Ruins of Azlant IC

[DarkOne-Rob]

"Warden's guard prisoners," says Henri solemnly. "We shouldn't open any cages."

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewitt thanks the statues though he isnt sure if they understand him either. He still wanted to be polite since they were very helpful and flexible with them. Lightburn decides to also thank the statues too by his own initative. Hewitt was caught a bit off guard by this development.

[farothel]

"I'm not sure if they made that path, although it is possible," Laurelata said, "remember that device we saw when we were exploring the village.
That was probably one of those."

She explained to Henri who hadn't been there what the device looked like that they had seen.

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz is still very disturbed by the existence of the construct, that it is brought up gain puts a frown on her face - that there may be more, some colony perhaps, quickly pushes this into a scowl. Still she nods in agreement with Laurelata, "it does sound a lot like that thing. Remember too that the thing exploded. Whatever this warden jack is, we probably shouldn't get too close."

[u-b]

You walk the easy to follow trail generally north-west, though it is not quite a straight route. It is about the noon when you see the forest giving way to shattered fragments of rock and stone, the barest recognizable remnants of a lost civilization. Jutting from the grass and shrubs is a stone promenade with intermittent flights of short steps that climb up a gentle slope - miraculously unchanged despite titanic upheaval of the past. Walkways extend east and west briefly before terminating into hills of wind-eroded stone rubble that might have once been buildings. A solitary and seemingly intact tower that is about as wide as it is tall it is tall is visible on the northern horizon, approximately a mile away.

[DarkOne-Rob]

"Tower looks interesting, probably dangerous. Shall we?" Henri says in his rumbling, quiet voice. "Let's be careful - and quiet..." Then the half-orc begins to quietly sneak towards the ruined edifice, using what cover he can find and all his skills to approach quietly, eyes darting everywhere to try and see dangers before they see the party...

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Given the distance, I figure we're talking about several minutes of creeping, so probably taking 10 on Perception (+8) and Stealth (+3).

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewitt looks at the tower with curiosity though its Lightburn the first one to speak up. "I suppose we got no other choice. I´ll stay in the front with Henri." Hewitt nods at the suggestion. "Yes, you probably will be of more help there with your keen senses and combat skills. I´ll be at the very back then." Hewitt replies knowing he didnt have much to offer on that front.

Spoiler: OOC

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Hewitt and Lightburn will do the same as Henri´s character (taking 10). Both have +6 on stealth and Lightburn has +5 on perception.

[Farmerbink]

Jessica nods. Following Henri's lead (though poorly), she creeps forward several paces behind the lame Half Orc. Glaive at the ready, she peers around at the ruins with equal parts curiosity and wariness.

[farothel]

"I'll join you," Laurelata whispered to Henri. She was sure she was better at spotting traps than he was and she could be very quiet if she wanted. So moving a bit to the side so one fireball couldn't take them both, she moved up as well at the same speed.

Spoiler: OOC actions

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sneak up. I'll use the same take 10 for perception (+8, +9 for traps) and stealth (+7)

[u-b]

Alert for any possible dangers, you walk the stone promenade, or what is left of it, uphill towards the tower. The whole area seems more or less trampled, as if frequented by that construct swarm. At one place you notice some holes in the ground. They are somewhat unlike the ankheg holes and, to Lightburn, they smell very differently. As if of something mechanical...

Spoiler: Libhtburn

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Your scent detects a construct or a swarm thereof.

Spoiler

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You are some 20 feet from the nearest hole. You see at least two more further on, on both sides of the promenade.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri looks to the strange eidolon expectantly as it sniffs the air. "What is it?" he quietly asks, as he holds up a fist to stop the party as they sneak forward.

[DaOldeWolf]

"I think its a machine. No! I think its many of them." Lightburn growls as he points in the holes where he thinks they are with his nose while staying in place. "Could they be waiting to ambush us?" Hewitt asks a bit worried about the situation.

[farothel]

Laurelata stopped and looked around, trusting her elven senses to find stuff. She really wondered what was going on and what was going to happen.
"Hello," she said, "we come in peace."

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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Perception: (1d20+8)[13]

[u-b]

Laurelata hears mostly what seems to be the normal sounds of the sarsely populated wilderness. Nothing of it seems to come from the holes of interest. This continues for some time. Then Laurelata hears the sound of (and soon sees the sight of) rolling of what seems to be hundreds of metal balls. They roll out of the nearest hole and then spread out and advance in your direction in what can hardly be misinterpreted as an attempt to communicate...

Spoiler

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The metal balls are about 10 feet from your frontliners. If you want to start a fight, you have the initiative. If you want to run, go ahead and run. If you want to continue attempts to communicate or do something else, make sure it's quick.

[Farmerbink]

Jessica immediately assumes Azlanti will be the most effective means. "Ah. Hello? We're friendly; hoping to help you? I think?"

Spoiler: OOC

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I have to admit to being a bit amused how often diplomacy seems to come into play with unlikely targets of interaction. (1d20+8)[14]

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri draws his bec de corbin and stands between the party and the approaching constructs. "I don't think I can hold off that many, but I'll try if you all don't start running!" he says, much louder than normal, as he gets ready to defend the others, no matter how ineffective his weapon might be against the swarm...

[farothel]

"Everybody run," Laurelata shouted as she saw all the balls come out of their holes. She didn't waste time and ran off, preferably towards a forest if there is one. Otherwise away from the things. She tried to stay on the walkways as much as possible, hoping that these balls allowed travel on the walkways and not beside them.

[SanguinePenguin]

Flummoxed by the nigh incomprehesible sight of mechanical balls before her, Taz backs away quickly, preparing to run. When Jessica attempts to converse with the aggressive balls, she cries out, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! RUN, JESSICA!!!"

Spoiler

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Taz wants to run, but will wait for others to clear out.

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewitt decides to run and tries to look for a safe place. He also commands Lightburn to do the same. The creature feels a bit bad about retreating but he didnt want to risk disappearing if Hewitt went too far away from him.

[u-b]

A wave of rolling balls hits Henri. Each individual ball is not much and does not move very fast, but there is a lot of them and they are hard and massive for their size. In fact, standing just ankle deep in their lot is not unlike standing knee-deep in a quick stream of water. Henri manages to maintain his footing and the damage is so far manageable 3 hit points, but now that he does not have a clear ground to walk, getting away might be tricky.

Of the rest of the party, only Jessica is close to the scene, the rest ran for their lives...

Spoiler

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Damage: (1d6)[3]
Reflex: (1d20+6)[23]

If Henri wants to get out of the swarm, he has to make either another reflex 12 or a 5-feet long jump with no running start.
Jessica is 5 feet from the scene.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri barely gets out of the mass of metal spheres, rushing towards Jessica and pushing her forward towards the others. "They're not friendly - go!" he barks as he all but scoops the woman up to get them both moving...

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Reflex Save: (1d20+6)[12]

[u-b]

Jessica runs. Everybody runs. The swarm of steel balls... well, it does not quite run, but it rolls following you for as long as you can see it behind you and maybe for some more time because you do not stop to check. Eventually you switch to a trot and then to a walk and then, quite some time later, you make a 3/4 loop back and hide watching your trail. It is about noon when you decide that, according to your expectation of the swarm's speed, it should long have appeared at your location if it has just followed you. So maybe it decided not to, or maybe it has lost your trail, but you think you can now return without putting everyone there in undue danger. Because what would be your other options? The only attack Henri made against the thing failed to even properly connect with the balls he had touched as they seem to roll under the blow as soon as it is only marginally off-center, which is, like, always, as far as an open fight is concerned. And even if you wreck a ball... there are just too many of them. You'd need to plan for it, that's for sure.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri huffs loudly, breathing heavily from the extended run on his bad leg. "Well...[huff]...that was bad. [huff] I can't fight those - can anyone else? [huff] Maybe with magic or alchemical fire or acid?" he asks between breaths.

[farothel]

"Those are metal balls," Laurelata said after taken a few sips from her waterskin, "so probably acid is a good choice. Or maybe we can use nets to trap them in an area. I'm not going to try with my rapier, that's probably not going to do much. I'm wondering who or what is steering them though."

[SanguinePenguin]

"We could get the swarm suit from town and I could pommel them like I did to the roaches," Taz injects optimistically. "Without that suit they tear me apart though."

[farothel]

"Might actually work," Laurelata said thinking things over, "it will take us some time to get back and come here again. We best try to hunt and gather fruit, vegetables and herbs along the way, both going back and coming back up."

[DarkOne-Rob]

"Do we want to stay around and try to explore anything else? Or go back, get the suit and some gear, and destroy those things?" asks Henri as he continues to catch his breath.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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If we go back: Knowledge (Nature): (1d20+5)[19] and Survival: (1d20+7)[14]

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewiit gets nervous seeing his teammates decision on the subject. "I suppose if its for the best, we should leave to prepare ourselves." Hewitt declares agreeing with the general sentiment on the situation. Lightburn remains silent.

[u-b]

You make your way back to the village, just hiking for the rest of the day. You estimate you won't be able to make it back by the dark even if you push it, so you set up a camp. You eat some travel rations. Nothing disturbs your rest and you continue your way, but now, knowing you are not in a hurry, you start looking for herbs as you go. The first usable thing you've found is wild sorrel. Good enough, you thought and start picking it up and looking for more. There are indeed more patches of sorrel here and there and you keep on picking them when Laurelata suddenly finds... a dragon rose! You start looking for more and have searched literally all around, finding two more specimen. It takes you about half a dozen hours and then you realize that if you don't make it to the village tonight and process the herbs the first thing tomorrow, they will just spoil. So you stop searching for more and make haste. You arrive at the village some whort time before dark, somewhat tired, but not terribly so.

Spoiler

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Dragon rose x3. Needs to be processed no later than the morning tomorrow.
Sorrel xN. You got enough of the thing.

[farothel]

Laurelata is happy to find the rare plant. Finally something they could use. As soon as they arrive back in the village, she goes in search for someone who could use the herbs they had collected. She would keep some of the sorrel to use in the food she prepared, but the rest could also be used to make medicines.