Return to Broken Point

It’s been a rough week.

After almost four years of preparations, you didn’t think you’d ever be in such a rush to get to Broken Point. Maybe a call would go out at some point, when a few of the tougher or crazier survivors - yourselves included, of course - gathered and thought they were completely ready. Heck, the way things have been going for most of you, that day probably wouldn’t have even been very far off. But of course, things don’t always go according to plan.

As far as any of you could tell, Broken Point had kept to itself entirely ever since the massacre. It had its share of shady or mad immigrants over the years - cultists of some kind, usually - but nothing ever seemed to come out. But nine days ago, the temple of Irori in the nearby town of Stoneburgh was robbed, violently, and the details of the attack sounded a bit too familiar to you. For starters, most of the assailants were locals who had no business attacking anyone, much less a temple of a good god. If you had to put your finger on it though, it would have to be the fact that the attack was spearheaded by Darien Farquhar, the former captain of the guard in Broken Point, a very distinct man that you know for certain is dead.

The four of you got to Stoneburgh on the same day, searching for answers. The priests there confirmed the story, and pointed out the attacker’s apparent escape route - practically a straight line to Broken Point. While they took everything of value in the building, their target must have been the dangerous relic the temple was charged with protecting, a dark jewel of vast and mysterious power known as the Penumbra Phantasm. The gem has a long and often bizarre history, but found its way into the monks’ protection after being at the center a number of villainous plans to use its control over shadowstuff to bridge planar boundaries, bathe the lands in darkness, summon legions of hungry shadow beasts, and so forth. Whatever the current inhabitants of Broken Point want it for is unlikely to be good news. Worse, its power would be peaking in a matter of days, when a lunar eclipse will occur very close to the upcoming winter solstice. The priests and local sages theorized that whatever they were planning was probably going to happen on that night, what was at the time seven days in the future.

It’s been five now, and you’re set to leave Tillery. You’ve prepared as best you could in the time you've had. Unfortunately, the tiny handful of other people you know that are crazy enough to want to help you with this are too far off to be of any assistance by that deadline. It’ll just be the four of you on this. A journey to Broken Point by the normal routes with your all current equipment takes about two days, and looks like it’ll get you there sometime in the evening of the day of the eclipse, which doesn’t leave you a lot of time at all to deal with whatever’s going on in the city. What’s more, it’s not unlikely that the forces of Broken Point are watching or guarding the passes, or even that they may have damaged or trapped them, if the robbers were actually concerned about being followed.

A faster or more surreptitious journey would be preferable, but none of you are very familiar with the lay of the land out here. Ellie is aware of some caverns and ruins that are said to cut right through the mountains, but nobody has ever gone through them to confirm these rumors. According to Vance, these would be dwarven ruins, most likely of a mine or city, unlike the those at Broken Point itself, which are thought to have been made by human hands for ritualistic purposes - apparently it’s a good site for that sort of thing, which doesn’t make any of you feel better about the Penumbra Phantasm ending up there.

Other than the cave option, you suppose you can either strike out into the wilderness and hope there’s a semi-direct route you can find, or you can just take the normal passes and deal with whatever’s going to stand in your way. There are two such routes: a lower and easier one that goes through the rugged woods, which was mostly abandoned generations ago when the trolls and goblins and beasts became more of a problem in those reaches, and a higher and rockier route for those more willing to deal with natural hazards than monster attacks. You're not sure how the elements have left it at this point. In any case, your journey will likely go faster if you travel lighter, but that carries its own dangers.

The sun continues to rise on the first day of your journey, and the mountain air is cold and clear, at least for today. Tillery's completely unnecessary gate stands at your back, and you can just about see the fork in the road ahead. How do you wish to proceed?

Ellie shivers, pulling her coat tighter around herself as she looks out at the peaks ahead. She's been quiet all morning, double and triple-checking her preparations, hand nervously running along the hilt of the sword at her side whenever her arms weren't crossed against the cold.

She'd explained the cave system last night, and expressed her own inclination toward that route for various reasons, theorizing aloud that it might be quicker and would hopefully let them reach the town without alerting anyone who might be watching the passes. But in the light of day she doesn't seem eager to speak up unless questioned, and isn't likely to put up any real argument against a more conventional route.

Belrom, in stark contrast to Ellie, is quite loud with his opinions, "I've been waiting 4 years for this. The sooner and faster we get there the better.". He paces around in a circle, before pointing towards the mountains, "I say we take the mountains. The Dwarves may have left something to aid us in our quest." He then nods to Ellie, "Besides, Ellie's bright, she's probably right that they are faster after all."

Kieran's tired gaze is on the peaks. He'd not commented on the options, and had just settled in at the inn, a mug full of soup as he lost himself in the flickering flames. When morning had come, he couldn't rightly say whether he'd slept, but as he'd followed the others out onto what had once been the road to broken point, his thoughts on his daughter. When he got back from murdering his niece, he'd be making a point to retire, for real this time.

Vance Highwind

Vance was in pretty good spirits, all things considered. He felt ready and that this was right, that he was meant to be here and so were his comrades; he felt prepared and up to the challenge. He knew his history, he knew his foe; they would succeed.

“I think it will be fastest. As dangerous as what waits for us is, time seems to be our greatest foe right now.”

The stories would have you believe the road to Broken Point is cursed, that no flower blooms and no bird sings as the wilderness itself mourns that terrible day. That there's nothing but wolves and crows and monsters from here to the ruined city. This is, of course, hogwash. What would all those predators eat, each other? Sure enough, nature has marched on just fine, at least on this end. The birds are singing and the flowers... well, yeah, they're not blooming this time of year. On your way you see a few deer and rabbits and what have you, and it occurs to you they might actually be doing a little better now that Tillery's hunters don't want to come this way.

The road you're on has been abandoned for years, and it's impressive how much a path will deteriorate from that. This is the same route you'd follow to get to the high pass, and you're kind of glad you that won't have to deal with an uphill version of what this road has become. It's almost mid-day by the time you reach the point that Ellie and Vance seem to think is the place to go off the road if you want to reach the ruins. If anyone's been watching you up to this point, you couldn't tell.

Going off some mostly-remembered directions from an old explorer's report, Vance eventually leads the way to to a clearing of sorts at the base of a mountain. For the last hour or so you've stuck close to what must have been the vaguest remnants of an ancient road, and now you can see what it used to lead to. Carved from the bare cliff face is an imposing gate, about ten feet square, flanked by large dwarven statues, their harsh features eroded by the ages. Various battlements and fortifications can be seen in the cliffside above, having ultimately failed to save this place from whatever fate found it. The massive doors are intact and wide open, and probably stuck that way by now. The path inside is overtaken by dirt and sediment, and vines hang over the entrance.

Standing here makes you uneasy, and for a moment it's hard to pin down why. A low grumbling breaks the dead silence - ah, that's it. Silence. You guess you did find a place where no bird sings. A quick glance and you spot some movement off to the side a bit, on another end of the clearing. A bear is headed directly towards you. It's a big one alright, but there's something off about it. Its matted fur hangs loose on its body, and its eyes seem fierce and weary at the same time. And following right behind it is another one, in much the same state. Lovely.

http://imageshack.us/a/img7/778/oqx1.png

Spoiler: OOC

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t = Tree. You can share a square with it for +2 AC and +1 on reflex saves. Climb DC 15.
T = Massive tree. Blocks a square entirely. Climb DC 15.
u = Light undergrowth. Difficult terrain, provides concealment, and increases acrobatics and stealth DCs by 2.
U = Heavy Undergrowth. 4 squares to enter, 30% concealment, and the DCs are increased by 5.
D = Ancient dwarf statues. Pretty much an impassible square.
B = The bears.

The blank squares are "normal" and don't affect movement or stats in any special way. Some are dirt and some are old stones and stuff but I'll only bother to define that if it really comes up.

Roll initiative and declare a starting square. The party can begin anywhere in the box on the left side. Place yourselves according to how you think you would have walked here. You can also roll Knowledge (Nature) and Perception to learn stuff.

Spoiler

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[roll0] - Initiative

Start in D13

Belrom Baker

Spoiler: Combat

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Initiative: [roll0]
Start at D11.

Perception: [roll1]

Tactical Flanker - Flanking with me gives a +3 bonus to hit instead of a +2.

Ruling needed: Can I Enter in stance (Swift to enter) and with Tactical Presence (Move equivalent to begin) on?

If I can with a stance: Golden Commander Stance (Allies fighting in melee within 30 ft of me flank a foe if more than 1 ally is in melee with that foe).

If I can with Tactical Presence: Tactical Presence (Indomitable) (Allies within 30 feet gain Die Hard, +3 morale bonus to fort saves vs death, fatigue, exhaustion or poison.)

Sparing a glance for the strange bears, Belrom grabs his scythe whirling it about before leaving it pointed at the foes: "Stick close by me and they will be disposed of soon enough."

Ellie endures the trek quietly, but without complaint. Her gaze seldom turns up from the ground in front of her, counting steps or sweeping the path or simply lost in some kind of thought. Every now and then something catches her attention, a patch of wildflowers or a great bird overhead, and her mouth twitches in a faint smile, but her eyes always eventually find the mountains again, and the grim few days ahead of them dampen her mood.

When the gate suddenly comes into view, she looks at it nervously, squinting slightly as if trying to peer into the darkness from a distance. That's soon interrupted by the ominous growl, though, and she quickly turns to see the advancing bears.

Even as Ellie's hand drifts slowly to her blade, her expression shifts to something like innocent curiosity. The tension bleeds out of her frame as soon as her hand closes around the hilt. "...Hey there."

Spoiler

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Let's do C12.

[roll0]
[roll1]

Vance Highwind

Vance snaps his polearm into position, a shimmering translucent shield immediately appearing between him and the bears. “We move as one, and they cannot touch us.”

Spoiler

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[roll0]

Starting in D12

Also, [roll1] on the off-chance they’re undead. If not, I doubt History or Martial gets me anything, but an 8-or-higher hits DC 10 on any other knowledge (untrained), if that gets me anything.

There’s definitely something odd about this. Aren’t bears supposed to be asleep or something all winter? Aren’t they usually solitary? And these ones look off somehow, though they appear to be alive, if unhealthy.

The first bear takes a moment to look back at the one behind it, making a sound somewhere between a grunt and a short roar. The other one doesn’t seem to bother acknowledging it, and instead just starts charging you. Looks like it’s the more aggressive of the two. Seeing this, its more hesitant compatriot moves in as well. You barely have a moment to react properly by the time the angrier bear is upon you.

http://imageshack.us/a/img856/2271/pwrl.png

Spoiler: OOC

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The first bear is just double moving. Difficult terrain keeps it from charging. It’s Belrom’s turn now.

Also, Vance is allowed an attack of opportunity when the bear leaves F13.

Vance Highwind

Vance swings his guisarme to meet the bear, not bothering with any fancy tricks in the face of the sturdy bear and instead just thrusting the point at the bear’s face.

Spoiler

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[roll0] for [roll1]

Belrom Baker

Spoiler: Combat

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Swift action: Encouraging Roar (Boost: allies in 30ft have +2 bonus to attack/damage rolls for one round)

Strike: Disparity Blow (Strike, If hit, immediate trip with +2 circumstance bonus, ignore AoO)

Attack bonuses:
+12 base
+3 From flanking from Golden Commander stance and Tactical Flanker
+2 from Encouraging Roar.
---
+17

Damage:
2d4+10
+2 from Encouraging Roar
----
2d4+12

Attack: [roll0] for: [roll1] damage.

If I hit, then Trip attempt:
+14 Base
Bonuses: +2 from Circumstance
+5 from attack roll bonuses
----
+21

[roll2] vs CMD +2 (Due to extra legs), on a hit, knock prone.
Edit: Forgot about tandem trip, see http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showp...1&postcount=12 for roll of 30 which I take instead.
Edit 2: DISREGARD Tandem trip. It only applies if the ally also has this feat, and I never declared to activate the teamwork feat sharing.

Relevant Passive abilities:

Tactical Flanker - Flanking with me gives a +3 bonus to hit instead of a +2.

Golden Commander Stance (Allies fighting in melee within 30 ft of me flank a foe if more than 1 ally is in melee with that foe).

Tactical Presence (Indomitable) (Allies within 30 feet gain Die Hard, +3 morale bonus to fort saves vs death, fatigue, exhaustion or poison.)

((see next post))

(( Posted before I Was done the description by accident, but hey, crit ))
Belrom Baker

Spoiler: Combat

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Critical confirmation: [roll0], on success x4 damage (net 68 damage)

Belrom unleashes a bellowing roar "Just who the hell do you think we are?", twirls his scythe to come down like a Guillotine on the bear's head, before moving to trip it.

The bear powers through Vance's attack, the deep gash on its cheek and shoulder barely slowing it down. Belrom's strike hits home just as it raises its claw and - snicker-snack! - the bear's head comes off completely. Its heaving body crashes to the ground at Belrom's feet.

A terrible roar rips through the air as the other bear comes barreling towards you. Its movements seem sluggish like the first one, but now it appears even more determined than its fallen partner was.

http://imageshack.us/a/img12/7369/a471.png

Spoiler: OOC

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Belrom actually failed to trip the bear, but it goes down anyway on account of the whole dying thing.

The remaining bear also provokes from Vance. Good old Combat Reflexes. For the record I intentionally made the battle map with little regard to the specific design of the difficult terrain or the starting positions, since neither side was trying to use it to their advantage. Looks like it really screwed over the bears though.

For future reference crit damage is rerolled rather than multiplied outright.

Quote:

---

A critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together.

---

The bear still dies to minimum crit damage, so don't bother for this one.

It is now Ellie, Vance, and Kieran's turns. Since no enemies can go between you guys, and you know that (since the bears are accounted for), I'm okay with you freely delaying and switching up.

Ellie seems almost disappointed when the first bear goes down, smoothly drawing her sword and stepping around Belrom to engage the other one. As she moves, she chants a soft trio of syllables, and the blade hisses out a haze of grey mist. When she finishes closing into melee, she delivers the strike with an almost lazy gracefulness, wearing an expression of something like mild contentment.

Spoiler

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Casting Touch of Fatigue, moving to 9D, and making the attack with Spellstrike.

[roll0]
[roll1]

DC 14 Fort save against fatigue.

EDIT: Add 5 to attack and 2 to damage, forgot about Golden Commander Stance and Encouraging Roar.

Vance Highwind

Vance smoothly and expertly repeats the previous maneuver, keeping bladed steel between he and his allies, and the mass of fur and fang.

Spoiler

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[roll0] for [roll1]

...when I said "repeat" I did not expect to do so quite so literally.

Vance Highwind

Having deflected the beast with his thrust, Vance roars and whips the slender blade around, attacking the beast.

Spoiler

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Encouraging roar, so +2 morale bonus to attack and damage to all allies in 30 ft.

Then dazing attack, [roll0] (+2 for encouraging roar which I forgot about) for [roll=Damage]2d4+7+3d6[/roll] (stupid roller; see next post) and DC 15 Fortitude save vs. Daze.

...clearly the best third-level strike in the system.

Spoiler

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Apparently you cannot roll multiple dice in one roll? Anyway: [roll0] plus [roll1].

And I forgot encouraging roar so +2 damage.

The bear fights on ferociously, but goes down under a rain of blows before it can really bring its claws to bear against Belrom. With Vance's last hit, it collapses next to its companion with a sort of burbling sigh.

And with that, the forest falls silent again, save perhaps for your own heavy breathing and the occasional breeze. The ruins' entrance stands yawning, as it has for who knows how long. When the wind blows an eerie low whistle can be heard from the opening, almost like a moan.

With even a cursory glance at the bears, it seems clear that they haven't eaten or slept in quite a while. If they were sick or diseased, you can't really tell. The clearing and the surrounding forest is practically covered with their tracks - looks like they were around here quite a bit.

Kieran pokes on of the bears with his axe, as though to be sure they're dead, then looks to the rest of the party.

"Lets get into the ruins before a druid shows up and gets mad?"

Belrom Baker

"With the state of these beasts it would probably be a pretty terrible druid. Still we can't afford to waste the time. Onwards!"

The forest remains still as you proceed into the dark entrance to the ruins, pushing aside some of the lower-hanging vines. As you pass the imposing statues of the dwarven warriors that apparently decided to leave their home behind, you can hear that moaning sound that you’re pretty sure is still the wind. It occurs to Vance that those explorers did decide against entering this place. But unlike them, you can’t afford to go looking for another ruin. Past the first few feet covered by sediment, the floor is worked stone, reasonably passable if not entirely level. The walls are a mix of worked and natural rock, and Ellie suspects that the dwarves just took an existing cave, smoothed things out a bit, and expanded on it. The whole place seems to have held up well enough considering its age, at least in this area.

It’s less than a minute into the ruin when you find the first room, a rough chamber that might have acted as a guard post in ages past. Now, however, it seems to serve as a nest or den for animals. Dead animals, considering the bones strewn about among the dried grass and debris. It’s generally not easy to make sense of what put what here when, but it looks like the most recent bodies are those of two bear cubs, huddled together with no especially visible wounds as far as you can tell. There’s at least one more, but it’s clearly an older corpse. A cursory search elsewhere in the room reveals nothing of particular value.

Moving on further down the corridor, you start to pick up on some sounds that are definitely not the wind, both coming from deeper in the complex. The first is more immediately noticeable, an echoing scraping and banging sound, like metal or stone on more of the same. The other is much lower, and only Vance and Belrom hear it at first. It sounds like… sobbing. Very indistinct, and hard to make out even without that banging to echo over it, but it does sound like someone - probably a woman by the sound of it - crying and possibly speaking now and then. Definitely not ominous at all.

Eventually, you find yourselves coming into another room, a bigger one this time. You haven’t even entered the chamber proper when the first bones come into view at the edge of the light. Skeletons. Dwarven ones, many of them smashed up quite a bit, and many of them armed with weapons and armor now rusted far beyond proper use. Others have no weapons, and look like they were running towards the entrance you just came from. Looks like there was some kind of conflict here.

“Never trust a room full of skeletons,” Fiona used to say. You can almost see her, one finger held in the air and the other hand on her hip, her classic lecturing pose. “They’re probably just trying to lull you into a false sense of security. That’s Rule 21 of the Adventuring Club.” It certainly couldn’t hurt to do so, so you keep an eye on them as you explore the rest of the room. They remain inanimate, however. Come to think of it, there was probably another rule for those guardian statues back there. She had a lot of them.

In any case, there are three exits to this room. Straight ahead is a large square door, broken to bits from the inside. The majority of the dead dwarves are arrayed in front of it, in what Vance and Kieran recognize is a classic dwarven phalanx. As far as you can tell in these halls, the scraping sound is strongest coming from here. To your left is a somewhat smaller, finely worked door, from which the sobbing can be heard most clearly. Finally, to your right is a very large, rough, and natural looking passage that Ellie can immediately tell goes deeper down into the mountain, into what are most likely either mines or natural caverns leading to water.

As they advance into the ruin, Ellie quickly fades back down to her normal meek self. The empty space and dead animals put her on edge, and she's all but hiding behind Vance by the time they reach the larger chamber.

She looks around at the skeletons with something halfway between fear and fascination, trying to piece together what happened here. After a moment she starts to mumble quietly, vocalizing her train of thought.

"So something was trying to get out through that door... something dangerous, but from inside, not outside... and it killed them so fast that some couldn't get away."

She squints into the darkness of the shattered door, and tries to listen at the closed one, before looking at the tunnel.

"This one should lead to a mine, or a cave with some kind of water. If it's a mine, there's probably another way out, right...? But if it's a lake, I'm not sure..."

Belrom Baker

Belrom points towards the finely crafted door, "We cannot ignore a woman in need! I say we charge in now and solve her problems." The grin on his face and glint in his eyes is a well known sign - he is completely serious.

Spoiler

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[roll0] sense motive on the crying, going for the DC 20 "hunch" to inform me if anything is wrong with the crying (eg, its a trap)

Vance Highwind

Vance raises an eyebrow. “A lone woman surviving for who knows how many ages in an abandoned ruin? I was assuming that was a ghost or spirit, myself. Still, it would not be wise to leave it – whatever it, or she, is – at our backs. Just don’t go rushing to some damsel’s side ’til you’re sure she won’t eat your soul. And know this: Fiona will play this trick and worse when we get to her.”

Making your way over a few bones and some loose rubble, you proceed to the smaller hallway to the left. Bold Dwarven runes line the edges of the threshold, which holds a solid and intact stone door, currently open wide towards you, its bars and locks visibly disengaged. In here protected from the elements, it has held up much better than the door at the entrance, and it’s possible you could even close it again. While it’s the smaller way out from the skeleton room, the passage you find yourself in is wide enough for two dwarves to walk quite comfortably abreast. You find more than that, however. A few dozen paces in, there’s a cluster of dwarf skeletons, most armed with little more than simple tools, and all of them smashed and crushed. It’s clear they died in some kind of press or mob.

Beyond that, you find a few more skeletons in much the same state here and there in the hall before it opens up into a larger chamber. A roomy avenue, continuing well beyond the range of your light by the sound of the echoes, and furnished with benches, tables, signs, and even some planters filled with strange and long-dead plants and fungi. Doors line both sides of the hall - small shops and residences judging by a quick glance inside. The whole place is in disarray, ancient wares and hastily dropped tools and possessions of all kinds scattered about among the bones and rubble that attest the violence that came through here. It looks like everything from guards to statues to columns was smashed in, in a very erratic way. Many of the skeletons can be seen huddled in corners or spread out, evidently killed in flight. It’s a pretty rough scene.

The sound of a lone woman crying issues from the darkness ahead. You can definitely hear it more clearly now, and you can make out hoarse mumblings and whispers now and then. It sounds like Dwarven.

Belrom Baker

Belrom shakes his head at the death here, taking a moment to pick up and turn over one of the old ruined weapons, testing its edge in case one needs to be picked up as an impromptu weapon. "We should assume whatever killed these Dwarves is still around. All the more reason to rush onwards. Rescue the maiden, and defeat the beast. It will aid us in our quest, that is how these things work, after all."

Vance Highwind

“Quickly but cautiously. These skeletons were all killed long, long ago; anything still living here is most likely unpleasant. We may actually have better chances if it is a ghost, but I needn’t tell you that those are rarely friendly.”