Is there a cleric in the house? (IC)

[crazedloon]

Calladdin

Trying to break the tension Calladdin speaks up

Perhaps I will talk with them as it seems our list may be a little more pricey than they expected but it may be for the best.

He takes the list and steps out of the door.

Mind if I go with you to retrieve our benefactor

[Cymru]

Snoopy(you still don't know his real name) halts, takes the list from you, and looks at it. "Okay, you seem to know what you want.. Wait here, I'll see what I can do" And he disappears into another room.

About half an hour later, Snoopy return, holding a small backpack, and smiling "In this backpack are all the items you requested" His smiles turns into an evil grin "The high ones were taken aback, and did not fully agree with all the items. But after I reminded them of what they did last night, they complied"

Snoopy dumps the bag on the table and faces the group. "The bag is yours as well.. And tell me if you're ready to leave, I'll take you to anywhere near the necro camp"

*The bag is a bag of holding, type II, containing all of your requested equipment*

[Arq Kujos]

Wilhiem will stand up and take the bag first, removing his items and placing them among his things. Now being one to waste time, he asks, "And what did they do last night?" He puts the bag back on the table, and sits down, waiting for an answer.

[Cymru]

Snoopy laughs "Something else then you did last night", after this, he winks...

*a wicked mind is joy forever, and that's how I would use "Clearvoyance"... Well, not exactly, but you get the point*

[Arq Kujos]

Annoyed at the bad attempt at humor, Wilhiem stands up and confronts the young man. "I came here on request from your leaders. I did not come here to have my time wasted, nor did any one else here. If something important happened, then tell me. I do not suffer fools, my young friend." Wilhiem might not be very physically imposing, but his words always carried with them a sense of truth and purpose that even a paladin could be proud of.

[Maurkov]

Rikitatik

Waiting for the tortle to organize his thoughts, Rikitatik overhears Snoopy and Wilhiem. The kobold shakes his head, "mammals."

[ixious]

Looking at his Kobold companion and back at the group, "I think we should get going soon."

[Cymru]

The cleric seems taken aback.... Mumbles... Then stands straight "Now, if you all gather around me, I'll take you to about half a mile north of the necro camp".

The cleric grabs a holy symbol out of his pocket and starts casting a spell; a circle of light starts growing centred on him. The circle soon covers pretty much all of the room. He then speaks up "Go"; and you find yourselves teleported into a small valley, mountains on all 4 sides, a small path leading to the south. The bag has gone with you, and lies a few feet away.

The cleric speaks up; "Aah, right on the spot. This path leads to their camp, it's only half a mile of a walk... I'll await you in the temple" He laughs "Good luck and goodbye" And he instantly disappears.

[Maurkov]

((Is it snowy here? How much cover is there? How much would it slow us down to travel parallel to, but 50' off the path? What time of day is it?))

Rikitatik

The kobold pounces on the sack and digs. He makes three piles while his own requests are stored about his person.

"I'll scout," he offers, "Stay back 150'." He drinks a potion of Long Strider, applies a charge from the wand of Hide form Undead, casts Detect Magic, and takes off down the path.

Spoiler

Show

Hide - (1d20+14)[30] (Will 11 for int undead to bypass Hide spell)
Move Silently - (1d20+13)[30]
listen - (1d20+2)[13]
spot - (1d20+2)[4]

If he notices anything too unusual, he'll search for traps:
search - (1d20+13)[29]

[Cymru]

It is about halfway in the afternoon, the weather is very, very cold... You could travel parallel to the path, but it would make you travel at quarter speed, due to the heavy snow banks.

The snow banks could provide cover, if you dig in... Except for that, there is not much cover, the path leads up an increasingly steep slope, dissapearing over an edge about 300 feet above you..

[crazedloon]

Calladin

Calladin reachs into the bag and retreaves his items before handing the bag to Citron. He than watches as the kobold bounds away. He turns to the other two standing in the path.

Shall we than follow and stick together?

[Maurkov]

Rikitatik

The kobold belly crawls the last bit until he can see over the rise and holds very still.

Spoiler

Show

take 20 on listen and spot checks

[Cymru]

Above the ridge, the valley changes into a small gap, going between 2 rock cliffs, this gap is about 600 feet long. The path leads on, straight through the gap.. In the middle, it should be about 5 foot wide...

Behind the gap, you can just spot a small rectangular building.

[Maurkov]

((How high are the cliffs? Any chance we could go around? Where are we in relation to the southern road that Stoopy described?))

Rikitatik

The kobold slithers back and meets the others down the slope. He explains the topology, concluding matter-of-factly, "I think it may be a trap."

[Cymru]

The cliffs are about 600 ft high... you could try to climb them, but a fall would be deadly... As far as you have seen, there is no way around...

Since you were teleported here, you have no idea where you are in comparison with the road... But, it is very probable that the other direction of the path leads back to the road...

[Maurkov]

Rikitatik

Rikitatik's tail thrashes in irritation, "Fine. I'll look for a way around. Dig a blind in the snow or something so you won't be quite so obvious just standing here."

The kobold bounds into the snow bank to the left of the trail. Hopefully, his light step and small size will keep him atop the crust. He'll explore that way for about 20 minutes or until he sees something promising. Then he'll double back and check the right side.

Spoiler

Show

With his gear he weighs about #35.

Hustling for 20 minutes covers about 3 miles at his augmented move of 40'.

Taking 10 on Hide and Move Silently gives him a 19 and 18 when including the speed penalties. If the necros had the foresight to stash some undead out here before the last snow, I'm hoping he's stealthy enough to get by.

His Listen and Spot are +2, though kobolds are dazzled in bright light.

After an hour his Longstrider gives out, and unless he's seen something, he'll still be three miles right of the trail. He'll take the damage to keep hustling, and beg a cure minor when he gets there.

[Cymru]

It looks like the necro's have taken a good time in digging themselves in... The narrow pass is the only way you can find into their camp

[Maurkov]

Rikitatik

The kobold returns over an hour later, dragging his tail. He collapses into the snow fort. "Nothing. I ran. Twelve miles. For nothing."

He would probably catch his breath quicker if not for the long string of filthy and rather creative curses he utters, in Draconic.

"Since collapsing the cliffs and leaving them to starve would not fulfill our obligation, and since waiting here to ambush their next warparty might exhaust our supplies, I think we have to go in after them. We'll use charges from the wand of Hide from Undead and hope their watchdogs are dumb. There's no practical way to search that much ground, so I think we put our armor in front." He looks at Citron.

Rikitatik tries to stand, but doesn't. "Can someone spare an orison to get a tired kobold back on his feet?"

[Maurkov]

Rikitatik

"What, did everyone take a vow of silence while I was gone? Necromancers stole your voices?"

[crazedloon]

Calladin

Calladin smiles slightly at the kobolds words but that the smile disapears as he whispers to the group.

No though Halmyr does teach silence I am just not one for making plans beyond defense. Thus this situation of attack is out of my league.

[Arq Kujos]

Wilhiem seemed distracted, as if deep in though."No, nothing of the sort. He looked at the Kobold and held out his hand. He signed a simple gesture and then cast Cure Minor Wounds on his ally. He then turned to the group and said, "I wonder, who says we have to go to them? Why do we not instead draw them out to us? I specialize in summons and they could serve as a very nice distraction. Eventually, if we make enough of a mess out here, eventually one of the necromancers will come out here. Then we can capture him and gain a deeper insight into our enemies."

[ixious]

Silently observing everything, Citron begins to speak, then bows his head and remains quiet "why must everything be so difficult" said under the breath in Aquan

[Maurkov]

Rikitatik

"Thank you," says the kobold on receiving his blessing.

"I wonder, who says we have to go to them?"

"Actually, I did, about two minutes ago. I'm not sure if it is wise to give up our advantage of surprise. Perhaps they'd send one necromancer, but they might send many, and this place is not defensible. They might send none, and we don't have the numbers to support a siege. I don't like giving them the choices, and hoping they make the one that would benefit us."

"If you are willing to wait for nightfall, I will probe their gauntlet then."

[Arq Kujos]

"I don't like the idea of waiting. We are assuming that we have the element of surprise and can afford to wait." Wilhiem rubbed his hands together and blew air into them. "But, we don't know enough to take any other actions. However, while we wait for dark, lets do something pro-active like set some traps and build a shelter that we can actually defend." Wilhiem turned to his allies to wait for their response.

[Maurkov]

Rikitatik

"Now you're thinking like a kobold," he says, like it's a complement. "I'll take another look and see what might be done over there. I doubt we'll remain undiscovered if we begin major fortifications, but little things can help a lot. Why don't you go way downslope and carve me some three and four foot stakes? Make them nice and sharp. We can plant them under the snow."

Spoiler

Show

Cymru, I need a little help with the topology. How far is it from the ridge top to the base of the cliffs? How narrow is the gap here at our end? Maybe you could sketch a map? I'm not sure how Rikitatik spotted their building; Is the chasm is arrow straight, or does it widen higher up?

I'm wondering if we might set up our defenses at the mouth of the canyon.
If the enemy commands the tops of the cliffs, we might have trouble, but if we approach from the side, the rock formations should keep us hidden from anything in or beyond the canyon, right?