Mines of Eshina IC thread

[Balthazar]

Okay you lucky five. You have been informed by a frantic populace that there is something lurking down in the mines, and they believe it is eating the miners. They've even sent down a paladin, but he didn't come up again. They promise you each 1000 gp if you can slay the monster, as the mine is the main livelihood for most of the villagers, and they implore you to help them.

[Altaria87]

Solomon

The imposing figure of a set of full plate armour, brandishing a golden axe.
"Trust me, where the previous Paladin failed, me and my..." He thinks for a moment, he only met these people in the nearby wilderness a few days ago... After the attack- NO don't think about that now, your duty is to Athena But he knew he should trust them, they had provided him with shelter while he was still recovering, as far as he was concerned, they were his friends. "... Colleagues will not, I shall strike down whatever beast dwells in the mines." For Athena. For Heather. And for my fallen comrades. I shall prevail
---
OOC:
-Thoughts are in italics
-I'm presuming this is a few days after we meet up

[Jair Barik]

"Haha we shall destroy the beast no matter what it be. It shall be dead by the comin of tha next sun. We shall smite it down where eva it stands!"

The pale dwarf swings about his waraxe dramatically as he says this then thunps his hand against his plate mail to emphasise the point.

[Omegonthesane]

Michael rolled his eyes at the paler dwarf's bombastic boasting; did he really need to go on so much about destruction and suchlike? Besides, wasn't he a cleric, a servant of the good gods, a wimp destined to ever obsess about Freedom and Goodness and all that rubbish? Why, then, was he giving the opposite impression in his manner talking to the new group's new customers?

Indeed, the rogue had little reason to truly trust any of the others; he'd been hired as a guide, yes, but that contract was ended, so they had no compelling immediate reason to not jump him and take his stuff should they so desire. Sure, it would be a little out of character for the paladin, the destruction-fixated cleric, the most organised druid he'd seen in ages, and a swordsman with a few magic tricks to all trust eachother enough to gank him, but he had to stay prepared. Had to fear the paladin's power to detect where his true allegiance lay.

"Rest assured, the mines will be safe again soon. Do you happen to know of anyone with a map of the mines?"

---

OOC: Rolling in this thread for Gather Information. I got a 15.

[Wind d8/d12]

Claes
"Your gold is unnecessary, it would be my pleasure to preserve good people such as yourselves." Claes prepared spells and listened closely to what the rest of the team had to say. Claes also says something to Brin the wolf and he takes off towards the forest, his directions are to scout around the entrance and come back to tell us if there is anything out of sorts.

Claes turned to the others. "Let us not forget, we don't know anything about this "Beast". If we're just getting worked up over a family of dire ground squirrels this could be taken care of within the hour!"

[Jair Barik]

"Show me the way to tha mines and i'll show ye some dead beasties, eh?"

[Altaria87]

Solomon looks at the Cleric with an eyebrow raised Well, he's probably just excited about exacting righteous justice onto the vile creatures... No need to betray his trust and Detect Evil. "So, shall we be off, or are we waiting on anything?"

[Wind d8/d12]

Claes

With a sigh of dejection Claes starts gathering up gear and breaking camp. It's not so much that the group was hard to fit into it, it was just the matter of finding one's niche. And it seemed like Claes's niche was to be the unheard voice of reason and moderation. It does feel great doing the right thing though thought Claes.

"Ready when you are, everybody."

[Omegonthesane]

"And if we're getting worked up over a dragon, or a devil? We don't know anything about this 'Beast', so we should be as careful as we possibly can." Michael glanced at the paladin, when he'd got suspicious about the cleric; clearly, he was considering his infamous Detect Evil trick... then he asked if they were waiting on anything. "I believe we are waiting on one thing. I would rather have a map of the mines than not. Surely the village where every man is a miner knows roughly what the innards of it look like. Perhaps you'd like to help me find one?"

Spoiler

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Invitation for Solomon - or anyone else - to Aid Another on my Gather Information check to get a map. I got a 15, so I should only need one or two - how high is the DC for finding a map of the village's cash mines?

[Wind d8/d12]

Claes
"Dragons I don't mind so much, it's devils that give me pause. Wanton murderers and thieves whose existence is so pointless their own plane doesn't seem to want them."

Claes checks and rechecks all the equipment, making sure nothing important was forgotten.

[Altaria87]

Solomon

"If you wish it, I shall accompany you."

Aid Another on GI: (1d20+1)[5]
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OOC:
I take it I had chance to prepare my spell earlier today, and if so, I prepared Protection from Evil

[Wind d8/d12]

Claes

"I'm going to prepare some goodberrys, who knows how long we'll be in the dank cold underground without any means to forage."
Claes heads out of town, but not out of sight from where the rest of the party is meeting.
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Taking 10 on survival to find bascially any kind of non-poisonous berries.(23)
Number of Goodberry's created:(2d4)[6]

[pcamp88]

Checking through his pack, Danath is quite happy that he remembered to pack plenty of rations. Of course, he hopes that he doesn't get stuck down in the mine for too long.

"Hopefully whatever this "thing" is will provide a decent challenge. (and hopefully may have something other than rotting corpses down there)"

[Balthazar]

ooc: sorry for not responding I was away for a while. And yes, that was inconsiderate. *hangs head*
The man who you presume to be the town leader wrings his hands and says "We do have a map, but I'm not sure how current it is. We're constantly expanding the tunnels, and the recent maps were in the mines with the miners. And we have no clue what manner of beast this may be, merely that it kills whenever ventures down there. "
ooc: hold on, need to delete my notes from the map :)

[Wind d8/d12]

"There!" Claes returned to the group with a pouch full of the magical berries.
"I'll confess that I never thought to purchase food plentiful as it is in the woodlands. Normally I leave dungeoneering to others more suited than I, but I'll be glad to set things aright in this case.
I don't imagine this mine we're going to will be crawling with foes but I've asked Mother Forest to provide me with the means to take the fight to our enemies."
Claes whispers to Danath "And, between you and I, I've learned a new skill that may well come in handy." Claes's wink and grin could only be described as beastial.

[Wind d8/d12]

"How many Miners are missing?" asked Claes.

"I remember one time I was asked by a poor farmer to exterminate a 'wicked' beast that had killed his twin boys. It turned out the wicked beast was an innocent mountain lion caring for her own litter of 5, in an objective sense there was no wrongdoing so I suggested to the farmer that there was no beast to fear but he had best keep himself out of the wild lands."

[Balthazar]

"There have been 7 miners who have gone missing. Ah good, here is that map: Map"

[Wind d8/d12]

"Hmm, somewhat crude but it's a start. I suggest we make for the mine as soon as possible or wait until morning. Even underground dawn can be a purge to the unclean"

Claes again searches through equipment and rearranges some scrolls.

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I'll be offline soon, my character will follow and keep quiet, but I still have time for a few more posts.

[pcamp88]

Danath gives Claes a quick grin, wondering what this skill just might be and takes a look at the map.

"Hmm...I'm betting this place will end up being much bigger than what we see here. Has there been any major history of cave ins at this mine?

[Balthazar]

"Well, there has been a couple minor cave ins, but the miners assure me that the props we put up to shore up the ceiling will hold, and our quality assurance team assures me of their quality (oh ho ho, a little management joke). If you'd like to wait till dawn, we will gladly put you up.

[pcamp88]

"Good enough for me. As for when we go, I don't really care, I'll let everyone else decide."

[Wind d8/d12]

"Danath, would you benefit from borrowing one of my Wands? They are empowered with curing spells. I have one to keep myself as a back up in case my prepared spells fail me." Claes presented a blue dyed, rune carved stick to Danath with the trigger word clearly scribed in draconic.

[Wind d8/d12]

(if everyone agrees)
Very well, I will meet everyone at this spot tomorrow as the sun breaks." Claes goes from homestead to homestead and inspects crops. Claes greets a few farmers and animal keepers and offers an opinion on their crops and animals.

[Altaria87]

Solomon

"I am fine with staying for the night." Knowing this land will not house a Temple for Athena, Solomon goes about the Village doing odd jobs until nightime

[Omegonthesane]

"No reason not to wait. The monster won't go away overnight." Privately, Michael worried about the large gaps in the map, but he couldn't have everything. With nothing better to do that day, he cleaned his weapons from earlier encounters, then went looking for whores.

Spoiler

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Unless you want to spring a trap on me tonight, I'd say it's best to skip over Michael's actions, but just in case:
Gather Information (1d20+9)[17]

[Jair Barik]

The dwarf grunts. "Ha! I am ready as it is to fight whatever perils be waiting in the darkness! But if yea all be needing rest I will av to wait fer the mornin to explore with ya."

[Balthazar]

So I'm going to assume you guys have rested till the dawn. At dawn, you gather again at the spot where you split up, a bit more well rested and topped up on good deeds. The foreman is waiting there, swaying slightly. It seems from his rumpled demeanor that he might have slept there last night. "Oh good, you guys are are back. Now if you'd follow me, I can show you the entrance to the mines, the mouth of the tunnel." you follow for a while (I'm assuming), till you get to a hole in a mountain. It's pitch black inside, and only Soloman and Grishgot can see more then a few feet. "You, erm might need some light, it gets kinda dark since no one's been replacing the torches." Soloman and Grishgot:

Spoiler

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Your vision is blocked by a simple wooden door about 20 feet into the mines

"erm, there are a couple of doors that we have down there, to deter thieves and prevent flooding in the rain and so forth. The foreman unfourtnately had the erm keys. And he's down there. Somewhere."

[Jair Barik]

"Then let us be going as fast as possible to is rescue eh?"

Grishgot hefts his axe from his belt and runs up to the door swinging his axe to break it down.

Spoiler

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Roll to hit (1d20+6)[22] (+2 from charging) roll for damage (1d10+4)[14] 1 point of damage is acid damage

[Balthazar]

The door splinters under the onslaught of Grishgot's axe, and the foreman cringes. "erm, yes, I suppose that is one way of opening a door.. I'm just going to erm go away now, okay?" He wanders off, wringing his hands and muttering.
EDIT: Darkvision dudes:

Spoiler

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as you step into the mines, you see a tunnel going south for about 10 feet until it's blocked off by another wooden door, and another door after a 20 foot tunnel straight ahead.

[Omegonthesane]

Michael facepalmed at the darkness; of course he should have asked if anyone but him had a light. "Oh, for..." He also bit off his patron's name; even one whisper of it might give away his real nature without any invasion of privacy. "Before I waste lantern oil, did anyone bring an everburning torch? I can't help you if I can't see."

He recoiled a little at Grishgot's method of door opening, too. "If you do that to a trapped door, I'll never let you live it down."