Minos: Dark Times [IC]

[SandDemon]

Durgrin

"Heh, giants - been awhil' since I subdood one of them. Let's head on out and catch us one!" Looking jovial at the mention of some action, Durgrin gets ready to head out.

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Once we head in and can start spotting around for the giant, I'll use my Eyes of Avoral spell for looking around (+8 spot)

[Noldruk]

Kellin

Winking at Kiera, Kellin says with a grin, 'You know I'm all for it.. Any chance this thing's just drunk?'. Shrugging, he adds, 'Whenever the rest of you are ready, let's not waste daylight catching this thing..' Spreading his hands, he utters the incantation for Mage Armor, reinforcing his body for the coming hours.

[Berand]

Round 45

The group sets out with Coignar "volunteered" to scout in the front. Durgrin casts a spell to help him stay sharp, and everyone remains on their toes. As you walk along, following the clearly-visible trail through the woods, Kiera looks thoughtful.

"I must admit I know very little about giants. They rarely come out of Batterstone Mountain, and rarely have any contact with humans. We know they're there, because they've been sighted by various hunters and scouts, but they usually disappear in to the rocky wilderness as soon as they realize humans are about. Maybe they're shy." She chuckles at the thought of a shy giant.

Less than two hours in, all your alertness pays off. Because you know, giants are very stealthy. In this case Coignar motions for silence, and points through the trees up ahead. You hear the sound of running water, perhaps a small stream. It looks like there's a clearing up ahead - at least it looks that way through the tree line. The group inches forward slowly, eyes locked on the clearing, watching for movement. The trail bends to the left a bit, leaving a relatively thin screen of trees between you and the clearing. Everyone stops and looks for any sign of danger.

It's a nice little clearing from what you can see, covered in a blanket of fresh spring wildflowers and tall grass. Cattails rise up around a little creek less then 100 feet away which gurgles as it flows around some large rocks, dropping over miniature waterfalls as it winds its way south. There is one particularly huge stone next to the stream.

Durgrin rubs his magically-enhanced eyes for a second, and blinks a few times. Maybe... maybe that's not a rock...

A massive sighing sound suddenly fills the clearing, as the huge boulder shifts about. It is now clearly a massive humanoid figure, well over 12 feet tall. It has gray, rocky-looking skin and a gaunt appearance. At least gaunt relative to its size. You guess it easily weighs a ton. The creature is sitting on a rock right now, holding another rock in its hands and staring at it. Though no blood is present, it appears to be wounded judging by the long gash down its back. It sighs again, with the sound of rocks grating together. If it were human, you would swear it was sad.

It hasn't noticed you yet, even with the dwarves clanking along.

Map:

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[demonllama]

Ruhidr

Gesturing as quietly as he can in 50lbs of armor, Ruhidr motions for the others to remain where they are before creeping ever so slightly forward. Briefly closing his eyes, he mouths a silent prayer before opening them again to see what Kiri-Jolith will reveal to his eyes.

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So... Detect Evil. I get close enough to use it (should only need to move a single space, I think). If I detect the presence of evil, I'm going to stay up to 3 rounds to make sure that creature is what I'm detecting as evil. After that, I'll report back to the group; the Captain in particular. If, after the first round, I detect no evil... I'll report straight back to the Captain.

This is all assuming, of course, that nothing happens in the meantime :P I reserve the right to post again in case anything happens that would interrupt or make this process fruitless ;) Just trying to be efficient.

EDIT: Okay, so, this is the only change I'm adding (this EDIT note), so... here's the new info. If I'm still within the trees/cover, as I would be according to the map, I can keep concentrating on the ... thing, trying to determine if it's evil. If Ruhidr could roll his eyes without breaking his concentration, he certainly would. And then he'd find a tavern, get a tankard, and throw the tankard at Cilene. Sorry, Mags :P If Ruhidr's NOT within the tree cover, he tries to look as casual and friendly as possible while focusing on the Big Stone Biped.

[Ilhares]

Cilene

Weighing the two most obvious options, Cilene decides to embrace the mantra of "Making ones self the primary target".

She looks ahead, shrugs at the others, then bolts off towards the giant, calling out to it, "You look like you've seen better days! Could you use some aid?"

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What's that you say? Diplomacy? Of course! We know how charming Cilene is.

Diplomacy: (1d20-2)[3]
Spot: (1d20+7)[11]

Gotta keep the eyes peeled, maybe it's got something stuck in it's back. Maybe he's just mean - or a giant monk who flogged itself. Who knows?

[Noldruk]

Kellin

Groaning at Cilene's disappearance, Kellin charges out of the woodline toward the giant, also. Waving back to the others so as they do not follow, he grumbles only slightly to himself. Walking towards the thing, he says as casually as possible, 'Don't mind her, she's got a tongue like last week's ale! I'll admit, though.. you don't look happy. What say your troubles?'

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I wanna get to about 35 feet from him.
Diplomacy: Yea - I'll work extra hard to fix it - (d20+10)[14]
Spot: (d20)[6]
After speaking, I'd like to utter the spell 'Charm Person' at the thing.

[tehsnarf]

Coignar

Coignar grumbles, mostly to himself but occasionally loud enough for those near him to hear. He very clearly dislikes the idea of his two companions trying to "cheer" up the giant, but stopping them doesn't seem to be on the forefront of his plan. He quickly scans the tree line, looking for other individuals or beings nearby as well as perhaps a quick hidey-hole, making sure that they are in fact are the only ones alone in the surrounding area, and that he has a place to bolt to in case things get ugly.


A giant... seriously...*sigh*

[Sirrion]

Torkai

Wincing at the boldness of his companions, Torkai fits an arrow to his bowstring and slips into the forest in front of them. Moving as quietly as he can while sticking to the shadows, he works his way to the right, keeping his eyes on the giant in case he makes any hostile actions.

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Going to move slowly as far to the right as I can, while staying hidden (hopefully) in the trees. Rolling with a -2 penalty to move silently as that is what it was last time, but adjust it as you need.

Move silently with -2: (1d20+8)[13]
Hide: (1d20+10)[22]

Should be it for now...

[Berand]

Round 46

Clearly missing Ruhidr's motion for silence, Cilene dashes forward a few feet and addresses the giant. Seeing her brash move and knowing just how caustic Cilene can come across even when she's being nice, Kellin jumps forward and dashes in to the clearing, distracting the giant with his own words until he gets in to range...

The giant's head snaps up as he hears Cilene and Kellin speak. He jumps warily to his feet, huge boulder in hand. Just then Kellin gets close enough and utters the words to a charm person spell. You see the giant grimace and blink a few times, then it relaxes.

"Oohh, huumans," it booms in a deep, gravely voice. "Hello huumans. You is startle Gnaff." It drops its boulder and ambles toward Kellin, its footsteps thudding loudly through the clearing.

Ruhidr:

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You don't detect any evil.

[Noldruk]

Kellin

Smiling at his new friend, Kellin approaches almost as if they are long lost brothers. "Gnaff.. I am Kellin, and this here is Mags. We and a few of our friends were wondering what's brought you so far from the mountains alone? We've heard these are dangerous times.. Is something wrong?"

[Berand]

Round 46a

Gnaff's massive face crinkles in to a frown. "Gnaff forced run from home. Stone giant stay in mountain, not bother others, but others come. Gnaff think many his kin dead, maybe hide too. Gnaff come out of mountain, look for more, but only find huuman road, turn 'round go back." He lets out another rumbling sigh.

[SandDemon]

Durgrin

"Who killed um, Gnaff?" chimes in Durgrin, as he walks into the group talking with the giant.

[demonllama]

Ruhidr

Looking around at the others with a carefully bland expression, Ruhidr walks forward to stand near the rest of the group and saying nothing.

Taking that poor thing's mind wasn't necessary, even if it did help. Well, maybe it was necessary after Mags tried to sweet talk it.

[Berand]

Round 46b

Gnaff looks up and frowns, but apparently decides the two approaching dwarves are okay.

He says something in a rumbling language none of you understand. He looks up and realizes the word means nothing in common. "Um, little not-huumans." He gestures at all of you, then rubs one hand along his forearm. "Maybe like yous, but with scales like lizard. They were many, came at night. Gnaff kill some, but had run. Some had magic too." He lets out yet another rumbling sigh.

[demonllama]

Ruhidr

Ruhidr perks up, "Scaled men, yer saying? Well now, that does sound interesting."

Allowing his face to break into a friendly smile, Ruhidr nods affably at Gnaff and asks him if he remembers anything else about the scaled men.

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Okay, leveraging my vast Dragon database here. If I'm at all familiar with dragons, I should be able to ask some leading questions, perhaps; help Gnaff narrow it down.

KnowledgeDragon - (1d20+7)[25]

[Berand]

Round 46c

Gnaff scrunches up his face, apparently thinking. "It were hard to tell, thems all do magic sorts of things. Were dark an' too chaotic. Most of thems had armor and swords or axes. There were many." He looks thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe more then Gnaff can see trees from here." The giant frowns, clearly hesitant to talk about it anymore.

You turn around and look where Gnaff's sight is directed. You see the entire forest.

"Gnaff should keep go to mountain, find kin. Gnaff like little huumans, you no come, is too dangerous. Maybe Gnaff find again some day."

Ruhidr:

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He hasn't given you enough information to go on. Partially because details you would consider important are below the giant's notice. To him, everything looks little. It's like you trying to describe a rodent you saw. Unless you're an expert, your description probably wouldn't be very accurate. Whereas if you were describing another human you saw, you could probably easily rattle off defining attributes like skin and hair color, size, and other details.

You're also not sure what magic he is talking about, since he describes them as having swords and axes. What he has said fits any number of dragon-kin and wyvern-spawn that you know of, along with lizardmen.

Also, note that the poor guy's intelligence is only 10, and it was during combat in the dark. :)

For the Group:

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You spent just over 2 hours getting to this point, which places you probably at least 6 hours behind the group, considering they move slower then you do because of their size. Nightfall should come in about 5-6 hours, which means if you hurry you might make the next guard tower by dark.

[Ilhares]

Cilene

Looking (and possibly pointing) at Ruhidr, Cilene says, "I've got a bad feeling about whatever you might be thinking right now. That aside.. do we write this off, or risk a peek and wind up hoofing it to the castle well behind everyone else?"

[demonllama]

Ruhidr

Glancing briefly over where Kiera is still standing, Ruhidr frowns thoughtfully (though very pointedly not at the highly-stressed stone giant), "There's a chance these.. things're dragon-kin. Even if they're not bein' such, they're still the ones as have managed to destroyed a group o' this one's kin, an' that's not to be takin' lightly."

Absently running one gauntleted thumb over Kiri-Jolith's holy symbol, he continues, "Unless we find a straggler or two, or mayhap a scouting party, we likely can't be doin' much to these things."

"An' we been tellin' the Captain we'd go t' the Castle. I'm thinkin' someone needs t' be scoutin' out these creatures before they do more harm, but I can't be decidin' that for all o' yers that it should be us instead o' being some o' the Knights' scouts."

[SandDemon]

Durgrin

Frowning deeply, Durgrin ponders the mention of dragon-men and adds in his own two copper pieces. "Look, I knows ya guys are all n'curious about this but if the settlemen' o giants is gone, then we aien't nuffin but dead meat if we find 'um. I'm gonn' go to the castle, maybe warn mah kin and let the knights do what they gotta do." Turning to the group, he's looking for anyone else to go back with him. He seems pretty content on going by himself if necessary. "Maybe hav' the giant come with us also, they must have magi in castle to locate his kin and not hav'n him run around out here to die."

Rule number one from my father - "Don't suicide unless there's a big audience and it's glorious"

[Berand]

Round 47

While you all deliberate, the giant turns around and ambles off in to the woods, absently smashing a few trees on the way. Kiera nods at what everyone seems to be saying.

"We should make all haste back to the group, and send some of the mounted scouts back to the castle this very night. This news can't wait until morning, Lord Tordinrak needs to know." She looks troubled. "They've been preparing for an invasion. I wonder if this is it."

"Anyway, that giant is huge like a rock, but he didn't seem quite as dumb as one. If his estimate of 'the entire forest' is even half right on the number of these invaders, it would be pure suicide to trek up to the mountains." With that she turns along with Durgrin and starts heading back to the road swiftly, waiting for everyone to follow.

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The shadows grow longer as the sun sinks below the horizon, leaving the group to walk in the dark. About twenty minutes after sunset, with the sky still glowing a faint pink hue, one of you spots a sign listing the outpost as a mile ahead. Everyone steps up the pace, eager to be back and spread warning.

A few minutes later, Kiera holds up her hand and silently motions for a stop. "Something is wrong," she says. As you tune your senses in, you feel it too. "Listen to how quiet it is. We should be able to see the camps fires by now too." She draws her sword and crouches low, creeping forward. It is indeed silent as you walk in to the camp. The rank scent of death is in the air, with flies buzzing about. The bugs work quickly.

Signs of battle are everywhere. Dead horses, dead men, and smashed stuff.

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Need to know what you do and what you look for. Roll your spot checks just in case.

[SandDemon]

Durgrin

Grumbling at the sight of pure death, Durgrin keeps his cool as he scans for anything that might stand out - non-issue Knight weapons, dead bodies of non-humans, or anything to give an idea of what happened.

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Spot:(1d20+4)[21]

[Noldruk]

Kellin

Peering around the area, Kellin searches for "other" signs. Uttering the words for 'Detect Magic', he continues his investigation of the camp.

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Spot: (d20)[3]
Search: (d20+1)[9]

[Sirrion]

Torkai

Fitting an arrow to his bow, Torkai scans about for a good place to take cover behind. As he moves quietly towards cover, he scans about him looking for anything out of the ordinary or dangerous.

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Going to step into the woods if close enough, or hide behind anything that is near. If nothing, then I'm just going to ready my bow and look about.

Move silently: (1d20+10)[22]
Hide: (1d20+10)[16]
Spot: (1d20-5)[9]
Listen: (1d20-5)[4]

[Ilhares]

Cilene

What do you do when you come upon a camp that should have been friendly and safe, yet find only death awaiting?

Blend In, Dumbass.

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She's no master, but the force that did this can't be that far ahead of them, not as this party worked to gain ground. Slip into the shadows, do not make ones self a target this time.

Hide: (1d20+11)[22]
Move Silently: (1d20+11)[18]

Spot: (1d20+7)[24]
Listen: (1d20+5)[13]

Look for tracks, obvious signs of weaponry, that kind of thing.

[demonllama]

Ruhidr

"Sands take me", Ruhidr hisses between clenched teeth. "Kiri-Jolith guide and protect these poor souls."

Drawing his waraxe as a precaution, Ruhidr begins to search around, looking in particular for any signs that would indicate the scaled men the giant mentioned.

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Sorry for the delay guys, I was making my sister her birthday cake... Italian Cream Cake, from scratch. Came out fantastic, if I do say so myself. And so did she, and so did her boyfriend, so... it must be true.

Anyhow, on with the rolls. In general, I'm just performing general searching, but I'm going to be biased toward what I'm looking for:
Spot - (1d20+3)[4]
Listen - (1d20+3)[17]
Search - (1d20)[10]

And, again, in case it's necessary:
KnowledgeDragon - (1d20+7)[25]

Also, using Detect Evil as I search. So, basically using that to help look for evidence, and perhaps finding whether there is a residue of evil or something.

EDIT: Ugh. Too bad I appear to have put my helmet on backwards =(

[tehsnarf]

Coignar

Nothing's ever, ever easy, is it.

Looking around, Coignar quickly decides that being in the open, surrounded by corpses of both man and animal, that it probably wouldn't be the best of ideas to be easily recognized, and begins scanning for a good place to blend in.

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Hide : (1d20+5)[6]
Move Silently : (1d20+5)[17]

Spot : (1d20+3)[12]
... for anything that doesn't seem to belong to the corpses, ie: weapons/armor/bodies ... and (assuming this is the party we showed up with?) my horse and gear
Listen : (1d20+5)[11]
... for anything trying to sneak up on us ...

[Berand]

Round 48

The scene becomes no less grim as you search. Kiera, Torkai, Cilene and Coignar take the perimeter, blending in and watching for signs of danger between their searching. Durgrin, Ruhidr and Kellin head straight in to the center.

After a few minutes of searching, everyone finds roughly the same things. Dead men from your party lie scattered about, obviously surprised. Some have weapons in hand, others died without fighting. The causes of death are fairly typical from what you can see. Rent armor, smashed helmets, etc. Kellin mentions that he doesn't see anything magical laying about. The only thing that is strange, is that you don't see any dead enemies amongst them, despite the fact that the Engothians obviously managed to put up some fight.

A few minutes in to the search, the group is startled to hear Ruhidr let out a dwarven oath. Everyone heads over to him to see what caused the outburst, finding him standing over four dead Knights, recognizable as Lieutenant Tomsad and apparently three of his Knights of the Sword, where they were apparently fighting back-to-back. Ruhidr points at one of the Knights of the Sword. "We've got problems lads. Look closely."

Everyone leans in, and gasps in surprise. One of the Knights of the Sword looks exactly like one of the others. The two dead bodies are almost a mirror image of each other. "There were only three Knights fighting here." He points to the mirror-image body. "That one is a Sivak."

"We've got Draconians. That's why there aren't any enemy bodies to be seen." He kneels down and picks up a pile of dust off the ground. "Baaz. When you kill them they turn to stone, then crumble to dust a short time later. If you're not quick your weapon can get stuck in them too. Baaz are disorganized footsoldiers. The Sivak there was probably a leader. When you kill one, they take on a death-shape and look like their killer for a few days, before they crumble too."

Looking around now, you can clearly see piles of dust all throughout the encampment, particularly around where Lieutenant Tomsad and his Knights died, where the dust is so thick the piles mend together in a ring. They put up quite a fight.

Kiera speaks up, never taking her eyes off the dead Knights. "We have to move, and fast. It looked like some horses may have taken off running up the road in the direction we need to go, but they're too far away to rely on finding, so we'll have to walk. Whatever killed this group can't be more then a few hours away, it's not safe for us to be here another minute. Judging by the tracks, they headed off in to the woods and not up the road, which means we might still be able to make the castle. Let's wrap this up and move." She looks around, waiting for everyone to finish whatever they need to do. The sense of urgency in the air is nearly palpable.

[SandDemon]

Durgrin

"Head out then, get movin'!" Durgrin leads the way out, his voice changing back to being the commander style he's accustomed to in dire times. On his way out, he's going to look around for the dwarves he spoke with earlier - and mummer a prayer to Reorx if he sees them dead.

[demonllama]

Ruhidr

"We do not want to be caught by those draconians; I suggest we move." So saying, Ruhidr bows his head for a brief moment of silent prayer before saying softly, "May your souls never lack shade nor water."

Looking to Kiera, he nods sharply to indicate his readiness to depart, intensity gleaming in his eyes, "If the Knights face this, Captain, I would fail in the calling given me by Kiri-Jolith if I did not join them to do what I can. I am ready, if yer Order'll have me."

Sands take me, but it galls me to just move on. Justice will come to those that did this, though, an' justice was never served by suicidal folly.

[Ilhares]

Cilene

Looking around, Cilene finds herself in a bit of a state. Where's her horse? This will annoy her greatly, reducing her overflowing charm.

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Let me clarify: Where's her horse? This will annoy her greatly, reducing her overflowing charm.

Did she find a carcass? Did they find roughly enough people to account for the whole party, or is it likely some got on those horses and ran for it? There were a lot of militia, she's not expecting steadfast military discipline or Knight-like heroism from the lot.

Search: (1d20+3)[7]

If she finds any of her stuff, she'll take it. If there's no sign of her horse and belongings, she'll wait until they reach the castle to make the proper notifications - she knows who she left it with.