Episode 3
-2nd Heyday-
-Pleasant, clear skies, gentle wind-
-Sound Clanking-
Scene #6: E: Negative for Lord Faust: an Inquiry about Hope Q: Marriage inquiry? NO Q: Orcs on warpath? NO (so, perhaps a proposed trade agreement fell through with…Windlash)
The following morning, after breakfast and loading our mule, my companions and I bid Lord Varnath farewell. Soon, the clanking sound of the blacksmith’s hammer fades into the distance as we leave the village’s protective palisade and set off across the Lonefields. “Northwest two days, somewhere in the Whispering Hills” I remind Calbrock.
“That’s all you have? No landmarks? No map in that bag of yours? We’ll look around for a few days, and if we find it, all well and good. If not, we head back and you still pay us,” the Craglander insists. Bareln nods his head in silent agreement while Anlyn looks towards me expecting a response.
“Of course. I pay my debts,” I shrug as we continue our journey.
-Morning Encounter-Markers-
As we make our way through the tall grass that marks the Lone Fields, no longer following any sort of trail, we come across 6 stone markers, great slabs of granite hoisted up on one end. They are marked by painted red handprints, at least it seems to be paint.
“Orcs,” notes Calbrock. “What are you going to do when the orcs come?” He gives me a sideways glance.
“If it concerns you, perhaps you should have raised that question in Farhold,” I reply, “What is Anlyn going to do?” I glance at the half-elf, noticing how slender he is and the incredibly light pack he carries as well as a blade not much longer than my own dagger. “Are you expecting elven sorcery to protect us?”
Q: Does Calbrock count on Anlyn’s magic? NO Q: Does he welcome it anyway? YES
“I’ll trust my steel and Bareln’s shield more than elf magic,” Calbrock sneers contemptuously. Then he pauses, “But a little magic might turn the tide.”
Q: Does Anlyn take offense? YES
“Hey! I can hold my own in a fight, thank you very much,” Anlyn protests
I shrug, “I trust you will have to, as we all will, but I’ve only heard you play.”
-My Deception 16 vs Anlyn’s Insight 10-(Song of Rest granting 1d6 temp hit points)
Anlyn scoffs and pulls his lute from his back and begins playing a song, an Elvish tune about a foolish maiden who was despoiled dancing with satyrs on a moonlit night. My other two companions don’t seem to know what he is singing, and I pretend not to understand every word and the implications of his song. Instead, I turn my attention to the stones.
-My History 12-Anlyn History 15-
Studying the stone markers for a bit, I am unsure what they mean to say. “So, these boundary markers, do they mean anything in particular?” I ask my guide.
“Yeah, they mean orcs are here and they’ll kill you if they catch you,” Calbrock replies.
“Maybe not her, but us,” Bareln observes. I nod, understanding his meaning.
“Actually, they mean humans, that way,” Anlyn points back the way we came. “See the difference in the painted figures down here. And that’s clearly a man with a flag. Orcs don’t have flags shaped like that.”
“You read orc?” Bareln asks in suprise.
Anlyn shrugs, “No. Orcs don’t write. But I mean, it’s pictures. On a rock. How hard is it, really?”
The other two men glare at him, but I can’t help but start laughing, “Truly, I believe you may be right,” I agree and then tug Dunn after me and we resume our trek.
-Afternoon Encounter-small game-
As the day rolled on, we continue making our way through the lush grassland. Occasionally we see areas that have been freshly grazed and spot various wild cattle in the distance. We do surprise a group of hare nearby, but nobody has a bow in hand, so the free meal escapes us.
-Evening Encounter-No Encounter-Q: Did anyone else bring a tent? YES
-Night-Calbrock Survival 15-No Encounter-(Party activites, do their own things)
We finally reach the foot of the Whispering Hills, and Calbrock finds us a good place to camp where a fire will not be seen from miles away. Bareln and I set up tents while Anlyn gathers wood for fire and Calbrock tries to scare up some game but soon returns empty handed.
Q: Does anyone else comment? EXCEPTIONAL NO
After Bareln cooks dinner, a meal made more pleasant by Anlyn’s strumming, Anlyn observes, “Out here, a baron’s daughter really seems no different than the rest of us. You pick fleas from a mule, you assemble your own tent, and you sit on a rock to eat just like the rest of us. I would have never guessed.” Anlyn looks around for confirmation, but Bareln barely pays him any attention, going through some sort of weapon’s drill, while Calbrock carefully sharpens his axe, his eyes flitting from Anlyn to mine waiting my response. I give none. “What? Nobody’s going to say something?” Anlyn pleads. I retire to my tent.
“Yes. You have first watch,” Calbrock commands as Anlyn groans.
-3rd Heyday-
-Warm, Clear Skies, Steady Breeze-
-Immersion, Enemy/NPC touches something flexible-
Scene #7:
Refreshed from a night’s sleep, I am starting to get up when Anlyn pulls the flap of my tent aside, “Bareln already has breakfast ready, princess” the half elf grins.
I glare at him, “I’d like to dress in private, please.” He gives me a wink as he lets the tent flap fall back in place. Afterward I hear him walk away, I change out of my sleeping tunic and back into my travel wear. The company quickly eats, breaks down our camp, then I load up Dunn and we are back on our feet.
“What is this place supposed to look like?” Calbrock asks.
“I don’t know. All I know is that it is out here, somewhere,” I reply.
“My,” Bareln stops himself, “Yseldra, are we really stumbling around blind looking for this place? What are we supposed to find there?”
“Books. Some repository of books from a lost age,” I explain.
Q: Are they okay with this? NO
Calbrock groans, “Books? I trusted you were looking for something more tangible. Maybe yellow and glittering.”
Anlyn agrees, “Yes, a treasure hunt should have treasure at the end of it.”
I look at them, confused, “I told you I was a scholar in need of escort to the Whispering Hills to find something. If you wanted specifics, you should have asked.”
“She’s got us there,” Bareln agrees as he starts his way up into the hill country.
-Morning Encounter-No Encounter
-Afternoon Encounter-Small Game- (Survival DC 15 to find the place, Calbrock rolled an 18-
By midday, we have climbed up a few miles into the hill country. It is slower goin than through the grassland. For us anyway. Hare seem to have no problem bounding away as they hear our approach. Dunn doesn’t seem to mind the hill country though. He is a sure footed animal.
As the sun is starting to descend, Calbrock points down the slope towards an area of worked stone. Red paint splotches the white granite. I smile, “Well done, Calbroth,” and I start working my way down towards it.
Q: Are there orcs nearby? NO
“Hold up,” Calbrock warns, and he and Bareln study the area for any signs of orcs nearby. After a short time, he nods for me to proceed.
“About time,” Anlyn opines, drawing a scornful glance from the Craglander as the half elf follows me down. I lightly tie Dunn to a small tree near the entrance so he can pull free if he needs to, but then walk over to the obvious stone door in the face of the hillside.
“The markings, orc, right? What do they say?” I ask Anlyn as I pull the key from Dunn’s pack.
-Anlyn, history 13, Yseldra, History 19-
“How am I supposed to know?” protests Anlyn.
I step back and examine the markings, “Tribal signifiers. One tribe has claimed this place,” I giggle, “That means we are definitely trespassing.”
-Yseldra perception 6, Anlyn perception 21-
I bite my bottom lip as I strain to spot where to place the key. Anlyn groans, “There!” he points, “Want me to do it?”
“No, I can manage,” I reply and insert the key into the indention in the wall causing something to click beyond and I hear the grinding of stone.
Anlyn smirks, “You are very good at inserting large objects into tight holes.”
“Watch yourself,” Bareln snaps at the half elf while Calbroth laughs.
“What did I say?” Anlyn protests with a grin.
I roll my eyes and see that the door is no longer set flush with the frame. I pull several torches from Dunn’s packs, transfer all but one to mine, then ignite it with a word, “Ignus!”
Q: Anyone surprised? NO
I look around at my companions. None seem shocked. Bareln nods, face grim. Anlyn grins, eyes bright. Calbrock’s brow furrows, but he nods for me to lead the way inside.
-Perception 3-
I push against the door and the stone slab slides easily to one side. Holding to torch just behind, I kneel down and begin looking for signs of recent passage or danger. Seeing none, I step inside.
-encounter roll-dressing- Immersion-Touch, something engraved-
I breathe in the stale air as I step into the darkness. The flickering light of my torch illuminating dark brown spots on the light grey stone floor, “Blood?” I whisper aloud.
“No. Too dark,” asserts Calbrock, noticing the same thing.
Q: elven? YES (Anlyn History 8, Yseldra History 8)
Anlyn’s fingers trace the walls, which are engraved with murals of tall, lean figures wearing robes and mail armor. “Knights and scholars,” he muses, and I agree.
At the end of the hall is a human sized statues covered in spider webs. The dried crusts of long dead insects crunch beneath my boots. I examine the ancient figure. A lithe man in ancient armor. The helm covers his face, except for the eyes…which seem to hold one fast. I shake my head and step away. Taking a deep sigh.
Q: Does anyone else volunteer to go first? NO
Looking around at my companions, then towards an open vault to our left that seems to have a large sarcophagus in its center, “This way,” I say and lead on.
(net trap, failed to spot, 4 rounds for me to get out, 5 kobolds arrive in 3 rounds)
Suddenly, I feel something against my ankle and a net drops down on top of me, and with it the clattering sound of breaking shards of pottery. “Idiot,” I hear Calbroth curse as he steps past me, axe at the ready, Bareln also steps forward, shield and axe raised, eyes scanning the darkness while I try to get free of the net with Anlyn’s help.
Just as I am nearly free, I hear Bareln yell, “They’re here,” and I see several small lizard men at the far end of the room, stones whiz past as Anlyn leaves me, drawing his blade.
-Nature 23-
Anlyn quickly cuts one of the kobold’s arms clean off, the creature collapses in a pool of blood as two more try to swarm the half elf. Another two leap past and clamber on top of the sarcophagus, slinging stones at me as I try to get free of the net. Calbroth tries to sweep them away with his mighty axe, but they are too nimble. Until Bareln cuts one’s leg off, mid thigh. Anlyn brings down another as their weak spearthusts glide of his leather jerkin, and Carboth cleaves one in half.
Anlyn suddenly curses, reeling away from a kobold spear as the last two gang up on him. Bareln’s axe splits one’s skull, and now free, a burst of flame from my hands engulfs the last before he can flee.
Calbroth smirks, “Easily finished.”
“Let me look at that,” I urge Anlyn noticing the blood on his side.
“Ah, it’s nothing. Besides, ladies like scars,” he boasts.
“You sound like my brother,” I scowl, “and if she can see that scar, she’s likely no lady.”
Anlyn laughs and opens his armor for me to examine the wound. “Make it quick”, Bareln warns as he assumes a post by the door.
(No Encounter in next room)
(This room original purpose check, Deathtrap, Mural, Yseldra perception 17 spot the trap) Q: Does somebody stupidly stare at it? EXCEPTIONAL NO
“Oh, keep your eyes away from that mural on the wall, if you look at it directly, it will curse you,” I warn. Everyone quickly averts their eyes while I pull some herbs and bandages from my satchel and path up Anlyn’s injury. “Good as new. Sorry, unlikely to scar.” I shrug.
-Arcana 15, DC to disarm is 15, so Big win!-
Then I walk sideways towards the mural, and attempt to unwind the magic with a minor incantation, “Okay, it is safe now.”
Calbrock looks at me suspiciously, “How do we know that?”
“Look at it and find out,” I shrug and turn to examine the mural. “Elven runes.”
“What do they say?” asks Bareln.
I turn to look for Anlyn, allowing him to explain as he clearly speaks elven.
Q: Does it say who is buried here? YES Q: Anyone want to open the sarcophagus? NO
“Here lies Elder Elhana Firewillow who witnessed the fall of Elhana Sur and led men against the betrayer of our kind,” Anlyn announces proudly.
We all look at each other and then at the sarcophagus, “Let’s leave her in peace,” I suggest, and we head through the doorway into the next room, Bareln leading the way with me following closely with my torch. Anlyn quickly searches the dead for coins.
(Room purpose-Trap room) (Bareln spots with an 18, I physically disarm with a 22)
“Pressure plate,” warns Bareln.
I scan the room and see several vents in the floor. I take one of the kobold spears, “Break the head off would you,” I ask Calbroth, who dos so. I carefully wedge the pressure plate tight so if anyone accidentally steps on it, it won’t budge.
Beyond the pressure plate is another large statue, “These are elven warriors,” I observe, finally realizing why the first man had such a light frame.
(Bareln History 9, Anlyn History 9)
“Elves don’t dig into stone,” Bareln corrects me, “That would be dwarves.” Anlyn nods in agreement.
Q: Does Calbroth agree? NO (Door type wood)
I shake my head, “That was not always the case. There were once a race of elves that lived below the land as dwarves to now. Nonetheless, this may not have been built by them. This land may have once been covered in forest, and this was clearly either a tomb or…treasure vault? Why not dig down?” All three shake their head in doubt.
(Deathtrap room, DC 15 to spot the Glyph, Yseldra Perception 17, DC 14 to destroy, DC 9 to suppress for 10 minutes, I roll a 22 to suppress)
Crossing the room before the statue, we come to a wooden door. I carefully examine it, then push the door open and see the charred remains of two orcs, left there for ages, then I notice the cause, “Another glyph. Avert your eyes,” I warn, and begin unravelling the spell, “Alright, it is safe for now.
“For now?” Calbroth raises an eyebrow.
“Yes, move,” I command, entering the massive room with a hole in its center, stairs to the right and door ahead. I take a glance down the hole,
Q: Cistern? EXCEPTIONAL NO
I wince at the stench of rotting meat, “Garbage pit, or worse,” stepping away, then I lead the way to the stairs up and back towards the entrance.
Anlyn asks, “Won’t that take us back towards where we entered?”
“Yes, above it. Aren’t you curious whether we were watched coming in here?” I ask.
“We’d have been attacked,” snarls Colbrath.
I nod, but head up anyway.
(Room Type, deathtrap, Alarm spell, DC 20 to notice, Perception roll of 5, patrol arrives in d4, 1 round!)
I step into a small room, Calbroth and Anlyn behind me, Bareln watching our rear against the doorway and the other set of stairs.
“Old armory,” I start to say, seeing the rusted or broken remains of ancient weapons littering the room and pegs and racks on the wall, ancient framing shelves in the center.
“We have company!” yells Bareln. I look across and see a swarm of kobolds pouring down the other stairwell.
“Form up here so they can’t hit you from the sides!” I command. Stones clink all around Bareln, several bouncing off his shield as I hurl a bolt of flame, incinerating one of the kobolds while she swarm surges forward, spears being pulled from back sheaths as they approach. Anlyn ducks past me into the armory, having no ranged weapon, while Bareln follows my command and falls back to the doorway.
But the kobolds form up at the bottom of the stirs, the front rank with spears, slinger behind, arranged on the opposite stairs and throughout the main room, plinking at us, mostly to no effect for they aren’t the strongest creatures. “They aren’t coming any closer!” Bareln announces as I incinerate another, “Charge ’em!” he yells, dashing down the stairs and cleaving one’s skull down the middle as he fumbles to raise his spear. Calbrock follows with a ferocious yell and splits one skull to groin. Then kobolds are all over them with jagged spears and I wonder how they will survive as I blast a third into a charred wreck.
Anlyn tentatively peers our of our hiding area, drawing his blade, “The need me, they need me,” then he stretches out his hand and sings, in elven, “Mend flesh and bone, this land is your home”
Then as our companions continue trying to fight off the horde and I continue to burn away one foe at a time, Anlyn rushes out with his short blade in hand and tries to stab one of the tiny dragonmen who simply leaps to the side. Then I blast a kobold who seems to shrug off my spell, he flings a stone at me, and I have conjure a shield to deflect it!
Seeing Calbrock starting to falter, I turn my attention back towards helping him, blasting another kobold, but my enemy slings another stone, slamming into my left shoulder as I couldn’t easily deflect it. But Anlyn realizes what happened, and leaps free from the general melee, and charges that slinger, cutting him down to the surprise of the one next to him. Suddenly, Calbroth cuts another kobold in half and is free from the fight. I yell at him to fall back.
Q: Will he fall back? EXCEPTIONAL YES Q: Does a second wave come? NO Q: Do the remaining flee? Very Likely NO
The old barbarian takes in the situation and rushes up the stairs towards me. After I incinerate another of the enemy, the enemy falters for a moment, then rush forward, two leaping and Anlyn, who is suddenly being overwhelmed facing two foes at once. Bareln kills the last foe at the foot of the stairs and runs to save the half elf, leaping those on the far stair to race over the corpses of their brethren towards me! Another stone strikes me as one of the slingers targets me during his rush. Suddenly, Calbrock is by my side, flinging a small axe at one of the slingers, which buries itself in the dragon man’s chest.
A few moments later, the battle is done. Bareln’s shield is dented, and he is certainly a little slow for all of the bruising under his armor, but he looks alright. Calbrock is a bloodied mess, but standing proud. Anlyn looks like he just stared death in the face. Our enemies…none live. Cloven in half, severed limbs, charred beyond recognition. Such frail creatures to so desperately throw their lives away!
“Let me take a look at you,” I offer Calbrock and Bareln, while Anlyn recites a healing song to help mend his own wounds. Bareln’s wound is easy, a bit of bandaging resolves much of it, but for Calbrock, I pull out the Sunberry Salve from my pouch.
“What’s that? Magic?” he demands.
“No. this is a more ordinary remedy,” I explain as I apply the ointment to his wounds, assisting the healing as best nature can. “It’s something anyway.” I look around, “We can’t endure another fight like that. We need rest.”
“Not here,”Calbrock warns.
“Agreed,” I say and we withdraw back to the sarcophagus room. “Here. Bareln, go fetch fetch Dunn.”
Q: Does Bareln obey? NO
“I was thinking, somewhere else.” Calbrock suggests.
Q: Anyone outside? NO
I shake my head, “No. Here is good. That ward will regain its power in a moment, and I’m not sure they can get through. Even if the do, we’ll know they are coming.” Seeing that Bareln ignored my command, I go outside and fetch my own mule while Anlyn recites another healing song over Calbrock.
Leading the mule back inside, I pull out my spellbook and begin reciting some protective spells at the entrance of the cistern room. Then I repeat the spells outside, allowing us plenty of warning of any hostile approach.
“What are you doing?” Calbrock demands.
“Setting up our alarms. Like the signal I triggered upstairs, but to warn us instead.” I explain, then I sit down to check Anlyn’s injuries, doing what little more I can for them before I rest.
A beleaguered Anlyn breaks out his lute and plays a tune as we rest and eat. He sings a song of bold warriors overcoming overwhelming odds. I find it amusing.
(Psychic Trap: 450 xp, Burning Hands Trap: 200 xp, Fog Trap, 25 xp, Net Trap, 50 xp, Alarm trap, 25 xp. Fifteen Hatchlings, 140 xp, Six Adult Kobolds 150 xp=1040 xp)
(kobold lair 4 kobolds, 25 hatchlings remaining)
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