside the tent, Ohk'Tahr picks up his things, with seemingly no effort, and waits for the others to make up their minds.

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin keeps walking. "The river is drying up. We won't find any place near it. We need to head inland." He glances over his shoulder to see if anyone is following before looking back out over the plains. He scans the grasses carefully, obviously expecting trouble.


Spot [roll0]
Listen [roll1]

No need to make it easy for those evil rabbits from heck!

[kopout]

ooc
are their any major land marks we can see any thing to heed for?

[Gorgondantess]

You travel west for over a week through the vast, endless plains, following the drying river. The grasses crunch underfoot, and the further you go out, the dryer and more desolate it gets. After the 3rd day of travel, you see that the river has no flowing water, and you go back to fill some waterskins; after the 5th, there is only a long, running gouge in the land to show that a river was ever there. The land looks like the waste to the north and south of the village. After about a day, however, you start seeing shrubs again; and after some more time, grasses appear, at first in patches, but then you come across an endless field, desolate as far as you can see- almost. In the distance there is a great, craggy, snow- topped mountain, and at the base you can see a swath of green, fertile land, but it looks about 2 days' march from here. As you stand there, it starts to rain, but just a light drizzle. You have traveled about 10 days, and you have just enough food and water to get back to the village if you go now, and find some game along the way.

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin points at the mountain, and the greenery at its base. "That's good enough for me. Let's go tell the elders."
He turns around and starts heading back the way they came, keeping an eye out for any signs of game.


Spot [roll0]

Oh, and to make a spoiler like this one kopout, just type [ spoiler] at the beginning, without the space, and then [ /spoiler] at the end.

[Willfor]

Naine

For a moment he considers questioning Dorin's judgement, though after some thought he couldn't figure out the problem with his reasoning. He raises no objection to turning around.

[Kaiser Omnik]

Desert Fox

The priest walks to Dorin and stares at him. His eyes show no emotion. He then turns around to look in the direction of the mountain.

"Maybe we should go take a look ourselves. We don't want to lead the tribe in a monster infested land, do we? Who knows what's there."

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin stops and looks at the priest. He sighs and then begins to speak slowly, as if to a child. "And how much food do you have left? I don't know about you, but I only just have enough to make it back. In case you couldn't tell, game isn't exactly plentiful around here." He raises an eyebrow, awaiting a response.

[Kaiser Omnik]

Desert Fox

"I understand. But surely we will find animals in those fields. I don't know for you, but I'm not eager to return to the village just yet."

[kopout]

Den

“Desert Fox makes a good point. we do not want to lead the tribe into danger.” den says "besides we should find a place to set up once we bring every one here. some place with reliable fresh water and easily farmed land . we need a town site possibly on hill, we cant just go back.”


ooc we have animals right?pack animals and livestock and such.not withe us but the tribe dos right?

[Gorgondantess]

Nope. The native wildlife is: tigers, apes (very rare), rodents, lizards, birds of prey, dholes (they're kind of like jackals), hyenas and wild stallions, which have not been domesticated, due to their fierceness and rarity. Oh, and as for Ohk'Tahr's wolf, I forgot wolves aren't in this setting. Instead, go ahead and choose from a dire dhole or a hyena, and for simplicity's sake we'll just say it's been that the whole time. No need to change stats.

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin looks between Den and Desert Fox. He shrugs and turns back around towards the mountain. "Alright, fine. Let's go explore a bit more. But if we starve, don't come crying to me about it." He begins walking towards the mountain, once more scanning the grasses and bush around him.


Just keep the last one or I can reroll it.

[kopout]

Den

den nudges Desert Fox and jokingly mumbles “if we starve we can eat him”


i hope this was in good taste, because he certainly was:smalltongue:

[Kaiser Omnik]

Desert Fox

"If we starve, I will call to the gods for guidance."

Desert Fox continues walking unless the rain becomes more a problem, in which case he suggests to set up camp.

[Gorgondantess]

You trudge on through the dead grasses towards the swath of green in the distance. As you go, the rain slowly starts to drive harder, though not to the point of hinderance. As you near it, you see the mountains the green was below towering above you, huge and intimidating. The green area runs the span of the mountain, north to south, with no seeming end in either direction. The green turns out to be a verdant jungle, full of vines and life. There is constant noise, ranging from the hoots of apes to the rustling by unnameable creatures. By the time you reach its border, it is night, and the rain has increased to a torrential downpour, with lighting forking across the

[Kaiser Omnik]

Desert Fox

Desert Fox seeks a place to take refuge near the limits of the jungle. A cave perhaps?

[Gorgondantess]

The Mountain is seperated from the firlds by the jungle- a cave would be impossible without going through the jungle, several miles deep.

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin casts about for a moment, then heads towards the trees. "I'm going to get out of this rain. Should be safe enough just inside the trees if I keep an eye out."

[kopout]

Den
"i am afraid i agree with dorin, we need shelter from the storm i sugest we keep our eyes and ears open we don't know
whats in there." he turns and surveys the others" we will be looking fore some place dry a place out of the where we can light a fire"

omnik you may whant to youse you pray for the day becuse we will be beding down in a strange place just a thought

here are my spot and listen rolls i hope others do them as well
listen[roll0]
spot [roll1]
edit i really hope others do them as well :smalltongue:

[pup3k]

Ohk'Tahr

Ohk'Tahr heads begins to head for the jungle, I can find us some food in there.

Hey, sorry I'm so late to the game, I thought I subscribed to the thread, and was sadly mistaken, but it has been fixed and all is now well.

And let's say that it's a hyena.

Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]
Survival (to find some food, be it berries or game): [roll2]

[Kaiser Omnik]

Desert Fox

The shaman closes his eyes and prays for a little luck.

(OOC: I use my Pray class feature to have a minor blessing. Something like a small bonus to survival/search checks to find food and/or shelter. Not enough for a divine intervention.)

[Gorgondantess]

Ohk'Tahr searches for some kind of food, and finally finds some strange berries. Biting into one, he spits it out and nearly gags for the horrible, sickly- sweet taste. Nothing else can be found this close to the open. Everyone has their turn fruitlessly trying to light a fire, but to no avail- even under the canopy the rain still penetrates. You all take quite some time to fall asleep with the horrible rain, and wake up in a pool of mud, the skies pouring down harder than ever. Ohk'Tahr's hyena, blood fang, wakes up with his fur laced with fungi. Nothing can be heard over the pouring rain, and what with the clouds in the sky, the forest is nigh on pitch black.On top of that, after checking the packs, some of the food is ruined, contaminated with mud, mold, or water, and has to be thrown out. It was miraculous that any of it survived the night- you have left about 3 days' food.

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin grumbles about the food as he glances at the others. "Now we have to go forward. Let's get this over with then."

[kopout]

Den

"its obvious that this jungle is inhospitable." said den "however their may be some shelter out of the rain on the moutons if we can find a cave out of the jungle proper we may have a chance, after that we will have a base of operations to return to"
are we up stream or down stream from the tribe because if we are up stream they should be getting water

[Gorgondantess]

You trudge into the dense jungle, the ground so thickly matted with roots that it takes up most of the floor. The going is slow, impeded by constant tripping and stumbling over the irregular terrain, and aided by the blackness. You can barely see anything in the dark there, fifteen feet at best, but usually not even that far what with all the trees, and hearing is even worse- it has started to hail, and that along with the rain and wind nothing can be heard, except for the occasional animalistic screaming that peirces the darkness. Time becomes illegible, as does direction- you have no idea whether you are going in a straight line or in circles. As you travel, you are constantly pelted by rain and falling branches, and sometimes you are hit by a thrown stone or stick, but not even the most diligent search can turn up an aggressor in this blackness. Finally, exhausted, you find a 5 by 5 foot clearing, created by the merging of the roots of several large trees- barely enough to fit all of you and it definitely won't be comfortable, but it will have to do- you can barely stand, and you all collapse into a heap, quickly falling asleep, even through being pelted by rain, and hail, and thrown stones by whatever you still cannot tell.
You wake up sore, and feeling like you've barely slept. Mercifully, the rain has slowed to a drizzle, even though there is still heavy cloud cover that you can see through a small crack in the canopy. However, with the rain stopping, you can now hear, and don't like it- you realize that the screaming you heard last night was only the loudest, or closest, or whatever, and now the rain cannot impede your hearing, you realize that there is a constant, horrible, blasphemous screaming, from innumerable sources, surrounding you. Suddenly, a noise pierces the screaming- the rumble of thunder, and the crack of lighting. The screaming slows for a bit, as if perturbed by the noise, and then rises back again to its previous volume- then is cut off all together. You can hear a rustling from every direction, quickly cut off though- and then in the distance, ahead of you, you hear a rumbling, a rushing, a rustling, a crashing- all very distant. You cannot be certain whether it has been happening all along, and was just cut off by the screaming.

Whoo! I kind of got carried away there. sorry bout the wall of text. Anyhow, you're anywhere between 2- 10 miles into an unknown jungle, you have no idea which way is north, you can barely see anything, and the sky is all but invisible. Have fun boys. Oh, a few more things- if you want to have gone back halfway through the trip into the jungle, thinking it was futile, say so- I don't want to cut anybody off here. As for Kopout's question, and it was a very apt one- the river runs from the mountain through the jungle, east down to the tribe and into the sea. The river is covered with trees, the same as all the rest of the forest. You're probably thinking this is what dried the river up, but if that's the case these trees grow very quickly- many of them in the river are over 50 feet tall. Presumably it's just been flowing through the trees. A description on these trees I've been talking about so much- the forest is uniform, with rough, thick tress that have roots running along the ground next to them, about 5 feet out on the biggest trees. They have lots of vines drooping down, and have a very wide top. the average tree is about 40 feet tall. OK, getting carried away again. Any questions, feel free ask.

[Kaiser Omnik]

Desert Fox

Desert Fox woke up, alert. All this screaming was maddening.

"What is wrong with this jungle?"

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin gets up, stretching slowly as if sore. He glances around, then over at Desert Fox. "Another beautiful morning. Shall we continue? No use going back; we'd never make it."

[Gorgondantess]

Desert Fox

"What is wrong with this jungle?"

A lot of things. If ya'll don't post to actually do something more than go ahead in a day or so, you'll find out. Oh, by the way, the rumbling is very significant.

[kopout]

Den
"I don't like that crashing sound . Something big may be coming our way, we should probably avoid it."
I'm so happy. i thought this tread was in danger. although seeing as i am new i don't know it may be normal to have this long between updates. Also is the crashing thing a lost stile monster? is making it to the river bed and going up stream an option?

[Gorgondantess]

As Den gives his warning, the rumbling steadily increases, and you can hear cracking off in the distance, a kind of crumbling sound. Suddenly, you hear a sound that sounds like sand is falling on the jungle canopy, and a veil of dust falls amongst you.

[kopout]

Den
"What the hell is going on!?" cried den "a sand storm in the jungle?"

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin frowns and looks around. He glances in the what he believes to be the direction of the mountain, then at the others. "Well its heading this way, so I say we go that way." He points in a direction that would take them at a right angle to the apparent path of the...whatever it is.

[Gorgondantess]

As you begin to travel to the right angle, the rumbling steadily increases. A wave of dust rushes over you, and you fall to the ground, coughing violently. Then you see the source of the rumbling- a landslide, and before you can even cry out, it smashes right into you, and your world grows black.

You poke your head out of the dirt, beaten and abused, squinting at the light. You feel like you couldn't walk. In the distance, you see the mountain, and a bleak lanscape coming from it in a triangle of dirt and rocks and broken trees sticking out. You would be assuredly dead if you were caught anywhere else- you see standing trees right behind you. At the base of the mountain you can see grey rocks all over, and a river of water running along its base.
Ok, here are the damages. Den is at -3 hp and has several broken ribs and his limbs are shattered. Okh'Tahr and Naine did pretty well; Okh'Tahr's left arm is broken, and he's at 5 hp, and Naine has no fractures, but he does have a twisted left ankle, and is at 7 hp. Dorin took only 1 HP of damage, miraculously. Desert fox broke both his arms and is at 4 HP. Assume a broken limb cannot be used. Naine's twisted ankle reduces his speed by 10'. Den will have to be carried on a stretcher, and is stable. You have 1 day of food left, and cannot possibly make it back to the village.

[kopout]

i look around (can still turn my head right?) to find anything that can be made into a stretcher (i need tree branches and some clothe). do i find any thing?
do i need to make a spot check?

[Gorgondantess]

There are plenty of sticks and vines in the area, and a stretcher should be a relatively easy task.

[kopout]

Den
"is every one else alright "shoats den "because i don't think i a'm"

[Ipphli]

Dorin

Dorin stands up and brushes himself off. He looks over at the others, a grimace on his face. "Who all is still alive?"

[kopout]

every one hear? good lets get started am i awake? are all my limbs shattered?

[Gorgondantess]

I think that there has been a loss of interest.

[kopout]

oh no i liked this

[Gorgondantess]

Yeah, I did too.