CH. 5: Vying Factions

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Beyond the refugee camp outside Main Gate of Haven)
The party continues on, their progress slow as Jaymes keeps a careful and slow pace so he can track the giant's footprints. A biting, chill wind blows in from the west, where the city stands. To the east stand the Kharolis Mountains. It would seem that the trail is slowly leading them there.

Jaymes comes to a stop at another footprint, squatting down to examine it. The wind starts to howl a little.

As they wait, Zoya approaches Burzan. "You look like you've seen some combat," she comments, looking over the towering half-ogre.

"Lots," Burzan replies. He looks down at the woman. "But you don't. So try not to get in the way."

Zoya snorts. "I'm not here to fight the giant, I'm just Gregeddin's bodyguard."

"What if the giant attacks Gregeddin?" Burzan asks.

"Uh...what?"

"If the giant attacks Gregeddin, as his bodyguard, you'll have to fight the giant then, right? Guess you didn't think that through," Burzan notes smugly.

Zoya pales but doesn't respond.

At last, Jaymes stands up and turns to the others. "Yes, I am certain now they lead to the mountains. There's a village up there...Esker, I believe it is called. We can probably use the mountain trail that leads to the village to help us get closer to the giant's lair."

Kendra and Darga (Haven Sewers)
Pen and Darga take the lead again, moving just outside the light of Kendra's lantern. They carefully walk through the rat swarm, although both accidentally kick or even step on a few along the way. The rats squeak in protest and scurry away at these slights. This does have the benefit of helping clear the way a little for Kendra and Crystal to follow, and the light of the lantern scares off even more.

The south tunnel turns to the west after about 30 feet. Another 30 feet after that, it opens up into a large chamber with a river of sludge going through it. A bridge connects the tunnel opening to the other side of the sludge river. Although it looks old and rickety, it seems strong enough to hold their weight. Unlike the previous chamber, this one appears to be rat free.

The smell of the sludge is pretty potent, but still bearable. It looks like there's another tunnel opening to the north, beyond the bridge.

[djhyland]

Darga waves for Pen to stay back and creeps up to the bridge. "Hold up," he mutters, "this bridge don' look safe. Lemme take a look at it 'fore steppin' on it."

(OOC: Darga is trying to find out if the bridge is safe to walk on, and is checking for both structural flaws and traps. He rolls a 91 for his Find/Remove Traps roll, which doesn't meet his 35% score.)

[JadedDM]

Kendra and Darga (Haven Sewers)
"Careful," Pen warns. "If this were a story, this would be the part where some big gross tentacles come out of the ooze and grapple with whoever crosses, trying to pull them under."

Darga carefully approaches the bridge and makes a visual inspection. He doesn't see any traps. The bridge appears very old. He, Pen and Crystal all weigh about the same amount (although Pen is smaller, he has more gear; Crystal is larger than both Darga and Pen, but is carrying very little). Kendra, on the other hand, weighs about twice as much as any of the others, so she would have the greatest risk in crossing.

Whether the bridge would support her weight (or any of theirs), though, is difficult to discern for certain. If they do cross, to be safe, they probably should do so one at a time.

While the women wait for the dwarf to conduct his inspection, Crystal turns to Kendra. "So, how's the honeymoon going? You aren't wearing the poor man out too much, I hope?" she asks with a sly smile.

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(OOC: Including their gear, Darga, Pen and Crystal all weigh around 145-155 lbs. Kendra weighs around 250 lbs with her gear, 185 lbs without. Must be all that muscle.)

[HorizonsDream]

"There really isn't a honeymoon period," Kendra admits. "On the wedding night, he promptly passed out, and now it has been pretty much the same as it was before we got married." She lets out a small sigh. "Yeah, I know, it sounds boring."

[BishGada]

Tulbas is angry at himself for not thinking his words, now he keeps quiet.

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(OOC: can cantrips help the ranger with the tracking? Like adding percents to his rolls or acting as a weak divination?)

[mgbevan]

Gregeddin happily chirps " well I would expect nothing less than for you to throw your body and life on the line to protect someone as dashing as myself." he finishes with a flirtatious wink. "if not then at least this will have your cheeks rouge rather than blanched "

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Beginning of the mountain trail to Esker)
Sure enough, some color does return to Zoya's cheeks. "Don't tease," she says playfully. "I am a married woman, after all."

As nobody responds to Jaymes comment, he shrugs and continues onward. Eventually, the party reaches the base of the mountains and the beginning of the mountain trail leading up to Esker. The mountains are covered with trees that have all turned reds, golds and browns due to autumn. A couple of mountain goats can be seen skipping about, searching for food. The wind still howls about them, bringing a biting chill.

"The giant lives up there, huh?" Burzan asks. Even he must crane his neck to look to the mountain tops.

"Maybe other things, too. Plenty of fun killin' for all," Raena adds.

"Bet I kill more things than you," Burzan wagers.

"We'll keep count. Winner buys drinks when we get back," Raena agrees. "Landing the killing blow against the giant counts as ten points."

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(OOC: The only way I can think of cantrips might be useful is if the party gets lost and he can use them to determine which direction is north. By the way, welcome back, BishGada. You were gone for over a week, I was just about to send you an email to see if you were still around!)

Kendra and Darga (Haven Sewers)
"Things were already boring before you got married?" Crystal asks incredulously, crossing her arms. "When we finish with this, assuming we survive, I need to take you out, bring some fun into your grey little life."

Growing impatient while Darga continues studying the bridge, Pen turns back and approaches the women. "Bridge ahead," he says. "Looks old and rickety. It's over a river of gross muck, full of monsters. Probably."

The three walk toward Darga to see the bridge themselves. "What do you think? Maybe if we only cross one at a time," suggests Crystal.

[HorizonsDream]

"I guess it depends on what you have in mind when it comes to fun," Kendra says. Though, she doesn't seem completely against the idea as she turns to look at Pen. "I'll cross first," she says.

[BishGada]

Tulbas looks up to the mountains, the dark clouds reflecting his own feelings. 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I thought we will fight just few miles outside the city so we will be able to run back fast if something goes wrong.'

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(OOC: Sorry I haven't been here and didn't leave message. I will try to keep posting now continuously.
Regarding the cantrip, I thought if the tracks are too shallow to see maybe the cantrip can outline it somewhat or restore it to one day earlier condition to help the ranger?)

[mgbevan]

"I bet the view's nice up there. Definitely worth it if you don't mind too many stairs from your garden to your bedroom." Gregeddin says comically, "And I'll add to your wager, a song to the victor commemorating their devotion to helping refugees in distress, super human strength, wicked cunning or otherwise as appropriate."

"Is the wind coming from any particular direction Jaymes? Wouldn't want that giant to get a smell of the blood of an Albanasian, if we can avoid it."

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Beginning of the mountain trail to Esker)
"The wind is coming from the west, behind us," Jaymes says. "But there is little we can do about it, at least for now."

"Someone should invent a spell that hides your smell," Ismene muses. "I mean, we have spells to hide you from being seen and being heard, you'd think someone would have invented a spell to keep people from smelling you, too. Ooh, maybe that can be my next project! Ismene's Deodorization, I could call it."

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(Regarding the cantrip, I thought if the tracks are too shallow to see maybe the cantrip can outline it somewhat or restore it to one day earlier condition to help the ranger?)

(OOC: Hmm, there is a level 1 druidic spell that can do that, and the rule is cantrips cannot mimic spells that are 1st level or higher.)

Kendra and Darga (Haven Sewers)
Kendra, holding her lantern high, steps out onto the bridge. It creaks in protest under her weight, but holds. Moving slowly, she takes one step at a time, carefully testing her weight. When she gets about half way across, Pen tenses and puts his hand on his sword hilt, ready to come running when the eldritch tentacles emerge from the muck to entangle her and drag her into the muck.

However, this does not occur. Kendra eventually makes it to the other side without incident, and Pen appears a tad disappointed.

A sudden shiver goes up Kendra's spine and on instinct, she hops to her left. A moment later, something long and heavy drops from the ceiling and lands right where she had been standing with a loud thump. It is insectoid, about six feet long, with 12 legs that each end in a little hook and small mandibles on its mouth. Tough chitinous plates cover its back. It somewhat resembles a very big centipede.

Horax.gif (69.67 KiB) Viewed 5224 times

Undeterred at missing its target, the creature turns toward Kendra, its mandibles clacking in anticipation.

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Kendra makes a surprise roll (+2 for DEX) ([/color]1d10+2): 6, she is not surprised

[djhyland]

Darga, too, tenses as Kendra crosses the bridge. He only begins to relax when the bug-like creature drops down from the ceiling. With a muttered curse, he crosses the bridge as quickly as he feels he safely can, ready to come to his companion's aid. Almost as an afterthought, he looks up at the ceiling to make sure that no other surprises await to drop down.

(OOC: In the unlikely event that Darga can both cross the bridge and attack this round, he'll attack the creature!)

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra quickly pulls out her two swords after putting the lantern down. "So, uh, I don't know what this thing is, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to need help," she calls out over her shoulder to the others. ~It probably has a soft underbelly,~ she thinks to herself as she looks for a way to penetrate its defenses. The only way to find out was to attack, for sure was to attack to test to see what hurt the creature.

Init Roll, Hit Rolls (7, 9, 11)

[BishGada]

"I bet the view's nice up there. Definitely worth it if you don't mind too many stairs from your garden to your bedroom."

Tulbas thinks to himself that he likes the bard less and less with every passing moment.

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(OOC: Cantrips. OK. I didn't know there is such a spell, but didn't we establish that cantrips can be a weak version of higher level spells? After all, they are small Wishes )

[mgbevan]

"I like the sound of that idea Ismene, its much more fanciful that rolling ourselves in freezing muck to mask our scent. It's a shame about the wind though, since it will carry sound further as well, making it harder to sneak up on. Our victory will just have to be all the more convincing and heroic I guess."

Continuing to make conversation to pass the time and the journey, Gregeddin asks, "Say Jaymes, when you combated a, or this, giant before. Did you sneak up on it in its lair or was it in the open?"