New OOTS products from CafePress
New OOTS t-shirts, ornaments, mugs, bags, and more
Page 2 of 50 FirstFirst 12345678910111227 ... LastLast
Results 31 to 60 of 1493
  1. - Top - End - #31
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Aron realizes that the phenomenon appeared closest in proximity (in time) during the late night and early morning, so daytime is best and favors the human ranger's senses.

    Erin is not thrilled about splitting up the party. Her senses are almost comparable to Ankarum's though his are particularly keen in the jungle. She is on par with him for stealth, though, except that she has low-light vision. Her spells aren't really suited for scouting in the wild.

    Gelik says "Nope." Jask, of course, is ill-suited to the task.

    Lalarlia is best when she can use armor and shield to protect the party. She recognizes that her elven senses are okay, but has the wisdom to recognize that they don't compare to the others, and that unlike most of her race, her focused training in religion and war have kept her away from such arts as stealth.

    Pezock believes the flying Nope known as the chubbacabra lives on Red Mountain, and he has no desire to go there. However, if you go on a scouting mission, he would like to take Gelik and Jask with him to start work on the lighthouse reflector. Two tasks at one time - "Many winged arms make light work *CAW*!"

    Stephan simply nods and stands over by you, obviously signaling that he would go with you.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  2. - Top - End - #32
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Okay Stephan. We go. We will try to be back before nightfall when Chubacabra flies.
    Ankarum gathers his weapons and enough water skins for a day, gives Erin a quick grin, and then he turns and lopes into the jungle taking the trails towards the red mountain.


  3. - Top - End - #33
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    The party will make a quick account of its haul. Stephan will scrap the broken scimitar he had with him. The magical bracers will go to Ankarum, since he prefers to fight lightly clad and Stephan is interested in some of the actual armor. This is not huge, but does give him a little more protection.

    A restorative potion is given each to Ankarum and Stephan. This will help deal with snake bites in the wild when by themselves as well as to hustle if needed to on their way back. Still, the magic in these potions is as powerful as the magic that only now Lalarlia has been graced by Calistria, so try not to use them if necessary. Stephan has already proven himself to be a superior paladin-healer so a healing potion might not be necessary. One cure potion each is divvied to the rest. Erin, who has 2 curing potions already, gives the one she would've gotten just now to Ankarum. "Go ahead. You never know, and if Stephan falls ..."

    Aron takes 2 arrows, Lalarlia takes 8, and Stephan takes the remaining 10. Stephan will also take 3 javelins to top off his long quiver.

    Stephan will take the late Hacker Paschorr's masterwork studded leather armor, and now long last he has some armor - the lack of which for a combat-focused person has been a big weakness. To this end he shucks the light wooden shield he wasn't using anyway. He uses two-handed weapons to make use of his prodigious strength: his masterwork mighty sword, his masterwork composite warbow (with heavy pull), and his masterwork dread maul. For CQB he'll take a short sword. Though also a light armor, perhaps he didn't choose a chain shirt to not slow him down when jumping, swimming and climbing since Hacker's had no penalty there.

    Though such material and their use is not known to Ankarum, Gelik will teach the duo about the alchemical items if not known already. Each of you will get a vial of antitoxin, a smokestick, and a tanglefoot bag, and Ankarum will get the thunderstone.

    If you carried 50' of rope, you would sacrifice speed and mobility, and the loss of those two things would be anathema. Stephan holds onto the rope. You will note that while Stephan - whose defensive reflexes outstrip even Pezock's - carries all of his weight handily. This weight is well in excess of what you can carry now. He is likely as strong as Ishirou; the late Tian man was surprisingly strong and in fact was the strongest in the camp.

    Given his own ability to set traps, Stephan is asked if he can make use of the masterwork tools or if his knowledge is only to setting traps (and natural traps at that). Stephan nods, and he gets the two pounds worth of lockpicking tools along with the pocketed scarf. Pezock never knew Aerys, so he is not weird about taking the tricorne hat. He now proudly wears the hat as if he were some type of pirate officer. He is profoundly funny looking, but at least he seems happy for now.

    The two of you are now on your way ...
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2014-10-15 at 06:30 PM.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  4. - Top - End - #34
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Spoiler: Others
    Show
    Others for the day ....

    Pezock directs the final construction of the lighthouse. His training in trapmaking uses a wide variety of disciplines - engineering, carpentry, masonry - to aid him. Jask has no real training in engineering, and yet he picked up enough lore in his priestly studies devoted to Nethys to perhaps provide some help. With a natural '20,' on the roll, Jask's +2 for his Aid, and Pezock's Craft (trapmaking) of +7 for a total of 29 means an overwhelming success. With Erin and Lalarlia's physical aid as directed (and Pezock is surprisingly stronger than them both), the two scouts will return to a lighthouse that can work.

    Gelik spends the day helping the workers feel better by telling them jokes and the like, though he does wander (not far) because he easily gets bored.

    Aronnahar has been distracted all day. She openened up the work Aerys was working on, the partially completed Abendego Cantos. It turns out that the woman - unknown to the rest of the world - was a gifted writer. The work contains compelling themes of the strength of personality against incalculable odds. "If only had the inspiration this book showed me when I was witless briefly against the witch in the battle."

    It is a troubling issue for Aron, for she realizes her weakness in the battle. She never really faced psychological danger. Sure, in the PFS there were exercises, but there was a sense that she would never be truly harmed. Despite her brilliance as a bard, she only scored average when it came to resisting psychological trauma in comparison to other bards. Aron always relied on her abilities to put others at ease with her bardic abilities, or for events to reveal themselves to her via the moon. She now begins to understand that while she continues to train her mind, her focus on music and her willingness to take in alien knowledge is part of the reason she is distracted most of the time. Well, perhaps she'll use this story as her muse next time .... and she knows now she has to work harder on training her mind against other spellcasters. Still, she is filled with self-doubt that her weaker mind is a liability to the group.
    Spoiler: The Final NPC Gift .... For Those That Can Read
    Show
    Unlike any other of the NPCs, Aerys' NPC gift can actually extend beyond the grave! Fitting for a troubled, alcoholic unknown author who died tragically.
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2014-10-15 at 07:13 PM.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  5. - Top - End - #35
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Returning to the Hero ...

    That morning, just before the group splits in three (scouts, lighthouse, and Aron stays as contact point with Aycenia), Jask will pray over the two of you that you may both know comfort in the inhospitable heat and humidity of the mid-day as you travel to your destination, and that you are met with fortune in determing the cause of the unknown magical lightning.

    A point-man system is in effect. You are much faster than Stephan, who is only as fast everyone else. It seemed that when you raced along the beach a couple months ago (yeah, my friend, you've been on the island that long ... 73 days today), it was only a brief sprint that brought him to your speed. Still, without Lalarlia you can make it to the game trail and then eastward on the trail to the mountain at about half a day.

    Before, you stayed off the game trail for worries of the cannibals, but now you are met with a new sight on your way up the mountain. A fifty-foot wide gorge scars the landscape here; a rapidly flowing river rushes through the gorge, with a rickety-looking rope bridge providing a treacherous-looking way to cross.

    What do you do?
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  6. - Top - End - #36
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Looks not good to Ankarum. Ankarum is lighter. Tie rope to Ankarum and hold on this side until Ankarum across.

  7. - Top - End - #37
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    A tribute to Ankarum's intellect is that he totally misunderstands that stronger does not equal heavier. Stephan, while bristling with muscle, is still only 5'11" and weighing in at 181 lbs. Compare this with the human stork Ankarum who stands at 6'7" and weighs 245 lbs.

    On the other side, a tribute to his wisdom is his handling of the bridge. He goes across and it creaks ominously. After you cross, Stephan follows. You are pretty sure it was a good call ... had you both been on the bridge it probably would've snapped and dropped you.

    You continue taking the path up to the top of the summit. This low mountain is the highest point on the island. Barren of vegetation, the jagged rise of rust-red stones just from the earth like an immense scar, providing a vertiginous view of the surrounding blue of the seemingly endless ocean. From here, you can get a full view of the island, including the lighthouse to the west, Silent Island (which is already beginning to show bits of green, thanks to the party), and the large grassy hilltop where the party earned the treasure. Aycenia's tree, which is on a smaller hill, is hidden by the rest of the canopy. The rocks on the mountain are a strange red hue, and unlike anything Ankarum saw on the high plains of his home.

    Also here, which the party didn't find the first time, there are the remains of human skeletons and some animals in varying states of decay. They seemed to have been bound up here as some type of sacrifice. A search around the top of the mountain doesn't provide anything else of interest. Either there would have to be a wider sweep of the entire mountain to see if the source of the strange energies could be found, or you go back to camp.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  8. - Top - End - #38
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Ankarum searches the island from his vantage point on top of the mountain for any sign of something out of place or unusual in the jungle since his last trip here, not including the changes you already mentioned. This may require making a circuit of the peak.
    if nothing is found, he will suggest to Stephan that they make camp somewhere nearby and wait for the wrong lightning to appear again and hopefully be able to determine its location from a higher vantage point. A camp defensible from the air!

  9. - Top - End - #39
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    There is nothing different about the jungle.

    There is a major inlet that wraps around in a large hook to the north and then around to the west and SW ... practically making Red Mountain and the area around it a peninsula, but far thicker than the long, shiv-shaped one that defines the northern part of the island (and for which part of the island is named). Having a look downwards to the steep cliff below might be worthwhile. There is something ... interesting ... there.

    Four stone monoliths appearing as jagged stalagmites of rock protrude from the grass at the edge of the bluff. A weathered, snakelike rune is carved into the face of each of these stones, all facing a three-foot-high pyramid-shaped block of stone at the center of the four surrounding spires. The vegetation and soil surrounding this pyramid has been trimmed back and excavated to expose the strange block fully to view. The peak of the central pyramid has a cup-shaped indentation - channels run down the four sides into empty basins at the edge of the pyramid. The pyramid and the four surrounding spires seem to hum and vibrate slightly to the touch.

    Meanwhile, across the gorge a rocky cleft cuts into the bluff, presenting a hundred-foot drop onto seaweed-choked rocks and tide pools. Several ledges, each connected by rickety-looking rope bridges, lead down into the cleft to the rocky beach below. What appears to be a large nest of driftwood, grass, bits of cloth, and perhaps bones seems to be wedged against the easternmost cleft.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  10. - Top - End - #40
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Using his knowledge of nature and tracking skills refined over his years in the wilderness, Ankarum attempts to see what he can detect about the strange stones, including who might have been leaving tracks in the area, when and how many. After that he will see what he can decern about the nest.

  11. - Top - End - #41
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Though the baseline of Ankarum's knowledge of nature did come from the Storval Plateau - his home - the vast majority of his lore know represents the jungle. Sitting well above that on Red Mountain doesn't give him any insight, but he's pretty sure he has never seen the stones which make up the monoliths and pyramid. As far as tracking, here on the mountain you find that it is you who aids Stephan other than the way around. You might own the jungle in knowledge, but he seems to have better insight up here.
    Spoiler: Wow
    Show
    Doing the very best you can (Natural '20' +10 = 30), you give Stephan a +4, and Stephan gets a modified 25 for a total of 29.

    Despite the hard ground and the afternoon rain that had recently fallen (as it does every day), the two of you easily parse out what appears to be very fain tracks. You can tell that there was only one person. This person is Medium-sized. The person is wearing thick slippers, not armored boots or even adventurer's boots. Once or twice along the short trail of tracks you do follow, you find something curious ... a small scale here or there, like from a lizard or reptile.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  12. - Top - End - #42
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Working with Stephan, Ankarum attempts to determine if the tracks were mainly at the stones or if the went to the rope bridges down to the nest and how recent the tracks were made. If they can, he suggests to Stephan that they track them back to their source, day light depending. Setting up Shelter for the night might prevent the tracking.

  13. - Top - End - #43
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Still plenty of daylight, and there is no canopy to hide the sun as with the jungle, so daylight will appear to last longer ... especially since this is the highest point. The downside is that once you are in the gorge, you will only have a few hours.

    There is no way to set up a defensible shelter on the top of this barren rock. There really aren't any clefts that you can climb into, no vegetation beyond grasses to help. Any camp would simply be sprawled upon the hard ground. With the worry of the chupacabra when you're open to the sky is up to you if you would want to switch off sleeping or if you want to man up to stay awake all night.

    But that will be in the evening, for now ...

    The first rope bridge goes directly across to the other side, and looks as dangerous as the other one. The nest is wedged into an alcove in the rock and set in some so you would not have any clear LOS to the contents of the nest at any point on this side, the other side, or on the bridge. One by one, you traverse the bridge.

    The next bridge is offset and is 60' high off the tide pools (40' below you). You will be clear enough of the nest so as not to climb too closely. Your climb is incredibly easy since you rappel, and the rope is loosed down to you. Stephan makes the climb, and other than having a little bit of an issue at first he makes it down. There are hints of tracks here and there going across this bridge. As before, one by one you cross the bridge, though you are sure that tying ropes off to each other is not necessary and might actually be a hindrance.

    The last bridge is a mere 30' from the ground (30' down from you). Again, at a different offset. It is now an easy enough task using the above system to get down to that bridge. Faint bits of passage of movement down here once again going across. You cross again, climb down, and now you are at the bottom. You are now at the tide pools. This thin crevasse opens out to the SW to exposed rocks. Seaweed, sea urchins of all colors, bright green anemones, scuttling kelp crabs, and bare rock glisten here, laid bare to the sky by what appears to be an unnaturally low tide. This latter is figured as you look out further and realize that water is effectively held back here on the sea side. Strange, and powerful magic. There is a moderate size pool to the south, and there is even the middle part of the hulk of a shipwreck. Despite the fact that passage on wet, algae-covered rock might possibly show signs of passage, there is absolutely nothing down at the tide pools that suggest any humanoid movement.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  14. - Top - End - #44
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Ankarum takes a good look at the hulk of the ship. How difficult would it be to reach it?
    What Stephan think? Could be a trap...we walk out and whoosh, the sea takes us. Doesn't track though. Too much work for someone to try to kill us. Ankarum think that someone is trying to find something on that ship...something very valuable. Maybe we find it first, eh?

  15. - Top - End - #45
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Stephan takes out his dagger and a javelin. He looks at you ands his head.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  16. - Top - End - #46
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Quote Originally Posted by lostsole31 View Post
    Stephan takes out his dagger and a javelin. He looks at you ands his head.
    Even though he is having trouble understanding Stephan for some reason, Ankarum makes ready to cross to the ship. He leaves everything except a spear, a torch w/ flint and steel , and a healing potion.

  17. - Top - End - #47
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Spoiler: Sorry
    Show
    ... and nods his head ....

    As you are making your way across the tide pools and hopping across the fatter bits of water, you notice that the large pool in the center, right next to the ship .... well, there is a shape that must be at least 10' long going back and forth. As you carefully make your way, it is obvious that the pool is much deeper than the tide areas and rivulets that you are crossing, because the shape with some kind of fish-fin can't get to you. You are pretty sure you've fins like this in the markets of Mediogalti, and they belong to sharks - dangerous predators of the ocean. Because of the size of what you can see underwater, the fin and its coloration, you are able to figure that it probably belongs to a common blue shark. Which is still nothing to sneeze at.

    Once you are about to step onto the deck, you see that the tidal pools curved around in a light hook and then a cleft in the rock face, where a fifteen-foot-wide waterfall cascades from the cliff a hundred feet above into the water here.

    The front two-thirds of a wrecked ship lies upon the rocks here, its bow mostly submerged but its ruined midsection propped up on a ridge of slimy rock. The sides of the wreck are thick with seaweed and barnacles, and dozens of crabs clatter around on deck.

    What do you do?
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  18. - Top - End - #48
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    lets find a spot where Ankarum can give you a boost up Stephan

  19. - Top - End - #49
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    You help him up, and he helps pull you up. The wrecked ship is in poor condition now, held together as much by its own rotting timbers as by the sea life growing on it. The ship's deck lies towards the bow at a steep angle, and the deck is slippery. There is an open hatch near the ruins of the ship's midsection.

    EDIT: With the body of the ship no longer blocking your view, you also see to the south two stone doors standing open at the base of the cliff above a curling spur of rock. Seaweed covers the doors, hanging down in thick green and black sheets, just obscuring some sort of carvings on their surface.

    A truly ominous sight.

    Stephan takes out his magic sword, which glows, and yet keeps his dagger in his hand (javelin is stowed now). He begins to descend into the ship. The first place you enter is the ship's communal eating place, though you forgot the term. The furniture in this soggy place lies in a wet heap against the southern wall of this seaweed-choked room. Water still drips from the ceiling here - enough for Ankarum to tell that this room was flooded until recently - less than a day, at least. There is a door to the west that is propped ajar.

    A careful move forward into the next room. Once a fine cabin, perhaps even the captain's cabin, this chamber is now in ruins. The furniture, including a crushed desk and a bed, lie in a heap near the bow, and seaweed and other tidal life glistens on the walls. A layer of seaweed covers the floor, deeper near the bow than by the door. As soon as you enter the room, a creature bursts out of the water, flapping about in the air with leathery wings. It is a small creature, no larger than a halfling at best. It has thin, leathery wings, small horns, and a mischievous smile.

    Before you can do anything, the creature, which also wears a jaunty captain's hat, shouts in a shrill voice: "Stand tall and report on this damnably low tide!"


    Last edited by lostsole31; 2014-10-21 at 03:09 PM.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  20. - Top - End - #50
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Snapping to attention, Ankarum performs his best salute.
    First Mate Ankarum reporting for duty, sir! There seems to be some strange magic afoot cap'n.

  21. - Top - End - #51
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Stephan takes a cue from you, stows his dagger and sword, and then snaps to attention.

    "First mate o' what, I wonder? Not this vessel. Me first is in the hold. I'm Captain Ekubus and this is my ship, the Salty Strumpet. Welcome aboard. You know, it's been a long time since anyone not of my crew here"
    ... and at that he motions to the crabs and such scuttling around ... "beheld strangers. And yet, you're not the first ones to pass by recently, nor is this the first weirdly low tide I've noticed the the past day. A funny-looking person came down from the ledge and swam over to the scary doors to the south and went inside. Of course, any humanoid with a snake head and a snake tail is funny-looking enough for me, at least for me to let it pass by without bothering him .... or her .... or ... it.

    "What be your business here?"
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  22. - Top - End - #52
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Cap'n, we be a couple of stout lads in search of adventure. What do ye know of the scary doors and the snake men?
    Ankarum strikes a confident pose and grins.

  23. - Top - End - #53
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    "That's all I know, leatherneck, but I'm glad you volunteered. I am curious what arcane and pestilent ills lie there that threaten me ship. Go in and investigate. I shall lead you in, but a captain cannot be far from his ship so after awhile I'll need to return here. I be curious to know what mettle ye be made of, so lead on, and I'll determine if you're a fit sort of first mate for my crew."
    Last edited by lostsole31; 2014-10-22 at 07:27 PM.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  24. - Top - End - #54
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Ankarum shrugs his sholders and looks to Stephan
    No guts, no chance for adventure Ankarum always say. Ankarum is a might curious about the snake man. What say you Stephan? We should grab the rest of our gear if we are goin' to risk it. We will grab our stuff and meet ya at the doors Cap'n!

  25. - Top - End - #55
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    You grab your things, cross over Salty Strumpet to the other side, and walk the 70' or so to two stone doors that stand open at the base of this cliff above a curling spur of rock. Seaweed covers the doors, hanging down in thick green and black sheets, just obscuring some sort of carvings on their surface. Stephan pulls several of the sheets down and away to reveal the carvings on the door in all of their hideous glory. There are all manner of demonic creatures, all with teeth sucking on the necks and limbs of what appear to be young maidens. Stephan places his hands over the carvings, feeling them in a line back and forth, row to row, all the while concentrating as if feeling something rather than looking directly at the door. He purses his lips, more to himself, and dissatisfied he simply stands back and shrugs. He studies the door for a bit in some amount of awe and confusion.

    The place beyond is dark, though it is a 20' x 20' area that goes up 10' wide stairs.

    "Well? What are you waiting for?" crabs Captain Ekubus. "Don't you come prepared with any damn light?"

    Stephan looks at you and points to the light towards the west and the pre-sunset colors that now are playing on the waves. (The view of the sun is blocked by this entire spur.) Stephan looks into the grit on the tidepool and he makes six stick figures. One is half the size of the others. Three have what seems to be girls because of hair. One is just a man stick figure. The last stick figure has wing-like arms. Above one of the females is a crescent moon. Above another of the females is a very crude attempt to make - with the materials at hand - some semblance of the symbol of Calistria. Above the man-figure he draws a simple facemask that is half course with sand on one side, and smoothed out sand on the other. Above the winged figure he makes a crude finger drawing of a serrated sword.

    He gestures towards the west with that "casting" motion of someone pointing to something in the distance. He then points to the figures, and stoops down, making scooping motions into himself as if he were gathering them up, and then he "releases" the phantom contents where you stand, facing the door.

    Captain Ekubus says something in a bubbly, gurgling language ... but it definitely sounds like a curse or something disparaging. He looks at you. "You have potential, Ankarum, but this dark-skin is an idiot."
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  26. - Top - End - #56
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Stephan wants to get the rest of our "crew" to help us explore this evil temple. Our crew has light spells and good magic to fight evil. Plus more hands to carry treasure. We will go get them and be back tomorrow, Capn'.

  27. - Top - End - #57
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    "Excellent thinking, Ankarum!" nods Ekubus. "That kind of thinking just might show the makings of a first mate, yet."

    Without a word, he flaps off to the ship.

    Well, the sun is going down. You figure if you try to scale the cliff now, it will end up being in the dark before long. What do you do? Do you camp right here, or farther back on the tide pools? or, do you try to push through the darkness back up the cliff to the top of Red Mountain?
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  28. - Top - End - #58
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Lansdale, PA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    If the climb looks too dangerous to make in the dark even if we rope ourselves together, we will make camp onboard the Salty Strumpet and take turns with watch. We leave at first light.

  29. - Top - End - #59
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    Too angled and crusted. You'd have to sleep on the widest part of the tide pools. Guy on watch also makes sure sleeper gets up if water level is no longer held back by magic .... and keeps buddy from being a for-the-crab cake.
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

  30. - Top - End - #60
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    lostsole31's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    St. Louis
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Serpent's Skull I, Smuggler's Shiv

    A shape jumps out at Stephan, the current one on watch. A bite misses, but two claws grab into him for 11, but he manages to pull out instead of being grabbed. Stephan gives out a man's angry growl-cry, which easily wakes Stephan ... who is 10' away.

    R1T25: With unlikely and incredible reflexes Stephan points his sword at the monster and his body glows with a golden nimbus, while his sword glows even brighter. He swings his sword, hitting it for 18. The monster gives out a terrible and angry cry.

    R1T12: The creature, easily hovering, bites at Stephan and hits him for 5. It attacks with both claws.

    R1T11: Ankarum, you wake up to see this ...



    You just woke up, your spear and shield are on the ground next to you, and you are prone. Remember that regardless of number of hands, picking up an object off the ground is an action, so if you stand this round you can only grab sword or shield ... not both. Or, grab both but stay prone. You are 10' from Stephan (15' from the Red Mountain Devil, but 10' movement brings you adjacent to it). Both Stephan and the monster are sporting wounds off about the same severity, and Stephan and his sword are glowing as described above.

    What do you do?
    28JAN2024: Completed reading TPK Games' The Deductionist (2013, Everhart). This source is authorized for playtest.
    21JAN2024: Completed reading Paizo's Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Taldor, the First Empire (2017, Moreland, Frasier, et. al.).
    Spoiler: Player Status
    Show
    bcool999: On hiatus through 01APR2024.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •