NPX: Gates of the Shadowkeep

[Zid]

Mazom

Mazom stares down on the creature as it tumbles down, outside the reach of his weapon. As the others scramble down the stairs, he is left standing rather surprised that his opponent just disappeared. He continues forward, choosing not to do down the stairs. He tries to continue following the opponent from the passageway.

[Tanaar]

Darros

Dashing toward a better vantage point, Darros aims another bolt of humming magical energy at the fleeing beast. Pouring more magical energy into this one, it swiftly grows into a pulsing orb in his hand before flying off toward the creature with a whipcrack sound. Slightly drained, Darros looks around. Spotting an unconcerned Atoly, he snaps, "Baron! If you wish to maintain your claim that this is your land, you have a noble obligation to protect those not of noble birth on it! What are you doing?" Turning from the young noble, Darros continues to hurry along after the creature, preparing another bolt.

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Move-~6 squares of movement toward the creature
Standard-Force Orb
Attack-(d20+4)[7] Damage-(2d8+4)[14]
Darros will continue to use his movement to follow the beast, harrying it with Magic Missiles. If needed, he'll use his Fey Step and every square of movement to stay within the 100-foot range of the spell, without getting too close.

[blackfox]

Ginevra

Ginevra runs up to the balustrade, whirls Patash's sling a few times, and lets the stone loose at the creature below.

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"Attack" - (1d20+4)[8]

[Dr._Bob]

The dragonborn cleric follows the creature over the railing into the overgrown tree, crashing through the branches on his way to a hard landing on the ground below.

Elthan blasts the beast as it disappears into the bushes. Darros sends a crackling orb of energy down from the upper level. It explodes in the underbrush scattering leaves and branches fluttering through the air.

"I have him!" Patash calls out. Tiriel plunges into the underbrush to help retrieve Grynde. He is wounded, but conscious. His limbs and neck are covered in bruises and a smattering of small droplets of blood from where the thorny vines had restrained and pricked him.

The beast can be heard retreating through the overgrowth and darkness ...



OOC: Grynde has taken a total of 30 points of damage, but I assume that he also used a second wind, leaving him with 5 hp.

[shaddy_24]

Evendur

The paladin glanced around as the beast rampaged about on the level below. Seeing no faster rout, he followed the lizard man, leaping towards the tree to climb down.

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Athletics - (1d20+2)[5]

[Naleh]

Retay

Slightly dazed after tackling the creature, Retay is slow to react as it falls over the balustrade. After a moment he virtually leaps down after it, to find the injured Grynde in the hands of the lizard-person.

The barbarian stares into the darkness of the overgrown courtyard, not knowing where the creature is or what's out there at all.

"If it comes back," he says aloud, "we still outnumber it. If it doesn't, there's no point following. There's no danger so long as the tribe stays together."

Apparently not noticing the way he worded that sentence, he turns his attentions back to Grynde.

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Athletics - (1d20+9)[21] to climb down.

[Nahal]

Davek

As he reaches the tree the others climbed down, Davek notices Grynde lying there. He seems to relax a little, and the shadows around him return to normal-ish.

I might suggest you get inside, he calls down. I'm sure we're all going to want to know what the bloody hells that thing was, and to regroup before we press onward.

[Durendal]

Harsk

While he was studying the evidence left on the stairs, he is distracted by the shouting, furious groups of people running around him, and the loud crashes out in the courtyard.
"What the bloody hell is going on here" cries the confused dwarf, running out to the courtyard where most of the commotion is coming from "What happened to being careful!"

As he runs into the courtyard he sees the severely injured Grynde and halts his complaints. Guess I missed something. Not much I can do now. I'll just keep watch. Taking advantage of the copious undergrowth, Harsk draws his crossbow and vanishes into the bushes.

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Stealth(1d20+8)[17]
Perception(1d20+7)[8]

[blackfox]

Ginevra

Ginevra leans over the balustrade to get a better view of Patash and Grynde. "Patash, is he alive?" She climbs over the railing and steadies herself, hanging from the balcony, before dropping to the floor below and pushing her way to the edge of the undergrowth.

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Acrobatics Check to jump down (1d20 9=16)

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan

Elthan idly kicks Gryndes boot in mild amusement. So I'll never need to kill him for being an annoying prick; he'll do it himself. Calmly, Elthan stands besides Gryndes 'corpse' and bows his head, "Yea unto our friend Grynde, who perished at the hands of a living bush. So strong was he that he could topple mountains, but not uncommon foliage. May his soul forever rest in his preferred afterlife, and thereupon annoy whatever devils he has been inflicted upon. Such poor, poor devils..."

The half-elf keeps his head bowed, concieling his own smirk to not ruin the seriousness of his manner. Discarding his expression, he looks up and states less sarcastically, "There's nothing wrong with exploring the keep; we shall do so at some point anyway. Let this be evidence though, that at no point is wandering off alone in a potentially inhabited site a good idea."

[Koji]

Kazz

Kazz wanders down into the garden at a leisurely pace. She does a quick head-count of those assembled there, and nods.

"Come along. There's no hope of finding the thing out here in the dark. Let's get back inside," she calls.

[Cejer]

Atoly Magivol

Walking toward the garden at a leisurely pace, Atoly stretches his arms and readies his shield. During the beast's sudden flight he stops completely. "Darros, I think you worry too much. Clearly that creature was not much of a threat."

Making a sharp turn, Atoly returns to the entrance hall. "Hmm, Callos was it? I believe your companion has been recovered, but I do not know his condition. Things are quite clear on our end."

[Dr._Bob]

Evendur crashes to the ground, unceremoniously landing on his butt.

Retay grabs a branch, then swings downward and shinnys down the trunk of the tree partway before leaping to the ground. He lands on his hands and feet like a tiger ready to pounce.

After her sling shot disappears into the overgrowth, Anika lets herself down from the upper level carefully, landing lightly and gracefully on her feet.

Harsk disappears into the brush, his crossbow held ready. He returns a few moments later. The monster would be easy to track, but it might not be so wise to pursue it alone in the middle of the night. The dwarf decided to exercise some caution, given the uncertain situation (and being unsure whether he can count on the others for back up ...).

Retay carries Grynde back to the entrance hall where Atoly and Callos are waiting. Grynde is slow getting his voice back after nearly being strangled by a thorny vine.

You close the hippogriff doors, but they can not be locked from this side, and thus provide little security.

...

Addis slings his bow back over his shoulder. "I agree with you ... Retay, isn't it? I do not think the plant creature will bother us while we have the advantage of numbers."

Addis' violet eyes flash. "But we should discourage each other from wandering off by ourselves, until we have a better sense of who might be living here in your castles ..."

Addis turns to Fizahn and Mazom. "The room with the shrines could be defended more easily than this entrance hall, don't you agree? Were there other rooms beyond the courtyard with the fountain?"

Addis turns to Callos. "You seem more interested in the third set of doors than in the fate of your friend. Does that gate lead to your castle, perhaps?"

[Tanaar]

Darros

Wondering at Atoly's ability to completely miss a pertinent point, Darros merely rolls his eyes at the noble man's reply. Hurrying to Grynde's side, the high elf assesses the man's wounds, deciding whether his limited healing magic is required.

[Dr._Bob]

Grynde is seriously injured. The vines appear to have crushed some of his ribs, and the puncture wounds from the thorns continue to ooze. He is breathing but, judging from the pained look on his face, each breath is agonizing.

At first glance, Grynde appears to be fully human, but as Darros examines him, he notes subtle signs of Grynde's partially elven heritage. Clearly Grynde is more comfortable passing himself off as human, however, so Darros makes no comment in this regard ...

[Erikkin]

Fizahn:

Fizahn looks at Addis. "There were some other doors beyond the courtyard. I believe one of them might have actually led to one of the castles, but I really have no idea. You can check them out if you'd like, but I'd prefer to stay where it's dry for a while."

[Dr._Bob]

Addis fingers the raven feather around his neck absent-mindedly.

"Well, we could hole up in the shrine room until morning, I suppose. There are only two entrances to the chamber, and we have enough numbers to defend them I should think."

Addis nods towards Callos and the minotaur-flanked doors, "Unless your friend here knows something more about those doors than he's been willing to share with us so far ..."

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos

At the sound of the commotion Callos twisted his head about to watch the precendings, face blank as Addis questions him about anything he might know about the set of minotaur flanked doors. Finally his gaze hardens and he seems to focus on the present.

"Your tone is not appreciated in the least. Grynde is a companion and not a friend, nor do I know what is beyond this door. What I do know is I have a hunch...more of a feeling that I can find some answers beyond these doors. If these will be answers to the questions I have...that I don't know, but I still think I should check beyond here before settling in or continuing down some other path."

The former necromancer thoughtfully reached up to scratch at the growing stubble on his cheek, an idle tick that came about whenever he was distracted. It was almost an afterthought to keep the glowing rock aloft before shaking his head.

"Now what happened to Grynde?"

[Matticus]

Grynde

Bad things happened to me he wheezes painfully in Callos's direction. Godsdamn. Getting up, he wipes his face of plant-juices and blood settled there. I think I'm going to need a weapon. Has anyone found our stuff? Armour? Swords? All my potions? Ugh...Where are the damn clerics, anyway?

[Tanaar]

Darros

"I could heal you, friend Grynde, but my supply of healing magic if sorely limited and best suited to the direst of emergencies." Darros glances around. "Are any of you healers by occupation? I merely dabble."

[spoiler]Heal check to ease his pain for now-(d20+2)[9]

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel

Tiriel had been about to drag Grynde unceremoniously back into the main hall but Retay had beaten her too it. The large man had even lifted the sot up, Tiriel hasn't sure she'd have done even that much for him, not after some of the trouble he'd caused before.

Shaking her wet hair out of hair face Tiriel follows Retay's large frame back into the cold, dark, but not wet, halls.

"He got attacked by some plant monster. Almost killed him too. We might as well look for a better place to spend the night. If we don't find something soon we can go back to the room with the alters."

[Zid]

Mazom

Mazom moves up to Grynde and Darros, his sword now sheated. Kneeling, he puts on hand on Darros chest and close his eyes, while his face seems strained.

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Using Lay on hands on Grynde, who will heal an extra 2 hp

[Erikkin]

Fizahn:

Fizahn sighs as Addis keeps questioning them. He lets Callos speak before piping up. "Look. It's awfully flattering that you believe we know more about this place. It shows you've recognized that Callos and I have far superior intellect to you, but it's also slightly annoying. We've been repeating the same thing. We only know that I own one of the towers and Callos owns the other. We don't even know which of us owns which tower."

[Nahal]

Davek

Seeing the situation more or less in hand below, Davek listens in on the conversation. When Tiriel mentions finding a place to camp for the night, he agrees.

I agree that we should probably find cover for now. We have no way of knowing how many more of those things or gods know what else are out there, and a number of us are fairly under-equipped at the moment. So I vote we either press on and see if we can locate some gear or fall back to the shrine room so we have a somewhat defensible position while we wait for morning. I suppose we could also track down and kill whatever it was that took Grynde, to make sure we aren't harassed further. Any thoughts? Davek remains where he is for now, keeping an eye out for any movement in the courtyard

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Perception, just in case:
(1d20+3)[7]

[Koji]

Kazz

"So what was that thing?" Asks Kazz, at length, "Are there going to be more of them?"

She scans the faces in the little crowd, spooked, but earnestly expecting someone to know all about the subject of giant plant-monsters.

[Dr._Bob]

Grynde describes opening the hippogriff doors out of curiousity, only to be snatched and nearly strangled by animated vines.

Addis shrugs when Kazz asks about the creature. "We can only hope that it was an isolated aberration. Perhaps a side-effect of whatever twisted magic created a tropical garden on the top of a mountain?"

...

For the moment the group returns to the room with the shrines. While Darros and Mazom tend to Grynde's wounds, Addis takes one of the votive candles from the table next to the door and places the small light on the stone block engraved with the raven skull and murmurs a small prayer.

As the storm passes, Addis and Davek check the fountain courtyard again. To the left they find what appears to be a dining hall and adjacent kitchen. The tables and chairs have been upended and piled against the far wall, where the hall would have opened through several arches into the overgrown garden, creating a makeshift barricade.

Unfortunately, the kitchen's pantry appears to have been raided long ago. All that remains are dust and some shattered barrels and empty shelves.

The large, heavy double doors leading toward the small keep visible over the wall directly behind the fountain fail to open for either Addis or Davek. The gate might be locked from the outside.

To the right of the fountain, the doors open into a small (10' x 10') room that leads to a larger hall (30' x 60') that appears to have once been some sort of barracks. Most of the bunks are little more than piles of shattered wood. A few remain intact, though their straw mattresses rotted away long ago.

Doors in the wall to the right of the barracks lead to an equal sized parallel room - an old armory. Dust covers the miscellaneous weapons and gear still lying on racks and wall hooks. The gear is old, but servicable ...

[Rodrick_the_Red]

Patash (Dragonborn Cleric)

Patash aides Darros and Mazom tend to Grynde. He prays softly in Draconic, "Mighty Bahamut grant your healing presence so I might aide my comrade."

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Patash will use healing word as required to aide Grynde.

Grynde may spend a healing surge and regain an additional 1d6 hp

After tending to Grynde, Patash will inspect the other rooms with the others. Spying the old furniture he starts gathering the broken pieces and says, "Which room would be best to build the fire?"

[Erikkin]

Fizahn:

Fizahn begins exploring the keep, but as the others move toward the barracks, he gets caught up at the locked door. He first checks the door for traps, then tries to open it himself. If he fails at that, he calls over Callos. "Callos. I want to see if this door has a magical lock that only responds to the owner." If Callos comes and tries to open the door, but fails, then Fizahn resorts to picking the lock.

Perception: - (1d20+5)[14]
Thievery: - (1d20+8)[11]

[blackfox]

Ginevra

Ginevra hangs back worriedly as Grynde's injuries are tended to, and follows the rest of the party to explore the rooms surrounding the courtyard. "A fire... has anyone seen if there's a fireplace around here? There'd be one in the kitchen..." She ducks quickly into the barracks to see if there is a fireplace in that room.

After a cursory glance around the barracks, she comes back inside the armory, in search of armor that might fit her and weapons she knows how to use.

(OOC: Dr. Bob, I'm guessing here is where we can pick up the equipment we have listed on our character sheets?)

[Durendal]

Harsk

The dwarf retreats from his verdant hiding place once the others have successfully retreated from the garden, remaining vigilant for the monster. Having not actually seen the beast, he tries his best to identify it from their descriptions.

Harsk follows Addis and Davek when they explore the rest of the courtyard. He leaves the door to the gnome, ignores the barren kitchen, and makes his way to the barracks and armory. He gathers up as much of the broken wood as he can carry, heads back to the shrine room, and begins making another fire.
"There seems to be a decent collection o' arms in the room to the right. Ye might wanna check it out if yeh happen to be poorly equipped at the moment. An' whoever's got me axe, I'd like it back."

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Checks to identify the monster:
Nature(1d20+7)[23]
Dungeoneering(1d20+9)[11]