Post-war sandbox, Team Green IC

[Ripptor]

Hedera grins and laughs at Chloe's clothing complaint. "It is lovely to see you in your birth-skin, dear. But yes, perhaps I can tear the next pair we find a little less." Hedera stands back with Chloe and watches as the large ones' Justice and Mercy routine plays out, with only half of the aforementioned pair seemingly present. Suddenly realizing it was down to her to play Mercy, Hedera strode in after Manus' helmet threat seemed to frighten the poor dears quite effectively. "Of course, loves," she pops around from behind Manus with a glowing smile, "Once you've proven yourselves and gotten right with this one here, you are free to go wherever you please. You could even stick around, and help us build our own little oasis in these wastes." She reaches out and cups Steef's cheek, then turns back and leaves them to their work.

Spoiler: OoC

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I'm gonna go out on a limb and make Justice and Mercy the vernacular for Bad cop/Good cop

Rolling Diplomacy, hopefully persuading them to be willing, or at least up the morale a bit. Lets start carving an empire!
(1d20+24)[26]

[J-H]

Sufficiently cowed, Steef and Biggs retrieve shovels and start digging under Manus’ oversight. It will take most of the day to finish the job unless they dig in the garden, as prairie grass root systems are thick and deep.

What will you do next?

Spoiler: for consideration

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Stay here, go to Elmal, investigate the dwarves, check out the crack in the ground you spotted earlier, or something else?
What happens to the livestock?
What gear, if any, do your two prisoners get to keep?
What do you prioritize when loading if you take the wagon & draft animals to pull it?

[Simba]

With the fighting over, R'Ror went to scout the area around the farm. Satisfied that there was no threat to them he returns.
Questioning the surivors holds no interest for him so he simply watches and with nothing better to do keeps lookout from the top of the barn.

[Metahuman1]

Magnhild watched for a few moments, pondering the next move.

"I think between myself and the wagon we can cart all that's worth salvaging. My suggestion would be we camp here tonight, make sure everything that needs to be laid to rest get's that much, and load everything up for travel early tomorrow. It gives me more time to recover form those damn spells too. Livestock should come too, will have to figure out a way to make that work. Hedera, I that that might fall more under your area of expertise. Will want them as we have more people meet up and group up with us.

Chloe, R'row, it might not be a bad idea to check in on that crack in the ground while we get things settled here. Make sure we know what that's about. If it's something that needs to be dealt with we can do so while in the area, and if not, we didn't have to go out of our way or loose time to find out. "

[Rhyvurg]

"The prisoners can herd the animals. Making camp here is satisfactory, the gaps in the palisade can be blocked, and the barn is large enough to accommodate Magnhild. A rare opportunity for shelter we should not ignore."

[Simba]

"Great idea. Are you coming Chloe?"

[Metahuman1]

"With respect Manus, I think Hedera can get them to be faster and more cooperative, and with less effort. Druidesses have that reputation." The giantess comments to the first part, leaving the rest alone for now.

[Ripptor]

"I'll spend some time with the animals tonight, and the three of us can herd them tomorrow. Two horses for the wagon, with the humans riding, and me leading the way and everyone else between should work well enough." Hedera casts a healing spell on the lot before any scouting begins, to keep everyone well. Looking over Magnhild's wounds, Hedera adds, "Come into the barn with me, the doors are large enough. I know some special animal friends who can help you out as well." With that, Hedera strides to the barn, leaves Lady on post outside, then summons two Unicorns and walks in.

Spoiler: OoC

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Her walking in with Unicorns should help the animals trust her <3

Extended Mass Lesser Vigor on Magnhild/Chloe/Lady/Manus, for 36 HP each (over 3.6 minutes)

Taking 20 / spending all the time needed to Wild Empathy the animals into a Helpful state.

Unicorns heal Magnhild 89 HP, if she comes along. (Rolls in OoC)

[Metahuman1]

Magnhild moved with Hedera, nodding. "Thank you."

Spoiler: OOC:

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So now we wait to see if R'row and/or Chloe find anything interesting.

[tonberryking]

Chloe seems to take some weird amusement from being shorter than R'ror and even asks for a ride. She may or may not be joking.


"Aye; I'll check it out, though I doubt anything could have gone worse for the late farmers than zealot brigands... she says off-hand. Where is this crevice? I didn't notice one during our own raid."

Spoiler: OOC/Rolls

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Spot and search checks applicable here?
(1d20+5)[20]
(1d20+3)[8]

[J-H]

Spoiler

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The chasm was in one of the first couple of posts

Leaving the others behind to work with the animals and oversee the grave-digging, Chloe-in-pants and R’Ror lope uphill, and then south across the plains to the great crack in the ground on the far (south) side of the road (approximately a mile and a half south of the road and thus 3.5 miles from the homestead).

It appears that the ground was simply torn apart here; the chasm is about 25’ wide at the top, and runs for 300’. It looks like it goes down 40 or 50’. The sides and bottom are very irregular, and navigating through it from one end to the other would be very difficult, especially since water has collected in some of the low areas.

The sun is high enough to illuminate the bottom, and detailed observation reveals that a portion of the bottom looks like some kind of stone structure that was broken open. It looks like part of a hallway was torn in half, although the area is half-flooded, so it’s hard to tell anything more.

The trees located a hundred yards or so to the south of the chasm appear normal for the area – just a regular stand of trees that grew around some source of water or other favorable condition.

[Rhyvurg]

Manus jabs his halberd into the ground and sets his helmet on the butt, watching the prisoners work. Optimism, but not naivete. That is one of Marcus's lessons. Choose to see the best of what the world could be, but do not let that blind you to it's potential for evil. So as he oversees the work, he still remains ready to draw his bow should they try to run.

[Metahuman1]

Magnhild debated, silently to herself, removing her armor while she waited. Eventually, however, she opted against it, given that she didn't know if that raiding party had backup in the area that might come looking for them. Another time.

[Simba]

"Do we take a closer look? Get the others maybe?"

[tonberryking]

Chloe slides off R'ror's back and peers down the crevice, rubbing her hairless chin before blowing hair out of her eyes with a huff.

"Th' others took th' brunt of that throw down we just had, and I'm daisy fresh and packing pants. You keep up here with that bow of yours, darling, and I'll climb down. Shouldn't be too hard.."


Chloe attempts to change back into her larger, humanoid form this time rather than play about as an animal, muscles swelling and fur engulfing her form. She catches the hair bands that no longer have crazy long hair to hold, after thye melded into her fur and she rudely shoves them down her shirt front before unfurling claws and taking her time climbing down below...

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

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(1d20+15)[28] She can attempt this hybrid form change as many times as she wants; assume that she stands there making silly faces and poses if she keeps rolling ones for awhile.


(1d20+24)[26] Climb check to get down, and a (1d20+28)[45] if she has to Jump for anything.

(1d20+5)[7]
(1d20+5)[17]

Spot/listen respectively.

[J-H]

Chloe makes her way down without any difficulty, as the walls are layers of soil, clay, and a substantial amount of sand and ash; her claws sink in easily enough, although a heavier creature might not be supported.

The water at the bottom is muddy. One part of the stone hallway is angle downwards and appears to be almost totally flooded. The other part is a bit higher and seems to be flooded only about chest-high on her hybrid form (which, by the way, is taller than her dwarf form). It seems to slope upwards. With all the mud and water, it’s hard to make out any more detail.

The gap between the two chunks of hallway is deeper, but the mud makes the water too cloudy to get an idea of how deep it goes.

[Simba]

"Can you see anything sweetheart?"
R'Ror seems to be amused by Chloe's way of speaking and has a smile on his face, maybe for the first time since they met.
Bow at the ready, he keeps watch on the rim, looking around from tie to time as well as down.

[tonberryking]

Not an hour's gone by and she's already going to have to clean her pants again. Chloe wades through the water and up to and through the entrance.

"Think we should have those blokes we caught march through here instead of lil' ole me? It's a muddy cistern down here, though I kinda imagine this used ta be somethin' important." she shouts back up to the wemic, before she peers up through the entryway that's chest deep water.

Spoiler: OOC/Rolls

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Another spot/search combo. Chloe does have darkvision, if it affects anything:
(1d20+5)[22]
(1d20+3)[9]

And a climb check to get back up: (1d20+24)[35] and no Control shape to be dwarf again, since I doubt R'ror is going to give a muddy dwarf a ride home :P

"If Hedera and the others want to see what's in that craphole, we can bloody well wait 'til morning." she says, disgusted with the mud and sludge caking her lower half.

[J-H]

The less-flooded hall does indeed slant uphill, eventually becoming fully dry. It appears to end in a door or wall with some indentations on it. There’s a square hole in the ceiling, and a slight breeze.

[J-H]

Chloe & R'Ror return to the rest of the group without incident.

[Rhyvurg]

Manus looks over as they arrive. "Did you discover anything worthwhile?"

[Ripptor]

Hedera comes out of the barn to the sound of returning friends. Slipping a bloodthirsty blade at her hip, she palms the magic ring to Manus. A little something to protect the one protecting them. "Anything with which we should concern ourselves?" She calls out with a smile. She glances at the humans working in the garden, feeding the circle of life. On track to be done by nightfall, the garden will be well-fed and ready for another blossoming soon enough.

Spoiler: OoC

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Equipping a buckler and unholy knife, ring of protection for Manus, as in OoC.

[tonberryking]

Chloe looks a little grumpy having to run in mud caked fur all the way back, but she doesn't pour any of this ire out onto the others.

"Mmm, there's some sort of underground dwelling that's a little more than half flooded with muck and water. I didn't go down too deep in there, but it's a bit spacious if you don't mind sharing space with slimy mud. I don't think all of us could even fit down there, so I wouldn't recommend starting our new nation in a hole in the ground."

[Rhyvurg]

"Thank you for looking, but we have a long way to go yet."

[Metahuman1]

When Hedera exited the barn, the massive armored woman took the que to do likewise. She listened intently as the report came in, and nodded.

"I'm inclined to agree. I certainly think we should give it a more through search down the line. However, for the moment, I think we'd be better served searching the rest of this homestead, taking anything of use we can, and proceeding toward the capital. If it proves unusable that's a conversation to be had at that point. If it's useful for our purpose however, then it's useful for our neighbors, and we need to not only stake a clam but fortify that claim firmly before they can, else will loose it. "

She looked for a moment at the work that was being done by the archers before she spoke.

"I want us to be a charitable as we can manage. But at present I've doubts that they feel the same way. Perhaps I'm wrong and it was just a bad commander and a bad priest, but if it's not just a bad commander and priest, we need to deal with them, and we need a secure, sustainable and defensible position and a decent force to be able to do that properly."

[J-H]

Spoiler

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Don’t forget to update your character sheets if you are equipping some of the loot. Please let me know if your AC changes so that I can update my spreadsheet.

Steef and Biggs finish digging the graves and move the bodies by mid-afternoon. They are pretty tired, and seem glad to be on horseback as you leave. The loaded wagon plus riders is a bit of a strain on the horses, although it’s easier once you reach the road.

The rest of the day passes without incident on the road, as does the night, and the next day. The following night, Manus spots something big fly far overhead, but it’s too far away to make out details with darkvision.

The morning of the next day, you sight the remnants of a village next to the road. The stone walls of some structures are remaining, but any roofs or wooden buildings are gone completely. Most of the area for a half-mile or more around the village is blackened, and bare of growth.

Just past the village, you see the walls of a small fort. The walls are black, instead of the normal grey of stone.

[Ripptor]

Hedera takes in the roadside devastation sprawling out across an entire village and the overbearing fortress that failed to protect it. "Fire from the skies, enough to drown this entire area. Dragonfire, perhaps?" Indicating the darkened fortress, she continues to muse, "There may be a wealth of supplies inside, should we choose to take a stay?" Lady eyes the scorched earth warily.

Spoiler: OoC

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Hedera AC +1 from the buckler.

Knowledge/Survival check to recognize the origin of the fire? DM can roll in private, to keep the suspense!

[Rhyvurg]

"The stone in the village was not blackened like this, it could be some kind of magically created fortification. There is no cover, so we should make ourselves known before we are in arrow range, in case it is occupied."

[Metahuman1]

"This time we do not stop approaching till I'm close enough to close if things go badly. I'd like to avoid getting roughed up as much this time if I can." Magnhild murmurs to the group.

"But yes, we should check for survivors and supplies, and we should check to see if the responsible party has taken up residence in that fort. "

Spoiler: OOC:

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Did we tie the archers to there mounts? If so, I'm adding we should untie them.

[Simba]

"Want me to check for tracks around the village first? Or just go ahead and see what hits us?"
Something inside R'Ror seems to have changed lately, his mood is better and he talks more. Even now there is a smile on his face instead of his usual scowl.