[Adventure] A Call for Lovers (DM: jbear Judge:Lord Sessadore)

Rain looks around her carefully, listening to the doubt in the stranger's voice. "Look if it helps, I'll bring the paper to you so you can read it before anybody on either side does anything too hastily."

[sblock=actions]Perception Active Only DC 19 (1d20-1), followed by Insight Active DC 19 (1d20). Total: 19 and 20 respectively. Two nat 20's!
[/sblock]

There is another long pause. It may be the wind in the trees or two voices arguing in whispered tones in a silvery tongue. It is hard to tell. Then a horn sounds in the distance from within the forest. Whatever this signal means it prompts a response at last.

"On your way ... ambassadors." The word ambassador is spoken with thick sarcasm.

There is a rustle of leaves within the trees and then you are alone.

[sblock=Bonus Information for Rain for rolling two natural 20's in a row]
You could swear despite the sarcasm the speaker was in a rush. And the sarcasm was masking sudden fear. [/sblock]

Tom gets back to his shaky legs and remounts. "S-sorry about that. The elves usually tax at the bridge and again in the forest, but I've never heard of them taxing on Bean road before. We should get going, in case they change their minds. They're not known for being reasonable."

jbear said:

We should get going, in case they change their minds. They're not known for being reasonable."

Click to expand...

Rain waits before the group has travelled down the road a ways before mentioning, "Whatever it was that the blowing of the horn meant, it was that action which finally convinced our would-be extortionists to leave us alone."

Zuri bites her lower lip during the exchange between Wat, Rain and the elves in the forest. She respects the efforts of the elves to ply their trade, even as she desires not to fall victim to it.

Neil1889 said:

"Whatever it was that the blowing of the horn meant, it was that action which finally convinced our would-be extortionists to leave us alone."

Click to expand...

"So they weren't impressed by our claims about Count Varis.... I wonder whether those, ah, tax collectors are considered loyal subjects of Carric's." Zuri mused out loud.

Sabynha had been unusually silent and contemplative this morning. She was not hung over, but something was clearly weighing on her mind, and perhaps her heart. She'd seemed almost hollow, though not insincere, when she thanked Olga and Meg this morning. Even the wandering eyes of Tom were met with a minimum of playfulness.

And now this; burnt fields, highwaymen, and a forest choked into silence by fear. This place was truly in peril. Sabynha's inward reflecting left her distracted, and when the "tax collectors" came to call, she was startled, caught very unprepared. All she could do was take in what was going on, as though helpless in a dream, seemingly unable to react.

Now that the threat has passed, her faculties return. She hoped that nobody noticed her disgraceful failure to act. Pirates, she faced with boldness and courage, but cowardly voices from the shadows gave her pause. A strange thing. She dismounts and helps young Tom to his feet, asking after his health.

"Zhere was somesing odd about zhem..." Sabynha plucked the arrows from the ground, as though it might offer some kind of clue. "Perhaps Tom is right; we should go qvickly now, but I am curious about zis horn ve heardt."

Tom thanks Sabynha shyly, a deep blush reddening his cheeks. He gets back on his horse looking into the forest nervously, obviously terrified.

When the group are ready to continue he doesn't hesitate to spur his horse on away from the scene at quite a clip.

As you breech the top of the hill and begin to descend, a thick fog rolls out of the forest and engulfs the valley you are descending into. Tom curses.

"Oh no. Not the Mist ... People at the Bean been talking about the Mist ... and the gremlins that come out of them. Say the elves send them when they get angry. Retaliation like. Last night some of the boys from the Docks went in to the Sildaine .... they were talking revenge ... "

"Into interior of the Sildaine? A last errand of the foolish."

Rain draws her sword and holds it by leg as she rides, her magical wards strengthening around her as the mist envelops them in turn.

Likewise, following Rain's lead, Sabynha fixes her belt-buckler to her arm, though she leaves her sword sheathed.

"Zis mist sounds most... dire. Perheps ze horn vas some kindt of varning? Be on your guard."

[sblock]Skald Aura on, and Sabynha is near the middle of the group.[/sblock]

The tension is palpable as you journey through the mist which swirls, thickening and thinning as you descend and then rise out of the valley over the next hill. You can hear the Crystal Brook river running beside you to your left and at some stage you hear a second horn blast from the forest. With a lack of visibility and the feeling of threat your pace naturally slows, making the final leg of the journey take longer, and making it seem interminable.

At last Tom says in a quiet voice: "If I'm right, Crystalbrook is just over the next hill. We would see the towers if it weren't for the mist."

Minutes later as you make your way up the final hill a trumpet blasts up ahead, a sound much different from the horn blast from the forest. And it is cut off quite suddenly with a strangled cry of pain. In the distance you can hear screams of panic rise up in chorus. Something very wrong is happening.

Spurring your horses forward with urgency the walls at last come into sight. You can see two guards atop them, one slumped against the battlements pierced through with a javelin. The other looks to be hiding, none too successfully, a look of pure terror on his face. Mist pours through the town's open gate where, from the armoured corpses scattered, the guards attempted to hold their own but failed. Through the open gate you catch flashes of small creatures that
have dark blue skin and large, orange eyes. As a bell begins to toll from inside the town, you can make out a silhouette of one of the creatures where the mist is thickest dragging a net-bound citizen toward the opening in the wall. Sounds of panic abound from within the plaza. Your approach has not yet been noticed amongst the chaos.



[sblock=OOC] Not really sure how people upload the map images ... Image links seem to be url so I have to upload it someone else on the internet?

Any advice/help from anyone reading this post would be appreciated. For now I've just uploaded an image from my computer ... I'll see how that works out once I hit save.

Edit: Okay,upload has worked. Image is a bit small. Still not sure of the sizes EnWorld can take. It will be a bit bigger for proper start of round 1.

By the way let me know if you have an image you want for your PC. [MENTION=6690636]Daeja[/MENTION] There is no image of Zuri on your wiki sheet so i took the liberty of finding one for her token. She is at A9[/sblock]

[sblock=Perception DC 22; Active] You spot a second creature searching around the area looking for someone to stab at H12 [/sblock]
[sblock=Terrain] Mist: The area on the inside of the gate is lightly obscured. But anything beyond that until you breach the walls is heavily obscured.

Walls: These stone fortifications are 20 feet high (Athletics DC 20 to climb), topped with crenellated walkways. The crenellations are 3 feet high. Ladders lead up to both walkways on either side of the gate opening.

Gate: The gate is a wooden portcullis presently locked in the up position 10 feet off the ground.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Combat Details]
Blue Skinned Creature in the Mist at I9: AC 15 Fort 12 Ref 13 Will 13 (currently obscured -2 to attacks)

Dead Guard at E12
Wounded Guard hiding at F5
Townsfolk being dragged in net at J8
Tom at C8
[/sblock]

[sblock="Perception Roll"]
1d20+5 → [20,5] = (25) Success![/sblock]
"This looks...terrible," Zuri scowls at the state of the town. No welcoming committee here, she adds softly (and unnecessarily), "We must help them." She swings down off her horse, even as she raises her hand crossbow to point at a second creature lurking in the mist.

[sblock="Surprise Round"]
Zuri will her surprise action to free dismount, and Disheartening Strike @ the second creature

1d20+6 → [10,6] = (16) ** I forgot to subtract 2 for the mist obscurring him, so creature had presumed AC of 15, my total was 14 = MISS!
[/sblock]
Her bolt disappears into the mist.
With a frustrated moue, Zuri wonders what's causing the mist, and whether this is an escalated response to the revenge Tom spoke of....
[sblock="Initiative Roll"]
1d20+4 → [14,4] = (18)
[/sblock]

Little does Zuri realize that her aim was true! The bolt strikes the second creature!
[sblock=Damage] Damage on Disheartening Strike is 1d6+4 → [5,4] = (9) PLus sneak attack damage = 2d6+2 → [1,5,2] = (8) For a total of 17. And the creature takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn, unless it's immune to fear. [/sblock]