Umbriel Wednesday June 13th, 2007 10:15:45 AM
waits........
In the Swamp [DM SteveK] Wednesday June 13th, 2007 5:39:15 PM
Despite the ideas that are thrown about, Tara and the sailors seem inclined to follow the orders of Captain Oni, the designated one in charge Careful orders couched in nervous whispers, and the Dark Horse flatboat glides in close to shore. The muddy bottom causes the boat to lurch when it beaches, but after the group jumps ship, they can see Tara and the sailors are deftly backing oar and taking the boat out again. "We'll await first light or one of your bird-friends", she says.
Sunset is fast approaching, the last rays of the sky streaking the clouds orange and purple. The Dark Horse Guild is now in the mangrove swamp on foot. There is a path into the marshy and overgrown woods that keeps the wide river in sight. Champ and Sho'va sniff the air, and they show silent growls as thier hackles rise in the muggy air.
Vauhwyt and Berlon throw out possible tactics for a rescue.
Vorelle looks closely at the path and notices that there are booted feet as well as lizardfolk spoor on the trail. And the boots do not look like they were dragged or impeded.
Theodore & Macaw d20+4=13 Wednesday June 13th, 2007 6:52:07 PM
When Theodore disembarks, the familiar tingle spreads across his body, up his spine, and onto the base of his neck.
He smiles to himself, "I'm becoming an old hat at this."
He prepares by casting mage armor on himself. (Good for 7 hours)
Macaw leaps into the air, keeping just above the party to provide a bird's eye view against any sneaky baddies. (Macaw's spot 13)
Berlon - Air Walk Wednesday June 13th, 2007 8:01:51 PM
Berlon frowns as Vorelle examins the tracks. "Perhaps things aren't what they seem, after all..." he muses quietly.
Before finishing the thought, he offers his options on recon. "If one of us can go in invisibly, that is the best option. If not, we could send in one of the birds, if they could promise not to squawk too much...."
Vorelle d20+12=29 d20+12=32 d20+16=35 Thursday June 14th, 2007 12:11:57 AM
Vorelle signals her friends.
"Th-the l-lizardf-f-folk have a-allies," she says. She finds what she hopes is a very obvious boot-print to show them. "H-h-humanoids. N-not p-p-prisoners."
She continues to be alert for trouble.
[Spot 29, Listen 32. Survival (for tracking) 35]
Umbriel d20+13=28 d20+15=31 d20+13=30 d20+13=26 Thursday June 14th, 2007 10:42:30 AM
To finally be off that boat, Umbriel breathes in a sigh of relief. Taking off his shaded goggles and placing them in his pocket Umbriel scans the surrounding area. Crouching next to the path examining tracks the group hasnt already obliterated. Survival(Track): 30 Highlight to display spoiler: { How many, what kind other than lizard (ie elf human etc..), how fast were they moving and were they carrying anything heavy (ie bodies and booty from the ship). } After examining the tracks Umbriel peers into the swamp with his Dark Elf vision, and Listens to the night air for sounds other than those made by the natural surroundings. Listen: 28 Search: 31 Spot: 26
*Go ahead and post what I find. I'd tell the group anyways and it will move things along faster.*
Oni and Sho'va Thursday June 14th, 2007 12:18:44 PM
Oni allows everyone to get off the boat. As Vorelle and the scouts go forward to find tracks, he gives final orders to the crew. He tells Tara to sail around a bit, scout the shoreline, and wait for a raven to tell her to come back to the river entrance.
Oni then jumps out of the craft as well. He ans Sho'va will bring up the rear. He will rely on Sho'vas's sense to help him travelling through the thick undergrowth.
Vauhwyt (AC19, HP57) and Mookie (AC15, HP28) Thursday June 14th, 2007 3:01:10 PM
Recap from last post:
About ten minutes out from the lizardman camp, if the parrot can give her a quiet signal, Vauhwyt uses two message cantrips to allow secret conversation among the party and the parrot.
Sneaking up on the camp, Vauhwyt will rely on Vorelle to look for tracks and to spo tthe enemy. The liontaur will say just behind the ranger, ready to act as muscle if a lizard scout or guard is encountered.
"My strategy if we see a lone enemy is to enlarge, grapple, pin, and silence the foe. With luck, I can do that (surprise round to grapple, first round to pin) before it can react and give an alert."
When the group is about a minute out, Vauhwyt will cast Reduce Person on herself, Alter Self on Mookie, and Expeditious Retreat shared on both.
Spells used (does not include spells cast on approach to lizard camp!):
None of six 0th Level Two of seven 1st Level Two of three 2nd Level
Bag of Tricks: one of ten this week
Scouts Out! [DM SteveK] Thursday June 14th, 2007 7:21:20 PM
{DM Note: I deleted a couple of ooc posts that detracted from the overall adventure. Recommend non-play posts be done as emails to Players and/or DM. Thanks! :-))
Theodore casts Mage Armor, and is ready to follow the others. Macaw hops from perch to perch, keeping near the trail and ahead of the lead scout to give any early warning.
Berlon is concerned about the footprints, and then suggests for the lead scout to be invisible... any takers?
Vorelle and Umbriel keep alert and look for further tracks. In the fading light, they are both able to tell that there was more than one human track, and a smaller track that could be an elf. The tracks and the bent vegetation indicate they were carrying something moderately heavy into the swamp trail.
Oni gives final instructions to Tara and then keeps to the rear.
Vauhwyt reminds everyone of her eventual actions once closer to the lizardfolk lair, and waits for the parrot to give a signal.
Kerka the parrot also hops from perch to perch, waiting on the Dark Horse Guild to catch up before moving on. A half mile into the mangroves, and even the humans can smell the woodsmoke of fires ahead. Kerka flaps back to Oni and does a low whistle, "Close, close, me hearties!", which is Vauhwyt's signal to cast her cantrips.
Further on with Vorelle and Umbriel, the two scouts catch up with Macaw (who did not fly ahead). From around a mangrove thicket on a small mound of mud/dirt, they are able to see the lizardfolk camp.
A wood-palisaded lizardfolk town with a long house and two dozen round huts is nestled between the river and a cypress forest about 200 feet in front of the scouts. The palisade is a half moon covering the landward side of the settlement. Even in the darkness, it is easy to see that mud is the predominant color of the town and used on walls and thatch as waterproofing. Hut openings that the heroes can see are covered with muddy skins or old rugs. A long pier juts out into the sluggish river but currently, there is nothing but a half-dozen barrels waiting at the end. Six dugout canoes the size of entire trees are beached on the nearby mudflats, and dozens of smaller dugouts or hide covered wicker framed boats are scattered around. Fish drying racks and a couple of tool sheds are the only buildings outside of the palisade.
A bonfire on the mudflats near the swampy forest on the near side of the village attests to yet another huge dugout being built.
(ooc: map via email)
Vauhwyt (AC21, HP57, Reduced, Exp Retreat) and Monkey Mookie (AC17, HP28, Reduced, Exp Retreat) d20+2=20 d20+2=15 Friday June 15th, 2007 10:28:26 AM
Vauhwyt quickly finishes her casting: Expeditious Retreat shared with Mookie, Alter Self to make Mookie a monkey, and Reduce Self on herself and Mookie.
"We need to know morre," Vauhwyt whispers to her friends via Message. "Where is Rossa? Where are the revels? What is going on out therre?" Her accent betrays her nervous energy and feline curiosity.
Now three feet tall, five feet long, and weighing just 61 pounds, Vauhwyt climbs with Diminutive Monkey Mookie up into the trees. She wants to see over that palisade. She hopes to see the enemy. Taking 10, Vauhwyt has a 15 climb check, and Mookie has 26. Mookie climbs five feet higher than Vauhwyt does -- still in range of shared spells!
Vauhwyt and Mookie continue to hide as well as climb very quietly, taking 10 on checks: V Hide: 26 Move Silent: 27 M Hide: 23 Move Silent: 23
In the foliage, Vauhwyt takes a good look and listen around. Spot 20, Listen 15! Rolling instead of taking ten paid off that time! Especially, are there any guards or watchers?
Vauhwyt whispers to her friends anything that she discovers.
[OOC: Steve, could you clarify what is what on the map? Where is the half-moon palisade? What is that red box -- a wall around the town? How high? Is this a five foot scale? What's that tan circle between Vauhwyt and the six beached boats -- the bonfire? What's that long building in the village? Most of all, where are the people?]
{DMSteveK: Oh, no matter how much I slave, you always want more. more! Arrggh! OK. I'll add a Key to the map next iteration. The red box is the palisade (I'll adjust outline). Tan circles are fires. Long building is a long building, the characters don't know what it's used for yet because you haven't gone inside. Palisade is currently hiding everything except the tops of buildings and flames from bonfires, so heroes don't see any people.)
Spells used:
Two of six 0th Level Four of seven 1st Level Three of three 2nd Level
Bag of Tricks: one of ten this week
Theodore & Macaw Friday June 15th, 2007 10:47:53 AM
"Before we go into the camp, we should disable their canoes so they can't pursue us. I think punching holes in them should be fine. Fire would make smoke and draw their attention."
Theodore remains where he is, waiting on what the others think.
Oni 17 AC 70 HP Sho'va 17 AC 36HP Friday June 15th, 2007 12:46:35 PM
Oni agrees with Theo. Quietly he discusses with the group the best way to go about that. He also tries to adjust his eyes to the fading light.
Berlon - Air Walk Friday June 15th, 2007 1:28:55 PM
"I *knew* it!" Berlon hisses under his breath. "An entire clutch! Curse my unpreparedness! Never again!" He seems very upset with himself.
"Are we *sure* no one has an inivisibility spell for me? I could recon from above while invisible..."
He calms himself slightly, nodding at Theo's words. "Good idea, Theo, except in this case we wouldn't want to draw attention to disabling the canoes. That, and I'm not sure we'd be running from the lizardmen anyway. Maybe Vorelle could quietly poke a hole or two in each canoe, just in case?"
"Regardless, NO ONE do anything until we are sure of who is an enemy and who is not."
"Oh, and, er, Theo, stick close to me, would you? This might be the part where we get to blow stuff up..."
With a smile on his face, he casts Guidance upon himself.
Create Water, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Guidance x3 (1 used) Command, Divine Favor, Obscuring Mist, Remove Fear (used), Sanctuary, Shield of Faith Silence, Summon II, Shield Other, Bull's Strength/Identify CF&W (used), Prayer (used), Wind Wall/Dispel Magic Air Walk (used), Divine Power/Imbue
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