Errant IC

[BizzaroStormy]

The small fairy thing flies into Michi's pouch and pulls out a small vial containing a light blue liquid. She flies it to Avery, ignoring the man in the scarf. Fine then, at least cover it with something and use this to mask the smell. I don't think the spell will work on him again.

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Never gonna give you up...Sense Motive - (1d20+1)[8]

[Psionic Dog]

Radon stares sorrowfully at the very non-flammable 'tree'. A bondfire would have warmed his spirits.

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Not that Radon would ever make it or is even close enough, but hey, 20 might happen...
Sense Motive - (1d20-1)[7]
Will - (1d20+10)[19]

[Faithdreamer]

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Never gonna’ give you up,
Never gonna’ let you down,
Never gonna’ run around, and, Desert You…

Never gonna make you cry - never gonna say Goodbye,
Never gonna tell a lie, And Hurt You…

That’s the spirit of life!

Avery

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It’s obvious he’s talking about people, even across two different cultures. In no small amount of poetry he gave you the whole situation around you now. He called those who make their living without much compassion beasts (being as inconsiderate as they are). Men are often afraid of wolves and their widely-believed primal nature. When men are afraid they do scary things. He’s afraid more talking will aggravate the situation and increase chances of sedition among your tiny convoy. It could just as easily be a hidden threat, given his demeanour toward everyone. Is he telling you to shut up so he can keep a veil of secrecy over you?

Michieru
The man wearing more fur than Avery must have been insulting canines. Michieru liked to think of himself as more of a cat. Most Keidran lacked certain… Foxy Subtleties…

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Foxes are of the Vulpini Tribe of the Canidae Family (Wolves, Jackals, Dogs, Dingoes, Coyotes. I checked out Wikipedia. So not a feline.)

Radon
Part of the tree seemed to bend and swirl… just the heat mingling with the cold.

[BizzaroStormy]

Michi wakes up a bit dizzy and gets off the sled, at this point not paying attention to Avery as the small fairy lands on his shoulder. He approaches the man in the furs. Why have we stopped?

[Faithdreamer]

He says this without bothering to look at you. "You are in charge?"

[BizzaroStormy]

No but if I'm to do my job, I need to know whether or not something needs killing.

[oliana0]

Princess

Princess squints, contemplating the words of the sled leader and responds, "I am my own master, and don't worry your pretty little head about my safety. Are we staying here long enough to warm up, or will we be heading out soon? I have more than your cargo and my pay for our work to worry about." Princess looks back to the shivering Sport.

Princess waits for an answer then returns to her sled.

For everyone:

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I cannot tell who people are talking to.
SenseMotive - (1d20+3)[9]
Diplomacy - (1d20+7)[11]

[Faithdreamer]

…Bait..?
“Act like a guard, woman.” As casually as anyone could make the word ‘woman’ sound insulting. He points to each of you in turn - clearly he isn’t impressed with Princess and her unique charm. Avery, Michieru, Princess and Radon each have his right hand waved at them. In his culture it was a polite way of pointing. “You’ll be parting from the caravan so you can investigate a symbol on our maps. We have a copy of our map to the Snowy Plains for your leader, you’re taken care of don’t worry about navigation. Get your things and start walking that way.”
With a jerk of his head he indicates somewhere to the left of the sled most of you have congregated around.

[Psionic Dog]

Radon

Seeing the man gesture at him Radon walks over to the small knot of people.

"Oh, well ok. I suppose it must be important for the caravan to stop for. Only, what are we looking for? How far will we be walking? What sort of symbol was it anyway? Shouldn't we wait for our leader? Who's going to do the guarding while we're gone? And... ah, well?" As the bright-eyed man stops for breath he realizes he should probably wait for his first questions to be answered before asking new ones.

[Faithdreamer]

He steps back from Princess and takes a good look at Radon. "I mentioned you shouldn't ask questions for your own sake." His posture seems a bit... doubtful. "Do you really want to know?"

[oliana0]

Princess

"So, we are going off into the forest to find something on a map we've never seen and you're sure we won't get lost and you'll what, wait for us here?"

"Intriguing." Princess squints and pouts for amoment, then smiles and heads back to the sled to get her companions.

"Let me know when it's time to go!" Princess calls back to the group.

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Who's our leader?

[BizzaroStormy]

Seeing a lack of initiative on the part of the group, Michieru decides to take the proverbial reigns. I guess I'll take the map then.

[oliana0]

Princess

Princess still heading back to her sled turns as Michieru takes the map and calls out. "Oh, and Michieru, Hazel is terribly good at navigation and finding her way in nature. If you need assistance, please, consider her at your disposal." She then completes her journey back to her sled.

[Psionic Dog]

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Whoops, when I last posted I assumed "Leader with map" meant Neyura, our employer, hence the whole bit about "Are you really asking us to walk blindly out for something we know nothing about with only a vague promise that a navigator will meet us?"

Also, have we ever seen this guy before?

If he's familiar to us disregard the rest of the post because I'm still assuming Radon doesn't recognize the speaker.

"Well, ordinarily the challenge is enough, but this icy forest just feels... wrong. Trees should cast shadows. Besides, I always though guards shouldn't abandon their post, so I'd like to know if orders changed or if you're taking over for the guarding for us."

[Incarnum3]

Avery kept his nagging doubts in check, deciding neither option seemed favorable.

I'll follow the will of the group.

[Faithdreamer]

Flashback
Suspicious as you are his face has an important name. He’s one of the four people who let you take this job. His eyes were always hard to trust and he never let anyone closer than what they saw at face value. To say the least that made listening to his words hard. Even though Neyura wasn’t a trustworthy type…
She smelled like graveyard soil because she ever cradled a death fetish. This wasn’t the first time you’d asked yourself:

Would I follow the Death God, or let the Three-headed Hellhound pull me along?

Thinking about it so much made you want to go home; so it was easier to memorize the convoy’s formation. Altogether four sleds were here and each had seven dogs to pull it. It was easier when you didn’t have to watch out for Mushers making things go too fast. The dogs all had some sort of magical collar. Stealing the sleds along with the haul on them was harder. There were five guards apart from Princess’s retinue and Avery (Radon and Michieru only counted when they weren’t counting gold pieces that weren’t theirs yet; or starting fires ‘to keep the troops satisfied’).
Off-hand you only remembered two of their names. Anvil and Bellow guarded the second sled with one other. Avery and Michieru were responsible for the next one and Princess with Radon watched the last. It wasn’t often any of you got a good view of the first sled. Neyura was always going to and from there, and the people who organized the trip guarded that sled on their own.
The man offering you a new job was one of those. He might think the tedium of a long march demanded you do something different. Wisdom often said no one could march forever and ever.

Spark Flickers
For some reason, as the fur-covered man took a scroll case from his pocket, Michieru had an awful picture of someone lighting very precious paper afire. His eyes drifted from the scroll to Radon. Immediately he decided it was a good idea to keep his eyes on that scroll case. He caught it out of the air so smoothly when it was tossed at him, he almost couldn’t believe his own reflexes.
Inside the case was a tough piece of parchment as smooth as the finest, thinnest paper he could imagine. There was a silver ring attached to it, with something so shiny being drawn to the picture on the paper was second nature. Silver was precious.
There was a ‘perfect’ map on the page with an excellent balance between large scale (fine details) and small scale (large areas). The title read ‘Snowy Plains’, everything was written in common. Except for two of them most of the symbols were included in the Key. The one you were supposed to investigate had a big orange circle around it. The Key said so. Fast looks around made you realize exactly where you were:

The convoy was in the middle of the Petrified Forest. That meant, you were there too.

“It’s my convoy, why are you so worried about… the trees..?” He took a measured look around the forest. He searched from tree to tree, as he turned around to go back to the lead sled, he kicking huge piles of snow along with his boots. To say the least, it looked a bit clumsy. Then he started the singing... and his voice..?

Awful.

“Oi, smoke swirling in the fog, as happy as a candle in the sun, sand as white is chalk, I’m where you least expect me I’m the shadow of the wind… N – I – N – J – A. Sing along and sing my song, Ninja won today!” It was too painful to listen any longer.

It was better when you turned back to each other. The only trick was, after the awkward silence someone had to get things moving.

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Everyone in the group should make another Spot Check. Radon just mentioned the problem and it’s time for you to go ‘Oh, yeah!’ in case you aren’t paying any attention to him. You’re mostly just making dice roll because I told you to no player dissention will be tolerated!

Everyone can roll a Sense Motive check if they want to.

PirateJesus add the Scout’s Journal to Michieru’s inventory.

ADVICE: Carefully read everything. The first time I mentioned him I wrote, he came from the first sled in the line up.

[BizzaroStormy]

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Spot Check - (1d20+1)[14]
Sense Motive Check - (1d20+1)[12]
Bluff Check - (1d20+2)[17]

Taking the map, Michi heads over to Princess' small group. Passing by his familiar, he whispers. Stay with the caravan, make sure they don't leave us behind. He continues over to Sport and Hazel and begins going over the map with them. He begins panting falsely as if he were hot (see Bluff Check) and takes off his coat, throwing it over the shivering Sport. His winter coat(of fur) is almost twice as thick as the winter coat itself, only with fewer pockets. Alright then, if thats all, then we'll get moving. He notices a gem about the size of a fist in one of the piles on the sled. Walking over, he grabs it and adds it to his pack. Just take this one out of my cut.

[oliana0]

Princess

Princess speaks quietly with Hazel for a moment, "It appears that we will be leaving the sleds. My only hope is that nothing befalls the sleds that would prevent them from moving while we are gone. I mean, if they couldn't flee if something bad happened.... It would be horrible."

Hazel nods, "That would, indeed be a tragedy."

Sport shivers and accepts the coat slipping his arms in the sleeves and the hands in the pockets of the coat, "Thanks. As long as it's in your way."

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I am under the impression that she is being asked to leave her cohort and follower behind. If I'm mistaken, please let me know.
SpotPrincess - (1d20+3)[22]
SenseMotivePrincess - (1d20+3)[10]
SpotHAzel - (1d20+4)[18]
SenseMotiveHAzel - (1d20+4)[15]
SpotSport - (1d20)[10]
SenseMotiveSport - (1d20)[9]

SurvivalHazel - (1d20+17)[19] Map Reading

Information about Petrified forest and the lay of the land:
KnowledgeNaturePrincess - (1d20+9)[23]
KnowledgeNatureHazel - (1d20+13)[15]

[Faithdreamer]

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Princess can take her Cohorts with if she likes. No one else Is going to write?

[BizzaroStormy]

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Apparently not.

[Incarnum3]

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Spot:(1d20+10)[19]
Sense Motive:(1d20+3)[21]

[Psionic Dog]

Radon

"Um... I'm glad you're not worried" The oblivious man says simply trying to breath warmth back into the cool silence. "The trees, the icicles, they were just odd so I though you should know." After another hesitant pause Radon turns and follows the others out.

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Sense Motive - (1d20-1)[11]
Spot - (1d20+6)[8] I don't think Radon needed to role this but just in case...

[Faithdreamer]

Cool, Sharp, Rigid (Knowledge: Nature) Successful
The Petrified Forest wasn’t magically enshrined like so many who’d been prematurely exposed to the wrong end of a Flesh to Stone spell. Over time, trees were prone to aging just like humans. When their time passed and they were ready to leave the world behind their stone hearts finally began to show on the bark. Nothing would defile their bodies again.
“There was a hardened, lonely man long gone that visited this place. He breathed the heartbeat of the land. Some are smiled on by Fortune; he was favoured by his Mother Nature.”
Lucky for all of you, the ‘eyes on the back of your head’ spotted Neyura before she made anyone jump out of their skin. It was weird no one ever seemed to lose sight of her, even though she was supposed to be at the other end of the caravan. Funny, you got the impression you’d been thinking the exact same things earlier.
“He heard these trees crying ‘a promise is broken’, so he journeyed here to listen. They said that time was a rushing stream before the waterfall. He understood they meant that time passed far too quickly. He knew of no way to tell them the world was changing as he had. With no other way to soothe their spirits he handed them false hope.”
By then everyone was trying not to smell her rotting death god fetish. She wore black linens that looked awfully shear for the weather, with a fluffy white scarf wrapped around her neck. A few of you noticed her footprints, small impressions in the snow that barely looked like they came from feet. They just weren’t deep enough.
Princess

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Something drifts your attention to the trees. Eerily, where no shadows break the tedium of a carpet of pale snow… it’s piled high in huge drifts against the ice covering the stone. You knew they petrified given sufficient time, like big plant fossils. It was strange even the needles and leaves were stone now too. Had someone, say, sculpted these trees out of clay?

Avery

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The fur covered man who’d just given you a new assignment wasn’t just a bad singing voice. His cunning was almost as frightening as yours. He was kicking the snow around to see what happened to the ground. The words he was singing were clever poetry. Who saw the smoke in the fog or steam? What was a light drizzle in the fine mist of a waterfall? Who distinguishes a fire in the middle of the sun? White sand or pale snow?

Illusions were clever, and you needed to be cleverer to find one. But the cleverest thing of all was maybe letting everyone else know about it and still managing to make yourself look like an idiot. It didn’t make you feel very relaxed about taking this job. Your stomach felt empty and lonely, and you weren’t hungry, either.

“…and then time told the rest of the story. I’ll tell you the rest, just like time told the story. You’ll need to come back first. This is why you will return among the living.” Neyura’s veiled face made it hard to see what she looked like under all that cloth. For some reason it felt like she was smiling a wide, toothy skull kind of smile.

Not really wanting to spend much more time around the idea of scary death Michieru calls the group to action. He leads everyone through the Petrified Forest in the direction he was told to go. The four of you aren’t walking for very long when Princess notes an odd scuffing sound in the snow. But when she turns around to look, the sound abruptly stops…

Then she spots a trail of very distinct, very big footprints. They started by curving around a distant tree. Then they came all the way up to the group and the top of the toe of the last print stopped an inch from the heel of Princess’s last footprint.

If she knew anything, Princess knew a footprint two of her feet could fit inside. And there was a tangible something still standing there.

Michieru could smell it. It smelled like a barn.

Princess just knew it. She saw the footprints and they weren’t going anywhere.

Radon, well, he knew fur when he got a whiff of it. He’d burned it before.

[oliana0]

Princess

"Oh, my." The walking stick in Princess's moves quickly to meet her other hand and sweep in an arc through the area where she would expect something that left those footprints to be.

Hazel turns towards Princess's voice and she prepares to defend her and Sport hides behing Hazel.

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PrincessAttack - (1d20+7)[22], ConcealmentHigherWins - (1d100)[1] (20% or 50%?), PrincessDamage - (1d8+1)[4]

Initiative?

edit: crapsticks, crit failure on a concealment check! ;) Should have picked lower.

[Faithdreamer]

The voice is gravelly, deep, and Princess has a big puff of breath blown in her face that smells like apples and bananas and granola. “Great, it is my turn now. Get ready woman!”

(1d20+12)[25] - Attack Roll
(1d4+4)[6] – Bruises

Seven feet of muscle and mean intentions was almost worse than the shadow this Monster cast over Princess. His solemn gaze rippled with traces of moisture, and the rotten smell of something disgusting more than made up for his breath.

"I hate people who try to poke me with sticks." If he'd spare the time, Princess would easily see how he crossed his arms and tried to look indignant.Her bruise was already smarting, and her eye was going to be black before she knew it if someone didn’t do something. She wouldn’t look half as pretty if things got out of hand.
“You’ll poke someone’s eye out with that, woman.”
Two massive horns angle toward the others as they slow down and wonder what’s standing where ‘behind us’ once was. It’s a Minotaur wearing something that looks like a cross between a snarl and a smirk.

Then he asks no one in particular, "And what are you doing in this forest," He glances at Princess, so much shorter than himself. "besides picking on things twice your size?"

[BizzaroStormy]

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Initiative - (1d20+3)[4]

Michieru backs up and pulls out the gem he pocketed earlier. He kneels down and begins chanting, his eyes go white as the gem begins to glow and his body slumps down in the kneeling position.

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Casting Magic Jar, targeting the minotaur.

[oliana0]

Princess

"Hold, Hazel!" And not a moment too soon, as Hazel had started running to defend Princess, leaving Sport to find someone else to hide behind.

"Well, perhaps if you weren't in the habit of sneaking up on people, hiding behind silly magic that can do nothing to mask your, scent, I wouldn't be in the mood to poke you!" Princess's face scrunches up as she mentions scent.

She takes a step back from the beast and takes a good look, "I am taking a walk in the woods, enjoying the picturesque beauty of the snow. And what, may I ask, are you doing here? Don't you have a damsel locked in a cave behind a maze somewhere to menace?"

[Faithdreamer]

“Excuse me? Helpless damsels too stupid to know the coldest place on this land for their own good deserve to become just the damsel I was looking for to lock in my cave and take steaming advantage-
He pauses to wonder what Michieru is doing, tilting his fearsome head gently. Like a scholar in a library.
“But I wouldn’t go after you, you’re far too ugly now. I like that Hazel woman over there. She thinks I’m so handsome she nearly ran into my arms. If it weren’t for you, stub hag.”

The Minotaur seems so intent on how precious Princess looks (or how long it would take to snap her in half) to notice Michieru fade out of proper colour. First the Fox becomes dull and indistinct, next came the feeling of turning into a liquid runny paint. For a single horrifying moment he couldn’t feel his body and it felt like he was looking through a dirty lens.

“Ha, ha, that one fainted. See woman? I’m the most courageous one here. Run into my arms!” He stretches his arms out to encompass the whole land, offering a tender embrace. To think, she actually suggests the best way to deal with her before we've even gotten to the 'smashing beastly ravages' part.

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Just finished washing some dishes and thought I’d remember something important. I decided not to give Princess her AoO because the Minotaur began so close by.

If you're trying to possess the Minotaur...

You can sense Four souls with similar life energies clustered together. There are two souls that shine with less vigour than the others. All are among the living rather than the undead.

Roll 1d20. On the corresponding Number:

1-5: You attempt to possess Radon
6-10: You attempt to possess Avery
11-15: You attemot to possess the Minotaur
16-20: You attempt to possess Princess

If you possess someone who isn't the Minotaur and leave them, you know which life force is whom for that specific person only and no longer risk accidentally possessing them.

You'll roll a 1d15 for example, if you remove Radon from the equation.

[oliana0]

Princess

"Trust me, you don't want Hazel getting too close. Her bite is far worse than her bark."

Hazel moves to Princess's side. "Woof."

[BizzaroStormy]

Well...Here goes nothing...(1d20)[17]

Looks like its you Oliana, DC17 Will save.