pneumatik's WotBS 3: Shelter from the Storm

[HolyMan]

Her wet curls matted to her hair Shaylir glumly helps to pass out the food. Fritz is a mess of wet fur beside her.

Her mood is partly do to the weather, but is deals more with the condition of the people. They are in a worse state than most animals living in the wilds would be.

After she gives half her sack out she hands the bag to Torrent. "I... I have to go. I have something I need to do, before we can leave." she says hurrying towards the village.

"I'll be back before you set off promise." she calls back over her shoulder. "Come on Fritz!"

[sblock=DM] Well Shaylir must help all those she can. She buys every boat and carrying crew, map, and tent. She will pay 1.5 the cost they would normally charge to insure that they help those they are suppose to. Please let me know the cost for it and I'll take it out of her 2,500gp. Which is way to much for her to carry as coins so she probably got it in/or made it smaller stuff (jewels and gems).

Oh and she buys two set s of croc teeth one for her and one for Fritz. Could you describe her coming back to the group and wearing them, that would be great. [/sblock]

 

[pneumatik]

[sblock=ooc]LIke my status says, I'm pretty busy this week. I probably won't have enough time to put a real post together until the first few days in May.[/sblock]

 

[Rhun]

OOC: No worries, pneumatik. We'll be here.

 

[pneumatik]

[sblock=notes]Liiros managed to sell his original longsword for 7.5gp a couple of weeks ago. The wooden longsword fits into its sheath.

Lytha, it'll take at least two days to get through the swamp.[/sblock]Torrent examines the available rowboats carefully. "There's no way we'll all fit in one of these. We need two. Really, we should get at least three. These things are terrible. I guess they should make it through the swamp. Hmmm ... " Torrent continues inspecting the boats with more interest than they warrant. "Okay, we can get these two."

Liiros spends most of the day with the refugees. Most of them are happy for the help, but a few spurn his offers of help. Cutting a tree down with a sword is a lot harder than with an axe, but with some persistence manages to down a good-sized tree. With help, it's dragged to the refugee camp.

Shaylir spends the day shopping. First she buys a dozen maps at 5gp each. None of them completely agree with each other and the ink on the last two is still damp. After the party buys two rowboats there are six left in the town. With portage and two oars or poles it's 125gp per boat, or 750 for the lot. A few deerhide tents and Shaylir spends an even one grand. She could pay in advance for more rowboats, but it's not clear to her that anything would get built once she leaves. She and Fritz return to the party that evening both wearing necklaces of croc teeth.

That evening around a very large fire the refugees talk about a crazy redheaded woman who hired a couple of burly men as bodyguards and simply walked into the swamp. The men telling the story wish she hadn't because she was the best looking thing they've seen in a long time. Instead she's probably dead. Other refugees also warn you to ignore any floating lights you might see in the swamp. Any you see are likely created by crazy spellcasters who've fled into the swamp. You bed down for the night next to the refugee camp.

The next morning you share goodbyes. The refugees seem invigorated and expect to attempt crossing the swamp as a group in a few days. You leave that morning. It's not easy for the party to carry both rowboats, and the fifteen miles from Vidor to the edge of the swamp seems to take forever to cover. Finally you reach the swamp. A run-down shack sits at the side of the road, once used by a hunter to sleep in, now serving as a marker of the end of the road. Nearby trees have been cleared, and a few abandoned, half-made rafts litter the area, none of them structurally stable.

Beyond this point, travel will have to be by boat, or by wading and swimming. The water is usually waist high and icky, though it poses no obvious immediate hazard. "Ugh," Torrent says.

[sblock=boat game mechanics]Poling or rowing is a move action that propels the boat 20 feet. A character can move the boat at double speed as a full-round action, but doing so is as tiring as running. Each boat fills a 10 × 10 foot space as if it were a Large creature, and can hold three people and gear.[/sblock]

 

[Rhun]

"Well, it looks like it is the boats for us, from here on out." Hollister makes sure all of his books and papers are wrapped in waterproof clothe and tucked deep in his backpack as insurance against a spill into the swamp water.

 

[Arkhandus]

Liiros says a final prayer for the refugees and carries one of the boats out with Hollister. It takes longer than he expected to haul the boat out to the marsh, but he still refuses to give any more money to the greedy jerks in Vidor. He still grumbles a bit about Shaylir paying them so much. However, the immediate problem was the swamp.

"Torrent, I assume as a priestess of Osprem you know something of water-travel, so perhaps you should lead in the other boat. I'll follow with whoever doesn't ride in your boat," he says.

Liiros sets down the boat and gets onboard, readying his oar. His armor and pack were a burden, but at least he didn't have to worry about leeches or insects. He briefly removes his helm to tie some fabric around his face, leaving only a small portion exposed, then dons the helmet once more.

[sblock=pneumatik]Liiros won't give up his original longsword for 7.5 GP; it's masterwork and worth far more than that, so he'll wait until he can sell it somewhere else for a less-insulting price.[/sblock]

 

[Thanee]

Lytha

“If I got it right, the trip through the swamp is only about two days. That shouldn't be too bad, right?”

Lytha will gladly take a place in any of the boats, unfortunately, the frail elf isn't much use in carrying them.

 

[Rhun]

As Hollister loads his gear in the rowboat and takes his seat, he summons his arcane power to shroud his body in invisible protection. The wizard hoped the trip through the swamp would be uneventful, but it was better to be safe than sorry.




Cast sudden extend Mage Armor, duration 10 hours.

[sblock=Spells Prepared]- Level 0: Detect Magic x2, Light x2 + (d) Flare
- Level 1: Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Grease, Shield + (d) Burning Hands
- Level 2: Web, Resist Energy, Flaming Sphere, Glitterdust + (d) Scorching Ray
- Level 3: Fireball, Stinking Cloud + (d) Fireball[/sblock]

 

[pneumatik]

[sblock=Arkhandus]Well that's what I get for looking up how much I thought Liiros would be able to sell his longsword for. What I meant is that he can sell it for half book value.[/sblock]
Travel through the swamp is frustratingly irregular. One you're all settled into the two boats progress is initially swift. The water's a few feet deep so you can row or pole as you prefer. But before long you encounter tiny spits of muddy land that require you to either carefully maneuver around them or portage the boats over. And so goes the day.

The seats in the boats are not comfortable and standing makes the boats too unstable. Rowing and poling works muscles none of you are accustomed to using. Come evening you're all happy to find a large enough island to make camp.

As you settle down for the evening Shaylir and Lytha faintly hear someone speaking in the distance, probably to the west. Then everyone hears a mournful song sung by two women from the same direction. It's in common and calls to you to "purify yourselves in the magical waters". When you look to the west all you see is a faint point of light obscured by mist, maybe a hundred feet away over the water. Torrent and Lytha are obviously enthralled by the song and are starting to look longingly at the water.

Everyone roll and post your initiative. You can all take full actions. See attached map.

[sblock=ooc]Let me know if the map .pdf if too large. It's already hard to see some of the grid lines and I didn't want to lose any more detail.

The islands are surrounded by a 2 foot deep shallow bog, which counts as difficult terrain, and are then surrounded by 5 foot deep bog, which requires four squares of movement for every 5 feet traveled — the deeper bog can also be swum. The boats can travel through both shallow and deep bog. Small trees dot the islands, and a few sprout from the swamp. One massive tree has fallen over, forming a bridge between two islands. Its crown counts as heavy undergrowth.

The party's setting up camp on the highest section of the island, which is five feet above the rest of the island (which is not more than a foot above the water level).[/sblock]

 

[Rhun]

OOC: I'm assuming you're gonna let us know what happened, right?