Adventure: Get Me to the Church on Time (DM: BenBrown, Judge: Renau1g)

[Tenchuu]

Spider used the hilt of his huge blade to knock the creature unconscious again. Gagging him, he secured the ropes, and then used another set.

"I an I gonna keep goin. If da 'oblin tell da tru, and he still 'ere on da whey back, den I an I take 'im wit us, and see 'ow it likes livin as a slave, ya 'ear?"

 

[horticulture]

The dwarf barks out a laugh and shoulders his overstuffed pack. "Hope he don' get himself turned into a treat fer some beastie wanderin' through," he says as he starts up the trail toward their destination.

 

[BenBrown]

Lord Mallaby watches Graval move away up the hillside. He looks down at the hobgoblin tied and bound on the ground.

"We can't just leave him here, can we?" he asks. "Yes, he's a slaver and he and the others tried to kill us, but I don't think leaving him out for wild animals is the right thing to do.

"If only we weren't in such a hurry, we could take him somewhere--back to Achirem. I suppose one of us could go."

"I'll go," Perin says. "The goblin won't be much trouble if he's tied up."

"Master Perin, that is gracious of you to volunteer. Please give my regards to Resta and Sir Kelvan, and tell them of what we encountered. I don't know what they'll do with this raider, but Sir Kelvan seems a practical man, and I'm sure justice will be served."

With Perin's help, Mallaby unties the hobgoblin's feet, and provides Perin with a long lead rope. When the slaver awakens again, they pull him to his feet and Perin prods him to move down the slope. Soon they round a bend and are out of sight, and the rest of the party begins moving forward again.

[sblock=ooc]Since Almightyfoon hasn't posted in over two weeks, I needed to write Perin out, so I have taken this opportunity to do so.[/sblock]

 

[Mewness]

Lord Mallaby watches Graval move away up the hillside. He looks down at the hobgoblin tied and bound on the ground.

"We can't just leave him here, can we?" he asks. "Yes, he's a slaver and he and the others tried to kill us, but I don't think leaving him out for wild animals is the right thing to do.

"I agree," says Goldenhorn, standing up abruptly and sheathing his sword. "This conduct is unworthy of us. Let us go on."

 

[BenBrown]

The trail climbs steadily upward to the top of a plateau, where the terrain flattens out into a broad flat upland, broken every so often by gullies. The woods are still thick here, and the trail occasionally swerves to avoid a large tree. A trail branches off to the east, but the map says to continue on the southeast route. On the far side of a particularly large tree, the group finds that Graval's crack about the hobgoblin's "dead friends" was more accurate than he knew. Two goblins lie dead up against the tree, peppered with arrows. Another lies a few hundred feet up the trail.

"I wonder if whoever killed these creatures will be friendly to us," Mallaby says.

The trail suddenly jogs eastward, and to the southeast, a space can be seen where the trees vanish. This is no mere clearing, as there appears to be a gap in the trees running on a convergent course to the trail, which at this point is climbing very slightly. Then ahead of the party the trees thin out. Here one can see that the gap in the trees that is converging on the trail is some sort of gully or ravine. This must be the bramble scar that Kelvan was speaking of. Up ahead, a rope bridge spans the ravine, but it is not unguarded. Two figures stand on the near end, and it's possible more guard the other side.

 

[horticulture]

The dwarf, still at the head of the group, stops upon seeing the two figures; a hand drops to his battleaxe.

"Hmm, in'restin' this." He squints, his overly bushy eyebrows all but obscuring his eyes, trying to make out any more details of the figures. "Wary, lads. We're not fer knowin' what these folk want."

[sblock=Perception check]Perception to determine stuff about the two figures. 1d20+7=15[/sblock]

 

[Mewness]

Goldenhorn looks about for any more figures who might be hiding.

 

[Tenchuu]

Spider's Perception

"Issa ya sure dem two up dere be real guards, an not some sordda scarecrow?"

OOC: I messed up with the dice roller. Use the first result please. DM, are these orcs or humans or something else?

 

[bluesfella]

Zardi stays where he is, but squints his eyes and looks around.

 

[BenBrown]

The two figures at the end of the rope bridge are human, and both are female. They are clad in leather armor and armed with short swords. They looks wary and nervous. At the other end of the bridge there's a clearing. There's at least one other person over there, and possibly some more in the woods beyond. There's also a sort of tripod structure about ten feet tall with a bell hanging down in the middle.

The bramble scar is a legacy of some long ago sorcerous war. It cuts straight as an arrow's flight across the countryside, as if a massive sword had cut across the face of the earth, leaving a gouge twenty miles long. Where no rocks have fallen in on either side--such as where the bridge is--it's about twenty feet across. It's impossible to tell how deep it truly is, however, ten feet down from the lip the scar is filled with twisted, spiky brambles the color of fresh blood. They do not look as if they would be pleasant to land on. The forest goes up to the edge of the scar in many places, with some trees extending out over it. With the exception of these trees, the view down the scar is unhindered to the limits of vision in either direction.


"The map shows that we need to cross," says Lord Mallaby. "Perhaps if we talk to these ladies they can give us directions."

[sblock=skill challenge]It's "Design Your Own Skill Challenge" time.

The goal: get across without causing alarm (i.e. nobody rings the bell)

The method: that's up to you. Options include: trying to talk your way across, mounting a surprise attack to get to the bell before anyone can ring it (risky), or going down the scar in one direction and attempting to cross unseen.

Come up with a plan (discuss), and let me know what the plan is, and what everybody's going to be trying in the first round. Then I'll figure out which actions are leading towards the goal, and which ones merely act as aiding another and assign skill DCs as I see fit.

This is something of an experiment in an attempt to bring the skill challenge more into the narrative.

Feel free to ask questions.[/sblock]