Eberron Adventures

[Velvet Elvis]

Caskin

"Sure thing. Not a problem," he says in reply to Butch's suggestion to monitor Azmirith.

~*~

Caskin marches along, frequently mumbling unintelligible expletives as he treads upon a stone angular enough to press into the sole of his boots, or when a briar tears at his breeches. He keeps one eye on Azmirith, though the man seems to be moving along well enough, if not better, than himself. The other eye alternates between his feet and the lay of the land.

OOC

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Spot - [roll0]

[Slash_712]

Threshkor

Walking in the middle of the group Threshkor holds his club close and waits for the enemy to appear.

Spot - (1d20+3)[13]

[Bigmac]

The trek to the mountians proper is shorter than expected. Moving along the terrain is diffuclt, but the group manages to keep moving forward with their eyes alert for any danger. The morning air is cool for now, but it continues to warm as the sun rises higher overhead. Along the way, Wrench spots a few birds and small game flittering about that could be possible targets of his spell.

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

Wrench takes out his inkpen and points at his throat, and then attempts to activate it. Unfortunately, the pen starts to smoke and sizzle, and Wrench quickly pulls it away before he hurts himself. "Drats! I must've left it too close to the fire when we got attacked last night.

Sir, it appears that my idea to ask the locals will have to wait until tomorrow mornng."

UMD - (1d20+8)[9] DC 20

{OOC: UNBELIEVABLE! another natural 1. I can't try again for 24 hours now.}

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

Seeing the smoking pen, Butch raises a skeptical eyebrow and then carefully moves his scythe to his opposite side, away from Wrench.

"Well, I think we are in the right area anyway. We'll need to start limiting our search area soon. Climbing the mountain won't help if we don't have any daylight to see by. Finding a stream won't help if there aren't any survivors. Finding an animal won't help if we don't know what to ask. And discussing all this won't hasten our trek. So, lets keep moving while we work out the details."

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

"Since my magic has failed me, I think we should go to the top of the mountain first, and see what there is to see. Then, if we still can't see the site, we can discuss alternatives.

Oh! Wait a minute. I'll just use another infusion, so I don't need to use the pen."

He stops when he finds a few birds and spends a minute casting another infusion on himself, targetting his vocalizer, and will attempt to activate it immediately, if successful.

Wrench successfully infuses his own body with the magic to allow him to speak with animals, but it lies dormant for a few moments.

Being unfamiliar with the spell, it takes Wrench almost another minute before he finally activates the magic. When he next speaks, his voice is no longer the steady metallic voice he usually speaks in, but instead, it comes out in bursts of chirps and whistles, as he starts speaking to the birds that flutter about in the nearby trees.

"<In Birdish>Excuse me? Did you happen to see a giant thing fall out of the sky recently? Can you take us to it? We will give you food, if you can." He'll try this or a similar line of questions with every bird he meets, until he finds one who can help, or his magic runs out.

UMD to create - (1d20+8)[19] DC 23
Used Action point to add 4, and get 23 exactly
UMD to cast - (1d20+8)[11] DC 20
Made it on 4th attempt

{OOC: Spent another 1 XP and 1 Action Point, across almost 2 minutes to finally get this thing done.}

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

Butch speaks with the rest of the group but gives Wrench and the birds enough room. "I hate to be morbid, but if there weren't any survivors, then vultures would have been circling recently. They might be better witnesses than those little guys. It may also help if we knew which way the winds were blowing at the time. It's hard to tell down here, but a bird would know which way the wind is blowing for sure."

[MandibleBones]

Cecil

"That's a good point, Butch - but let's see if we can't make use of Wrench's Birdtalk now." He looks at Wrench. "Ask the birds about the vultures!"

[Bigmac]

A small bird of prey flies down to investigate the metal machine whistling at it. It cockes it's head and almost flies off when the others start talking, but remains regardless. It gives a few squawks while looking at Wrench. It flies to a nearby rock where it lands and remins pearched, waiting for a response from the Warforged.

For Wrench:

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<birdish>You give food?

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

"<common>Get me some food for the bird."

(For DM)

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"<birdish>Yes, lots of food, if you can help me. Did you see the giant thing fall from the sky?"

[Bigmac]

The bird hops once and ruffles its wings as it shrieks at Wrench.

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<birdish>Food, Yes! I'm Hungry. Food Good.

[Asmodeus]

Wrench gives the bird a little bit of food from someone's pack, and waits to see if the bird says something more.

[Bigmac]

The bird tears into the food, shredding it with it's sharp beak. After it eats for a bit it looks back to Wrench with its head cocked to one side, a piece of food still dangeling from its maw.

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<birdish> What did you want?

[Asmodeus]

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"I want to find the ship that fell from the sky. It is very large. Might have had fire around it. It fell only a couple days ago. Did you see it? Can you take us to it?"

[Bigmac]

The bird pauses for a few moments and twists its head to watch the other members of the party. After its done, it refocus back on Wrench.

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Ship? Something big? Giant flying trees? yes?

[Asmodeus]

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"Yes. Can you take us to it?"

[Bigmac]

The bird gets flusted and starts squawking excitedly. It looks as if it is about to take flight.

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No no NO! It in bad Valley. Uglies there. No go there. I no go there

[MandibleBones]

Cecil

In a calm voice, he murmurs "Need more food, Wrench? I don't know animals that well, but this one looks a little flighty."

He pauses, reaching in his pack for some granola or something.

"Pun totally unintended, of course."

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

"<Common> The bird saw it go down and knows where it is, but won't lead us there. Its in a valley. Other creatures are in the valley, and the bird is afraid of them.

I'm trying to get it to guide us to the valley at least, or point us in the right direction."

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"<Birdish>Can you get us close, and point us in the right direction at least? You don't have to go in the Valley. Just take us as close as you are willing.

Can you tell me about the Uglies? Are they the same size as me? Bigger? Smaller?"

[Bigmac]

The bird is obvioulsy nervous, its claws digging into the rock where it is pearched. It starts chirpping away as Wrench talks.

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It's THAT* way. No miss it. NO! Why you interested in Uglies? You with them!

*The bird clearly indicates a direction, no too far off the path you were taking, but a new path all the same.

As it screaches reach a pitch it takes off into the air and starts to fly away.

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

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"<Birdish>No, no. We aren't with them." As the bird flies off Wrench calls out 'Thank you' to it.

Wrench takes a bit more of the food and leaves it where the bird was perched, as a 'thank you'.

"<Common>Its this way. You can't miss it. No need for any signal fires or other such nonsense." Wrench points out the direction, as indicated by the bird.

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

"Alrighty then..." Butch seemed skeptical but scanned the indicated direction for some sort of land mark. Finding a reference point, he proceeds in the designated direction.

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

Wrench heads out behind Butch, and for a few minutes, he chirps and sings like a songbird. Unfortunately, the spell ends abruptly and the last few notes are rather harsh and sour. Wrench quickly stops when the notes stop coming naturally.

"Maybe someday, I'll create a Hommonculus that can sing."

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

"Silly Wrench. Hobgoblins can't sing." Butch clears his throat and starts to sing...

Ohhhhhh....
There's a a hole... a hole... a hole in the bottom of the sea!

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

"Actually, Hobgoblins can and do sing. They just do it rarely.

But I was talking about a Homunculus. They are small constructs, built to serve a specific utility function. I suppose you could compare them with a Wizard's Familiar in some ways."

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

Butch continues to sing as he makes his way towards his bearings mark.

There's a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea.
There's a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea.
There's a log, there's a log...
There's a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea.

He turns to Threshkor and give him the nod.

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

"You may not want to be quite so vocal, as we get closer. If the bird was right, then this valley is the home to hostile creatures. We should consider employing stealth."

Wrench's thoughts turn, as they usually do, towards his gear. He makes sure that nothing is rattling loosely, and causing any more noise than it needs to. Once that is done, he begins pondering the gear used by the rest of the group. He already has plans for Butch, but the rest of the group hasn't been very forthcoming with requests.

Butch was a fighter, that was plain to see. Armor and weapons would serve him best.

Azmirth seemed to be a different sort of fighter. Ranged weapons were fine, but he likely didn't need much armor. Items to enhance his natural Dexterity might be better.

Threshkor would likely need better armor and weapons at some point, but he seemed to be doing fine for the moment. Perhaps something more to aid him with his divine spells would be better. A band of Owl's Wisdom perhaps? Maybe Prayer Beads?

The newest member, Caskin, was the hardest to read. Wrench would wait until he knew him better to evaluate his needs.

Cecil was a bit more of an enigma, as he tended to blend magic and strength of arms at times. "Sir, may I ask you something? When you use your magic, do you spontaneously weave a spell, or must you prepare your spells ahead of time?"

[MandibleBones]

Cecil

Cecil thinks a bit as walks beside Wrench. "It might be a little bit of both," he muses. "Some of the things I do just come instinctively - like the lights last night. Little tricks a wizard taught me once, way out" he points in a generally Thranish direction "that way, and they just stuck."

He grins. "A few of the others, while possibly still just 'little wizard tricks,' are things I had to practice - but they still come spontaneously. They tire me out a bit, though," he adds. "I can only manage a few of them each day, even though my body might still have plenty of strength in it."

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

Butch sighs as his one moment of levity is cut short. And then he remembered the water in the face gag last night and starts to smirk. And then the waking of Caskin that morning brings a broad grin to his face. He sighs again in contentment as he remembers lunch back at Orcbone.

"Wait a minute... You made those lights? I thought Wrench did that. Wow, that's neat Mr. Cecil."

[Velvet Elvis]

Caskin

Caskin watched with interest as Wrench chirped with the bird. It was a surreal moment in his experience, and one he'd already committed to memory. He was certain there was some ale to be acquired in exchange for it. Perhaps a few extra details would be needed, but it was as definitely good as gold.

When the information was shared and the crash site was on the map, so to speak, Caskin perked up some.

"Ahh, excellent. No more wandering the hills. I wonder what sort of creatures are down there," he asks rhetorically, then asks Wrench directly, "I don't suppose your bird friend indicated if the creatures were like us...well, shaped like us, I suppose, or otherwise?"