3.5 Monk Campaign: A Boot to the Head (IC)

[Azoth]

Li looked to Han, then the rest.
If no one else has the stomach for it, then I will sort through them. Raiders probably took most of the useful items, but you never know.

He set his eyes on the door for a moment before continuing.
No arguments either. We aren't in the temple, so supplies or money are vital. I doubt most of you have been in the thick of it before, but I have. When you have nothing, you want everything. Better to have it and extra, than to not and want it all that much more. Several of us left light on gear, and we see that they wanted at times. We got lucky that others had it, but that cut into supplies. From here on out, we waste not...neglect not...and want not.

[PSinger]

On the Road

Necahual says, "Not really my style, but the kid is pretty good with his shuriken .... better aim."

[lostsole31]

Coanoch looks at the gooey stuff and says, "I'm okay, but not any better than any of the more agile novices. What does this stuff do?"

Suffice it to say, he has little interaction with alchemical stuffs.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Li looked to Han, then the rest.
If no one else has the stomach for it, then I will sort through them. Raiders probably took most of the useful items, but you never know.

He set his eyes on the door for a moment before continuing.
No arguments either. We aren't in the temple, so supplies or money are vital. I doubt most of you have been in the thick of it before, but I have. When you have nothing, you want everything. Better to have it and extra, than to not and want it all that much more. Several of us left light on gear, and we see that they wanted at times. We got lucky that others had it, but that cut into supplies. From here on out, we waste not...neglect not...and want not.

"I understand. Ill go help gather the supplies and help with the cremation." Tilmek says, the mirth leaving his face. "What should we do after that? Do you think we should send a message to the monestary? Or go back and meet with the others?

[Man on Fire]

"You look for the clues first, then you may take what you think we really need and only that." Vir-Sashi says to Li. He didn't wanted to rob the bodies, he wanted to look for something that will bring them closer to whatever monster did this.

[inexorabletruth]

On the Road:

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Sam never takes his eyes off the road as he nods nearly imperceptibly. "Alright boy, then you can help if it comes up. It's nothin' special, really. Just a sack of quick drying glue. It comes in real handy when something breaks on a farm or on the road, but in a pinch, it'll hold a person right in place... glue their feet right to the ground, or their sword to the scabbard. I used a few bags of that a while back to take care of some strange legless bird that attacked me yesterday."

He pauses for a bit as he spots the bridge. "Here we are. I'ma warn you now... the highwaymen've been actin' strange lately... like they got somethin' to prove. I paid em twice my normal fee and still almost didn't make it through. If they refuse to cooperate, you splat em with those bags quick enough and we may not have to fight em."

At the Meeting Hall in Cliffside:

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Tilmek and Li head to the temple. As you cross the temple threshold you feel a weird belly flop sensation that churns your insides. Then... the smell.

(roll Fort saves vs. Nausea)

Some of the bodies have begun to burst open from bloating and a powerful, humid, rotting smell is thick on the air with a palpable wetness. Slick, swollen innards have burst out of infection filled bellies and lay on display like macabre flowers in a vase. Death is everywhere, and it's becoming difficult to tell where one body ends and the other begins.

At the Farmhouse near Cliffside:

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There is still some firewood outside the farm stacked in a neat pile. Near the fireplace is a flint stone. With a judicious amount of oil, you should have no trouble getting a fire going big enough to burn the meeting hall to the ground. If Han and Vir-Sashi work hard enough at it, they should be able to get the logs in place in one hour.

[zever]

Han immediately starts the preparations to create the fire, and will wait until Li and Tilmek return to put it on.

[Man on Fire]

Vir-Sashi helps Han in preparations.

[Azoth]

Fort vs nausea
(1d20+10)[29]

Li spits the taste out of his mouth as the wave of stench hits him. It is putrid. He then reaches down and rips a strip of cloth from his shirt to tie over his mouth and nose to try and help with the reducing the stench or atleast stop himself from tasting it.

[lostsole31]

This guy seems to be more canny and capable than just a simple peddler, but that makes Coanoch smile as he shakes his head and takes the bags.

[Vixsor Lumin]

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(1d20+4)[23]

Tilmek gags at the smell, and his stomach rebels at the sight of the bodies, but he manages to keep his food down. "So should we get started?"

[Azoth]

Li nods to Tilmek, Let's get this over with. Hopefully we find simething.

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Appraise: (1d20+2)[6]
Int check (1d20+2)[22]
Search: (1d20+2)[16]

[Vixsor Lumin]

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taking 20 on the search roll to get a result of......20 haha

[inexorabletruth]

On the Road:

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Sam slows his horse as they approach a man standing before the bridge. He is tall and stern looking. One ear is missing completely and he possesses strange scars on his neck. His arms are crosses over his chest, and his is standing with legs shoulder width apart, like a drill sergeant ready to discipline his troupe. His hair is sand-colored and his eyes are a deep green. His brow is heavy and long, and his nose is crooked. His mouth is set in a permanent scowl, either by disfigurement or by a lifetime of anger.

"Here we go," Sam whispers out of the corner of his mouth as he pulls his horse to a complete stop.

"Back so soon?" The man inquires dryly.

Sam nods gravely. "I'm returning from Cliffside with some monks who say these goblins helped in a raid on the town. I'm helping to see that justice is done. Here," he slowly produces a small bag and gently tosses it to the stern man as he talks, "the usual fee."

The man lets the bag fall to his feet without even twitching. Some copper pieces spill out of the bag. "Cliffside raid? Slaughter's more like it. Seems like this trade routes about to become useless to us once word gets out to the merchants." He looks over at the prisoners who are straining to understand the conversation going on that clearly involves them. "Where you takin em?"

Sam scowls back. "Is that any of your business?" He asks, to which the stern man's eyes narrow dangerously for a moment. "To the monastery," Sam finishes after a small, unspoken battle of wills carries out. "Like I said, to see that justice is done."

The stern man's visage softens a bit... almost friendly. "Sam, you never give us any trouble. You've always been good to us and paid what you owe without complaint. But you've picked some bad friends. Monks stole from us a few days back. I've been instructed to take any monks heading back on this road to the boss and kill any who help them, but I'm sure the boss will make an exception in your case. Hold up your hands and surrender, and I promise to keep you alive at least until we make it to the hideout. After that, it's up to the boss."

At the Meeting Hall in Cliffside:

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Most everything here is burnt beyond recognition. The macabre scene is primarily charred flesh, ashen bone, and melted metal and scorched stone. The solid construction of the meeting hall turned this place into a giant brick oven that cooked everything in here fairly thoroughly. The roof overhead is nearly gone though, which at least keeps the place fairly illuminated as your pick your way through the carnage.

The only clue you get as to what happened here is found at the back of the meeting hall. On the central dais, you find heavy blast scorches and ruts that dig deeper than the blaze. People and chairs are splayed out in a demi-radius around and away from it like they were blasted back as if from some extraordinary explosion.

After you are done with your search, you head out through the main door. Another wave comes over you and you experience that weird belly flop sensation again. The stench is gone and you are greeted by Han and Vir-Sashi.

[Vixsor Lumin]

"I didn't find anything valuable to us, but I did notice that there seemed to be symbols to a rival god. Well, I mean they weren't symbols of Pelor, but they were scattered throughout it." Tilmek says as soon as he's outside.

[Azoth]

"Ugh...smells worse thLi, being the survivor he is, pocketed the coins, jewelry, and gems that he found as he made his through the crowd. Money was more useful to the living than the dead. As he steps out and sees vir-sashi and Han he removes the cloth from his face.
"Ugh...smells worse than three month unwashed sheeets in a two copper whore house in there. That aside, not much to tell. Some coins and small gems, should be enough to replace some of the supplies we've lost.

Oh, whoever did this, either lived here or looked important. Anyone who was anyone in town was in there. All sitting according to rank. They got flash fried from the podium. Real insense heat with some punch to it. So either we had a suicide bomber, or they were warded to withstand it. My guess is magic. Bomb would have taken the walls and the dias...and turned them into scrap.

So...we got us a decent mage running around with a group killer he can't feel. Guess, when the others get back we should tell them to fan out when we kick his face in. No sense in getting hickory smoked together.

[Man on Fire]

"Then I say we proceed with burning this place down." Vir-Sashi says, having listened to everything both Li and Timlek said.

[PSinger]

"Call it, Sam ...." says Necahual.

[lostsole31]

Coanacoch softly says, "Actually, let's surrender. If there are many of them, we're dead anyway and can't help Sam. But this slaughter hurt their 'business' as well, so we might actually be able to turn this around."

Necahual nods.

Coanacoch stands up and says, "We surrender!"

[inexorabletruth]

On the Road:

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You notice that Sam had been slowly reaching for his hidden crossbow until Coanacoch surrenders the cart. He freezes where he sits and looks to the boy with mixed expressions of shock, outrage and relief battling for dominance on his face.

"We wha-?" Then he looks to the stern man who still hasn't moved and over to Necahual, then eases back and slowly puts his hands on his head. "I hope you know what yer doin'," he mutters to Necahual and Coanacoch.

The stern man watches the exchange, then relaxes visibly and uncrosses his arms, revealing twin throwing axes that he had tucked behind him. He points to the trees to his right and a small group of armed men and women filter out from the shadows, training arrows on each of you. A larger man behind them is carrying a box that jingle a bit as he walks. He sets the box down and opens the lid. Inside you see a bunch of manacles.

"You're going to have to wear some bracelets, Sam. You and the monks. And you'll be blind-folded too." The larger man grabs some manacles and tosses them onto the cart near Sam's feet and near the feet of the monks.

The big man laughs a bit as the sound causes the horse to jerk and snort. "Try 'em on, then," the big man rasps in a throaty growl. "Yer mommy ain't here to dress ya."

At Cliffside:

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Once the fire is lit, it takes about 15 minutes for it to really get going. The blaze wavers as it gets near the town hall, but as the heat builds, it finally overtakes the walls. Then...

KA-BOOOM!

You're each knocked back 10' and your ears are ringing from the noise. A dark, ghostly smoke rises from the town hall, but the walls appear to be mostly intact. It occurs to you that maybe the fire is destroying some magical wards.

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Roll a spot check
You can roll a tumble check to land on your feet.

[Man on Fire]

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Spot (1d20+8)[24]
Tumble (1d20+8)[27]

"What in the blue heavens happened?!" Vir-Sashi yells, running to his friends to see, if they're intact. "Li, you were supposed to search through this place! How could you missed the explosives?!"

[lostsole31]

"Actually," mutters Coanoch to his companions, "I don't have a clue."

He'll hop down and put on these proffered fashion accessories .... no woodland capture outfit is complete without a pair!

[Vixsor Lumin]

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spot (1d20+4)[7]
Tumble (1d20+7)[27]

Tilmek is blown back off his feet, but uses the momentum to roll backwards and immediatelly standup. "We did search it! And we told you everything we found!" he yells back at Vir-Sashi.

[Azoth]

Rolls: hope they are high

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Spot: (1d20+12)[22]
Tumble: (1d20+12)[24]

Li bounds back to his feet after being blown back. His hand covering one ear as he looks to Vir.
There weren't any explosives! Atleast not in this building. The one that decided to collapse on us was full of it. Hell, surpised that blast didn't set it off.

[Man on Fire]

"Then what happened?!"

[Vixsor Lumin]

"Hells if I know! I don't see you coming up with any possible ideas though!" Tilmek yells, then he realizes his tone and adds, "Sorry, its just.... we could've been in there. Were not sure what set that off and were lucky it didn't happen when were poking around in there...."

[Man on Fire]

Vir-Sashi looks at both Timlek and Li for a moment, then slowly clams down.
"You're right. I'm sorry I yelled, I was just shocked."

[inexorabletruth]

On the Road:

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Sam accepts the manacles and latches them on. Once everyone is wearing their manacles, the big brute steps onto the cart and checks the locks, then ties on the blind-fold. He methodically moves on to Necahual, but after putting on the blind-fold, stops short of the search. "Well that's odd... you wearin' some kind of magic or somat?"

"What's the matter," you hear the voice of the stern man say.

The voice of the brute behind you responds hesitantly, "She's got some magic on her. Feels like armor, but I don't see none."

"Well... search her. You, check the lad!" the stern man's voice calls out.

It takes several minutes but they manage to figure out that the bracers on your wrists are what provides the magical armor. The cloaks they leave you with, since they only assume those are nice warm winter cloaks. However, in their search they relieve you of your weapons, potions, backpacks and all your money.

You smell the hot breathe of the brute near you as he laughs while jingling some coin. "Dis coin alone... dat's nearly a months worf of work, 'ere on the bridge. Pretty nice loot, from a monk, wouldn'cha say?"

You here the stern man grunt conclusively. "Perhaps these were the ones that robbed us. Let's put it in the crate with the others. We'll sort it out when we get to the boss. Alright, lads! Let's get this cart moving." With that you feel rough hands force you into a sitting position in the cart. The squishy bodies of the goblins are dropped at your feet with a dull thud and you can hear one of them trying to struggle, until another heavy thud causes him to lay very still.

"Stupid, bloody goblins.... should just kill 'em," you hear a strange voice say.

With a snap of the reigns, the cart jolts into motion.

Vir and Li only:

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The smoke looks unnatural and has an eerie presence of some untold evil. Also, the fire is doing that same weird thing it did right before the last explosion.

[Man on Fire]

"We're better gonna get out of here, it looks like it may explode again any moment."

[Azoth]

Li doesn't need to be told twice as he runs away from the building and jumps for cover curling to roll as he hits the ground. His aim is to stay low and avoid any debris that may be sen't their way as he hides behind anything seeming stable enough to protect him even in the slightest.

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Jump check for distance: (1d20+13)[26]
Tumble to reduce damage and keep low: (1d20+12)[27]