[IC] Erospu Ruins I: Legion (Closed)

[blazinghand]

The new building you've landed on is smaller along the east-west dimension than the tall one you jumped from-- it is only about 30 feet wide, though it is still 50 feet wide in the north-south dimension. Looking around at the roof, it looks somewhat like the one you came from, but there are no obvious signs of recent inhabitants. There are a number of small protrusions, like pipes or tubes, coming up around the edge of the roof. These pipes, unlike everything else you've seen so far, aren't made out of stone, but some kind of metal. The roof is mostly covered in the yellowish dust that's common in this region, but near the center a slightly elevated 5 by 5 foot platform seems to get more wind and less dust. Some kind of symbol is inscribed on it, but you can't see it easily from here. The southeast corner extends out into a staircase that circles the outside of the building downwards, and oddly enough, it seems to have a mostly-freestanding gate at the top. You can't possibly imagine how such a gate would keep anyone out, since they could step around it, but there it is.

Now that you're down a little further, you notice that the buildings have a truly dizzying array of heights. You were on one of the tallest building, so most of the city seemed low, but now that you're on a more middling one, you can't see too far in any one direction before your vision is blocked by a large or tall building. This building seems sturdy enough, dust aside. Perhaps that's even a good sign-- there are no obviously visible footprints, which means this may be virgin territory.

The knotted rope is drawn taut and you shudder for a moment as look down at the gaping chasm between the buildings. Although climbing a knotted rope is really, REALLY easy, you will take great care as you climb down. No need to rush things, not when a fall to your death is potentially on the line.

[blazinghand]

Jared finds a protrusion he can tie the rope to on the 2nd roof, but he nonetheless grips the knotted silken rope tightly as Telvon makes his way across. Then, the two of them hold tight as Kael and Akara climb across. Drurn is the last one across, carrying a very calm Meer, strapped to his pack. Meer and Drurn both look relieved once they're on the lower roof. Although carrying Meer is effortless for Drurn, a massively strong Orc, Meer still didn't seem pleased about the whole "strapped to a sweaty orc and brought across a deep chasm with only a silken rope to support his weight" situation.

Now, all five of you (and Meer) are safely on the new roof. It's just past noon, and there's a bit of shade from the cliff providing relief from the heat and the sun. Even though the rope climb should have been easy, some of you feel a little winded for a bit. Climbing at an angle is more tiring than climbing straight up or down with at wall to brace against. Nonetheless, you don't think you'd have trouble going back up.

[Amaril]

With Drurn safely across the gap, Jared finally releases his share of the rope, granting his screaming shoulders a reprieve. Honestly, if this is the sort of work I'm going to be doing, I need to get myself in better shape. With an empathic signal of simultaneous amusement and sympathy, Rohan takes off once more from his perch and flies back up to the first rooftop. Ducking down behind the wall, he returns to view a moment later with the grappling hook held in his talons and flaps back over, struggling slightly with the new weight. He drops the hook and the rest of the rope at Sir Kael's feet before alighting back on his master's shoulder.
"Well, glad no-one fell off" Jared announces with a chuckle. "Now we've got the place to ourselves. Great idea, Drurn." He inclines his head to the hulking orc--he'd been a bit apprehensive when the sellsword had answered Sir Kael's call for aid alongside him, but his first impression seemed to have deceived him. Maybe what they'd said about orcs back home was undeserved. Just one more thing they had too little imagination to give any thought to. Shoulders mostly recovered, he moves over towards the curious symbol, hoping to examine it more closely.

[Nixed]

Kael

The bird retrieving the rope is a thing to see. A nod and grin given to the pair as he recollects his rope. He quickly coils and stows it once again. Alright then. Well done. We've arrived on our path less traveled. Does that mean anything to anyone before we set off?" Pointing out the odd symbol Jared already has begun to inspect.

[blazinghand]

The symbol glows more brightly as you get closer, and you hear a tone coming from it, like the release of air through a pipe organ, or a flute. Now it's glowing brightly enough you can read it. It looks like it might be a single word or sound, but it's not written in the common language of this area, it's written in Draconic.

Spoiler: Draconic

Show

The symbol is a name and a title. The title roughly translates to tyrant. The name is a name you don't recognize: Tyrespha.

Spoiler: DC 10 Knowledge(Local) or DC 10 Lore or DC 10 Bardic Knowledge

Show

This is the symbol of an ancient dragonlord, Tyrespha, killed in the last age, the age of Legends. She ruled Erospu and the surrounding area for hundreds of years with an iron fist.

The symbol itself is 2 feet across and 1 foot tall, and is not in fact carved into the stone as you might have initially guessed. Instead, it seems to be part of the stone itself that just IS a different color, and gives off a small amount of light.

[Zrak]

"Hopefully you'll be on your own legs the rest of the way," Drurn says to Mere, apologetically, as he undoes the straps binding him to his pack. Turning to Jared, he nods his appreciation,"Thank you, though I doubt it would have gone so smoothly without the aid of your arcane aptitude." Thinking again of his teeth, he is careful not to smile. Awesruck as Rohan retrieves the grappling hook, he adds "Or your little friend's ingenuity. I had thought the hook lost until we reclaimed it on our return." He's never seen a mage interact with a familiar before, though he's heard tales, and it's clear to anyone looking closely he's trying rather unsuccessfully to hide some of his fascination with the process. Indeed, it takes him a moment longer than it should to take a look around the roof, note the dust and note that it has no footprints save their own, and finally stride over to the glowing blue letters.

"It's no tongue I can read, though I know next to nothing of the history of these lands, even if I could." Having discerned all he can of the symbol itself, he looks more closely at its construction. "Look at this; it's not carved, nor even painted. It as though the stone is dyed like cloth." Still sensitive to the light, he does not mention the glow, in case it is only him who sees it; Drurn doesn't want to look a fool so soon after his plan's triumph.

[Amaril]

Jared furrows his brow in contemplation, mouth moving soundlessly as he parses the symbol's meaning. He seldom has the chance to read Draconic, and it takes some effort to make out anything he hasn't practiced through his incantations. "Tyrespha...a dragon. She ruled this land back in the Age of Legends. Dead now, of course..." Slowly and cautiously, he kneels down to inspect the symbol more closely. Strange...is it just an ordinary marking spell, or actually something physical? "Do you think it's safe to touch?"

[blazinghand]

After investigating the rune to your satisfaction, you jointly decide to descend the building. After all, that's what you came here to do. You take the stair and descend one level, entering the room below. Drurn and Kael walk in front, weapons drawn. Jared is in the middle with Meer, and bringing up the rear are Telvon and Akara. You move cautiously but vigorously, eager to seek out the treasures that await you in the ruins below-- by taking a different route, you expect you'll find virgin territory.

You make your way cautiously into the floor from the north. This floor is about 30 feet wide and 50 feet deep, same dimensions as the floor above, and it's one single room. Looking around, you discern that this must have once been a bedroom. A sagging platform bed is ahead and to the left, whatever mattress that once festooned it is long gone. The bed is made out of wood that has somehow not rotted, and the headboard is covered in carved writing. A stone table is in the center, and though you don't see many chairs, there are stone benches in front of the table. The table itself has basins carved into it, which may have at one point been filled with water or food. The walls are decorated with intricate carvings-- clusters of columns, leaves, people, and scenes from the Age of Legends. Across from the bed is a desk or table protruding directly from the wall, made from the same impossible single-stone material as the wall itself, decorated in blue and red, with shelves and drawers, some of which are open, some of which are not. There are windows along the walls, as well as one giant window that you just walked through. Whether the windows had glass or shutters you don't know, but one window, which is about a foot by 2 feet, remains decorated with iron-ribbed, colored glass, the kind you see only in castles or powerful temples. At the far end of the room, a corner of the floor bends and twists into a staircase-- this time an internal one-- heading down into the room below.

Spoiler: Listen DC 14

Show

You hear voices, and the sound of something rattling. Dice? A percussion instrument? A rattle? The noise is coming from below.

Spoiler: Goblin Speakers

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"Oy, I'll put 4 on this roll, I'm betting 3 2s and a 1. Who's game for this?"
"I wouldn't put my money on that, buddy. He ain't got diddly to back it up. He's been losing all night!"
"Are you kidding me? Look at this. This is my bet."

[Zrak]

"I should return as the escort for a team of artisans," Drurn murmurs, trying to hide his awe behind pragmatism. "Think of the price these wonders alone could fetch, if we could bring them to the surface, and we have but barely entered the ruins." The orc takes a zigzag course through the room, pausing to give each item a brief inspection, as though he is trying to discern if it is as impressive up close as from afar, or if it could even be more so. This indulgence he allows himself aside, he proceeds directly to the internal staircase, but does not immediately descend; this building being as likely as the last to be filled with foes, Drurn will guard the entrance to the room while the more mystically and historically educated amongst the party give the room further inspection.

Spoiler: Listen

Show

(1d20)[10]

[Nixed]

They quietly descend into the next room Kael holds his shield and hammer ready. Once at the bottom of the stairs he quietly whispers a prayer to St. Cuthbert, extending his senses to look for any which may wish them harm.

Spoiler

Show

Use detect Evil
Listen: (1d20)[6]

[blazinghand]

The writing in the bed is in old common, describing what seems to be a large family tree. You don't immediately recognize the names, but...

Spoiler: Knowledge (Local) DC 10

Show

The name is a fairly uncommon one, Tave. Legend tells of a warrior named Tave who stood briefly against the Dragonlord who once ruled here. Tave did not kill the Dragonlord, but was the first martyr for freedom. You do not know if these people are any relation.

[blazinghand]

Akara and Kael both look down suddenly, then look at each other.

"Quiet!" whispers Telvon, waving at the others. "I can hear something. Sounds like someone talking, coming from below." He edges his bow out from its strap, and crouches.

Akara turns her head sideways, as though to get a better angle to listen with using her ear. "I can hear it too. Multiple voices. Not any language I can speak."

Telvon carefully hefts his bow, and draws an arrow from his quiver. "I recognize the language; it is Goblin. It sounds like... they're gambling. They do not appear to have heard us." Telvon turns to Kael. "I have heard, in my travels, that some warrior-priests can sense the presence of evil just with their gaze, even through thin barriers. Can you sense the goblins below us, sir knight?

[Nixed]

Kael

The paladin opens his eyes after another moment of concentration and nods. "It's faint, but there seems to be three creatures below us, opposite the stairs," Kael responds quietly.

[blazinghand]

Earlier that day...

Telvon and Akara look up at the messenger. They were just about to descend into the ruins with Kael, Drurn, and Jared, but this man had come running for them. After conferring with him, they decided not to take the rickety stair down into the place where legends are born, and went off with him, drawn away by some quest or obligation. Before leaving, Telvon turned and spoke to Drurn. "I will be back some day, Drurn. I have not forgotten our long voyage from the North together, and I hope you find fame, glory, and your heart's desire here in Erospu. I myself am called away by duty, but it shall not be forever. Fare well my friend."

[blazinghand]

Kael, Drurn, and Jared make their way carefully down the steps, stopping just short of the turn that will take them into sight of the creatures. Rohan, the stealthiest of the group, scouts ahead and reports back. Listening to the familiar's words, the three adventurers begin to discuss their plan of action. There were various ideas suggested, shot down, and refined. In the end, it was Kael who thought of what they would do. The plan was insane, the exact kind of thing you'd expect a courageous paladin to think of-- but it just might work.

The interior stairs come down on the opposite side of the room from the goblins. There would be no way to go from the stairs to the goblins without alerting them to the presence of the adventurers-- they'd have enough time to stand and go for their weapons. Even worse, the two captives would probably get involved somehow. No, the entire scenario had to be fast, fast enough the goblins wouldn't have a chance to react. Jared, of course, would not benefit from getting involved in hand-to-hand combat with the goblins, but Kael and Drurn would want to be up close and personal. Coming down the outside stair might work, but that would still give the goblins a lot of time to react as they walked around to the big windows by the goblins. They could try to be quiet and stealthy, but there's only so much you can do with armor on. Kael's solution was a bit smash-in-the-door, but much more elegant.

As Jared helped them tie the ropes to their arms, Drurn.was starting to get second thoughts. But then, it was done, and Jared was taking his place by the inside stair at the opposite side of the room. Rohan fluttered past them and squawked "jump already!" at them. It was the signal. Too late to turn back now!

Drurn and Kael began their run and leapt from the roof a at full speed, the ropes looped around their off wrist and arms going taut, swinging them back and down, faster and faster, changing their forward motion to downward motion, then arcing back towards the building, this time 20 feet lower--

With a massive *crash*, the two armored figures burst through the windows next to the gambling goblins, weapons in one hand, ropes in the other. Shards of glass and window frame fly everywhere, pelting the two captives-- a dwarf and an ogre, you can see now-- and the three gambling goblins, causing minor cuts and scrapes. Briefly, outlined by shattered glass and the dying sun, Kael and drurn might be mistaken for avenging angels, here to smite the guilty. They are just a man and an orc, but that might be good enough today. Kael and Drurn release the ropes, land on their feet, and have a chance to attack before the goblins now, while they're seated and not armed. At the same moment, Jared comes scampering down the steps at the other end of the room-- the internal staircase.

Rohan flutters in behind the two warriors, and makes a wry comment about their entrance.

[Nixed]

Kael

Standing atop the roof, Kael offered a quick prayer to St. Cuthbert as they awaited the signal. The squawk of Rohan cleared his mind of anything but his duty and he flung himself off the roof with no hesitation. He attempted to protect his face with his shield as he crashed through the window, but between the sudden jerk of the rope on his shoulder and the shards of glass he was not unscathed in the effort even if the surge of the adrenaline protected him from the pain.

Kael closes the gap between the window and the table swiftly; releasing the end of the rope in exchange for his war hammer with a practiced ease. No further warning is given as he draws upon his faith and swings a massive strike at the head of the nearest goblin in an effort to end the fight before their foes realize they're in one.

Spoiler

Show

Attack w/ Smite: (1d20+6)[17]
Damage: (1d8+3)[6]

[Zrak]

"Nor have I forgotten, though our journey and the mountains themselves seem like something from a lifetime ago. If that is where your duty lies, I would lie if I said I didn't envy you. The glory there is bigger and older, at least to me, and the best I can collect here is as snowmelt to a glacier. Still, has there ever been a cup to catch it bigger than this," Drurn gestures to the sinkhole all around them, "Still, here's to fame and glory, and to someday returning home. May our paths cross again when your duty is done, friend elf." He offers a curiously courtly bow, and seems visibly more tense as he watches the messenger lead Tevlon and Akara away; the closest connection he had here to his home is gone.

* * *

"From what I know of goblins, they are craven," Drurn says grimly, "The cowards will use the captives to keep us back, while one runs for reinforcements. Even if we were willing to let their prisoners die, a goblin would still have time to flee for reinforcements while we fought his friends. We need the element of surprise, but how?" It was not the first time the discussion had come to this point, seeming to circle around it from their various perspectives. They could charge them, one would say, but even as fleet of foot as they could be out of armor, they couldn't cross the room before the goblins were armed. Jared's magic couldn't stop all three from across the room."I could try to draw them toward us, but I do not expect it to work; there is no telling if there are orcs down here and if they ally themselves with the goblins, and even if they do, I have no gift for deceit. I would shatter the illusion as soon as I opened my mouth." It isn't the first time this has been brought up, either, though this is perhaps the first time it's brought up and shot down in the same sentence. Something in the phrasing, though, seems to catch Kael's attention, and Drurn notices a gleam in the paladin's eye as he mentions shattering the illusion.

* * *

As his leading shoulder shatters the window to sharp shards, Drurn is thinking of the way the world used to be; as the cuts crisscross the bare biceps his breastplate doesn't cover, he is realizing that no window in the world today would fit his frame. Wide windows of gleaming glass turned into murder holes, shadowy slits that let in only slivers of sunlight. When did that happen? When, exactly, did people decide it was more important to kill men several stories below you than to see the leaves change in autumn? If his wealth bought him a kingdom, someday, Drurn would build windows, his sensitive eyes be damned. Let the besiegers crash through them, he would fight them with his own hands while he squinted into the sun at summer's last leaves in the orchards below. The sensation of shards smashed smaller still beneath his boots jolts him to reality, and he shakes the rope loose from his hand, shifting both the haft of his axe. "Shame," Drurn says to one of the goblins as his axe begins its arc, "Looks like you would've won the hand."

Spoiler: Attack

Show

Power Attack -1: (1d20+5)[17]
Damage: (1d12+8)[19]

[blazinghand]

Surprise Round
The goblin in front of Kael is dead before it can stand, her chest caved in by his warhammer in an instant. She died with cards in her hand and an expression of unfettered shock on her face.

The second looks at the axe, then looks confusedly at his hand. Was he going to win? Well, it didn't matter any more. Few things matter when you have been suddenly beheaded by an orc.

The third goblin is dressed in misfitting boiled leather armor and his hands are full of cards. He seems to have made a grab for the pile of coins in the middle when his compatriots were distracted, but now he is looking at what they are looking at, and he dropps the coins he was trying to steal

He doesn't even have time to stand up from the table before his two gambling partners are dead. Before he can react, however, Drurn and Jared get their Round 1 turns.

Round 1

[Zrak]

Drurn feels the jolt of bone against blade in his arm and takes the brief moment of resistance to guage the distance to the next goblin. He slides his foot to the right, leans forward, and attempts to strike the second with the same swing that decapitated the first, figuring one frightened goblin, unarmed, is the perfect opportunity to practice a new technique. His muscles strain to keep momentum as his axe tears free of the first goblin, but otherwise he appears strangely serene; he makes a note not to repeat the stunt on larger creatures until he's had a few more chances to try it, he looks down to see if the goblin he killed really was going to win, and seems to focus on everythign except the swing of his axe. He'd made his choice, the die had been cast. There was no point in worrying about it, now. So he would think of the future and look to cards and glance at creatures tied up in the corner, wondering why they hadn't been killed, if they were to be meals or stakes in the card game, how they got here without leaving footprints on the ceiling, which entrance they took, if they'd offer payment to those freed them, and if the paladin would let them take it.

Spoiler: Attack

Show

Power Attack -1: (1d20+5)[24]
Damage: (1d12+8)[9]

[blazinghand]

The final goblin is knocked unconscious and bleeding. Drurn and Kael stand amidst the downed goblins, shattered glass, and coins, victorious. Of the three creatures, one is dead-- from Drurn's initial attack-- and two are bleeding out badly from their wounds and likely to die in under a minute without medical attention. Even with medical attention, their odds are not great. The wounds are deep.

Encounter End

The goblins are defeated!

The following treasure, plainly visible on the table or on the goblins, is now yours:
3x small-sized dagger
2x small-sized padded armor (bloodstained)
1x small-sized leather armor (bloodstained)
300 silver pieces (some bloodstained)

The two bound figures look over at you. It becomes clear that the one you thought was an Ogre is not a normal Ogre. He's either a very large Orc or a very small Ogre, or some mix of Ogre and something smaller. The Dwarf is wearing bright crimson and has an enormous beard. They're both struggling with their bonds-- the Dwarf with his rope and the Giant with his chains. They don't look comfortable.

The rest of the room is reasonably well-kept, for a space goblins inhabited. There are three hollowed out basins filled with cloth, each large enough to fit a small sleeping creature. There is the now-bloodstained table and 5 chairs, and a few other small pieces of furniture around the room-- a cabinet, a dresser, and two stone benches carved into the wall. The cabinet is shut, but the dresser looks like it has been ransacked. Three of its 4 shelves have been haphazardly pulled out of the dresser itself, and the fourth shelf is half-open. In the center of the room is a small basin filled with clear water that sparkles even in somewhat dim reflected light coming from above. Built into the wall is a stone bookcase, with about 40 books in various states of disrepair, from mostly-ok to spines and covers that have rotted away and paper that has turned to dust.

[Nixed]

Kael

Ignoring the loot for the moment Kael signals to Drurn to keep an eye out as he moves over to aid the captives, hopefully before anything comes to investigate the noise from their not so subtle attack. "Greetings there Gents. Have you free in a moment." Kael cuts the dwarf free before looking around for the key to the chains.

[blazinghand]

Kael finds a keyring on one of the goblins' belts. It contains two keys. One of them is a simple iron key that seems to match the lock on the chains, and the other is an ornate iron key with a yellow shiny metal on the handle.

[Zrak]

"Should we bandage one, see if it can tell us anything?" Drurn desires nothing less than to bandage a wound he's just caused; something about undoing what he's just done has a vaguely apocalyptic feel to him, reminds him of the starved bodies of deer who burned more calories than they consumed trying to forage in the deepest snows. Still, he felt reckless for not having thought of it before he decided to practice his swing on the last goblin, his gaze on the broken bodies almost like a girl who's cut the hair off of her favorite doll only to find it won't grow back.

"They probably couldn't talk, even so," he says, scratching at his scraggly beard and craning his neck as though looking for an angle that made the wounds seem survivable. Nodding back to Kael, he resolves to think no more of the goblins and moves the bent bodies to the back of his mind with the rest of the dead he'll have to face again on his way to the afterlife, and turns the full force of his attention to finding other entrances and keeping as close an eye on them as he can. "There are probably more, to have subdued a man as large as he," Drurn adds, without really looking at the ogrish form to which he refers.

[Nixed]

Kael

Nods as Drurn joins him in the assumption that there are likely more goblins in the area. "All the more reason to get these guys free. The enemy of our enemies are our friends. Plus they might know something too, and they're not missing half a head or have shattered chest cavities, so they're probably easier to question." The young paladin is naive enough to believe the two captives will be friendly as he releases them, but not so much that he doesn't step back once the locks to the chains click open or that he puts his weapon away. "You two alive?" He asks the captives in a hushed voice.

[Ellowryn]

Raam gets up, and begins to stretch. Being chained for so long does make one stiff. After a brief moment of snapping and cracking he turns to look at his rescuers.

Thank you my friends. Had it not been for you we would probably have been dinner or something worse. Ah, but where are my manners, I am Raam and i came to these ruins seeking fame and hopefully a little bit of fortune. And if you wish to continue down i would be glad to help!

Smiling broadly, he begins to search around for his pack and gear while happily humming to himself.

[blazinghand]

Raam finds his gear easily, stashed in a box near him. Salty Shalefist similarly is able to find his gear easily. Although the goblins had taken the gear, it seems they hadn't had a chance to use or sell the items yet-- good fortune for the two former captives.

[blazinghand]

Update 9/21/2014
For reasons to due with low activity / interest, I'm going to be closing this game. Thanks for your time and effort, those of you who participated!

Thanks to Nixed and Zrak for sticking with this so long; I'm going to call it a wash and open up an entirely new game for signups. You (and your characters, should you choose to bring them) are welcome in the new game I open. Ellowyrn, I know you didn't really get a chance to get started in this game, but you are welcome to sign up in my new game as well. I will PM you when the signup thread opens.