IC: Spire in the Sand

[Dr_Horrible]

over the horizon, you see the tip of your goal. Standing on the Black Road in the middle of the Great Desert Anauroch you can see the large black spire jutting out to the north. It is now time to leave the relative safety of the Black Road to reach this strange occurrence, a Black Spire taller then any mountain that appeared one day with no explanation.

The endless sands of the desert surround you, with only the spire to the north, and the Scimitar Spires mountain chain to the southeast. As the sun eases higher into the sky, the first hot wind of the new day blows from the south, bringing the stinging sand.

[Arq Kujos]

*whistles* Wow, what a sight. Arron mused outloud. He was secretly impressed by the large tower. Well, we have a good bit of walking to get to the tower, so make sure you conserve your water. I'm not carrying any of you to the tower. Arron pulled his cloak over his head and mounted his horse. With a small, high pitched whistle, the horse started off in a slow trot.



(((Acceptable?)))

[Apoc Golem]

Randall eyed the man sidelong and adjusted his hood and face wrappings. The last thing he wanted was a blast of sand in his mouth--he was dehydrated enough. His horse nickered and skittered sideways as the sands kicked up. He didn't bother to pat the horse to try and calm him down. His touch only seemed to frighten the beast. It had been a monstrous headache just finding a horse that would carry him; most shied away from him, and a few had screamed and bolted. He grumbled and dug his heels in, deciding to use a firm hand to lead the creature instead of a gentle one. The damn thing didn't like him anyway.

He wiggled his waterskin. He hoped there was enough to make the trek; the tower was so large it was impossible for him to gauge the distance. His eyesight had never been particularly keen in the first place. With a small sigh, he followed Arron toward the looming black mass.

[Arq Kujos]

Damn this sand! Arron exclaimed after riding for a while. His group was making very little headway thanks to the loose sand and the weight of the horses. Arron pulled off his hood and raised up in the saddle, trying to view the area better. How much farther could the tower possible be?

Knowledge: Geography +10 to know how much further we have to go.

(d20+10)[30]

Edit: haha, Check owned!

[Dr_Horrible]

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You have about 150-300 miles. But that's a knowledge trigonometry check.

[Arq Kujos]

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Trigonometry? I don't think Gnomes have invented that yet.

How fast are we traveling? I need to know if I need to start trying to find water for the party.

[Steward]

Siegfried's mount, Goofus, canters forward in that usual ungainly donkey way. Its rider looks beyond his companions at the tower looming in the distance. Even though the windswept sands were stinging his face, Siegfried declined to wear a helm. Why deprive the world of the pleasure of gazing upon my beautiful face? He thought.

"Would only that we could fly!" He pronounces sadly as he shields his eyes from the unrelenting sun.

[Arq Kujos]

Arron turned back at the bard and sighed. Wishing for things that aren't going to happen is a waste of time. Save your words for your ballads.

[Steward]

Siegfried beams at Arron. "On the contrary, my delightful churl, I have heard legend of a magical invocation that grants the power of flight. Granted, it has thus far escaped me, but it's hardly impossible..." With that, he closes his eyes and begins to hum quietly to himself, wishing that they were closer to the Spire and the secrets that undoubtedly lurked within.

[Arq Kujos]

Turning back with a small chuckle, Arron replied, I never said it was impossible. I just said it wasn't going to happen right now. If you could make us fly, then I am sure you wouldn't have wished that we could fly because you already would have made it so. Arron smiled slightly. Well, this is certainly a lively one. I think I like him.

[Mobey_Wee]

Turning his head to face the others, Milloc speaks. "If the journey begins to take too large a toll on us, I can speed our trip, but I would prefer to conserve my energies to get us out more quickly. I can also provide us with more water without too much trouble." Milloc then looks back towards the spire they are riding towards. He had actually already thought quite a bit about speeding up their journey. He was much more comfortable on foot, and his mount seemed to agree. Milloc had constantly been fighting to keep his mount on the right path. He had already cast endure elements on himself, and was really in no hurry, he was fairly comfortable.
"Arron, how much longer do you think we have if we don't run into any trouble?"

[Dr_Horrible]

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You can probably travel about 32 miles per day, so It would take you several days. Water won't be a problem with your Cleric, but yeah, this might take a while, I'll probably fast forward at random intervals.

Please check in Mguy if you can.

During the second day of travel you begin to enter an area of many sand dunes, this makes travel harsher for the party, stinging sand growing more annoying.

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Could everyone roll Init in their next post? It's not urgent, but it's going to come up before you reach the spire at the current rate.

[MGuy]

[Sorry about the late check in. My computer wrecked on me so its harder to post now.]

Ironhands grumbles in frustration. It took everyone quite some time to get a mount in the first place and now they had hit a rough spot in the sands. Dwarven words of curse spill from his mouth as heatedly as the sun beats down on his gleaming armor.
\[Initiative: (1d20-1)[14]

[Apoc Golem]

With the knowledge that the party at least had water readily available, he took a long, grateful pull on his waterskin before returning its lid and replacing his facial wrappings. He gritted his teeth and muttered under his breath about the sand dunes.


((Still unsure how to roll on the boards, so Init roll from Invisible Castle:

Init: 15 ))

[Steward]

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(1d20+2)[20]

My Initiative Roll

"Sand dunes? Wonderful! I hope there are giant scorpions in the next juncture, just to liven things up!" Siegfried declares. The intense heat and stinging sand is starting to take its toll on his disposition.

[Arq Kujos]

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Can we skip to night next? I would like to get some party interaction in that isn't on horse back.

Arron gritted his teeth and rewrapped his head. It is going to take us atleast another 8 days to reach this tower, if I am correct. Tymora must not be smiling today. With a small cough, Arron readjusts himself in his saddle and continues.

(d20+3)[21]

Edit: Actually, it is 22, because my Dex is +4, not +3. I'm not trying to nit pick, I just want to give our party every advantage in case we run into really fast enemies.

[Mobey_Wee]

Milloc draws his helmet from his bag, and pulls the hood of his traveling cloak tighter about his face after equipping it. "When we make camp this evening, I will pray to Kelemvor, to bless our journey tomorrow. He can certainly speed things up, but it will take a lot out of me. But I will only have enough energy to bless all of us, and 1 of the mounts. I will leave the decision up to the rest of you. It is very likely, with the short distance we've traveled, that the horses would find their way back."

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initiative (d20+4)[8]

[Arq Kujos]

That would be most helpful. Of course, I'm not sure we can even use our mounts inside the tower. Arron patted his mount softly. While I would prefer to have him, I can leave a note on Wanderer and have him lead the other horses back to town.

[Tyreus]

At this point Tyreus is flying within distance to hear the last part of his companions conversation and lands his griffin next to the others. "I don't think the horses would survive the trip back without food and water... I could pray for a spell that would delay their need for nurishment, but it would only last a day and a half. Hopefully they can enter and navigate the tower with us, otherwise I'm out of ideas."

[Arq Kujos]

Oh, I thought you might not be coming with us. Arron will then look at his horse and smile. Well, Wanderer here is much smarter than the average horse, and if you cast that spell, it should be enough to help them get back. Of course, we could just keep them and travel on horseback the rest of the way. No one said we have to fly. Arron gave a slight shrug as he said that. Truth be told, he did not want to send his horse alone into town because he did not trust the people there to take of Wanderer.

[Apoc Golem]

Randall bunched his face up and glared at his horse. He wasn't certain he really cared if the damn thing lived or died at this point. The horse skittered sideways and nickered as if to emphasize his point. However, since the rest of the party seemed concerned about the animals' well-being, he decided to keep that to himself.

He spoke up for the first time in a few days. "I don't think our horses are likely to survive long, even without the necessity for food and water. Anauroch is vast and very dangerous. We had best keep the mounts with us. We can decide what to do with them once we reach the Spire. Perhaps there will be somewhere to tether them; I doubt overmuch that we will be in there for more than a day or two."

[Arq Kujos]

Personally, I agree with Randell. If you guys really want to talk more about this, we can do so today when we break camp. The heat was starting to make Arron annoyed, but he was not going to lose his cool.

[Mobey_Wee]

As the day drags on, Milloc begins to keep his eye out for any rock outcropping or anything barrier they might find from the wind, so they can set down for the night. Through his travels, he has gained some knowledge of survival in harsh environments; judging from the wind and the heat, he tries to get an idea of what the weather will do over the next 24 hours.

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survival check (d20+8)[28]

He relays his prediction to Arron, to see if that sounds about accurate to him also. If it is getting pretty late in the day, he also mentions looking for a camp site soon.

[Steward]

"And when we are ready to make camp, just give me the word, fellow travelers." Siegfried said airily. "We shall not be sleeping in the sand."

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If they ever do actually stop for camp and it's possible, Siegfried will cast the Bard spell Secure Shelter to conjure up a stone shelter for them to reside in.

[Apoc Golem]

Randall eyed the man irritably. He didn't like Siegfried one bit, he'd decided. His pompous attitude grated on him like sandpaper. Still, he didn't want to sleep on a sand dune if he didn't have to, so he simply shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

[MGuy]

Fidgeting uncomfortably on his mount Ironhands turns to Siegfried.

"It would be nice to keep the sand from settling any further into my gear good friend! But is their no way to magic us to straight to our destination?" he asks trying to sound as indifferent about the situation as possible.

"It's going to take hours to scratch the sand from my armor as it is! I'll never be able to do it if we continue the trek as is!" He thinks to himself.

[Mobey_Wee]

Without turning his head to look, Milloc speaks. "Unless someone has an idea on how to handle the mounts, I believe we're stuck on this path. I won't leave the creatures to die."

[Arq Kujos]

Nor will I. Wanderer has been as good of a companion as I've ever had. Arron patted his horse, who gave a happy "neigh" as he did.

[Dr_Horrible]

Suddenly, just as the Griffin lands, one of the Dunes shakes and tumbles as two human sized lizards charge out of it, straight at Siegfried. Each one bites hard into it's flank, and the donkey tumbles down blood spewing. Siegfried falls down and rolls.

From behind comes a sudden below of rage as a much larger lizard, almost phantasmal in it's greyness leaps upon Tyreus knocking him from his mount and pinning him to the ground.

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Everyone should decide what type of horse they have and tell me, and roll the checks to direct them in combat if they are not combat horses. Two Lizards horrendously crit poor Goofus, bringing him to -17 assuming standard horse or donkey.

Siegfried needs to make a DC 15 ride check or take (1d6)[1] falling damage.

Arq, you recognize the lizards as Basilisks, so you should probably inform the other PCs during your turn.

The other creature is a giant similar looking lizard (AKA advanced and templated, though no one knows which template.) and it attacked and initiated a grapple with Mr Tyreus, knocking him from his mount. Technically, if Tyreus can roll a 40 or higher, we could escape the grapple, but that's not even possible.

I feel badly for rolling so well after I buffed up the encounter for being too easy, but oh well.

That was surprise round, now it's Arq, steward, Apoc, Tyreus the lisks, then Mobey Wee

[Tyreus]

Tyreus mutters a quick incantation and tries to escape his opponents grasp. Jatharndis will dive upon the large creature and visciously attack.

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Tyreus cast divine insight giving him a +14 bonus to his grapple for one roll. Grapple: (1d20+30)[36] (+10 BAB +6 Str +14 spell)

Griffins attacks: Bite hit: (1d20+14)[25] damage: (2d6+4)[12]
2 claws hit: (1d20+11)[16] (1d20+11)[18] damage: (1d4+2)[3] (1d4+2)[6]
2 rakes hit: (1d20+11)[12] (1d20+11)[26] damage: (1d6+2)[4] (1d6+2)[6]